Urbaniacs
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| Urbaniacs | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Developer(s) | Urbaniacs Inc. |
| Publisher(s) | Urbaniacs Inc. |
| Engine | Flash |
| Release date(s) | May 5th, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | PBBG |
| Mode(s) | |
| Platform(s) | Operating System Independent (Web-Based) |
| Media | Web interface |
| System requirements | Graphical Internet Browser, Flash 7 |
| Input | Keyboard, Mouse |
Urbaniacs is a Flash based Social Game developed by Josh Fisher and Barry Collier. With over sixty-nine thousand "residents," Urbaniacs is constantly rated highly on sites such as Newgrounds.com. Urbaniacs is a completely free online game, which offers content that is designed to be accessible from any location with an Internet connection and to run in an ordinary web browser without straining system resources.
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Urbaniacs takes place in the imaginary city of Urbanville, the backstory focusing on a growing conflict between Ira B. DaMan "Mayor DaMan" (or I.B. DaMan for those who want something to laugh at), the Mayor of Urbanville and his arch-nemesis GoatFist.
Regarding Urbaniacs, founder Josh Fisher stated, "Urbaniacs is a casual gaming social community. It's not a MMORPG...We have a lot of casual gaming elements, role playing elements, but also have a tremendously loyal, family-friendly community that has been extremely supportive of the site."[1]
Elements of Urbaniacs include Avatar creation, progressive levelling, Player versus Player and Player versus Environment (NPC) combat, casual gaming, an in-game economy, and much more. Urbaniacs also boasts a working community that has both casual communication and close knit friendships. [2]
Urbaniacs is also one of the most developed games classified as a Persistent Browser-Based Game, or PBBG. Other games in this catagory include well known games such as Neopets, and more obscure games, such as Shields-Up.
Constantly being updated, Urbaniacs relies heavily on community input for updates, the developers constantly reading through the forums under various Avatars.
[edit] Character Creation
When first starting Urbaniacs, players create a custom character from body pieces (Head, Body, Feet) of Signature Urbaniacs. For example, a player may choose to take the Head from Blast-Off Rocket Captain, the body from Tricky Kicky Chick, and the feet from Super Speedy Dude, and their character would have the designation "Blast-Off Kicky Dude" added to their character.
Each body part corresponds to a specific super power, a player choosing any body part from Moocho Macho Hombre would gain access to the super power Evil Eye, while a player choosing a part from Afro-liscious Funk Daddy would gain access to Boogie Finger.
After character creation, a player can later change the character's body by purchasing additional pieces at Lunar's Body Shop or at the Pawn Shop with Urbos (in-game currency). Soon the site will offer a Swap Meet where members will be able to swap body parts, urbos, food items, etc. with one another. [3]
[edit] List of Characters and Powers:
- Moocho Macho Hombre-Evil Eye
- Afro-liscious Funk Daddy-Boogie finger
- Sassy Jungle Kitty-Jungle Rave
- Tricky Kicky Chick-Multiplicity
- Blast-Off Rocket Captain-Super Duper Might
- Terrible Erratic Bloke-Ice Scream
- Mighty Cowboy Guy-Trigger Thumbs
- Lunar Moonbeam Princess-Space Out
- Striking Viking Vixen-Rip Tide
- Elephantic Gigantic Vigilantic-Uber-Stank
- Super Speedy Dude-Warp Drive
- Freaky Sneaky Tiki-Tribal Storm[4]
[edit] Dispositions
Since Urbaniacs is a Superhero based site, players must choose their side. The most common choice is between the classic Hero versus Villain, but Urbaniacs also provides a choice between Vigilantes, Beatniks, and Nomads. Each of these dispositions have access to separate forums, where they strategise, divide into disposition specific "Crews," (Urbaniacs version of MMORPG Guilds), and interact with members of the same disposition. While there are many of crews, the three main crews are the heroic H.U.S.T.L.E. Alliance, the mysterious M.U.R.K., and the villainous The Family. Players are free to make crews in the "Crews" forum, but leading a crew often requires an amount of experience first.
[edit] The Family
The Family[5] is the established Villain's group on the site. Lead by the site's ultimate Villain, Goatfist, these members spend their days causing mayhem and doing it with a sneer on their faces and malice in their hearts. They are also credited with being the oldest group on the site.
[edit] The Hustle Alliance
The Hustle Alliance[6] (or the H.A.) is a group designed to thwart The Family's attempt of domination. Lead by Mayor_DaMan, this group lays the smack down on the Villains with a smile on their faces and goodness in their hearts.
[edit] M.U.R.K.
Mercenary Urbaniacs for Reinforcing Kombat[7] is the most developed Vigilante group, and is known for accepting jobs from groups and independent Urbaniacs and passing them out to their members.
[edit] In-Game Advancement
Advancement in Urbaniacs is handled quite differently than in most games. While Role-Playing games rely on XP points to advance, and Adventure Games rely on level completion, Urbaniacs uses a system called "Training" to increase a character's abilities.
Every day, players can access the "Training Room" five times, each time randomly increasing one of their abilities, (Might, Mojo, Health, Defense. Super Power) by a random amount from 1 to 5. Also, a player can be attacked by NPCs in Assaults, which sometimes award Training Passes that increase a stat by a set amount. Training passes can increase a player's stats by +5, +10, +25, and +50. The +25 and +50 passes are only given out during contests held by members or the Mayor on the site.
The game also has a high emphasis on a social environment. To verify ranking socially, there is a prop/diss system, in which any player can prop or diss other players, although only at a certain frequency. 100 props earns the right to battle, 5000 earns the right to a certain forum. [8] [9]
Players also play various mini games to earn "Urbos" used to purchace items at various in-game stores, many of those items increasing one or more ability.
[edit] Gaming
Urbaniacs is a a site that hosts many entertaining mini-games. These are played to earn urbos and gain "skillz" recognition on the site.
[edit] Battles
Battles are where the stats, gear, powers, and training pay off. These battles are either PvP or PvE (NPC assaults). Each side can have up to four members. All battles are turn-based, in which a player either attacks with a weapon or superpower, defends, or uses an item. A player's strength, health, defense, and mojo are all determined by the training the Urbaniac has had and by what gear thee character currently has equipped. Once a character's health reaches 0, they are out of the battle. Prizes for winning PvP battles depend on wagers placed by the palyers, and PvC battles reward with set amounts of urbos, and occasionally a training pass.
Another function of the battles is sidekick usage. Sidekicks can be bought with urbos or won in contests set by the Development Team, and assist in battle.
A chat system involves the social aspects in battles as well. A player can either "Shout" to everyone playing, or "Whisper" to their own team.
[edit] Arena Games
Arena Games are the Urbaniac mini-games from which players earn the majority of their urbos. There is a urbos-per-day limit, normally between 2000 and 3000, although some are higher. There are many games, from a "Snake"-like "Beatbot Boogie", to guessing games such as "Which Way is Up?" or card games like "S'Up Solitaire." Games are added from time to time, and plenty more are guaranteed.
[edit] Challenges
The "Challenges" feature of Urbaniacs allows players to compete in Arena Games. They preset a time limit, and wager, then player comptete for the highest score. This feature is also used in contests such as the "Urbolympics".
[edit] Social Interaction
Urbaniacs hosts a highly active social environment. Although stats are an important part of the game, emphasis on social roles is very high. All players do their best make the site highly inviting to anyone, child or adult.
It is easy to meet people on urbaniacs, hardly anyone is overlooked. A "Homeys List" shows who a player has added as their friends, but only if they accept the invitation.
[edit] Props and Disses
Anyone on Urbaniacs can either Prop or Diss anyone else on the site. The more props a player has, the more they can give. This gives people an idea of popularity and respect. Fortunately for the players, disses are not often given out, and a player who disses people for fun (Urbaniacs' version of griefers) will be dissed themselves, thus restricting the griefer's dissing abilities.
In addition to being a social rating, Props are used to unlock features of the site. When a player has earned 100 props, they have access to battles, or PvP combat. When a player earns 5000 props, they are granted access to the "Big Dogs" forum, where players who have played Urbaniacs for a long time socialize.[9]
[edit] Funky or Junky
Each character has a "Funky or Junky" rating that is completely separate from their Prop rating. While players know who props or disses them, the Funky or Junky rating is done anonymously. This has led to the rise of a "Secret Junky Squad" which attempts to lower the "Funky" rating of long-time players, or "Big Dogs."
[edit] Forums
One of Urbaniacs social assets is its forums. These are constantly updated with a variety of discussions, games, and contests. New players, or "Newbies" are encouraged to read the guides in the "Newbie's Forum" to understand the posting rules before they post in other forums, or they run the risk of getting dissed for breaking the rules.
The forums are divided into sections. These subjects vary from a "Lounge" made for just about anything, to a "SPAM Forum" for those who want to spam the site, to "Sports," where players talk about any of the current sports topics. Once 5000 props have been received, players can also enter the "Big Dogs" forum, designated for serious Urbaniacs players. [9]
Urbaniacs also features journalism, and involves the players by permitting them to submit articles for the virtual newspaper, "The Chronicles". [10]
A gallery in Urbaniacs allows players to show off their artwork. This work is rated, and there are occasionally art contests. Winners win prizes including training passes and urbos.
Frequently, members of Urbaniacs get together to write stories and play Player created Urbaniacs themed Freeform RPGs. These stories and games are located in the role playing forums. One example of a current story is "The Real World Urbanville." [11]
[edit] Contests
Contests also have an interesting role in Urbaniacs. From time to time, someone will host a contest, such as "Rap Battles" or "Urbolympics". These contests usually have prizes which feature urbos or training passes.
[edit] Music
Another way players can show off to the Urbaniac community is with their music. An application called the "Beat Blaster" allows players to mix certain "Beats" to make music. You start out with default beats, but there are also ones available in exchange for urbos.
You can also submit your own beats, that have a certain length and size. A player can sell his own created beats for any price he chooses.
When you combine these beats on the Beat Blaster, you have a song or "Track". There is no limit on creating Tracks, and you can sell these as well.
Urbaniacs offers an "Urbo Pod" on which to display your tracks, however you have to pay for a higher track limit. Skins for the Urbo Pod are also able to be purchased, made, or sold. A special forum is set aside for advertising ones beats, tracks, or skins. These features also allow players to unofficially exchange urbos.
[edit] Behind the Scenes
[edit] The Big Three
Working behind the scenes of Urbaniacs are people such as Joshua Fisher (Mayor_DaMan) and Barry Collier(Synjen). Fisher's history includes years of producing various Animation, and his focus on Urbaniacs' Creative Development, coupled with Collier's years as the lead developer at Neopets provides the expertise needed to maintain the Technological integrity provides the needed combination to make Urbaniacs what it has become.[1]
Working with the Urbaniacs co-founders is JenQ, an instrumental part of Urbaniacs. This feisty redhead has been with the site since its launch and worked for a long time as the sole moderator. JenQ still does a lot of work behind the scenes and is currently most well known as the contact for the Urbaniacs who wish to buy "Funky Urbaniacs Stickers" over eBay.
[edit] Beta Testers
Long-time Players with good standing on Urbaniacs have Beta-Tested new developments since near the beginning of the site, but starting on the night of December 31st 2006, Urbaniacs opened up a Beta-Testers Forum, specifically designed for Urbaniacs with 10,000+ "Props" and who had been on the site for 90+ days.
Although this forum has only been used to test the game "DJ Says," it provides both an opportunity for Long-Time Urbaniacs to give back to the site, and a Social Standing for those same players as official Beta Testers.
[edit] References
- ^ IMPORTANT news about our friends Maggot and Lilly. Retrieved on December 15, 2006.
- ^ City Hall (Urbaniacs). Retrieved on December 15, 2006.
- ^ Characters (Urbaniacs). Retrieved on December 18, 2006.
- ^ The Family. The Family's New By-Laws. Retrieved on December 21, 2006.
- ^ The Hustle Alliance. What is a Hero?. Retrieved on December 21, 2006.
- ^ M.U.R.K. M.U.R.K.. Retrieved on December 21, 2006.
- ^ Urbaniacs. Battles - Urbaniacs. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
- ^ a b c Big Dogs Rules and Regulations. Retrieved on December 19, 2006.
- ^ Various Contributors. Urbanville Chronicles.
- ^ Role Playing Stories. The Real World Urbanville.
