Garden Joy: Design & Makeover 4+

Fun but…

I really enjoy this app. The only issue I have is that the rating of designs is confusing to me. There are designs that are rated 5 stars but are hideous and don’t seem to fit what descriptions say for the landscape. I don’t know if there is a starting number that is given based on the choices that is assigned by the app and then our voting is added or subtracted to that number or if the star rating is based solely on voting. I have seen designs use huge trees with large root systems as trees on rooftop designs and get high ratings. This is not possible. I know it’s a game but I thought the point was to use plantings that are able to thrive in whatever place they are being used. I have seen accents that are used that do not go with the decor at all and they get really high ratings. I feel like sometimes the high ratings are just because all of the extras are being used even if they do not go along with the design. If this is the case then it’s just so the developers can make more money. I have bought a couple of extras but I’m not going to do it just do I can add extras to get higher star ratings when I don’t think the extras are adding anything to the design. I wish I could be told exactly how the star ratings are calculated. If it is solely by voting, I would like to see the actual accounts that are giving high and/or low ratings to my designs.

Issues with the game

Overall this is relaxing and I like it but they could use to add some things to it to make it work better. I was doing a design and had added the wishing well in one of the spots and then tapped on another and it added a wishing well to that spot too and I didn’t want one in the other spot so when i went back to tap it again to remove it like you do on all the others it would not remove it, it was removing all the other things around it so i went to where the other one was and tapped on it and it would not remove either just the other plants or things around it would be removed frustrating to want to change one or two of the items or remove it and cant. They should really have a clear icon for people to be able to clear it all out and restart the process again when they are unable to tap the icon to remove it. So i had to submit my design with two wishing wells in it that looked goofy and now gonna not get a good score because the game would not work it was like that item was froze, even tried shutting off my phone and restarted it to see if that would work and nothing. Then there is not even a way to report issues with the game or app without exiting the game or app. Please fix. Too slow at adding to the game im getting bored with it already been at the end of all the levels for months now, they can add new designs but they cant add new levels. Gonna give it another month then i will just find another garden design game to play and uninstall this one.

Developer Response ,

Hi, we apologize for any issues experienced in the game. We want the game to run as smoothly as possible. Please report this to our support team so they can check any potential bugs preventing you from removing your items from designs. You can reach them either through the app or by emailing garden-joy-support@scopely.com.

Fun…but only if you spend money

This games is lots of fun but only if you’re willing to shell out $5 every few days for more diamonds. Technically you don’t have to spend a cent but there are requirements for each project and often you need to buy item to meet the requirements. Not every option takes the coins that you receive daily and most the items that need to be bought with diamonds cost more than what you get daily. So, if you want to enter that challenge you need to buy more diamonds. $4.99 gets you 16,000 diamonds but each item you buy costs on average 2,500. It goes quickly. Once you buy an item you don’t have it from that point on, you only get to use it 4 or 5 times and then it goes away and you have to buy it again. Then there are bundles that give you items, those cost money. And the challenges, those cost money. It’s one of those games that nickel and dime you until you realize that you’ve spent $35 that month.

I realize the point of making these games is to make money but when it’s too pricey people stop playing because it adds up too much. They would do better to give the items for 10 uses. And give more free diamonds. This way people don’t stop playing to save money. Also, make every category have coin purchase options, for example, none of the centerpieces can be purchased with coin, only diamonds. So again, either don’t use or spend money.