Adult Swim’s video games studio has launched what it is calling its most ambitious social title to date, Hemp Tycoon. Based on its popular Flash game of the same name, Hemp Tycoon is a farming simulation that has players planting, harvesting, and selling hemp. For the jump to Facebook, the title has received a number of additions and updates for its Facebook debut.
A look at the title in our AppData traffic tracking service indicates that Hemp Tycoon hasn’t completely made the switch to Facebook’s new active user accounting method. The game’s Facebook page reports 30,000 monthly active users.
In Hemp Tycoon, players assume the persona of Hempy, a hemp leaf who grows hemp. With the assistance of his grandfather, Hempy starts out his fledgling hemp empire growing plants inside of his tree house. Players start with an initial allotment of cash, using it to purchase seeds that can be planted in pots. They can then harvest the hemp after a period (various types require differing amounts of time before they’re fully grown) and sell it for more cash.
Boosts, including grow lights, and fertilizer can also be purchased. Seed types range from a run-of-the-mill hemp plant to zombie hemp, which looks like it sounds, and bacon. Once they have more money, players can purchase businesses that allow them to transform their harvested hemp into ice cream, textiles, and more. The game has several dozen quests to complete, which reward players with experience points. Levelling up enables players to purchase higher-level hemp plant seeds and items. There are 60 different plant types in all. From an overhead world map, players can move between their grow locations and businesses. 10 businesses are currently in the game.
This version of Hemp Tycoon differs from the original Flash release in a number of ways. For one, the Facebook release features monetization. The Flash version also lacked many of the seed types, boosts, and deco items. New to this version are quests and the businesses which convert hemp into other items for sale. The title has also received a significant visual upgrade for its debut on the social gaming platform.
Hemp Tycoon’s social features include sending friend requests, posting accomplishments to the player’s Wall, and sending gifts to friends. These include free fertilizer, which can be gifted every time the player completes a quest.
Adult Swim is monetizing Hemp Tycoon primarily through the purchase of additional cash, the game’s soft currency, as well as premium boosts. Players can also use the soft currency and Credits to purchase garden decorations.
Though not as explicit in theme, Hemp Tycoon falls under the marijuana-themed game sub-genre of farming sim pioneered by Pot Farm and most recently expanded in Weeds Social Club and Cheech & Chong’s Animated Game. Hemp Tycoon is a lot more like Pot Farm than the latter two because its primary objective is to be funny — compared to the brands driving Weeds and Cheech & Chong. It’s not immediately clear how big of an audience there really is for this sub-genre; however, Pot Farm is still going strong with 550,000 MAU, Weeds enjoys 80,000 MAU, and both Cheech & Chong and Hemp Tycoon currency have 30,000 MAU. At the risk of making a pun, this could be an area of growth on Facebook.
You can follow Hemp Tycoon’s progress using AppData, our traffic tracking service for social games and developers.
Source: Inside Social Games
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