Game update 14/05/14

Spring is going nowhere! There's another Spring themed update on the go, with a hint at a wedding!

Notification for latest Spring update

Here's the array of new stuff available:

Tables:

• Spring Lace Table - 31,000 coins

Chairs:

• Spring Flower Table - 14,000 coins

Wall decorations:

• Flower Portrait - 15,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Wedding Caterers - 26 gems
• Spring Wedding - 41 gems

Wallpapers:

• Floral Stripes - 3 gems

Counters:

• Spring Lace Counter - 6 gems

In addition, there's a new recipe on the Basic Oven - recipe ratings are on the way! The update doesn't seem to have landed on Android as of yet, so keep your eyes peeled for a new edition to download in the coming days.

Update: A Newlyweds edition is now available on Google Play!

When I first viewed the new content, I was growing increasingly delighted at the coin items, only to find that the latter items are all for gems. In the end its a healthy mixture of both, although the two quality floor decorations are among those for gems.

And it's the 41 gem headliner we start with. The Spring Wedding is mighty expensive, but is a good piece:

Preview of Spring Wedding

It's a couple on their wedding day in a flowery surrounding. A cute item which would work in a garden area and as a seasonal decoration for Valentine's Day. However it is only 3x3 in size, and with a number of large outdoor items already on my books, I'm passing on this one.

The other floor decoration is the Wedding Caterers. Here's a preview of it:

Preview of Wedding Caterers

I really like this item. It is something you'd actually have a chance of seeing in a real restaurant - a waiter and waitress manning a table with several delicacies. After making some space, this would be a very rare addition to my main posh section, but the white tablecloth and flowery finish stops me from parting with the gems as it would still look out of place.

On to the rest of the new stuff. The other gem things are the Floral Stripes wallpaper and Spring Lace Counter. The wallpaper looks nice without being spectacular - there are plenty of recent flowery wallpapers which are cheaper and have more substance. Meanwhile the counter is so light it hurts my eyes! In all seriousness is also looks good, but its 6 gem price tag is a sticking point.

The coin items are a mixed bag. The Spring Lace Table is a perfect partner for the new counter, but I can't help but feel there's some kind of error in the design. If you look at it really closely, the part of the patterned blue cloth which is draped over the side of the table has strange orange colours on the holes making the pattern. These don't appear on the part of the blue cloth on top of the table. I should really stay zoomed out!

 Spring 2014

 16/04/14 April Showers

 02/04/14 Goals update

 26/03/14 Initial update

The Spring Flower Chair is quite nice. Nothing too complicated - it's just a wooden chair with some flowers hanging on the back. But it's well executed and well worth considering.

Finally the Flower Portrait is downright strange. It seems to be a picture frame crammed with a variety of flowers. But shouldn't the flowers be arranged in such a way to resemble a person, hence the portrait in the title? Instead it looks like nothing I've ever seen before and won't be appearing in The Garlic Tree any time soon.

Looking at the bigger picture, it is pleasing to get a non-goals update which is available to most players - the content is all unlocked at level 9, so is very accessible. This explains why the coin items are relatively cheap compared to some of the recent coin additions.

We're almost done, but first there's a recipe to consider:

New recipe on Basic Oven

Available on the Basic Oven, the Wedding Cake is an 8 hour dish. Applying my recipe ratings, it isn't the cake I'll be having at my wedding:

Wedding Cake
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
5	2	4	10	10	4.7

The Wedding Cake flops on each of the three main factors, with its XP gain particularly poor. The only redeeming feature is the availability - being unlocked at level 9 means it's quickly accessible. For reference, this cake has almost identical numbers to the Pecan Tassies (Autumn Oven) and Snowflake Cocoa (Cocoa Maker), both of which were goal recipes, and we know how poor the goal recipes are!

But don't let the duff dish get you down! Spring continues to provide some lovely new content, with there now an abundance of ways to design your perfect outdoor theme. I just wonder how long it could be before the game's developers move in the direction of summery updates...