Game Bois And Joysticks: Tiki Farm Let's Your Gay Pride Show, Plus "Heavy Rain"

This month I bring you news of gay visibility on the Facebook gaming app front with Tiki Farm, a new tropical farm game that allows you to mark your island as a Gay Mecca with a Pride flag that waves from your fruit garden. Plus my complete review of Sony’s interactive thriller Heavy Rain.

If you have been on Facebook in the past few years, you’re sure to be familiar with the ubiquitous gaming app Farmville and its constant news feed invasion with updates on crops and purchases of livestock and prizes. The game initially grabs you with its cartoony graphics and simple game play that has you planting and harvesting crops on your very own farm.

Now Tiki Farm takes this formula and re-skins it with a tropical theme. What makes this farm clone special enough to merit your time? Aside from improving on the Farmville equation with a new game play mechanic, this little gem includes a Pride Flag as a game prize that allows you to make your farm into your own private Fire Island!

From the very beginning, the music in TF charms with a catchy tropical beat while the bright graphics make the initial experience highly inviting despite the low-budget design. I spent at least 20 minutes in the character creator alone, selecting my gender, hairstyle, and clothing. I settled on a zany, shirtless surfer-looking hottie.

The Tiki Farm setup is simple. You plant some seeds, water your crops, then harvest and sell them at the market. Spraying for bugs adds a new mechanic to the farming process, helping to prevent wasted crops and "fruitless" effort.

Pointing and clicking your avatar around the farm is a tactile experience that makes managing the cycle of crops quick and satisfying. After selling your fruit, you bank the coins, which you pour into more seeds for more crops. After enough harvesting is done, you will level up, unlocking items including the Tiki Bar and eventually the rainbow Pride Flag to decorate your island however you like!

The experience is fun and requires just a few minutes of time a day. Aside from the annoying status updates for practically every move you make in this game (required if you want to play), Tiki Farm can be a quick, pleasurable cure for the midday work blues.

Of course, don't let it cut into your AfterElton surfing time!

Next page! What's the opposite of Tiki Farm? It just might be Heavy Rain.