Virtual Money: Clams & Coins

While it is technically classified as a “City Building” game in terms of specific genre, what The Quest for Stuff is, in reality, is a subset of the Free-2-Play gaming genre known a Freemium Grinder -- that is to say that its economic structure is a mixture of free and pay (premium) content, and its status as a Grinder comes from the predictable pattern of repetitive and persistent leveling up.

That last bit is particularly important when we turn to the subject of money -- specifically the premium currency in the game, which in the case of Family Guy takes the form of a type of Clam known as the Quahog.

Mind the . . . Humor . . . Gap

Actually if I can digress for a moment? A recent conversation with a friend living in the Pacific Northwest caused me to realize that some of the humor and a great deal of the unique region-specific content that is so interesting to the rest of the world and yet is so ordinary to those of us who live in New England that it barely seems to deserve notice.

Take for instance the Quahog Clam -- or for that matter Clams in general -- and then there is the crafters beer featured in the show (which is a thinly veiled version of Sam Adams beer). The skyline of the game that features a very recognizable version of Downtown Providence...

There are so many other elements and aspects to this that I will resist the temptation to cover them, and instead point out that the reason why a lot of this is funny to you, and not so much to me -- it gives a genuine reason to pause in wonder.

Obviously this is not the case for probably 90% of the viewers and fans of the TV show Family Guy, but living on Cape Cod where I live, spending a Saturday morning on the mud flats raking up Clams is, well, it is something we do.

Quahogs are a type of clam that we often rake -- a nice sized (large) hard clam that is particularly desired when you are putting together a steam bag for a beach cook out or gathering the right sort of Clams for making a good chowder or seafood soup...

In addition to quahogs we also like to rake littlenecks and topnecks, but prized most of all are the perfect steamers -- small tender Clams that we steam in a mixture of beer and water and serve with Texas Pete hot sauce and lemon on the side. Yum!

Quahogs are also known as “chowders” or “cherrystones” and, due to the toughness of their meat, are used to make clam cakes and chowder, bur more often for stuffing, as the latter use requires you to mince the meat and mix it with veggies and bread before wrapping it in bacon and putting it back in the shell so you can pop it on the grill...

I mention this because the humorous take that the name “Quahog” gets on the show -- and the laugh-a-minute rate of amusement at things that sound funny to you but seem normal to us... Well, suffice it to say that a lot of the time we don't get the jokes.

I just thought I would mention that and provide an example or two so that if... No, strike that... WHEN something that a regular viewed of the show finds funny crops up in the guide and we fail to laugh, well, that is why.

The Two Currencies

Family Guy: The Quest for Stuff is pretty typical in terms of its genre -- the Free-2-Play Freemium Grinder -- so naturally that means it has two basic types of currency: easy to obtain Coins, which are the “Free” money, and the harder to obtain “Clams” which are the Premium Currency.

Interestingly enough, when we first started playing and encountered a Quest in the game that pretty much requires the player to purchase Clams (Premium Currency) using real-world money, we gathered an instant impression that QfS was a lot more mercenary about the whole spending real-world money thing. It turns out that was an erroneous impression!

Far from being unbalanced and predictably aiming for our wallets (we have used Tapped Out as an example of a game that balances out that process nicely) it turns out that the powers that be behind the creation of QfS were far less conservative about the implementation of Clams in the game than we realized.

Specifically they are actually way easier to obtain free than we originally thought -- in fact you are almost guaranteed a Clam or two whenever you visit the social network side of the game (your Neighbors).

That is itself rather cool and important, since if you are not planning on spending real-world funds on the game, you will need to make it a point to save up the Clams you do get for free in the game so you can, at a minimum, purchase the expansions to the Worker's Hut... More on that in a moment.

The “Free” Currency: Coins in the game (and in the guide they are marked with the “$” to indicate that we are using the free currency and not Clams) take the form of a silver coin with black labeling and are obtained from practically every action you can do in the game.

Coins can be harvested through character quests, as rewards for completing missions, and are obtained when harvesting Buildings once their timer has completed charging.

There are objects in the game that can only be purchased with Coins -- and a larger number that can only be purchased with Clams -- with Coins representing the backbone of the game economy in terms of issues like land expansion and infrastructure.

Despite the fact that the premium currency is effectively the revenue stream for the game, most of the truly useful and necessary structures and objects are purchased with Coins, which while it is clearly a good thing we also want to point out is a sign that care was taken in the creation of the game and its economy!

It is the easiest thing in games like this one to underscore the economy by simply requiring the player to spend money and use a game's premium currency -- but when the developer takes the time to create a vibrant and working economic structure and then sticks with it, well, that is the sign of a game that is in it for the distance.

In fact that side of the currencies and economy in QfS is similar to the way it was addressed in Tapped Out, which again is a very good thing indeed. The frank and open use of the free currency in QfS reassures us that the game will not only be here for years to come but also suggests that a plan exists to help keep the game fresh and expanding.

The Premium Currency: Clams are the form that the premium currency has taken, at least in part thanks to a series of long-running gags and jokes in the show, but also because something had to be chosen to represent the premium currency in the game, and Clams were as good a subject as any other!

In QfS Clams are obtained in one of two ways -- they are either harvested for actions performed in the game, or they are purchased -- using real-world money -- by tapping on the Clam Account in the upper left-hand corner of the screen which will then take you to the Clam Store.

Early in the game -- and we suspect partly to help in introducing the premium currency -- there is a Mission called

Free Clams are obtained largely via the social network side of the game, which is introduced to the player as part of the Tutorial system early in game play and through Quest 15: The Great Quahog Multiverse, which teaches you how to interact with the social networking side.

Every day you can do three (3) social tasks in each of the cities you have access to in the Great Quahog Multiverse. When the game first begins and plying through the Tutorial that introduces the social side, your access is restricted to the computer-controlled sample town that is part of every game.

Once you Progress far enough into the game to complete the Tutorial phase, you will unlock the ability to add neighbors to your Quahog Multiverse -- neighbors in the form of other human players who are part of the friend system on your device, which for iOS generally is controlled from within the games.

Summing it All Up

Currencies in the game accumulate in your in-game banks -- which can instantly be found in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, where you will find (from left-to-right) the XP Bank for your Town, your Clam Bank, and your Coin Bank, each holding the respective total of their kind.

For the most part Clams are used to purchase premium items -- eye candy if you will -- that while it can add income to your town usually does not have a strategic value of the sort that the Coin-based items and objects do.

That said, don't dismiss the Clam system entirely as a lot of the eye-candy that can only be obtained via it is both fun and amusing -- and while most of the objects, items, or Buildings are not really worth the Clams they cost, some are.

Sussing out the strategically valuable Clam items -- and recommending them to you -- is a major part of the support side that this guide provides -- just saying.