Build-a-lot: On Vacation Preview

New features and setting in Build-a-lot: On Vacation

Build-a-lot, the game that invented its very own genre (casual building sim), is returning for a sixth time! In Build-a-lot: On Vacation, popular vacation destinations are looking to upgrade their local attractions, and you’re needed to help them with these special projects. You’ll use your resource management skills to spruce up the local attractions, create 4-star lodging and plan the most exciting getaways to charm tourists and locals alike.

From snowy mountains to sandy coastlines, you’ll play through 65 vacation-themed levels (including 3 campaigns, two modes of play and a helpful tutorial) where goals include:

• Harvesting and planting tree lots to gain money and materials
• Constructing a real estate office and utilize zoned lots
• Staging and appraising houses to maximize your income
• Tracking your best times on each level

As with previous games in the Build-a-lot series, you can expect to see a lot of new features and tweaks in Build-a-lot: On Vacation. Each Build-a-lot game has been significantly different than the one before it, and this one looks to be no exception. According to developer Hipsoft, here’s a summary of the changes you can expect to see:

• The game now supports widescreen resolutions as opposed to “stretching” like the previous BAL games.
• Tree lots are now available which allow you to harvest them for money or materials. This feature really adds to all the possible strategies that can be used to complete levels because now there is another way to gain resources. One a tree lot has been harvested, you can reforest it (and then harvest again) or use the empty lot to construct a house or building.
• The Real Estate Office is a new building that can be constructed. Owning a Real Estate Office allows you to Appraise and Stage houses. Appraised houses have a higher selling value and that value won’t be go down if there are other houses for sale at the same time. Staging a house increase its rental income and is really useful on many levels.
• When buying properties, you can now use the “Offer Double” button if you own a Real Estate Office. Many properties, especially the Premiere properties which are located on the best lots, don’t come up for sale very often. By “Offering Double”, you can acquire these properties and continue on with the goals for the level. Clever players will know when to do this—especially if they are aiming to beat the “blue ribbon” time for the level.

• Each of the five vacation towns has a Special Project to complete at the end. This forces the player to save up resources to complete a much bigger task (such as reforesting a waterfall area or repairing the ski gondola). Once completed, the player is rewarded with level specific animations.
• Zoned lots are specially marked lots that allow buildings to be constructed on them without suffering from negative appeal to the neighborhood. Strategic players will use Zoned lots to construct the most helpful buildings while still attaining the appeal goals for the level.
• Players can now easily track their best times on each level since that info is now displayed on the top bar.
• The entire interface has been cleaned up and simplified. Many items now use icons with less text. Goals are displayed more clearly and on a single line at the top.

Build-a-lot: On Vacation should be launching around the end of the summer. If you’d like to be notified when the game is released, be sure to sign up for a Gamezebo Alert.

Erin Bell