Growtopia

Growtopia is a 2D massively multiplayer online sandbox video game based around the idea that most of the in-game items can be grown from their corresponding seeds. The game has no end goals or 100% completion, but has an achievement system and quests to complete from non-player characters.

Players start out with two basic tools: a fist for punching and breaking blocks, and a wrench for editing block properties, adding players and trading items. Players can also visit other people's worlds or create their own, with each world being procedurally generated.

Production of Growtopia started in 2012, when designer Seth Robinson made six mockup screenshots outlining the premise of the game of which he originally called Buildo, and sent it to Mike Hommel to entice him into helping with the project. The game's user interface started to take shape with Hommel's mockups. On October 22, 2012, Hommel uploaded a video to his YouTube channel showing the development of the game before its release.

During initial development, Robinson and Hommel brought in the help of composer Cory Mollenhour to produce Growtopia's soundtrack.

Growtopia received "mixed or average" reviews from critics according to review aggregator GameRankings.

Jay Is Games described the game as "simple and easy enough to work on the mobile platform (and be fun for kids), but with enough room for customization and socialization". 148Apps gave the game a 4/5, saying "the crafting mechanic is unique". Pocket Gamer's Peter Willington scored the game 6 out of 10, criticizing the design of the UI and the characters. TouchArcade wrote "With online games like this that take place in persistent worlds where everyone can interact, you’ll no doubt get some people trying to destroy things and generally make life tough for everyone else".