Are You Looking Forward To Going Camping in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp?

Ladies and gentlemen, humans and anthropomorphic animals, a whole new spinoff of Animal Crossing is on its way soon [18]. It all began with Dōbutsu no Mori, a.k.a. Animal Forest for the Nintendo 64 in Japan way back in April 2001 [1] [5]. Between 2002 and 2004, it was eventually re-established as “Animal Crossing” for the Nintendo Gamecube in North America, Australia, and Europe [1]. Four human residents had to share the same house in Animal Crossing: Wild World for the Nintendo DS. During the Nintendo Wii era, Kapp’n got to take the town hero or heroine to the glorious city. Animal Crossing: New Leaf began a new era featuring a taller protagonist, more realistic trees, the amazing ability to swim and a loveable dog named Isabelle [2] [14]. A young otter named Lottie assisted a new employee at Nook’s Homes when it came to designing the animals’ ideal dream homes in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer [16]. In late 2017, the series’ legacy will further expand on the New Leaf era and mark its territory in Nintendo’s line of apps for two third-party mobile operating systems; Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android [3].

The Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp logo [3].

The fans of the Animal Crossing franchise in Australia can consider themselves to be very lucky to be already experiencing the whole new chapter since a week ago [19]. As for the fellow animal crossers in Europe, Japan, New Zealand and the United States, they can always wait patiently until late November 2017 [3] [15]. They can simply wait like how one would wait for a fish in the river to bite the bait or wait for their house to expand after the debt is finally paid. Well, except that they would be waiting much longer of course. With the possibility of many animal crossers outside of Australia trying to avoid any spoilers, the aspects of the upcoming app that have been revealed are making the next chapter seem very promising to them so far.

Our Australian animal crossers are very lucky to get the app first [20]' [21].

The captivating concept of a free-to-play mobile adaptation of Animal Crossing was first announced back in April 2016 and was originally going to be released for late 2016 [3] [15]. Unfortunately, it remained delayed throughout most of 2017, likely due to the fact that the crew has been busy with the appeal of Super Mario Run, along with the management of Miitomo [3]. On a positive note, delaying an upcoming game for an iconic series will always be a chance to ensure that the final outcome will provide the best controls, narrative, and ways to successfully market it possible for the loyal fanbase. Late November 2017 shall hopefully to the app’s time to show that Nintendo is still running the game on third-party mobile devices in the first-world states outside of Australia [3] [15]. Be sure to stay connected to the internet when the experience begins, fellow animal crossers! [19]

If only camping is real life would be this luxurious. [20]

If you remember playing any of the previous Animal Crossing instalments, it may seem very slightly unusual to watch your adorable red-nosed hero or heroine strolling through the lovely town on a vertical screen at first, especially on a small smartphone [19] [20] [21]. But nevertheless, the narrative designers at Nintendo EPD did a good job at appropriately fitting this generation’s 3D interpretation of a Super Mario side-scroller into a vertical screen for Super Mario Run [17], so the same progress would apply to the whole new chapter of Animal Crossing. Heck, Miitomo is Nintendo’s first ever smart device app from 2016 managed to be its own fascinatingly unique adaption of the premises of Tomodachi Collection and Tomodachi Life for vertical screens. As long as the newer graphics that debuted in Animal Crossing: New Leaf [2], such as more realistic trees are present and it is very easy to control the town’s hero or heroine on a modern mobile device, then the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is sure to blend in this generation’s expectations of refreshing rehashes from the past as it seems to be fitted into a vertical screen very well [20] [21].

There seems to be enough room within the vertical screen for all of the charming aspects of the series [20] [21].

Quite similar to how the protagonist needs to design happy homes for the animals in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp establishes a goal that involves creating a luxurious and colourful campsite for the animals to hang out and unwind [18] [20] [21]. Materials for furniture can be earned by completing requests for the protagonist’s allies, which would be a fairly exceptional challenge for those who are experienced in games that feature requests from supporting characters, such as The Sims Social [23]. Once the player has enough material for a certain type of furniture, they will be able to order it from Cyrus, the talented blue alpaca. Afterwards, they can place the new furniture in any place within the campsite [18] [20]. Apart from arranging the furniture, it would be pretty funny if the player can make the protagonist or any of the satisfied guests fly around the camp with the mighty power of touchscreen technology, quite like how it was possible to do in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer [16]. With the next chapter of Animal Crossing for mobile devices in the player’s hand, will the protagonist campsite become the most reliable campsite manager the animals have ever known?

Thank you, Cyrus. I am sure that you're going to show that sim from 2007 how it's done [9] [21]. 

Outside the main objective of constructing a campsite, the player’s protagonist can increase the levels of friendship between the animals [18] [20] [21], similar to how friendships between characters can be enhanced in MySims [9] [13]. Each friendship will evolve as the player chats to them or completes requests for them. So far, the aspects of evolving friendships and taking requests reek of MySims from ten years ago. The sign of an increasing friendship seems a lot more visual, thanks to the small thought bubble that appears by each animal [18] [20] [21]. Even though Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer was an enjoyable spin-off for the Nintendo 3DS, the relationships between the protagonist and the animals were reduced to just a hard-working employee and grateful clients [16]. The more believable and proper friendship building in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is quite new when it comes to the relationships between the protagonist and the animals [18], which is a sign that the series’ legacy in the upcoming app can keep the series’ legacy fresh.

Goldie receiving an apple from a red-nosed heroine [21]. 

Once again, the player’s protagonist can harvest tasty fruit, go fishing with a trusty fishing rod and catch insects with a net [20]. The miracles of nature can be traded for bells and materials from the animals. During the times of the protagonist’s occupation as a fully trained designer in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer, the experience was heavily focused interior and exterior designing for private properties and fancy facilities and did not feature the actual experiences of fishing and bug catching at all [16]. In addition to the heavy focus on designing happy homes and very little challenge, being given only new household items for the clients and new clothes for the protagonist to wear after the main town has been completed might not have seemed rewarding enough to some animal crossers [16]. Perhaps collecting certain types of fish and insects and giving them to animals in order to get some bells and materials can make up for the bigger aspects of challenge and feeling of being rewarded that Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer lacked [16].

So, you tap the screen, presumably on the butterfly to capture it. Sounds legitimate for a modern mobile app. [20]  

It turns out that the new land in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp will have the following environments and facilities:

•    The campsite
•    A tranquil seashore
•    A lovely tropical island
•    A simple, yet peaceful forest
•    A stunning river
•    A practical construction site
•    An interesting marketplace
•    A camper customization company

The player can travel to any one of the areas in their camper. Who can resist strolling along a splendid seashore? And who can resist gathering coconuts from the palm trees on the tropical island? It would be awesome to find some gold nuggets and silver nuggets at the construction site. The camper customization company introduces us to a trio of penguins who are willing to give the camper a paint job [18] [20]. Perhaps they are Nintendo’s answer to Dreamworks Animations' Penguins of Madagascar. It would be a great idea if the player was able to name all of the areas in a future update, like how they were able to decide the name of their town in the main Animal Crossing games. 

Looking at all eight locations, some fellow animal crossers may wonder what will the ninth location be in a future update [20]. 

Ten hut! [20]

Soon, the player will have enough bells for some cool new stuff. It would be nice to meet the Able sisters and Tom Nook's adorable former employees in their own campers in the marketplace [18] [20]. And don't forget Kicks, the skunk who shined shoes in the city [18] [20]. You can buy other household items from the twins, clothes from the hedgehogs and new shoes from Kicks’ camper for bells. It sure would be quite bland to wear the same red blazer and yellow necktie/bow tie from Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer every single day [16]. It is fun to shop for new clothes for the hero or heroine and household items that Cyrus may not be able to craft, but if the player would like a second-floor extension in their camper, they are going to have to pay for a loan for it [20]. Here we go again with the whole mortgage thing. That’s real life for you. Well, at least it is another example of how the premise of Animal Crossing can be somehow challenging.

Oh great. A loan. It's paying for your house in the main Animal Crossing series all over again [20].

Of course, let’s not forget about customization about the protagonist’s duties. As well as choosing to wear any of the clothing items that were bought from Kicks and the Able sisters' campers [18] [20]. The player can still freely customize the protagonist's features, such as eye colour, hair colour, and skin tone. The free customization of the protagonist's genetics is just like how the protagonist can be freely customized in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer to make the experience on their mobile device seem truly theirs [16] [20]. Isn’t it fantastic how the interior camper can also be customized as well? It can have its own wallpaper, flooring, and furniture. It sure is nice to see the hero or heroine live in her own little place again, which was not shown in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer.

Even though choosing for hairstyle or colour for free is awesome, it is a shame that Shampoodle might go out of business [20].

Aside from bells, Leaf Tickets are the premium currency in Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp [18] [20]. They can be used to make up for not having enough materials for furniture or speeding up the progress of Cyrus’ furniture building. The protagonist can use a big throw net to capture more than one fish and a jar of honey can also be used to attract more insects [18] [20]. Unfortunately, the two new tools can only be gained by buying them with a certain amount of Leaf Tickets. Fair enough. Bells and Leaf Tickets will be earned as the player increases levels of friendships, making the whole experience seem rather rewarding.  Along with other items, they will be also earned from accomplishing other goals in the game. The Leaf Tickets follow the trend of premium currency that is present in other mobile apps, such as the stars in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood [11] [12] and the donuts in The Simpsons: Tapped Out [10] [22], making Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp seem like quite a unique instalment in the overall Animal Crossing series. Lastly, Leaf Tickets can be purchased through microtransactions with real currency [20]. Welcome to the current generation of mobile gaming.

Really, Mr. Nook? Please be aware that kids might be playing the upcoming app too [8].

The hero or heroine of the campsite can visit other campsites [20] [21]. The player can link the game to their Facebook and Twitter accounts to increase the chance of their popularity outside of their campsite manager duties steadily growing. The player can trade insects, fish or fruit for a certain amount of bells with another campsite manager or discover another unique campsite to perhaps talk to other animals at any time once a friend request has been accepted. Animal crossers can also privately send their player ID numbers to those who they know in real life and have also downloaded Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp [18] [20]. Hopefully each animal crossing’s player ID within the game will only to revealed to them on their own mobile devices, just in case. This feature will be sure to bring back memories of hanging out with other animal crossers during the Wii and DS days, thanks to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection [4]. 

Howdy fellow campsite manager! [20]

Alas, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. We knew you well. [4]

Once again, there will be seasonal offers through updates, such as festive outfits and exclusive furniture that will be available for quite a limited period of time [18] [20]. It would be lovely to listen to K.K. Slider perform one of his songs on his guitar by the campfire for a future update. Since apps of many genres are known to automatically save data on the player’s device, there is no need for a save button, so that the player will maintain their wonderful friendships with the animals and that the camp can still have all of the furniture that has been crafted and ordered. Additionally, the player will still have all of the outfits and furniture that were only available from the season events. Thank Serena the Fountain Goddess for the very high possibility of not having to be confronted by Mr. Sonny Resetti again! However, you may need to promise him that you will not ever delete the app from your device…or take a sip of his coffee with no sugar or a single drop of milk without his consent [7].

Once again, the chapter of Animal Crossing can be played in real time [20].

Heeeeeeere's Resetti!!! [7]

The idea of bringing the wonderfully wild world of Animal Crossing to iOS and Android devices seems like a highly respectable idea for both the Animal Crossing fanbase and a fair majority of easy-going mobile gamers. The premise of playing the role of a camping site manager rather than the mayor seems like a decent way to make the upcoming spinoff quite refreshing [18]. As long as the upcoming application remains faithful to what made the Animal Crossing series notable, it can prove that Nintendo still has the hang of bringing their blessed intellectual properties to iOS and Android devices for the current generation of gaming. Besides, Super Mario Run’s dedication to bringing the modern Mario platforming legacy to mobile devices has been outstanding ever since December 2016 [17]. Maybe about two or three years later, there will another chapter of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps it could include the option to dive down into a certain area of the sea to visit an underwater village of meranimals as a mermaid or merboy, which may take Animal Crossing: New Leaf to the next level [14]. But for this year, we look forward to packing our bags, loading our campers and heading off for a lovely experience of being in charge of a remarkable camping trip.

We'll see you at the Pocket Camp! [24]

References

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