My GAMECITY

my GAMECITY (マイゲームシティ) is Koei-Tecmo's official social network service for Japanese fans and visitors of its official website, Gamecity. It has been in service since September 2010. Unlike the company's official fanclub, which requires proof of a purchased product, my GAMECITY is free to join and enjoy. Additional purchases can be used for the games, but they are not mandatory.

According to company executive, Kazumi Fujita, the service was conceived as an addition for the company's social games. Kou Shibusawa wanted to present a community for fans to share their appreciation for the company's products with social communities hosted by the company. The portal site also served as a place for miniature present campaigns and information regarding the company's live events. Shibusawa thought the next natural step for the community was to make it its own game for the PC browser. That way, they can use the same system to reach out to international fans online with their social networks. He also felt that a game version of the community could further unite fans of the company's various IPs.

The PC game version of my GAMECITY was made to allow players to fashion their own identity using their favorite IPs from the company. Shibusawa considers the game to be a friendly homage to the company's 30 years of service in the video game market. Although the featured franchises are so far few, he promised that more IPs would be included such as those from Gust or Tecmo. Fujita later responded that there are plans to include company IPs that have been discontinued over the years as well.

General
my GAMECITY offers the basic following services for registered fans:
 * a custom user page and friends list.
 * an active Twitter feed of the company's franchises and a calendar for merchandise.
 * official communities with forum topics, polls, and contests. Free downloadable wallpapers or images are available for fans. Members could also vote for their three favorite characters in the Dynasty Warriors 7 and Samurai Warriors 3 Empires character popularity polls.
 * instant log in for the company's MMORPGs (Nobunaga no Yabou Online, Uncharted Waters Online, and Dynasty Warriors Online)
 * competitions and rankings in the community's web games.

Attendees of Koei-Tecmo's live events can also receive serial codes they can use in either the company's social games or MMORPGs. my GAMECITY members can then register them for their products. Lately special product campaigns involving a my GAMECITY membership have been taking place, one of which includes the Neoromance Message Campaigns for Christmas, Valentine's Day, and White Day.

A web money service using GC Coins has began with the portal site. Users can exchange GC Coins at the company's online shopping service as a substitution for money and use it to purchase merchandise. Alternatively, GC Coins can be bought with the user's money and used within my GAMECITY's games for extra bonuses. 1 GC Coin is equivalent to 1 yen. Campaigns which reward users with GC Coins are occasionally hosted by the company to encourage new membership.

Currently a spring campaign is the newest campaign to invite users to join the community. Participants can log-in to their account and/or register to compete for the prizes featured on the page.

Mini Games
These web games are basic and easy to play traditional games. They often require the mouse or the keyboard.


 * 1) Hanafuda - standard hanafuda match with koikoi option.
 * 2) Collect the Hearts - game created with Angelique trois visuals with the player acting as Angelique Collett. The goal is the match the corresponding colored hearts to clear each level.
 * 3) Number Place Sudoku
 * 4) Freecell
 * 5) Shuffle Card - pick the highest numbered card each time the cards shuffle.
 * 6) High & Low
 * 7) Black Window - fill in the 9 x 9 square grid by moving blocks.
 * 8) Beyond the Skies - use the mouse to fly a spaceship and avoid obstacles.
 * 9) The Shinobu - click the mouse to have the shinobi jump upwards and infiltrate the castle.
 * 10) Tokyo City Life - exchange the correct amount of money to make ends meet.
 * 11) Number Select - clear the numbers from the screen in consecutive order.
 * 12) Pong
 * 13) Reversi
 * 14) Poker Solitaire
 * 15) Pyramid Solitaire
 * 16) RunBou - platform game with a constant moving screen. The player times their mouse clicks to make the stick figure man, RubBou, hop over obstacles.
 * 17) City Mascot Mahjong Solitaire - collect the corresponding mahjong blocks. Some blocks are decorated with the potential Gamecity mascots.
 * 18) Match the Cards - find the pairs on the Nobunyaga no Yabou themed cards before the timer runs out.
 * 19) Red Ninja vs Green Ninja - use the arrow keys to have the red ninja inch closer to the other colored ninja. Assassinate him without being detected or killed by other ninja assailants.
 * 20) Extreme Pool - billiards-like game of shooting a cue ball with the mouse. Use it to bounce it or other balls to hit the stage's target.

Social Game
The social game of the same name is an Adobe flash application. The game is controlled by left-clicking with the mouse. Users can keep their user name to control an in-game avatar. They can choose the gender of their character to be a male or female.

Players raise their avatar using a basic RPG leveling system. The player routinely leaves their created town to gain booty and Experience Points (XP). An "Avatar Level Up" boosts the maximum limit for the avatar's inventory. Treasure which they obtain from adventures can be used to help bolster his/her town or his/her equipment. Avatars can equip a weapon, a wig (helmet), and a outfit (armor). So far avatars can change their equipment to make themselves look like the following characters:


 * Boy - traditional Japanese man of court; Kasumi; Sacred Guardian of Fire Oscar
 * Girl - traditional Japanese princess; Kasumi; Angelique Limoges

Nyabraham Linnyahn presents the game's tutorial and assigns quests for the player as they play. Depending on the day, he may randomly award players with a special event or gift as they log-in.

There are four necessary consumable values within the game:
 * 1) Gold (G) - needed to construct objects in the town.
 * 2) Bread - restores a building's function.
 * 3) Hit Points (HP) - avatar health points which is needed for adventures.
 * 4) World Points (WP) - mandatory point for various functions in the town or in adventures. Players can use their GC Coins to buy more WPs. Naturally restored every five minutes (real time).

Town
Each player is given their own plot of land which they can manipulate to their desires. Constructions/objects within their plot of land can be removed, rotated, or moved to their aesthetic preferences. Players can build houses or restaurants when they start out, and more options are unlocked by whatever realm the player wishes to explore. They are themed based on the company's IPs or realms which are listed in the adventure section.

Buildings can serve as decorative constructs, but their main purpose is to help the player's avatar. Any crop can be grown and harvested to provide Bread. Restaurants restore the avatar's lost HP, and outlets can increase Gold. Houses can increase the number of NPCs residing in his/her town. NPCs boosts the level of the town's shop, which provides the avatar's equipment. Individual prices and output values fluctuate between each building.

Real time timers are placed on crops and constructs, meaning that it is impossible to immediately use whatever the player builds. Waiting is mandatory. Times are indicated as the mouse hovers over objects in the town. Some items can be ready in five minutes, while others may need two hours. Fortunately, the player does not need to be logged-in to fulfill the waiting time listed on the timers.

1 WP is used each time the player uses a building or chops down a single crop of land. Eating a restaurant to restore HP, in other words, requires one WP per building. 1 WP is needed for fusing the avatar's equipment together to increase the equipments' level. A maximum of four items can be fused at once. Higher weapon/armor levels is imperative to increase the avatar's attack and defense for adventures. NPCs in the avatar's town may randomly give the avatar a present if they are given 1 WP.

Pets can be added into a town if a particular building is found and created. Aside from being a unique cosmetic, pets can reward avatars who feed them with more WP or a HP boost. Their appearance changes based on the building's design motif.
 * Nobunaga's Ambition - Shiba Inu puppy
 * Dead or Alive - wolf
 * Angelique - unicorn
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms - panda

Players can visit another user's town and may send them private messages. Friend requests can be sent using the social game's messaging system. Friends can indirectly help one another by giving their friends' consumable goods or by acting as background support against enemies in their adventures. It's encouraged to routinely use the in-game's automated greeting function to increase friendly benefits. Greetings use 1 WP each time. While players can visit his town, they cannot befriend Nyabraham.

Adventure
Avatars can select their realm of choice to explore. Each realm has its difficulty setting indicated by its level, or Stages; the higher the numbered stage, the higher its difficulty. Players can move up in Stages by clearing its allotted Floors, a number which increases as the player progresses. The designs for each realm is inspired by one of the company's IPs. Here are the areas which so far appear in the game.


 * Nobunaga's Ambition - visuals are based on the latest title, Tendou.
 * Dead or Alive - includes visuals and characters from Dimensions.
 * Angelique - uses visuals and characters from étoile; Levias and his knights act as the realm's enemies and are altered versions of character portraits from this game.
 * Romance of the Three Kingdoms - buildings are available but realm is not present yet.

The player cannot advance forward until every treasure box on a Floor is opened. 1 HP is required to open a treasure box. If the avatar runs out of health at any time, he/she will be transported back to the town to recover. Treasure boxes will have the following loot:
 * Gold - G icon
 * Bread - bread icon
 * Equipment - weapon (sword icon), helmet (hat icon), and armor (shirt icon).
 * Jewel - gem icon; used in town menu to fortify avatar's equipment.
 * Piece - paper icon; contains profile information of characters/weapons/items from company IPs. Collected and used to learn skills for creating buildings/crops in town. The player can access them by clicking the Collection icon in the town menu.

Players are encouraged to open the same item type in consecutive order, or to create Combos. Combos increases the amount of loot and XP gained, automatically restores 1 WP, and additionally increase an avatar's attack and defense. They begin when the player collects three of the same icon and quickly break when an irregularity is encountered.

Enemies may randomly challenge an avatar to battle when a treasure box is opened; opponents are characters which appear in the realm's IP (e.g. the Dead or Alive realm may have Ryu Hayabusa challenge the player). Before the fight begins, each opponent's attack and defense levels are visually shown to the player using colored gauges. The player's avatar is represented as blue, while their opponent is red. In other words, a completely red gauge means the avatar will lose the fight. If the odds are against them, the player has the option to flee. This action costs an avatar half of his/her current HP and immediately transports him/her back to town.

Fights are simple sprite battles with automated dialogue from characters. Winning grants safe passage for the treasure box and bonus XP. If he/she is damaged, the avatar loses HP and the endurance of their equipment may be lowered. Lost HP is added onto the mandatory 1 HP needed to open the treasure so, if an avatar loses 2 HP in the battle for the treasure, it means they will use 3 HP to open it. Players can try to prevent the loss of their avatar's HP by using 5 WP in battle to restore 5 HP.

As treasure boxes are opened, the avatar collects Treasure Points (TP). When he/she has obtained 100 TP, a Dream Sequence is activated. This temporary phase allows the player to see what is inside each treasure box before it is opened, thus simplifying Combos for the player. During a Dream Sequence, the player unlocks the option to change the Floor's treasure with the cost of 10 WP. Dream Sequences end when the avatar's HP reaches 0 or if the TP reaches 0.

Games
Users can play browser games while they are logged in their my GAMECITY account. Three games have so far been announced for the service.


 * Hyakuman-nin no Sangokushi Special - PC browser version of the mobile social game which predominately runs on JavaScript; services began March 15, 2012.

Related Media
my GAMECITY has been advertised at Koei-Tecmo's Tokyo Game Show booth ever since its conception. Fans were able to vote for the network's mascot, or "mayor of Gamecity". The winner was Nyabraham Linnyahn who has since appeared as a costumed mascot at Koei's live events in Japan. He additionally acts as the mascot for Koei's Youtube trailers.

The press event for the community's renewal was broadcast live for interested fans at Ustream. The idol Eri Kohinata, who previously acted as a live mascot for Saihai no Yukue, was present to comment about the game.