I have played every Virtual Villagers and now both of the Virtual Family games and I must say this is by far the most boring of them all. Nothing happens in this game besides grinding for money and maybe a few events here and there. Once you achieve most of the goals there isn't much as to do besides unlock the house. I see it as more of a chore to play than really a casual game experience. There are plenty of other freemium casual games out there that offer more.

One of the main issues I see with this game is that no matter how long you play it it never gets easier. Case in point money. With each new generation you have to start all over again at low amounts of income. To combat this and make it more interesting, I suggest adding a daily play bonus and/or a new generation bonus. This way, I have a reason to play every day.

The other main thing is a lack of puzzles/things to do. In every other Virtual game including VF1, there were a number of puzzles to keep you guessing and working towards. There is none of that here. There are infrequent bizarre letters but none of it makes any sense and is never explained. I assume unlocking the whole house may explain it but I doubt it.

Updated graphics wouldn't hurt as well. It's 2013, you shouldn't be using graphics from the early 2000's. Time for a much needed change.

I don't know. I have supported each and every one of these games, even beta tested a couple, but this game leaves a sour taste in my mouth. Just painful to play.

Sorry for the harsh words, but this game is more aggravating than it is fun. I have actually deleted the game as of today. Maybe I'll try the next game but unless some major changes are made, it's unlikely.

I loved the first Virtual Families and was just waiting till this one came out, but I am a bit sad that this one isn't as good.
First of all it was disappointing that they changed the little peeps graphics even though they are starting to grow on me, now they look kinda like cabbage patch dolls If the didn't have such round heads maybe? The other graphics, though they may look outdated, for some reason seemed a bit more realistic.
Second, I agree with the above, the broken down rooms you just spen money and poof! They are cleaned up. There is no puzzle to them whatsoever. and It's SO hard to make money in the first place! You pretty much have to be a slave driver to keep them at work and then when changing to a new gen you lose it all. I think there should be a choice whether to keep the money or to start over.
Overall It's a fun game, and I like it, but other than it being the whole family thing it doesn't seem to have much of a connection to the first one- or to most of the other games, puzzle wise, and graphic wise.

JBart321,
Some, but not all, of your comments resonate with me.


I have yet to achieve all the goals, yet each time I check on the family, I go through "the drill." They are always hungry, so I must set someone on the time-killing task of making a meal. That process eats up more time than it should IMO. Then, depending on the time of day, there are other routines with which to deal. These are not much fun as there is very little variety. I've stopped playing daily and will unpause time for two days/week to keep the generations alive. As to the other freemium games offering more, I can only say that the comment is true for every genre of game out there: this game offers plenty but appears to be disabled at the moment, meaning that things/activities are in place but won't be fully operational until further updates.

I would like more challenges; the money issue could be solved with real-world cash since there must be some way for the developers to earn some cash for freemium games. I guess the developer considers the achievements to be challenges, and they are, but they aren't providing incentive enough for me to play since they are not presented as "goals" and are out of sight (thus out of mind).

Each newbie starting from scratch at a new job, however, makes sense to me. You can always buy upgrades

Ah-ha: This is where the game could truly shine. I hate those FB messages and the spam guard is of no help with those. The peeps repeat requests too frequently; more variety in their messages to us would be most welcome. How many different types of food can I purchase from the 4 groups? Their responses don't correspond to our actions. Also, if smelling the blue room is a puzzle, it isn't very clear to me how to go about solving it! I don't know why this annoys me so much!

Your suggestions were articulated very clearly and helped me, at least, identify why I no longer wish to play every day but still wish to play to learn how the game will evolve.

One more thing, then I am done.

Um. A spoiler alert might have been in order as many of us haven't gotten this far along in the game. . .

I haven't played the game yet, waiting for the PC release. I saw "suggestions", and after seeing a guide in Jayisgames...
Puzzles:
Make a farm: There's a messy patch of earth. Fix it. It gives food over time (you need to pick it), so you need to spend less. But you shouldn't rely only on them.
Do-it-yourself repair of the house rooms: it should be available from start, need some requisites, like tech (see below), instead of buying it. Each room is a puzzle.
Orchard: plant trees and watch it grow and give fruits.
For the story: search about the previous owner of the house

Tech:
As a equivalent from Virtual Villagers.
It gives boosts or new abilities. I recommend a library. You buy books. For example...
Complaining about the food system? A "Cooking" book to cook faster, cook meals that restores more hunger (thus need to eat less frequently).
"House Maintenance": to clean the broken rooms.
"Building/Carpentry/Engineering": To fix broken rooms.
"Botany","Entomology", "Paleontology", studies of any other collection: collectibles are more common or are more valuable when selling.
"Gardening": For the garden (farm, orchard)
I'd like lots of themes, but most themes should have one book(things to buy) to buy at most, optionally with multiples books for few themes.
To make you spend less money, and one more in-game currency. I think, Exp. points, you win them when your people do actions, any actions.

Expand:
Your house start with a limited terrain, you can make it bigger. It may be that you buy (with in-game money) the propiety, or the area is blocked.
You can make a lot of useless stuff like space for the farm and orchard, a pond, a gazebo, a hammock, excavations (for the research of the previous owner), etc.
An arcade or a console with a game or games that the player (you) can play. It should be simple, like evading things, pressing to kill things, with a score and upgrades, etc. If you want a challenge, it should be less than 1 MB in size, so it doesn't overthrow the main game.

All suggestions should be placed in the Developer Feedback Forum for Virtual Families located here, so that they will be read and considered by the developers. To that end, I'm locking this thread.