By Dale Farris, Vice President
Golden Triangle PC Club
September 2004

Game Overview

Viva-Media, LLC, the supreme children's software distributor, announces their newest game with this super game for children interested in horses. My Horse Farm is a children's SIM game that allows players to build and run a horse farm. In My Horse Farm, it is up to the player to learn how to best use their time and money caring for and managing their horse farm.

First you must find and befriend your horse and earn her trust. Then you can ride her, feed her, pet, groom, and attend to her every need. You also get to take your horse to a blacksmith and veterinarian to keep her in tip-top shape. Later in the game, your horse will be able to compete in cross country events and tournaments.

My Horse Farm is a "tycoon" SIM game for horse lovers, and plays like other of today's many well known "tycoon" SIM games, such as Roller Coaster Tycoon. In My Horse Farm, Viva-Media has focused on the interests of younger players with this high quality SIM that all parents can trust to provide wholesome, valuable learning as players experience a simulated horse farm experience.

The Story

Life is full of surprises, isn’t it? Only one week ago, you didn’t know that you have a wealthy aunt, living alone on a small farm close to the small town of Trotterville. But it’s not a secret anymore, because your Generous Auntie has decided to give you her farm because she’s moving to Australia.

Welcome to your new home, Morgan Valley Farm, a real training and breeding horse farm. Not a fan of housework or running the farm, your Auntie left you with a lot of work to do. Even though it’s a bit run down, there’s lot’s of fixing up to do.

You now own a small farmhouse, a pasture, a riding arena, and a stable. Inside the stable a young mare is waiting for you to take care of her. It’s time to let the fun begin!

As soon as your financial situation allows, you can start to renovate your buildings and expand your horse farm. With luck, skills, brains, and of course your trusty mare, you will even be able to create your own breed of horse. Of course you’ll need a stallion, too, but you never know what’s going to happen.

It’s your first day at the farm. You take a walk across the land, breathe the fresh country air, and consider your situation. Honestly, it doesn’t look too good. The feed containers are just about empty, and your saddles and bridles are rather shabby. However, as you explore the farmhouse you find a dusty little cookie box up on a shelf. Inside there’s a little note from your Auntie, and, surprise! You find a considerable amount of cash to jumpstart your new life! Now you can go to town and take care of your most immediate needs, rut be careful to spend your money wisely!

Take good care of your horses and build your business as you breed champions. Outfit your riders from head to toe by choosing from an array of clothes, accessories, and hairstyles. Spend your money wisely, make good decisions, and train your horses to become world-class champions. If you succeed, you will become rich and famous.

Activities You Can Accomplish

Ride for fun on the beach, in the woods, or to the town

Buy and breed horses

Make friends for life

Care for your horses and gain their trust

Build your stables, develop your pastures, build guesthouses, and more

Expand your business

Advertise, hire help, train your horses, go to tournaments

Choose your horses and riders

Customize their outfits, hair color, and more

Grow rich as you win tournaments, the rewards will surprise you

Go to the blacksmith, the breeder, your office, the riding arena, the tack shop, the breeding pasture, the stables, the veterinarian, and the farmhouse

Game Play

My Horse Farm is round based, meaning that time is measured in rounds. For example, your horse was born 20 rounds before you started to play. A round can include many different actions. You decide when to end your turn. Of course, you do not have to perform any actions during your turn. It is possible to let several rounds go by without making a single move.

The passing days have an effect on your farm and horses. Starting a new turn means beginning a new day, which makes the farm and the horses develop. Every 3 rounds is payday. The running costs of your farm are due then. If you employ people, you have to pay them. If you run advertisements for your farm, these bills also come due every 3 rounds.

My Horse Farm is divided into two different parts: Riding Simulation and Tycoon Simulation. During the game you will mount your horses many times for training, riding out, or taking part in a competition. You can also go for a ride that has no effect on the rest of the game. In the Start menu you can click on a sign that says “cross-country,” which will lead you directly to Arcade mode. Here you can ride with your horse as often as you want, without training your horse.

In the countryside, in the riding arena, and in competition, you can control your horse using your keyboard. Pace and speed can be controlled using the arrow buttons. Right Arrow: Horse runs faster. Left Arrow: Rein your horse back. Up Arrow: If your horse runs fast enough, use this button to force the pace (from trot to gallop for example). Down Arrow: This button makes your horse slacken its pace, presumed it is going slow enough (from trot to walk for example). Space bar: Use this to make your horse jump.

Your horse knows four gaits: - walk - trot - canter - gallop. The more your horse trusts you, the better it will change gaits. In the countryside you will pass a turnoff from time to time. You will notice a sign with the word “enter” blinking on it. If you push the enter button on your keyboard quickly, your horse will turn off, otherwise it will run straight on.

You play this marvelous horse farm tycoon SIM by using your mouse. The screen divides into an info bar at the upper edge of the screen, the scenery, and a control panel at the upper edge of the screen.

The Info Bar is located at the upper edge of the screen. It is subdivided into “Menu,” “Counter,” “Scenery,” “Name,” “Account,” “Goals,” and “Messages.” The menu button takes you to the game settings. Here you can change the music volume and toggle the speaker’s voice on and off. You can leave the program here or start a new game by clicking “exit game”.

The “Game Hints" button will give you useful tips for playing the game. The turn counter shows the actual round of the game. In the beginning, the farm is called “Trotterville,” but you can change its name at any time in the farmhouse.

The account shows you how much money you have in your bank account. If you are in debt, you will see a big minus sign in front of the amount. Always keep an eye on your account. The bank will give you a small loan, so you can still feed your horses in case of need. Use your cash wisely.

The “Goals" button gives you an overview on the goals of the game and how many of them you’ve reached. The “Message” button will blink red if you get an important message. Click on the button to read it.

In My Horse Farm you will see either a top down view of your farm or Trotterville. The farm and its surroundings consist of different places. Click on any of them in order to get detailed information about them. You will see the text in the control panel.

Some of the places can be entered, including the farmhouse, the stables, and the breeding pasture. The view on the town is not divided into places, but you can select some of the buildings. If you click on any of them, you will find information about the chosen building in your control panel. These sites in town can be entered:  the tack shop, the veterinarian, the breeder, the blacksmith, and the riding arena.

The control panel is subdivided into three blocks: Info text – Middle Field – Action Menu The info text gives you a detailed description of parcels, of your current location, and of the button functions. You should always read the info text. The middle field changes, depending on where you are and what you’re doing. You will often find additional hints and options here. For example, when you are at the tack shop, you can specify the amount of food you want to buy. At the stable, monitor the condition of your horse, and in addition you can check out the equipment that outfits your horse.

The action menu lets you perform actions in the game. If you move your cursor across a button, a short description of that button will pop up directly above the menu. If you click on the button, you will get information on the action button you’ve chosen. Some action buttons don’t trigger an action immediately, but lead you to another menu. Some actions have to be confirmed by clicking the checkmark, while other actions will be carried out automatically. The bent arrow will always take you back one step. That is, you leave the current menu and go back to the previous one. You cannot take back actions you have already carried out. So consider carefully if you want to upgrade a building or buy an item.

Goals of the Game

My Horse Farm doesn’t have a precise goal that you have to reach in order to win and to end the game. In fact, the game will go on and on, and you can be in charge of your farm as long as you like. The game goals are presented to you if you click on the “goals” button in the info bar, but these are only suggestions. They can be helpful in the beginning, when you don’t know yet what to do and what opportunities you have.

These goals listed are:

Raise your horse’s trust up to at least 95,000 points. You will get 1,200 dollars for that.

Complete training on the riding square with your horse. That will get you 2,000 dollars.

Breed a foal. Make sure that there is an extra stall for the young horse in your stable. 4,000 dollars will be yours.

Earn 1,500 dollars in one round, and you will win a balloon flight.

Win the champion’s competition

If you follow this list, you have an advantage because you will automatically cover all three fields of work that a farm owner has to do.

You care for your horses so they will trust you and stay healthy and strong. You breed foals and watch them grow. You train your horses and test their jumping ability, until they proudly compete in the steeple chase in the big arena. Maybe, as a gifted horseman or woman, you will win a few competitions.

You can also extend the buildings on your farm. It’s up to you to manage your income and expenses, your staff, and the promotion of your estate. Make sure that your guests, who come to your estate in order to take riding lessons or to admire your beautiful horses, feel good.

Every goal you reach will bring you a little reward. Maybe you don’t want to do everything all at once. Maybe you prefer to concentrate on breeding, and owing lots of healthy foals. Or, maybe you prefer riding your horses, to win as many competitions as possible and to prove that you’re the best rider. Or are you, in the end, a “tycoon” type of person, who enjoys letting others do the work and just watch over the finances?

All of this is possible in this game. In My Horse Farm, you can set your own goals, and later you will be even prouder if you have reached them.

SIMS For Children

As many readers likely know, children's software programs that are supposedly created to simulate reality, or offer experiential, interactive learning, many times fail to make the grade. However, as any computer owner familiar with the award-winning lineup of software from Viva-Media knows, you can always depend on Viva-Media for top quality programs, regardless the targeted age group.

In the special case of My Horse Farm, players get to play a unique SIM now on the market, something especially designed for children who are interested in learning what it is like to really run a real horse farm. This makes My Horse Farm special, as there are no other similar SIM games for children that focus on this area of interest.

Despite the fun you will have, the game is of course built on serious matters, namely the many aspects of running a real horse farm. Young players will thoroughly enjoy playing this open-ended, fun game that will also teach them a lot about the business of owning and managing a real horse farm.

Age Group

The game box states the game is relevant for ages from 8 and up, and I think the game is a super choice for this age group. Very young players may need a little help from Mom or Dad as they maneuver through the game's user-friendly interface, and once they get acquainted with the game's many options, they will enjoy exploring what happens when they make various decisions as they run their horse farm.

Educational Value

Obviously, the most significant educational value of the game is its value in teaching the sound business basics of running the specialized business of horse stables. The game's options are all based on the realities of what goes on in a business like this, while also providing a lot of fun while learning. Children will have to make decisions to take care of and maintain their farm, and they will learn about what it takes to run this, as well as any business.

Targeted Customers

Viva-Media's marvelous game My Horse Farm is targeted to the age group 8 and up. While the youngest 8-year olds may indeed have fun with this game, older children should really find the game a super tool to use in learning about running a horse farm.

Again, Viva-Media presents a title that provides super value to public libraries as a wonderful title to be added to their collection. The game could be made available on workstations for children and their parents to play, or it could represent a super tool for use in Little Bookwork programs designed around the topic of learning math.

Price

$29.99 (super bargain!)

Minimum System Configuration Requirements

P-III 500MHz processor (P-III 800MHz recommended)
Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP
64MB RAM (128MB RAM recommended)
600MB free hard disk space
32MB graphic card
DirectX-7 or higher
CD-ROM drive
Soundblaster-compatible soundcard with DirectX support
Mouse
Speakers or headphones

Installation and Setup

The game should install and set up with no problems. You do need the game disc in the CD ROM drive to play the game.

About Viva Media, LLC

Viva Media, LLC, publisher of high quality family entertainment and educational software, is a privately owned New York company dedicated to publishing a wide array of interactive content of the highest standards. The company's collection of more than 40 multimedia titles tout more than 30 awards for excellence in publishing. Viva Media brands include Viva Chess, Viva Adventure, Viva Kids, Viva Music, Viva Astronomy, and the award winning line of Viva-Media Publishing CD-ROM games.

Contact Information

John De Feo, Media Coordinator
Viva Media
580 Broadway, Suite 604
New York, NY 10012
212-431-4420, ext. 207
FAX 212-431-4537
john@viva-media.com
mail@viva-media.com
www.viva-media.com

You can also order from other retailers or online vendors.