Could Pocket Camping Still Enhance The Current Era of Animal Crossing?

The calmly casual and socially stimulating world of Animal Crossing made it to modern mobile devices in Australia in October 2017, then worldwide in November 2017 [14]. Special events occurred, including the Winter Sports and Rover’s Garden Safari events for our fellow animal crossers and Nintendo nerds to further enhance the app’s legacy and loyalty to what made Animal Crossing suitable for any occasion. The way how special furniture and clothing items that were only available during the special events can be crafted with seasonal craft materials, such as snowflakes and countdown charms was another way of how the app began following the tradition of seasonal offers from other apps, including High School Story, Miitomo and The Simpsons: Tapped Out [2] [6] [11] [15] [17]. With the first anniversary of the ambitious Nintendo Switch on its way, are a fraction of those within the Nintendo demographic still working hard on their campsites for anthropomorphic animals?

The app's title screen can be changed, depending on the season in real time. [14]

A new flower garden right by the campsite debuted in December 2017, pleasantly surprising many fellow animal crossers [3] [12]. Dahlias and rare butterflies were exclusively for the two-part event with Rover in January [5]. Gothic roses and surprisingly harmless bats were a dark, but elegant enchantment for the beginning of February 2018, along with Lottie from Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer in a fabulous gothic dress [4]. The new feature of welcoming rarer creatures and new types of flowers expands on the app’s individuality from the Animal Crossing series in a rather interesting way. Those who enjoyed breeding flowers in Wild World, City Folk and New Leaf would be pleased with the efficient way of gathering seeds for flower hybrids [10]. Let us hope that Lottie will enjoy her next vacation [4]. Does anyone else miss the blue cosmos from Doubutsu no Mori e+ [10]?

Lottie on her gothic vacation. Perhaps she is getting tired of wearing the same red blazer and yellow necktie everyday. [13] [14]

Not only can the flowers be used for cross-pollination after they have been harvested, but they can be gathered by the player for receiving special items. The types of items that can be received in exchange for a certain amount of tulips or pansies are:

• Potted tulips or pansies
• Adorable floral polar teddy bears
• Nice floral minitables
• Funky floral fences
• Splendid floral T-shirts
• Classy floral chairs
• Terrific topiaries

Rover’s Garden Safari and Lottie’s Garden Rose Festival featured a list of items that can be traded for seasonal flowers for a rather limited-time only [4] [5], which would have further increased some players’ determination of growing and harvesting as many flowers as they can. It is to carry on trying to receive any of the rarer seeds since the result of cross-pollinating is certainly uncertain [3] [10]. The way how the player can receive lovely new items for their campsite, camper or manager just by harvesting lovely flowers is yet another way of making a form of effort eventually rewarding, thus making the app stay relevant for our fellow animal crossers and mobile gamers.

A red-nosed heroine cross-pollinating to get some pansy seeds [14]

The pattern on the prize depends on the colour of the tulips or pansies. [14]

Each differently coloured group of tulips and pansies will take about three or four hours to bloom, but the growth of any of them will take less time when the player gives them some flower food [3]. This is quite similar to how the fertilizer for a fruit tree would make fruit grow, except that just one pack will not immediately complete the growth. A pack of the standard flower food will speed up the growth time by thirty minutes [3]. Alternatively, Lloid will offer the player some of him homemade fertilizer that will decrease the growth time by a whole hour [3]. However, it would be best to just stick to the traditional flower food if the player prefers to save plenty of Leaf Tickets for another aspect in the app, such as the option to receive an item the Cyrus construction right away. Aside from his homemade fertilizer costing Leaf Tickets, who would have known that Lloid would be a great gardening assistant?

Lloid as a gardening assistant [14].

Our fellow campsite managers can visit their friends’ gardens [3] [14]. As long as another manager is on the friend list, the player can help water soon-to-be flowers to help them grow. Watering poor crops and sharing rare creatures will result in earning bags of friend powder. What are friends for? As for captured rare creatures, there is an option to allow one to settle in a bunch of fully grown flowers in a friend’s garden, which would have helped that friend accomplish their goals during the two-part events with Rover and Lottie [4] [5]. Additionally, the fact that sharing rare creatures with other campsite managers does not decrease the number of rare creatures captured and required for earning exclusive items makes both getting the desired seasonal items for the player’s own data and earning more friend powder by being generous equally efficient, which provides fairness for all players of the app. It is sweet how campsite managers can even reward each other for watering plants and sharing rare creatures [3].

Sharing rare creatures [14].

As the weeks of socialising and hard work go by, another way to keep the animal crossers motivated into levelling up would be welcoming some more of the quirky animal characters from the previous Animal Crossing titles. Additionally, two new essences have arrived, thanks to some of the newcomers’ interests. The rustic essence and tent showed up in late December 2017, along with the animals who are very into rustic things, which was a sign that more essences and tents shall be available in future updates [12]. Then, the hip tent awaited the animals who adore hip furniture in January 2018 [12]. As long as small groups of the animals arrive about every single month or two, it can greatly reduce the chance of the pocket camping experience from becoming quite stale. Ultimately, over three hundred and twenty animals have played the roles of other villagers in the main Animal Crossing series and Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp would last for a very long time if the amount of different species as campers steadily increases, along with the essences for the other themes for new tents and amenities.

An example of the rustic theme being the favourite theme of one of the newcomers [14].

An example of the hip theme being the favourite theme of one of the newcomers [14].

Many animal crossers who still adore the app could carry on making money for crafting new furniture and inviting more animals to their campsites. Aside from whole new furniture making their way into the craft catalog, it turns out that the way to get an item in different colours is to craft the basic item first, then craft the version of it with different colours while the basic version is in the items section. Oddly enough, the alternate version of an item, such as the Kiddie Bed and the Lovely Armoire would cost more bells than the basic version. A much more preferable way of getting furniture in different colours would be just simply being able to manually change a furniture item’s colour, like in Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer [13]. It would be a very efficient method for many of our fellow campsite managers and would not cost a bell. But as for the tents, don’t forget to save at least three thousand bells for upgrading one to Level 3 in order for friendship levels to further increase.

The Lovely Armoire on the right is an alternate version of the Lovely Armoire on the left, so it apparently costs more bells. [14]

Why couldn't we just simply choose the colour of the furniture after it has been crafted? [14]

The option to order crafted clothing from the Able sisters has finally arrived. Unfortunately, the option to freely design the colours and patterns of clothing in the way an animal crosser can create pro designs in the main Animal Crossing instalments is still completely absent. Instead, new clothing items are arranged in a catalog that is similar to the furniture catalog. Aside from many clothing items from Mabel, the diligent red-nosed wonder can order shoes from Kicks and accessories from Labelle. As quite disappointing as the outcome of the option to craft clothing items is, it can at least give Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp a little more individuality. Besides, there could be more clothing items, such as dresses and glasses to order from Mabel later in 2018. However, there should still be at least plenty of clothing items that can only be sold in the Market Place, so that the Market Place will not lose its purpose of being an ideal location. The craft catalog for clothing items ultimately seems like a decent alternate way of receiving more attire to express style through fashion.

The list of clothing items that can be crafted by Mabel, Labelle and Kicks [14].

Ordering some shoes from Kicks [14].

It seems highly likely that it would still be worth camping with anthropomorphic allies on an iOS or Android device in the current era of Nintendo. However, some fellow animal crossers may prefer sticking to being a marvellous mayor in Animal Crossing: New Leaf, the precious Nintendo 3DS gem that started the current era of Animal Crossing and that is absolutely fine [8]. After all, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp is just a free-to-play spin-off for a platform beyond the Nintendo 3DS [9] [14]. More content and features for Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp in the future of Nintendo, including the gameplay mechanic that will be located at OK Motors and delightful option to freely dress up visitors of the campsite can be around during the beginning of a new era of Animal Crossing for the Nintendo Switch [1], as long as the admirable app will not end up being shut down, unlike how Miitomo will sadly and officially be put to rest in May 2018 [15].
  

Perhaps in another update, the red-nosed wonder and a new friend can make lily crowns [14].

References

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3.    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Wiki. (2017). Gardening. Available: https://animalcrossingpocketcamp.gamepedia.com/Gardening. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018.

4.    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Wiki. (2018). Lottie's Gothic Rose Festival. Available: https://animalcrossingpocketcamp.gamepedia.com/Lottie%27s_Gothic_Rose_Festival. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018.

5.    Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Wiki. (2018). Rover's Garden Safari. Available: https://animalcrossingpocketcamp.gamepedia.com/Rover%27s_Garden_Safari. Last accessed 6th Feb 2018.

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9.    Animal Crossing Wiki. (2017). Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Available: http://animalcrossing.wikia.com/wiki/Animal_Crossing:_Pocket_Camp. Last accessed 10th Feb 2018.

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11. Electronic Arts. (2012). The Simpsons: Tapped Out. California. United States.

12. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (2017). Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. Available: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/animal-crossing-pocket-camp/id1179915619?mt=8. Last accessed 30th Jan 2018.

13. Nintendo. (2015). Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer. iOS. Kyoto. Japan.

14. Nintendo. (2017). Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. iOS. Kyoto. Japan.

15. Nintendo. (2016). Miitomo. iOS. Kyoto. Japan.

16. Nookipedia. (2018). Flower. Available: https://nookipedia.com/wiki/Flower. Last accessed 30th Jan 2018.

17. Pixelberry Studios. (2013). High School Story. iOS. California. United States.