Call of Farming

Warning: Asset Flip!

Call of Farming is a Unity Asset flip, what Valve calls a "fake game". The "developer", Mavi Game Studios, took the Survival Engine Unity Store tutorial/demo/game asset pack from the real developers, Indie Marc, changed the name, and dumped the result onto Steam. They're attempting to scam people into buying this, so they can get your money for someone else's work.

It gets worse... "Survival Engine" has also been shamelessly dumped on Steam by other asset flippers apart from Mavi Game Studios:

• "Hentai in the Forest", asset flipped by Boom Games/Sweet Games
• "PaperCraft", asset flipped by Cinnamancer Studios
• "Little Big Guy", asset flipped by Albatross Idea
• "Survival Engine", asset flipped by Indie Marc (yes, he put his own asset pack on Steam as if it was a real game... ugh).

Take a look for yourself... these are all exactly the same game!

Because this is an almost exact 1:1 copy + paste of the original Unity asset, it's in violation of the Unity Asset Store Terms of Service and EULA. Specifically, Section 2, Subsection 2.2.1a:

Subject to the restrictions set forth in this EULA, Licensor hereby grants to the END-USER a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, and perpetual license to the Asset solely:(a) to incorporate the Asset, together with substantial, original content not obtained through the Unity Asset Store, into an electronic application or digital media that has a purpose, features, and functions beyond the display, performance, distribution, or use of Assets ("Licensed Product") as an embedded component of that Licensed Product, such that the Asset does not comprise a substantial portion of the Licensed Product

Because the developer misused the asset pack such that it comprises the vast majority of this "game", the developer has unethically and deliberately breached the license agreement. Worse, this intellectual property violation was done in an attempt to profit from their illicit actions. Why is this permitted on Steam?

The products that result from asset flips aren't "real" games. They lack depth and content, because they're just simplistic copies of demos or tutorials. In this case, "Survival Engine" is just a demo/tutorial pack to teach people how to make a simple top down 3D survival game in Unity, and doesn't have any merit as a proper, fully fledged PC game, so this copy+paste of it can't be recommended.

Asset flips don't involve any professional game development. Sure, sometimes they may change a few cosmetic things, swap out different assets etc, but at heart it's functionally identical to the asset they're ripping off.

Asset flips like this are harmful to the gaming industry and to Steam because they reduce the visibility that sincerely made indie games should have, and make it harder for gamers to find real games from genuine developers.

Now, Mavi Studios have made this "free" for now, so they're no longer trying to scam people out of money for someone else's game, but it doesn't change the fact that their original plan was exactly that... to run an asset flip scam on Steam, to scam you out of money for Indie Marc's Unity asset pack. Don't reward this morally bankrupt, unethical behaviour from Mavi Game Studios.

Profile Features Limited!
Valve have marked this game as "Profile Features Limited" at the time of this review. This is usually caused by poor sales figures and low community acceptance for the game (to date). Until this status changes, this game will not give you +1 to your Game Collector badge count, appear in profile achievements or any other Steam meta-accomplishments, nor can it be displayed in some profile showcases. If these factors are important to you, it may be worth holding off before buying this game.

Developer Response!

The developer has weighed in to inform everyone they didn't read the Developer Usage Rules for Steam "partners", or they deliberately ignored the part where Valve says:

Though it may be tempting, not every review needs to be responded to. A developer response will frequently draw more attention than the original statement, potentially turning a small issue into a much larger community discussion. It's also not a good idea to use this feature to refute customer opinions. Your direct attention can be seen as validation or a defensive attempt to silence your customers.

So this is insane... the developer breached Valve guidelines just to brazenly acknowledge this is an asset flip. They don't see that's a problem, instead, they decided to argue with me, a reviewer, about what the Unity Terms of Service says. You know, the one that they agreed to and then immediately breached, so they can profit from dumping asset flip trash on the Steam store. I'm gonna repost the section of the commercial agreement that they violated for profit:

Subject to the restrictions set forth in this EULA, Licensor hereby grants to the END-USER a non-exclusive, non-transferable, worldwide, and perpetual license to the Asset solely:(a) to incorporate the Asset, together with substantial, original content not obtained through the Unity Asset Store, into an electronic application or digital media that has a purpose, features, and functions beyond the display, performance, distribution, or use of Assets ("Licensed Product") as an embedded component of that Licensed Product, such that the Asset does not comprise a substantial portion of the Licensed Product

Emphasis mine, but you can clearly see:

1) There is no substantial content not obtained through the Unity Asset Store.
2) The asset from Indie Marc absolutely comprises the vast majority of this product.

Womp womp. And yes, Indie Marc is distributing this asset under that license on the Unity store, I checked.

The developer seems to think that not reading the agreement they signed gives them some kind of legal immunity? Like I said, insane.

Good luck defending that one in court whenever Unity decides to sue.

People should be aware that as soon as Unity does take legal action, this asset flip will be GONE.

Edit: The developer fails their IQ test massively and continues to ignore the parts of the license that require they include substantial content not obtained through the Unity Asset Store, and fail to understand that the resultant product (Game) cannot be majority composed of the asset they bought. The license is right there, I've linked it and quoted it twice. If the developer wants to keep pretending they didn't breach the commercial license, that's on them.

The FACTS of my review are not baseless, you can see the developers game, and see the asset, and see they're identical. PROOF is included in my review.

Hi all o7
Game looks nice, plays rather enjoyable, but does need a tiny bit of work.
The camera control is meh. It turns with you while walking, instead of letting you freely control it.
I built a crafting station, but couldn't place it anywhere.
I crafted a shovel, but didn't know what to use it on, so I hit a rabbit with it.
Got some nice rabbit meat.
Got attacked by a bear and killed it with a scickle.
Got some nice bear meat.
There is no tutorial, so you need to figure out stuff on your own, what I like.
To dismount a horse you need to press space.
The tools get used up very fast, but they are also super easy to make, so no issue with that.

LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE! o7

This game should be in alpha or a close-by stage.
As of the end of 2023, there's nothing fun about it. There's no motivation, no direction, and no feeling of progress when doing anything. Just a clumsy interaction with the world without any tutorial or background.

It may be labeled as "clicker" but it isn't. I assume that the publisher doesn't understand this term.