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Toontown Online

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Toontown Online
File:ToontownLogo.jpg
Developer(s)Walt Disney Internet Group
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
ReleaseUnited States June 2, 2003
Genre(s)MMORPG
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Toontown Online (more commonly known as Toontown) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game created by The Walt Disney Company and billed as the first such game intended for kids and families.[1] Designed for children as young as seven,[2] the depth of the game's content has drawn in many older players as well.[3] Toontown's 3D virtual world takes its theme from the colorful style and humor of classic animated cartoons, packaged into an online game experience that is designed to be social, non-violent and kid-safe.[4]

First introduced in the United States in 2003, Disney has since produced versions of Toontown for the United Kingdom (which has a different homepage but uses the same game servers), France, Spain, Japan, and Southeast Asia.

The Toontown game software is available as a free download or in a retail box version. Both require a subscription fee to play beyond an initial trial period.

Story and gameplay

File:TTCogBuilding.jpg
Toons battling Cogs inside a Cog Building.

In the game, each player takes the role of a Toon — a cartoon character based on an anthropomorphic animal: a dog, cat, mouse, duck, rabbit, horse, monkey, bear or pig. Players choose the species and customize the look of their toons when they first start the game. The game tutorial explains that toons must work together to rid the streets from the ongoing menace of the "Cogs" — robots dressed in business suits who are trying to transform the bright and cheerful Toontown into a gray, corporate world. For example, when a cog enters a building in Toontown, it changes into a "cog building" — a drab gray office building.

To battle the cogs, toons use "gags" — weapons that are reflective of the slapstick humor found in classic cartoons: cream pies, seltzer bottles, banana peels, dropping anvils, squirting flowers, etc. Perhaps just as appropriately, both the cogs' names and their weapons are taken from business slang: Micromanager, Spin Doctor, Red Tape, Power Tie, etc. By defeating all the cogs found in a cog building, players restore it back into a toon building. Defeating cogs also earns experience points for the player in various gag tracks, eventually leading to new and more powerful gags.

The game plays like other RPGs using a simplified interface. (The game designers have claimed that Toontown is "easy to learn but difficult to master").[3] Nearly all activities in the game utilize only the mouse and the arrow keys on the keyboard. At the beginning of the game, a "Toontorial" teaches the new player how to move, how to battle cogs, how to communicate, about gags,how to use the "Shticker Book", and how to complete the first set of required tasks. Battles with cogs are turn-based: the toons attack once, then the cogs counter-attack once, then toons attack again, and so on. The gags are deployed in this order: toon-up, trap, lure, sound, throw, squirt and then drop. When it's the toons' turn, the player simply clicks on the gag he/she wishes to use, then in some cases clicks on a cog to target. (Some gags will automatically target all the cogs in the battle). A successful attack will reduce the health points of its target.

Teamwork is encouraged in Toontown since even stronger toons frequently need the help of others to complete difficult challenges. For example, Toon-ups (healing gags) cannot be used by a player on his/her own character, so to be healed during battle one usually needs another player to use Toon-up. As many as four players can team up together for typical cog battles. The game has several boss battles with up to eight Toons fighting. Teaming up with others is simple -- to join a battle, just walk up to it, or go into the "elevator" of a Cog Building to enter it with others. Note that all the Toons must enter the building at the same time, and other Toons cannot join a building in progress.

Strategy is also important since some gags work better when used in combination with certain other gags; for example, a "trap door" gag is useless until another toon "lures" the cog towards it. A "drop" gag (such as a falling anvil) is much more likely to hit if the cog is first "stunned" by another gag. Conversely, some gags are much less effective when combined with certain other gags; a dropped piano will always miss a cog that has been lured away from his original spot.

Toontasks

A Toon will need to complete "Toontasks" to advance in Toontown, gain additional laff points (health points) up to a maximum of 129, gain access to new gag tracks, earn jellybeans or earn other capabilities. Toontasks are assigned by non-player characters that are found throughout Toontown. Tasks range from simple, such as delivering an item to a shop, to more challenging, such as defeating 700 two+ story Cog buildings. The easiest tasks are in Toontown Central, while some of the more challenging tasks are at Donald's Dreamland and some at The Brrrgh. Some tasks are required for a toon to advance in Toontown, while other tasks are optional. Toons earn a reward of some sort for each task completed, such as jellybeans, laff boosts and increased gag bag sizes.

Some tasks are designed to encourage teamwork between strong Toons and New Toons. For example, a strong Toon may receive a task to help low-level Toons defeat cogs or cog buildings. To further promote teamwork and helping others to complete tasks, allows each Toon to teleport (using a portable hole) to the exact location of a friend, even if that friend is in another district.

Playgrounds

File:TTPlayground.jpg
The playground in Toontown Central.

Playgrounds are the areas of Toontown that are permanently safe from Cogs. In the playgrounds, toons can receive new toontask assignments, turn in completed tasks, buy gags, clothing or pets, play trolley games, or go fishing. Each playground features one of Disney's classic animated characters (Mickey, Donald, Daisy, Minnie, Pluto, or Goofy), as a non-player character.

Toons also use the Playgrounds to heal after they have become injured in battle. Note that Toons do not die if they lose a battle with cogs. Instead, they get "sad", and the sad Toon is automatically teleported back to the nearest playground to heal for a few minutes and to restock their supply of gags. Playgrounds heal Toons slowly, but scattered around them are various "treasures" that speed up the process. Treasures vary depending the playground; for example, Toontown Central contains ice cream cones, Daisy Gardens contains flowers, etc. A player can also regain all their laff points by turning in a completed toontask.

There is a playground in each "neighborhood" of Toontown: Toontown Central, Donald's Dock, Daisy Gardens, Minnie's Melodyland, The Brrrgh, Donald's Dreamland, and Goofy Speedway. Each playground and neighborhood share a unique theme. Each playground (except for Goofy Speedway) connects to two or more neighborhood streets that contain cogs and cog buildings. Each neighborhood of Toontown basically contains cogs and cog buildings of higher difficulty than the previous neighborhood.

Cogs

According to the story of Toontown, the cogs are business-loving robots bent on forever changing Toontown into a business empire. They come in four types: Bossbot (wear brown suits, symbol is a tie), Lawbot (wear blue-grey suits, symbol is a gavel), Cashbot (wear green suits, symbol is a dollar sign), and Sellbot (wear maroon suits, symbol is a bar graph with four bars in ascending order).

Cogs come in varying strengths, ranging from the weakest "Level 1" cogs (which require 6 hit points to defeat) to the strongest "Level 12" cogs (which require 200 hit points to defeat). Level 11 and 12 cogs can only be found in buildings or in Cog HQs.

In early versions of Toontown, an introductory Flash animation showed a back-story of the Cogs: Gyro Gearloose invented the Cogs for Scrooge McDuck, then an accident in his factory caused them to run amok in the streets of Toontown.

Cog Buildings

Cogs sometimes enter Toon buildings to take it over. The standard Cog office building then replaces it, and the elevator doors open up. Above the elevator are several lights, which determine the number of floors the building has, up to a maximum of five. Four toons may enter, going through the floors defeating cogs. Once at the top floor, the toon(s) face a "boss" of the building, which is generally highest level cog in the building. If the boss and all the other cogs on the top floor are successfully defeated, then each of the remaining toons' pictures are placed inside, and the Cog office building is then replaced by the old Toon building. A toon can earn either a bronze, silver, or gold star above his/her head by defeating a set number of cog building floors in the same district.

Cog HQs

As players reach the mid- to higher-level content in the game, they will be assigned toontasks related to the three 'Cog Headquarters' currently included in the game. These are large areas that are permanently controlled by cogs and headed by a giant-sized cog boss. As many as eight toons can battle together to defeat a Cog HQ boss.

Sellbot HQ is located on the outskirts of Daisy Gardens it is controlled by a boss called the VP (Vice President). Players attempt to defeat the VP in order to rescue a toon shopkeeper who is being kept in a cage. Before being allowed to join this battle, each player must first earn a complete Sellbot "cog suit" plus a set number of additional Sellbot "merits". Sellbot cog suit pieces are earned by defeating the factory foremen of the Sellbot Factory. Merits are earned by defeating additional Sellbots anywhere in Toontown. The VP battle consists of two long rounds of cog battles followed by a pie-flinging round to drive the VP backwards and eventually off a cliff. The reward for defeating the VP is an "SOS card", a one-time-use special ability (unless you gain it more than once) that can be summoned during a future cog battle.

Cashbot HQ is located on the outskirts of Donald's Dreamland it is controlled by a boss called the CFO (Chief Financial Officer). As with Sellbot HQ, the CFO battle has the prerequisites of a complete Cashbot "cog suit" plus a set number of Cashbot "cogbucks". Toons usually go in the three cog mints to get more cogbucks (The coin mint, the dollar mint, and the bullion mint). Cog suit pieces are earned by completing specific tasks in Donald's Dreamland. The CFO battle consists of one long cog round, followed by a round where players must pick up "goons" with magnetized cranes and fling them at the CFO. The reward for completing this battle is a "Toons of the World Unite" phrase, a one-time-use special ability. These SpeedChat phrases can be used to supply gags, heal, or give jellybeans to nearby toons.

Lawbot HQ is located on the outskirts of The Brrgh it is the most recent of the HQs to be added to the game. It is controlled by a boss called the CJ (Chief Justice). Before fighting the CJ, Toons complete a set of tasks given by Professor Flake in The Brrrgh to earn a Lawbot cog suit. After that and every time a Chief Justice is defeated, the player will earn a set number of Lawbot "Jury Notices". The battle consists of a long cog round, followed by a cannon round to seat toons on a jury, followed by a round to throw "evidence" books into a scale of justice while avoiding books being thrown by cogs. The reward for defeating the CJ is an ability to summon a specific cog, cog building, or cog invasion.

Non-combat activities

When players want to take a break from battling cogs, Toontown offers several lighter activities, including:

  • Trolley games. These are short, arcade-like minigames that one can play solo or with up to 3 other toons. They are called trolley games because one must hop on a trolley car in the playground to begin playing them. They include a Pac-Man-like "Maze Game", Tug of War, Tag,Simon like "Match Minnie", the Race game, the Catching game, the Cannon game, Ring game, Target Game, Diving Game, Vine Game, and the Match Cards game. Toons earn jellybeans (the in-game currency of Toontown) based on how well they score in the games. Some trolley games such as Match Minnie and the Race Game can only be played if two or more players are present. The Trolley Tracks game is where you vote for which Trolley game you want to play by clicking on the arrow going up or going down. The Trolley Tracks game is on Thursdays only. There is a special Trolley Tracks Weekend on Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th April, with the top four players during this time will win a "Jump In" CD Soundtrack.
  • Fishing. There are fishing ponds in every playground, on every street of Toontown, and at every player's estate. Toons can catch fish via a simple game, then sell them for jellybeans to an NPC Pet Shop clerk or fisherman. 70 different species of fish currently exist in the game, and players earn a Laff Point for each 10 new species that they catch. Several species are ultra-rare and/or can be found only in particular ponds. Every Wednesday is "Bingo Wednesday". Toons on each pond share a bingo card and try to complete it by catching different fish species before a timer runs out.
  • Toon Estates. Each toon has a house which they can decorate and furnish with a variety of items than can be purchased from a weekly "Cattlelog". Toons can also purchase new clothing, new SpeedChat phrases, new emotions, etc. from the Cattlelog. These items can also be purchased as gifts for friends. There are thirteen cattalogs in a series. Toons can also visit their estates to train and play with their pets (called Doodles) as well as play games using cannons. Each estate also contains a fish pond.
  • Doodles. Doodles are pets available for sale in Toontown's Pet Shops. There is one Pet shop in each playground. Toontown Central has the least expensive Doodles, while Donald's Dreamland has the most expensive Doodles. Each toon can own one pet. Players may choose the gender and pick a name for their Doodle. Once purchased, a toon can feed their Doodle and train it to perform tricks.
  • Gardening. Also at their estates, toons can grow and maintain a garden of flowers, statues and "gag trees". Different species of flowers can be grown by planting different combinations of jellybeans, and a player earns a laff point for each 10 species grown. Bloomed flowers can be sold for jellybeans. Gag trees can also be grown, and the gags picked from these trees have higher-than-normal damage capability.
  • Kart Racing. Toons can race against each other in Goofy Speedway, an area that consists of six different race tracks (along with their Reverse versions) plus a shop that sells cars and car accessories. Similar to Nintendo's Mario Kart games, racers can collect and use obstacles (pies, anvils, speed-boost, banana peel) on each other during the race. Anvils stop you in your tracks. Banana peels makes you slip. Pies makes your screen covered with yellow cream. Speedboost makes you go super fast. Toons do not get to choose it. When Toons picked up a box, it will be randomly select obstacles. Racing trophies can also be earned, and every 10-of-30 trophies earned will also earn another laff point. Every Monday, the Grand Prix is held, in which Toons can win many more tickets than usual as well as special trophies.

Online safety features

File:TTSpeedChat.jpg
Toontown players communicating using SpeedChat.

Since this is an online world where kids and adults interact, Disney implemented several unique features in Toontown to keep children safe from inappropriate conversations or behavior. First and foremost, there is no open, uncensored chat in the game. Most players communicate with each other entirely via "SpeedChat" — a pre-defined, safe list of phrases that are accessed via a series of drop-down menus. The menus are designed to cover most communication needs (plus several silly phrases), but players can add additional SpeedChat phrases to their menu by purchasing them from the Cattlelog.

To communicate beyond the restrictions of SpeedChat, there is "Secret Friends" chat. If two or more players already know each other outside the game world (e.g. real-life friends, relatives, or online friends from another game or website), they can become Secret Friends with each other. Secret Friends can communicate with each other in Toontown via a free-form chat window. These messages are automatically filtered to remove vulgar language and other words that Disney has deemed inappropriate. Furthermore, these chat messages are viewable only by players who are Secret Friends with the message sender — other nearby players see these messages as gibberish animal sounds (i.e. "woof woof", "meow meow", or whatever the animal species is). Parents have the ability to restrict the Secret Friends capability of their children's toons via a set of Parental Controls. A "Friends List" is provided in the game which allows a player to track the status of his Secret and non-Secret friends, up to a maximum of 50. In March 2007, the Friends List was enhanced to allow tracking of friends online in other parts of Disney's website.

Naming a toon is also controlled to prevent names that contain inappropriate language or real-life personal details (such as age and hometown). Most players use the built-in Toon name generator, which allows them to construct a name by clicking on one or more pre-approved "toony" words, e.g. "Captain Skippy Rhinoslam," "Popcorn Paddlepop," "Prof. Dizzybrains," "McPretzel", or "Queen Stinky". If a player chooses to submit a custom name, he/she must wait for someone at Disney to approve or reject it.

In keeping with the friendly, cooperative spirit of Toontown, the game designers intentionally left out some of the less-friendly features that are sometimes found in other MMORPGs.[4] For example, Toontown contains no "player versus player" battles, and there is no opportunity for "player killing". Players are also unable to sell or trade items with other players, presumably to avoid issues with potentially unfair transactions. There are, however, a few ways to grief in Toontown, usually by disrupting combat with Cogs.

History and awards

Both Toontown Online and its game engine (called Panda3D) were developed by Disney's Virtual Reality Studio, a team of technologists and artists at Walt Disney Imagineering that is now managed by the Walt Disney Internet Group. The VR Studio had previously created virtual reality attractions for the DisneyQuest "indoor interactive theme park" at Walt Disney World.[3] Beta testing for Toontown occurred between 2001 and 2003, and Toontown was officially launched on June 2, 2003.[1]

Disney has continued to add new game areas and new content since launch. Major additions to the game have included Sellbot HQ (released December 19, 2003),[5] Cashbot HQ (released February 17, 2005),[6] Goofy Speedway (released September 15, 2005), and Lawbot HQ (released April 25, 2006).[7] Disney also sponsors a variety of Toontown game events and contests, often tied to popular holidays.

In Autumn 2005, a boxed version of Toontown Online (containing a software CD-ROM plus a two-month subscription) became available in retail stores.[8]

A German-language version of the game closed down on June 29, 2006.[9] It had been available to customers of Germany's T-Online broadband service since November 2004.[10] A message posted by T-Online on the game website explained that customer levels had not met their expectations.

On August 26, 2006, Disney sponsored "ToonFest", a festival for Toontown players and fans, at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California.

As of March 7 2007, pigs were released on open. Pigs are officially the fastest major(major like Cog HQ, Toon Species, etc.) update to go from test to open. Pigs were released on test on March 3rd and were released on open on March 7th. As of March 29 2007,5 new trolley were on open. Disney does not release figures on the number of subscribers, but VR Studio's Mike Goslin stated in mid-2005 that "we have nearly 10,000 people playing simultaneously during our busiest times."[11]

Toontown Online has won several awards, including:

  • Computer Gaming World, 2003 MMORPG Game of the Year
  • Webby Awards, 2003 People's Voice Award, Kids Category
  • Parents' Choice Foundation, 2003 Silver Honor
  • Children's Software Review, 2003 All Star Software Award
  • WiredKids, 2005 Safe Gaming Award
  • 2005 Webby Awards "Webby Worthy Selection"

Bugs

These are some currently known bugs that can sometimes be found in-game. Some of these have already been listed by Disney.

  • Memory Leak: After playing for an extended period, players may notice system slowness due to Toontown having a memory leak. The only known solution is to quit the game and restart it. Depending on your activity, the application will "leak" about 100 MB per hour of play. If you have 500 MB free when you start playing, your system may begin to thrash after about 5 hours.
  • Lag: Many players have noticed lag and disconnects.
  • Crashes and Disconnections: Toontown has been known to crash or disconnect due to the previous two issues, as well as downtime and power outages with Disney's servers.
  • Camera Shaking: Sometimes the camera may get stuck between two objects and shake rapidly. In order to fix it, players must simply move their character, thus moving the camera position.

For more on Disney's known issues for Toontown, go to this link: http://play.toontown.com/knownIssues.php

System requirements

Toontown Online can run on either Windows or Macintosh computers. Both require an Internet connection of at least 56K (dial-up) or faster (broadband) speed. Other minimum requirements are:

References

  1. ^ a b "Disney's Toontown Online To Launch June 2003" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. 2003-05-05. Retrieved 2007-01-11. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "What is the appropriate age for Toontown?". Toontown Online FAQ. The Walt Disney Company. Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  3. ^ a b c Goslin, Mike (2004-01-28). "Postmortem: Disney Online's Toontown". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b Mine, Mark; Shochet, Joe; Hughston, Roger (2003). "Building a massively multiplayer game for the million: Disney's Toontown Online" (PDF). ACM Press. Retrieved 2006-04-03. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "Disney's Toontown Online Expands With Launch of First Cog Headquarters" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. 2003-12-19. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Disney's Toontown Online Expands with Second Advanced Gameplay Area" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. 2005-02-17. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "Action-Packed Lawbot HQ Offers Challenging New Adventures" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. 2006-04-25. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Sony Online Entertainment's Platform Publishing Label Bringing Disney's Toontown Online To Retail This Fall" (Press release). The Walt Disney Company. 2005-08-25. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Toontown Online gets shut down in Germany, characters deleted". Warcry's Razorwire. 2006-07-05. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "T-Online and Disney to bring "Disney´s Toontown Online" to Germany" (Press release). T-Online. 2004-11-15. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Animating Toontown With Mike Goslin". Design Mentor Training, Vol. III, No. 2. 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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