Game update: 20/04/16

Hola! We're off for some warm weather this week with a trip to Spain.

Introduction to Spanish goals

And at last we have our April goals, which come with this continental update. Here's a list of all the new content:

Tables:

• Flamenco Table - 12,000 coins

Chairs:

• Flamenco Chair - 8,000 coins

Wall decorations:

• Wrought Iron Sconce - 10,000 coins

Floor decorations:

• Castle Playhouse - 52 gems (LTO)
• Flamenco Dancers - locked by goal
• Wrought Iron Divider - locked by goal
• Spanish Fountain - locked by goal

Wallpapers:

• Spanish Knife Wallpaper - 8,000 coins

Floor tiles:

• Spanish Terracotta - 800 coins

Appliances:

• Spanish Stove - locked by goal
• Spanish Mixer - locked by goal

Counters:

• Spanish Counter - 11,000 coins

What can I say? The Suggestions Box strikes again! Only on Saturday I suggested more updates themed on countries, and chief among my wishes was a 'Spanish siesta'. I'm not sure if there's a siesta to be had here, but it certainly appears that Storm8 and I are singing from the same hymn sheet - is that a good thing?!

Of course it's all very well for the gamemakers to push though an update which is on a topic I approve of, but what of the execution? Well, at a glance I'm pretty pleased - there seems to be a level of sophistication to the additions. Essentially there is a more grown up style going on here, and given how many 'cartoonish' updates we seem to get these days I do appreciate something a little more mature.

But enough of my pretentiousness, let's feast our eyes on the teaser which was posted on the Storm8 Blog yesterday:

Items from update as shown on Storm8 Blog

Here we get a decent view of the three floor decorations introduced in this update, including the eye-catching Spanish Fountain which is presumably the final prize in the goals. With all three of those items locked at the moment, I'll save my thoughts until the goals content report early next week.

Instead we'll focus for now on the stuff which is padlock-free, starting with that lovely Spanish Terracotta floor tile. It's quite prominent in the above image thanks to the distinctive pattern. Generally I'm against loud flooring as it can divert the attention away from everything else in a scene, but I make an exception with this one. It's got a classy look to it and definitely fits the bill for a Spanish update. And all this despite the word terracotta being Italian!

From a loud floor tile we move to a loud wallpaper. The Spanish Knife Wall plays on an occasionally used wall finish in which the blade is lifted from the surface before the applied material is completely thinned out, thus leaving a string of small ridges. This effect is attempted with this wallpaper, although not particularly successfully in my view. Instead it just looks like the wall has been splattered! The wavy red and orange tiling towards the bottom is what makes it a loud wallpaper, and again it's not doing much for me.

On this wallpaper you can hang a Wrought Iron Sconce, which is a small but nifty little lantern. It's certainly a decoration I'd associate with Spain, and I think the final rendering is really well done. Just look at the way the glowing light reflects off the black iron and casts a shadow on the wall - some real thought has gone into making this piece as realistic as possible, and I think it looks brilliant. There's no shortage of light fittings in the game, but this may just be the pick of them.

We now turn to the Flamenco Table and Flamenco Chair which are of the same style. On the table, the red cloth with a black pattern print is very classy, and blends seamlessly with the deep mahogany brown of the table itself. The chair shares the red material, except here is it ruffled up slightly. This is another precise touch which the game's developers could easily have foregone, but it's good to see some real effort being put into designing the content.

Then on the other end of the scale there's the Spanish Counter which is just about as simple as they come. This counter is all wood, with the top surface a glossy brown and the sides painted white. There are some rudimentary cupboard doors with little knobs on the front, but otherwise it's pretty basic. And yet I quite like it. It's not tied to any particular theme and sticks to what could be considered as realistic. We've had some truly awful counters down the years (so many glass boxes with random stuff inside!) so it's actually somewhat satisfying when Storm8 go back to basics.

That's us covered as far as the non-goal additions go, but there are still a couple of features to discuss. The first of those is a new limited time offer which is up for grabs over the next five days.

Castle Playhouse limited time offer

The Castle Playhouse is an absolutely enormous 4x4 decoration, which was originally available (also as an LTO) in 2011. But we actually had this item as an LTO only last July, when it was purchasable for 50 gems. At 52 gems this time the gamemakers have been a little cheeky, but bear in mind that the original price was 65 gems. Nevertheless given the huge archive of decor at Storm8's fingertips it's disappointing that they've opted to re-release something which has already had an airing in the recent past.

It's also worth noting that the Castle Playhouse breaks a trend - since traditional LTOs were reinstated on a fortnightly basis in February the item in question has always been a high placed box item. With this being a returning LTO that run has been ended.

On we go, and iOS players were graced with another Value Pack last weekend.

Value Pack including Joyful Dinner

It's the usual price and as ever contains 25 gems, with the special item this week being the Joyful Dinner. This is the first prize in the May Basket. Great stuff from the game's developers to do a sale involving a crate which celebrates May... in April! However this is a great decoration and certainly one I'd be tempted to go for if it were a standard LTO for gems. But my days of spending real money were short-lived and are in the distant past, so I'll have to pass.

And so we're done. I was delighted to see another country themed update, and it hasn't let me down. We've had to wait an abnormally long time to get the goals, but at least they eventually arrived. The only previous two occasions as far as I can tell that the monthly challenge has popped up on the third week of the month were both in January when it was timed to fit with Valentine's Day. We'll just have to wait and see if the third Wednesday is to become a regular thing or if normal service will be resumed next month.

Until the goals content report, buena suerte y buenas noches!