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Virtual Horse Ranch
"Not interested in shoot-'em-up games? Try this slower-paced, but equally engrossing online horse game."
If you've ever dreamed of owning and training a competition winning horse, here's your chance-and you won't need to clean out the stalls. Orbis Games' Virtual Horse Ranch, which is an online, multiplayer game, lets you buy horses, breed them, and enter them in competitions. A virtual Trophy Room displays your horses' awards when they win competitions. You can specialize your horses in various sports. The game also lets you manage a stable. Unlike many online games, you won't need to download a program: The game takes place in your Internet browser. However, the game also lacks a graphics engine, which means you'll read text descriptions of events instead of viewing characters or a landscape. The game measures turns in virtual days. Each day you can check out your stables; buy, sell, or train horses; and take part in the game's events. The game has detailed articles that will help players get started, but if you run into trouble or still don't know where to begin, check out the site's forums, in which players discuss the games and hawk horses. Virtual Horse Ranch's Novice account is free. You can upgrade to a Sponsor account (which lets players host more events and create clubs) for $29.95 per year.
--Smart Computing Magazine: February 2006 * Vol.17 Issue 2 "Share the Wares"
Virtual Pups
The creators of Virtual Horse Ranch also offer Virtual Pups, which lets you raise and breed digital dogs. Sign up for a free account or upgrade it for $19.95 per year. The upgrade gives you extra Play Cash and lets you breed dogs. You can also select an enhanced kennel if you upgrade your account. As with Virtual Horse Ranch, the game doesn't have a graphics engine-you'll read text descriptions of your actions. Once you buy a dog, you'll need to play with it and train it and (if you choose), prepare it for a competition. The site lets virtual dog owners add a picture of a dog to each dog profile. (You'll need to add your own dog pictures to your dog's profile.) A banner at the top of the page keeps track of your cash and the number of turns you have left-you'll use a turn every time you Proceed To The Next Week, and you'll recoup turns as you play. Although fans of graphics-intensive, first-person shooter games may not enjoy Virtual Pups, players who have also played tabletop role-playing games will love Virtual Pups' detailed and well-planned world.
--Smart Computing Magazine: February 2006 * Vol.17 Issue 2 "Share the Wares"
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Survey conducted in late 2004 by Orbis Games
Who said women don't game? (Press release) November 12, 2004
A recent survey discovered where the women gamers are! Virtual Horse Ranch (virtualhorseranch.com) is a game
that has hit a niche... ninety-five percent of the players are women! The developer, Shannon Cusick, is a member of the
Womens Game Developers Austin Group and was rather excited to tell her fellow members that she discovered that 95% of
her player base was female.
With over 40,000 users and growing at an exponential rate, this web based game is accessible to all with an
internet connection. Perhaps your not familiar, but check with your daughters and nices about the growing trend of sim pet games.
One of the newer games of its kind, Virtual Horse Ranch is very unique and brings more of a challenge, that attracts older players
and is putting a huge dent in the competition sites.
Despite it's success, Cusick says that she does not plan to expand the game in to a CD or heavy graphical game, "Part of the
fun of this game is the customization of your horse- the colors, adding an image, and that would not be feasible if we made this
a CD ROM required game." What other plans does Cusick have for this unmined niche? "There has been a lot of pressure to build
this game in to a cell phone game." Ah yes, women, phones? Of course! Cusick mentions she is talking to a few developers about the
option.
For further inquiries contact Kyle Hutchison.
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Virtual Horse Ranch the underground hit at Austin Game Conference
Orbis Games made a strong presence at the Austin Game Conference in September, 2004, even being named the underground hit game.
Among publishers of titles like Star Wars Galaxies, Dark Age of Camelot, and so on, Virtual Horse Ranch raised the eyebrows
and got the attention of top Sony executives and the big players.
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Austin Game Conference 2004
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