With thanks to Estelle Pienaar, who blogs about games in Second Life, I have discovered more information about those pesky looking Dwarves I saw at the Xmas expo. Estelle has blogged about The Dwarfins, a new breedable game that was launched officially on December 8th.
The story is a tale of skullduggery and shennanigans amongst the gods with Andronicus creating Dwarfins in violation of the laws of the gods. Andronicus was tricked into this violation by another god, Chelios, whom was nowhere to be seen when judgement was cast upon poor Andronicus. The Dwarfins were banished to a cave, but by the laws laid down, if they could find their way out by themselves, all would be fine, but Andronicus, or any other god, was forbidden from helping them. Andronicus himself has been banished to imprisonment for two millenia, with just a quill, ink and parchment for company.
So in time, The Dwarfins have managed to escape their cave and are now ready to explore the wider world!
Now, with the story out the way, let’s read the manual. Each Dwarfin comes in at a land impact cost of eleven prims. They can breed as much as they like until they hit the age of seventy five days, once they hit seventy five days they go into old age. However breeding requires 100% energy and if your Dwarfin is out mining, then they won’t have enough energy to breed. Breeding, it should also be noted, does not involve copulation, it involves creating new Dwarfins from stone, so it’s a very PG related activity!
So now let’s get down to the costs, as this is always a consideration with any breedable game:
Pack sizes and prices are:
- 1 Dwarfin + enough food to feed 1 Dwarfin for 1 week $ 704L
- 2 Dwarfins + enough food to feed 2 Dwarfins for 1 week $1,408L
- 4 Dwarfins + enough food to feed 4 Dwarfins for 1 week $2,816L
- 6 Dwarfins + enough food to feed 6 Dwarfins for 1 week $3,600L (15% discount)
- 8 Dwarfins + enough food to feed 8 Dwarfins for 1 week $4,800L (15% discount)
Food (Dwarfin not included):
- feed 1 Dwarfin for 1 week 52L
- feed 1 Dwarfin for 4 weeks 196L
- feed 1 Dwarfin for 8 weeks 392L
- feed 4 Dwarfins for 4 weeks 748L
- feed 4 Dwarfins for 8 weeks 1496L
- feed 8 Dwarfins for 8 weeks 2992L
If you don’t feed your Dwarfin, they will become petrified and turn to stone, at which point they won’t be able to mine or read. Future enhancements are planned to allow your Dwarfins to fish, hunt and fight.
The one part I am admittedly a little confused about is earning gold. Whilst your Dwarfins are mining, they can unearth gold, which can end up in your player balance, but I don’t know what you can do with this gold, it’s not clear from reading the manual. I mean, you must be able to do something with it, but I’m not sure what.
For further information:
Dwarfins Website: http://www.dwarfins.com/
SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dwarfins/38/119/23