Godville

Godville is a mobile and desktop browser zero-player role-playing video game developed by Mikhail Platov and released on July 18, 2010. In the game, the player controls a character known as the god, who interacts with a character called the hero. The hero progresses in the video game without interaction with the player's god character. Reception to the game was positive, with the focus on its gameplay.

Godville
Developer(s)Mikhail Platov 
Platform(s)Android
iOS
web browser
Windows Phone 
ReleaseJuly 18, 2010
Genre(s)God game 
Mode(s)Zero-player 

Gameplay

Godville is a zero-player game, which means it does not require interaction from the player for the game to progress.[1] In the game, there is the hero-character, who is a non-player character, and there is the god-character, who is played by the player.[2] The hero is a religious fanatic who uses a diary to communicate with the god, and occasionally needs a sign of the god's existence;[2] the player uses the god-character to influence the hero positively or negatively using rewards and punishments, and sometimes direct communication.[1][3]

The game is also a role-playing game, meaning the hero will wander his world, defeat monsters, find and use treasure and items, and sometimes lose to monsters and unfriendly non-player characters.[1][4] The player names the hero.[4] Over time, the hero levels up and learns special skills, and has his own personality as a result of his adventuring,[1] as well as his interaction with the god.[5] The game provides some items with enhanced abilities which the hero can use only with the god's involvement; the hero will sell these items even if they do "have some marvelous effect".[5] The hero can also have a pet companion.[6]

The game allows some limited player-vs-player interaction: the god can have the hero duel other heroes.[5] The hero who wins takes some coins from the losing hero as well some of his items.[5] The god can somewhat influence these duels, but sometimes the god's attempt aids the opposing god's hero instead of his own.[7]

The game has day and night themes.[6] After a period of time playing the game, the game enables the player to review the most-important events the hero has participated in since the last time the player checked the game.[6]

The Russian version of the game in 2010, which was entirely in a web browser, had no graphics or sound.[7]

Development and release

Mikhail Platov developed the video game as "a clear progeny of Progress Quest".[4] A beta version of the game was announced in May 2010.[8] The game was released for iPhone and iPod in July 2010 and shortly after for iPad;[6][9] Android in March 2011 and for web browser a month later;[10][11] Windows Phone in July 2013;[12] and Apple Watch in 2015.[13]

The game is free-to-play and connected to the Internet.[2] Once their characters reach level 10, players can suggest updates to the game, which are then voted upon by the community of players for subsequent inclusion.[5][4]

Themes

The game satirizes religion,[3][4] the role-playing game genre,[4][5][14] the massively-multiplayer online game genre,[15] and video games in general.[4][7] Occasionally, the hero will be philosophical.[16]

Reception

On release, Eli Hodapp, editor-in-chief of TouchArcade, said that the game "sounds a little stupid" but that "it's surprisingly amusing without needing to actually do anything at all".[1] Jim Sterling, writing for Destructoid, called Godville "a fun, funny, incredibly clever little game";[3] he later added in GamesRadar that it was "one of the most compelling, engaging, and addictive little bits of software out there".[2] In 2012, Edge Online called the game "darkly rewarding in its meaningless levelling and incessant battles even before you take into account the smart writing", and was similarly addicted to "the promises of numbers that get larger and larger over time".[4] In 2014, The New York Times said the game "has a wickedly funny side, and it will light up your imagination."[17]

Hodapp said that the original adventures the character went on were repetitive, but that the developers had implemented a number of excellent community suggestions within the first month.[5] The lack of control over the hero was appealing to Hodapp.[5] He originally thought the game was novel and didn't expect it to last, but was surprised that he was still interested in the game years later, and likens checking the game to checking his email or Twitter feed.[5][18]

NDTV compared the game favorably to Godus, another video game in the genre.[14] Reviewers approved of the game on mobile platforms, including iPod Touch,[19] iPhone,[19][20] Apple Watch,[13] and Android.[15] It was also included in Mashable's "11 Facebook Games You're Embarrassed to Admit You Play" list.[21]

See also

References
  1. Hodapp, Eli (July 22, 2010). "'Godville' Review – The Best Game I've Ever Played With Absolutely No Gameplay". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  2. Sterling, Jim (August 21, 2010). "iPhone game of the day: Godville". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  3. Sterling, Jim (July 22, 2010). "Free App of the Day: Godville". Destructoid. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  4. Donlan, Chris (August 27, 2010). "The Friday Game: EpicWin and Godville". Features. Edge Online. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012.
  5. Hodapp, Eli (August 31, 2010). "'Godville' A Month Later – Still The Best Game I Don't Play". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  6. Hodapp, Eli (August 5, 2011). "'Godville' Updated With All Sorts of Goodies". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  7. Белый, Антон (September 1, 2014). Игры, которым не нужен игрок. Igromania. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017.
  8. "Greetings!". GodvilleGame. May 10, 2010. Archived from the original on April 21, 2017.
  9. "Godville goes mobile". GodvilleGame. July 18, 2010. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.
  10. "Godville on Android". GodvilleGame. March 17, 2011. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.
  11. "Opened to Friends". GodvilleGame. April 22, 2011. Archived from the original on April 17, 2015.
  12. "Windows Phone 8 App". GodvilleGame. July 12, 2013. Archived from the original on April 15, 2015.
  13. Nelson, Jared (June 23, 2015). "Oh Glorious Day, Exalted One! 'Godville' Finally Comes to the Apple Watch". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 14, 2016.
  14. Sathe, Gopal (August 12, 2014). "Wanna Play God? Skip Godus and Check Out These Games Instead". Apps Features. NDTV. Archived from the original on August 14, 2014.
  15. Zhang, Sarah (February 26, 2015). "10 Addictive Games For Killing Time on Your Phone". Gizmodo. Archived from the original on February 27, 2015.
  16. Дмитриева, Светлана (January 21, 2014). Самые странные компьютерные игры. Games. games@mail.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on January 27, 2014.
  17. Eaton, Kit (October 8, 2014). "With Mobile 'God Games,' Unleash Your Inner Benevolent Creator — or Wrathful Deity". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 6, 2016.
  18. Hodapp, Eli (April 8, 2014). "'Godville' is the Only iOS Game I've Played For Nearly Four Years Straight". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016.
  19. Hodapp, Eli (December 24, 2010). "Best iPod Touch and iPhone Games: 2010 Buyer's Guide". TouchArcade. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  20. Sterling, Jim (January 4, 2011). "Ten iPhone games you really should play". Destructoid. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016.
  21. Casti, Taylor (October 29, 2013). "11 Facebook Games You're Embarrassed to Admit You Play". Mashable. Archived from the original on November 1, 2013.

Further reading

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