Township (video game)

Township is a game that combines city-building and farming.[2] Players are guided through a brief tutorial at the very beginning of the game. The player begins with a starter town and in order to develop it they should harvest crops, run processing facilities and sell goods.[3] The primary currency in the game is T-cash. Besides, the player also earns XP (experience points) and coins for performing different kinds of actions in the game. Coins are used to buy factories, community buildings, decorations and XP points are used to level up. As the player accumulates XP points and goes through levels (in which each level beaten, more XP is needed to level up), more kinds of crops, factories, community buildings, decorations, and "special" buildings become available. A player can spend real money to buy Tcash, as well as coins. There are special things one can build, along with a Helicopter Pad which one can fill orders.

In Township, players can use trains. They fill these trains up with goods and they return some time later with materials you can use to build buildings, expand your territory, and to upgrade your barn's capacity. Once the mine is bought at Level 21, you also get mining tools from the trains. Once you reach Level 5, you unlock your first train, free. Train 2 arrives at Level 14, but with a cost of 1,000 coins. Lastly, the third train arrives at Level 25, with a cost of 14,000 coins.

Once players reach Level 17, players are asked to repair the Airport. This costs 1,500 coins. Once the Airport is repaired, they are then asked to fill up crates, and are rewarded XP and coins. There is the option to ask for help, although you are only allowed to ask 1 time per row. Airplanes will automatically be sent off 15 hours after they open if you do not press the send button. The airplane will open 5 hours after the send button is pressed, or when the airplane is automatically sent off. A new plane will not be opened until the game is opened again. In the 5 hours before the airplane arrives again, there is a box in the right hand corner that allows players preview items that would be needed for the next airplane, intended to allow players to have a headstart.

Once players reach Level 21, they are asked to repair the Mine for 3,000 coins. Once the Mine is built, 1 day and 6 hours later, the mine can be dug using pickaxes, dynamites, and TNT's taken from trains, Zoo orders (see below), chests, the House of Luck, the City Market, and in-app purchases. These tools are used to mine ores, of which there are four of them. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, in which with each one named, the rarity grows. You can use these ores to make ingots at the Foundry. At Level 58, clay is unlocked, in which you can only use pickaxes to mine. In addition to all of those, you can also find Artifacts (which you can use at the Museum and earn cash), gems, a package of coins (usually 50-350 coins), a message in a bottle containing random rewards, cash chests (which cost 3 Tcash to open), and free Treasure Chests. The ore mined is kept in the Warehouse Box, a "barn" in which there is no max capacity and of no relation to the barn outside of the mine.

The Zoo is unlocked at Level 24, costing 5,000 coins to be built. 12 hours later, it is built, and there are orders which players can fill. Players are able to ask for help for 3 orders per day. They are not allowed to ask for help twice on one order. 48 animal families can be made, in which they can be unlocked using animal cards, which can be unlocked in a variety of ways. There are sets that come in different colors, showing the players the rarity of the card. There are 3 sets, Regular (Brown), for Parent Animals. 30 cards are needed to unlock each parent. The next set is Rare (Blue), for Baby Boy Animals. 15 cards are needed to unlock a baby boy. Lastly, there are Epic (Yellow), which are for Baby Girl Animals. 10 cards are needed to unlock a baby girl.

At Level 29, the port is unlocked. This costs 8,000 coins to build and takes 2 days. There are four ships you can get in total, the first one being immediately available, the second one being immediately available, but costing 5,000 coins, (this is if the population is at least 2,050 people). At Level 32, a third ship is unlocked, with a cost of 8,000 coins, (the population must be 2,500 people this time). And lastly, a fourth ship is unlocked at Level 38, with a cost of 25,000 coins and a population of at least 3,500 people.

There are four isles that can be unlocked. Frutus Isle is unlocked immediately, without any cost. Olivia Isle is unlocked at Level 35, costing 11,000 coins. Tropica Isle is unlocked at Level 41, with a cost of 15,000 coins. Lastly, Fisherman's Isle is unlocked at Level 52, costing 45,000 coins. These isles, after a certain amount of time, bring back goods. Ingots (see above), can increase the chances of getting rarer goods, and with at least one ingot, you can unlock a treasure chest, compassing miscellaneous rewards but also certain unique artifacts you can collect at the Museum.

Township encourages interactions between players through the social network Facebook.[4] Keeping in touch with other players allows the player to develop the town faster by using friends’ help. In July 2015, a new update was released, introducing a zoo and the ability to donate to friends' planes and trains.

Another way to interact with others is through co-ops, unlocked at level 19. You also get to participate in regatta races with your co-op to get rewards.

Township is a free-to-play game with many opportunities to pay for expedited construction, materials, decorations, or the game's in-game currency (Tcash). Players that don't have enough T-cash, or want more, can buy some using real money (in-app purchases). As with most "freemium" business models, players may purchase decorations and upgrades for their town, or coins and Township cash in order to buy more of the former.

Township, along with other games by Playrix have been increasingly coming under criticism on the internet for displaying misleading advertisements that depict gameplay that is false and nothing like the game itself.[5] Several Reddit forums are dedicated to this. For instance, many ads for Township depict action gameplay that is completely unlike the app itself. In late-2019 a change.org petition was set up to "Stop false mobile game advertising", that cited Township as a prime example.[6]