Reviews

• "Want to run your own farm? The Virtual Farm game gives you the chance. Virtual Farm is a fun time management game that lets you turn a small farm into a success. In Virtual Farm you play as a farmer who has inherited a run down farm. You have to choose crops for your farm, till your ground, water the fields and harverst your crops to take to market. Setting the price for your Virtual Farm crops and keeping an eye on demand will help you earn profits. You can put the profits towards buying upgrades for your Virtual Farm. This is a cute game that's easy to learn and play. If you like other farm sim games like Alice Greenfingers you'll like playing Virtual Farm!! " - Zoo
• "I enjoyed playing Virtual Farm. It's a fun cute game but Alice Greenfingers is still my favorite game!" - Mary L
• "Loved it!! Virtual Farm is a great game. Liked it better than Farm Frenzy!" - ValerieJoy

Tips

Virtual Farm isn’t a very difficult game, but getting started on the right foot can help a lot! The main concept, as with any tycoon game, is to earn money and upgrade your business with your profits. The way to earn money in Virtual Farm is to grow produce and sell it at market. Simple!

Getting started

When you begin, you have a few plots of land all growing grass. The good news is that you can sell that grass at the market! Begin by watering your fields. To do this, simply click on the water pump and then click on the field you want to water. Until you can upgrade the water pump, you can only carry enough water for four fields at a time. Once the grass is fully grown, you will see a gold star appear on the field. This indicates that it is time to harvest the grass and move it to your storehouse. Your storehouse has a limited capacity, so be sure that once you’ve harvested your fields, you sell your stock at the market. The thumbs up or thumbs down symbol will tell you what the demand is like for any and all of the products that you have available to sell. Adjust your prices accordingly to maximize your profits. If demand is up, raise your prices. If demand is down, lower them.

Tasks and Quests

As you play, you will notice envelopes that pop up on the bottom of the screen. Click on these to see a business offer from a local merchant. They will be requesting various amounts of your produce and you can choose to enter into a contract with them for the stated amount. Generally, these contracts will net you the biggest profits and you should always try to complete them. If you think you can complete the request outlined in the letter within the allotted time, agree to the contract. A small amount of cash will be deducted from your money – a promissory fee of sorts, but don’t worry, if you complete the contract you’ll make all of that money back plus a lot more! Alternatively, you can choose to “wait” on a contract and give yourself some more time to prepare for harvest. Choose the wait option whenever you don’t think you can make the goal in the allotted time. The contract will be available for a few more minutes. As soon as you’re ready for it, click on the icon at the bottom of the screen and agree to the terms. If you chose to wait on the contract and still don’t think you can complete the order, just let it go. It’s better to miss a few deals than lose money on the contract fees!

Upgrades

Further into the game, upgrades will begin to appear. You can upgrade your farm by purchasing additional fields, upgrading your tools, water supply and storage. You will definitely want to get all of the available upgrades, but don’t rush it. You can find yourself without any cash to accept the contracts that come up if you buy too much, too soon! Aside from the upgrades for your farm, you can also purchase buildings that can be constructed on another lot. These buildings include pens for animals such as cows, sheep and pigs. A churn that will turn milk into butter, a spinnery that can make cloth out of wool and other functional buildings will become available as you progress. Each of these buildings can also be upgraded several times to make them more efficient. Be extremely careful how you place these buildings! The game developer promises that you can fit 7 buildings into the lot (though I haven’t been able to do that!) and you’ll get a special award for doing so. The animals that will be housed in these buildings will produce their inventory, but only after being fed produce from your farm. Cows need grass to produce milk, sheep need cucumbers to make wool and the pigs require tomatoes. Keep an eye on your inventory and whenever possible, use those items for the animals as their produce will sell for much more than the vegetables themselves.

General Tips

• You can wait a short time before agreeing to fulfill a contract, which will give you more time to complete it.
• Watch the demand at market and change your prices accordingly.
• When a product is in high demand, raise your price. You can earn a lot of money this way.
• If there is no more room for a new processing building, demolish one of the existing ones.
• You can place up to seven buildings on the processing field. You’ll earn an award if you fit them all in!
• Upgrading your storehouse allows you to store a lot more produce and save them until the demand rises!
• Upgrade your water pump and eventually you can use automatic sprinklers!
• When you upgrade your mower sufficiently, you will be able to collect more items at once and even different kinds of produce!
• Expand your fields so that you can grow more produce.
• Upgrading the processing buildings makes them much more efficient.
• Expand slowly! Don’t plant more fields than you can handle and don’t overspend.
• Take your time. Let the contracts wait if you cannot fill them and build your bank account first.
• Keep your plants watered. If they die, grass will grow in their place.
• Every so often your plants will need new fertilizer. Plan ahead for this as you will need to purchase new seeds as well.
• Keep some of every plant growing in your fields. You never know what produce the contracts will call for.