The Simpsons: Tapped Out Treehouse of Horror XXV content update



The Simpsons: Tapped Out Treehouse of Horror XXV content update is a content update and event which was released on October 7, 2014 and ran until November 13, 2014, one day later than was originally planned. It is the game's third Halloween event, after and. This event launched under app version 4.11.0.

The event is split into three parts, the first part lasted until October 20, 2014, at which point the second part commenced which lasted to October 31, 2014, at which point the third commenced.

Upon installation of the update, players were requested to enter their age and agree to terms and conditions.

Description

 * App Store Description:

The Treehouse of Horrors update is here and it’s out of this world!

''Aliens have arrived in Springfield with plans to attack! Uncover their plot and save your town! At least until the government finds out and covers this all up.''
 * Squish the alien invaders and collect probes, ray guns and more to earn special prizes
 * Trick-or-treat with more characters than ever and craft unique limited time items
 * Compete with your friends on NEW LEADERBOARDS and see who can squish the most aliens
 * Enjoy new characters, buildings and decorations and rediscover missed prizes from last year


 * What's New in Version 4.11.0:

''The Treehouse of Horror update is here!

''Ready the Spooky Checklist! Costumes? Check. Candy Bags? Check. Ungrateful greedy children? Check. Alien Invasion?... Looks like this totally normal Halloween update got a little out of this world. Maybe add a few mutated trees and zombies to the checklist too. Doesn’t hurt to be prepared.''

Enjoy new characters, buildings, decorations and more in the latest event!!!

Production
In a Q&A interview on the official Tapped Out EA forums, Matthew Edwards, the EA Senior Producer, said "the core team for the event was about twelve people, but they were supported by the game's leadership, QA teams, deployment, operations and marketing". The script for the event was written by J. Stewart Burns and Carolyn Omine. He later stated "the original inspiration [for the event] was to actually try and emulate the show, and do three separate stories over the month that were revealed in the end to be a plot from Kang and Kodos taking over Springfield", and that "each story was wildly different from the last, and the whole thing just started to get bigger and bigger until we realized we wouldn't be able to accomplish it successfully. We ended up deciding it would be best to focus on the kernel of the idea that we were most excited about, which was Kang and Kodos' alien invasion, and put all our energy into making that great."

Squishing Rigellians
Players squish Rigellians that spawn in Springfield 1 every 5 minutes, with a maximum of 80 (only 50 appear on screen, then as tapped, the remaining 30 will slowly spawn if full), and receive //, and 1 of the phase currency in a friends' town. You can only squish 90 Rigellians a day in friends' towns. Treat Bags and Donuts can also be obtained from squishing Rigellians.

Device notifications

 * "Springfield is overrun with Rigellian invaders. It's time to teach them a lesson they won't forget."
 * This happens when the maximum of 50 Rigellians is achieved in your town.

Grem-Aliens
You can also receive Grem-Alien Eggs, which can be used in players' towns (10 maximum) to release Grem-Aliens which after 4 hours if not squished by the other player, the player receives // If the Grem-Alien is squished, both players receive 2 of the phase currency.

You can buy Grem-Alien Eggs in the Store:

Leaderboard
In the friends menu, in the medal icon, there is a leaderboard which tells the player how they rank amongst their friends, with Grem-Alien squishing and spawning. Each Grem-Alien you squish earns 15 points. Each one you spawn in a friend's town earns 10 points, and if the friend doesn't squish it within 4 hours you'll get an additional 20 points. If they do squish it in time, your friend gets 15 points.

In-game

 * "R.I.P. Grem-Alien, planted by [player name]"
 * This appears when you squish a Grem-Alien in your town.

Device notifications

 * "It's been 4 hours since you released your Grem-aliens. Log in to see their haul!"
 * It takes four hours for Grem-Aliens to successfully loot something from friends' towns.
 * "[player name] has squished one of your Grem-aliens. Oh dear!"
 * This means that between when you sent your Grem-Alien off to [player name]'s town and the 4-hour wait until it rewards, being successful, [player name] squished your Grem-Alien and you will have to share the reward with the friend.

Treat Bags
The player receives Treat Bags from sending Kids, More Kids, Toughies, the Squeaky Voice Teen and Witch Marge on an 8 hour task (16h for premium characters) to "Go Trick or Treating", which rewards either a Bronze Treat Bag, a Silver Treat Bag, or a Gold Treat Bag. Premium characters earn either a Silver or Gold Treat Bag. The player can find, , , , and , to craft items,  to upgrade the weapon, event currency, , a Rigellian Shrub, a Human Test Subject, a Spooky Wall,  and a Grem-Alien Egg.

You can buy Treat Bags in the Store:

Crafting Items
The player can craft items with items received from Treat Bags at the Make-a-Thing Workshop. The items are not cumulative, as whenever you craft something, the store of currency you have built up for example,, the amount it takes to craft that item will be taken away.

Personal Prizes
If the player didn't collect all the Personal Prizes in one part of the event (Part 1 or Part 2), they are able to craft it when the next part begins (Part 2 or Part 3).

Currencies
The currencies, and  are available to use in the first part, second part and third part of the event respectively.

,, , and  are found in Treat Bags, but also from October 11, 2014, could be bought in the Store, only on weekends, however:

UFOs & Ammo
The player can receive which is used in friends' towns to shoot down UFOs, which have a 25% chance of appearing which the player can receive rewards for. Ammo is obtainable through Treat Bags and from squishing Rigellians or Grem-Aliens. The Ray Gun also rewards every 8 hours.

Ammo can also be bought in the Store:

UFOs can also be shot down for a cost of each, if the player does not obtain any  at that point.

The chances of receiving a prize from the UFO are:

Rigellian Hunting License
The Rigellian Hunting License can be bought for, which gives an extra 1 of the phase currency (2 in total) for squishing Rigellians in a friend's town.

Daily Play Combo
The Daily Play Combo changed with this event.

Personal Prizes
Prizes rotate every 12 days, to coincide with the beginning and ends of the different parts of the event. If the player misses out on getting a prize, "Looks like you missed these prizes, but you can still try craft them" the player can craft them using either, , , , and.

After collecting every Personal Prize in each phase, you will receive a quest called "Prestige Bonus", which is to "Collect [applicable phase currency] [x750]". If you do this and complete the quest, you will receive a Silver Treat Bag.

Device notifications

 * At around 10am GMT on October 17, 2014, this notification was sent out: "Have you got all your prizes yet? Now's your last chance! New prizes coming soon!", reminding players that Phase 1 was to end, then in 2–3 days, and Phase 1's prizes would be no longer available for collection using when the phase ended on October 20, 2014.
 * At around 9am GMT on October 20, 2014, this notification was sent out: "Brand new prizes are on offer! Come play the Treehouse of Horror update and squish some aliens!", reminding players that Phase 2 had now begun.
 * At 9am GMT on October 31, 2014, this notification was sent out: "Brand new prizes are on offer! Come play the Treehouse of Horror update and squish some aliens!", reminding players Phase 3 had now begun.
 * At around 9am GMT on November 9, 2014, this notification was sent out: "Have you got all your prizes yet? Now's your last chance!", reminding players Phase 3 was to end in, then, just under 3 days.

Trick-or-Treat Costumes

 * Note: Premium characters' "Go Trick-or-Treating" task lasts 16h, while non-premium lasts 8h.

Which characters can be attacked by the Rigellians?
Whenever a character has been "face-hugged" by a Rigellian, under the Town Hall "census" it tells you the character is "Under Attack".

Additions to the Store
From October 10, 2014, new additions are being added to the store frequently, at 8am GMT at the shown date.

UFO glitch
After tapping on a UFO and destroying it with ammo, it's possible to tap anywhere in the area and bring up the UFO tap screen again, so you can shoot it down again. This can mean you get multiple prizes from the same UFO, without having to chance upon another UFO. This was fixed in an update on October 9th.

Disappearing Prizes Glitch
When you accumulate the needed to unlock the Mutant Peacock as a Personal Prize, but receive the last  in a friends' town, after unlocking the Mutant Peacock, the Peacock will appear in their town, and when you go back to your own, it says the Mutant Peacock is unlocked, but is not availabe in your town, inventory, and is greyed out in the "Treehouse of Horror XXV" character collection. This was fixed in an update on October 9th.

Untappable Grem-Alien or Rigellian glitch
Occasionally, a Grem-Alien or Rigellian may not be tappable. One may be seen just sitting still and not moving. Then it might start moving again. However, you can not tap on it to "kill" it. It will act as if nothing has happened

"Infinite/Permanent Face-Hugger Glitch"
Another glitch has been dubbed the "Infinite/Permanent Face-Hugger Glitch", where Rigellians attack characters but whenever the character is tapped to free itself of the Rigellian, it stays put, resulting in huge amounts of being farmed by exploiting players. It has been reported to be similar to the "Permanent Possessed Glitch" of .Rev. Lovejoy and Wiggum are common examples, although every character can have the glitch.

"Treehouse of Horror XXV" episode tie-in
This tie-in was released on October 16, 2014 which is similar to 's episode tie-in which incorporated collecting items, to earn a costume via squishing Rigellians related to the Halloween episode. Once the player has collected all four items, they will be asked a trivia question to earn the costume, Moog, and, the latter only being rewarded if the player gets the right answer on the first time:

Moog Pt. 1
After unlocking the "Moog" costume:

Mutant Peacock
After unlocking the Mutant Peacock:

Hover-Copter
After unlocking the Hover-Copter:

Never Get Fooled Again
After placing the Donut Torture Device:

Launch

 * ''Sourced from TSTOTopix - "What Changed with the 2014 Treehouse of Horror Update?"


 * There is an Autumn theme to Springfield. Trees have changed to autumn colours/stripped of leaves, leaves falling appear on screen, rivers are dark blue with occasional tentacles coming out of them. There is a slight darkening at the edges of the screen.

The game will also recommend items which appear on the first page of the The Store next to the "Treehouse of Horror XXV" image.
 * The Store and inventory have changed. In The Store, the items have been split into sections:
 * The Krustyland Store and inventory have also changed. In The Store, the items have been split into sections:
 * A Facebook button has appeared in the bottom right corner of the friends screen.
 * Visibility requirements have changed. Instead of being visible but locked when you haven't reached the building's level, now the game won't show them until you're within a level or two. For example, the Power Plant buildings become visible when you hit level 10 but aren't available until you hit level 11 (and reach the associated quest to unlock them).
 * The Super Collider will return and will have a cost of.
 * A few of the decorations have continued to be available for purchase: the Hot Air Balloon, Flaming Torch, and Chicken Coop.
 * Characters were removed again from the Krustyland Goers character group. They were added with the update, removed with the  update, and then added back with the  update. This character group isn't used for tasks.
 * The Spooky Tree and Dead Tree was added to the Trees Group.
 * Shary Bobbins was moved again from the "More Oddballs" character collection to "Helpful Guest Stars".
 * Placing a Beach Chair now requires you to have completed the quest Squidport Pt. 1.
 * Cletus' 12 hour task to "Dig Through Garbage" now requires an unoccupied dumpster.
 * Barbarian Castle, Castle Recycle and Boxingham Palace now earn and  every 4 hours. Barbarian Castle's task is "A Chill Place to Bro Out", Castle Recycle's is to "Host Green Party Meetings" and Boxingham Palace's is to "Visit Rat Kingdom". They are all now storable, and the Barbarian is attached to the Barbarian Castle, so if you store the Barbarian Castle the Barbarian will be stored with it.
 * Medieval Banners, Barbarian Statue, Hot Air Balloon, Hay Cart, Stock, Catapult, Flaming Torch, and Windmill can now be placed in Krustyland, they give 10 Kitsch points each.
 * A premium default job award for a 45 second task has been added, which earns and.
 * The regular job award for a 3 hour task now earns and . It used to earn  and.
 * Suzanne the Witch and Count Burns are now Premium characters.
 * Maude Flanders' 8 hour dual task to "Get Revenge on Homer" now earns and  when it used to earn  and.
 * Macaroni's Shed has returned to The Store for, from the.

October 9th

 * ''Sourced from TSTOTopix - "What Changed with the October 9th Update?"


 * Squidport tiles (if you have any in storage) has been added to the Squidport Inventory group/icon.
 * Krustyland Land Upgrade has been added to the Krustyland Decorations store menu.
 * More stuff has been added to show in The Store during the game's initial tutorial.
 * Wailing Walls have their chain placement attribute back.
 * There's now code to award the Mutant Peacock properly when you earn him.
 * Multiple tappings of UFOs while visiting friends should be fixed.

October 16th

 * Sourced from Reddit - Tapped Out - "New Update: Matt Groening Tie In (semi-spoilers)"


 * Included a new costume for Moe, Moog, which has to be awarded by collecting four items and answering a Trivia Question.
 * Fixed a bug that freezes Grem-Aliens caught in weapon radius when exorcising a possessed character.
 * Fixed a bug that was preventing people from being awarded the probes their Grem-Aliens gather from friends.
 * Fix to award Goblin Bart and/or Archer Lisa if you have the appropriate castle built but for some reason didn't get the costume before.
 * New quest for Millhouse: "It's the Grand Pumpkin, Milhouse" (Charlie Brown reference), which requires the Grand Pumpkin.
 * New quest for Kang (and Kodos if applicable) to drink Hilarium. Requires the Rigellian Queen (craftable in phase 3).
 * Quest name "Trick or Treat" was changed to "Keep Trick or Treating".

October 29th

 * The Ghost Pirate Airship is available for until November 2, 2014: TO THOH 2014 Ghost Pirate Airship message.png
 * The Treehouse of Horror section image in the Store front was slimmed down.
 * Bundle of 10 Bronze Treat Bags and Bundle of 7 Silver Treat Bags were added, both for.
 * A "New!" menu in the store was implemented, which contains some newly implemented things as well as some things you've recently unlocked because you've levelled up.
 * XP requirement for the first bonus level was lowered from 1514240 to 510800.
 * The Mayflower from was re-added permanently for.

October 31st

 * The crafting recipe for the Rigellian Tribal Hut was changed from, and  to ,  and.

Teasers
On October 6, 2014, at 8:04pm GMT the following notification was sent out: "Not ready to hang up that robe? Luckily, Halloween's just around the corner, so put down the axes and swords and pick up some plastic axes and swords.", to promote the then-forthcoming event.

Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7j7dhTh-Wjc