‘Disney Magic Kingdoms’: Improvements Needed

GeekMom Sophie and I have an unnatural obsession with Disney Magic Kingdoms by Gameloft. We chat on FB when we get a new attraction open or a character is giving us a hard time to welcome. After over 60 days of discussions, we’ve realized that while we both enjoy the game, it could use some improvements to make it the ultimate Disney kingdom-building experience.

First here are our complaints.

1. Allow more than one character to level up at a time – It’s annoying to be welcoming one character yet not be able to level up another one. Let players level up or welcome more than one character as long as they are in different storylines.
2. Lower the gem prices – After spending gems on some attractions, GeekMom Sophie felt burned when the following weekend there was a sale for Mother’s Day. If you are willing to drop an attraction by 15 gems on a holiday weekend, just do players a favor and lower them year round.
3. $9.99 for a character? Really? – I know the average age range for this game is 20-40-years-old, but that doesn’t mean we have this kind of dough to drop. It frustrated me when Flynn Rider’s quest was opened up I was given the opportunity to purchase Maximus for $9.99 and get around 130 gems with him. I’m sorry, but $9.99 to add a character to an already pricey gem game is a bit steep.
4. Parade prices – It took me a while to realize I was spending not only gems but magic for parades. Each float costs 35 gems and a slot to put it in costs 35 gems. Then to run the parade it costs you magic in hopes you will get magic back when it’s over. Confusing much?! Ditch the 35 gem slot prices or stop charging magic to run the thing. Even the real Disney isn’t that greedy.

Now here are some ideas we have that would just be nice to have. 

1. Menu of characters and their current quests – I’m only at level 26 so I don’t have many characters to keep track of, but those that I do have can be overwhelming. It would be nice to have a way for me to see what everyone is doing and how long they have left so I can manage my time accordingly.
2. Grey out characters already in a quest – Sophie had the great idea to take the character menu a step further. When you put Minnie to work at her house and then you go to give Mickey a task, grey out the quests that involve Minnie.
3. Nighttime option – Anyone that has been to a Disney park knows that when the sun goes down, the park lights up with magic. Electrical Light Parade would be a great addition. Let players decide if they want the moon to shine over the kingdom based on their location and change the parade option from day to night. Or how about a fireworks option instead of a parade!
4. Location Location Location – In the last major update you asked to use our location settings. I was excited until I saw it was for me to see players who were close by to me. Bummer. Turn that into an “if you open your game while in a Disney store or Disney park, you get gems” and I’ll consider giving the game access to that battery draining function.
5. Mission paths – The game starts with the obvious Mickey Mouse and friends, but then it turns into Toy Story and Monsters Inc. world–neither of which I’m much of a die-hard fan of. Let people start the game by asking them which path they would prefer to go: Princess or Pixar. It is my kingdom after all, right? Let me spend my time filling it with characters and areas that I want.
6. Confirmation button for spending gems – A simple “This will cost you XX gems, are you sure you wish to proceed?” warning would be appreciated. Sophie’s game frequently freezes up for several seconds and she has to tap the same button a few times for a response. This can lead to spending gems when the game has jolted forward and she tapped a speed up with gems button instead by accident.
7. Balance out the task lengths – This is another one of Sophie’s big things. As she said, “I’ve been trying to complete a six-second upgrade to Zurg for three days now because every task to get the missing token I need is either 12 or 24 hours long. That’s ridiculous.”
8. Zoom out further – As the park is expanding, we’d both like to be able to see more of it at once to help us navigate.
9. Camera overview of the kingdom – In some games there’s the option to click a camera and it takes a picture of the entire game. This would be cool so you can show off how far your kingdom as grown to your friends.
10. Make the cinema a working attraction – I would sit through advertisements in exchange for gems or magic. Just saying.

Despite any complaints we have, we are still having fun and the current Incredibles challenge has been a blast. I started playing as a casual game to pass the time on my breaks at work but quickly realized this isn’t a game for the casual player if you want to make any progress. Every update brings some nice changes and hopefully some of our ideas will make it into a future update.