Software:Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

Short description: 2006 video game

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon
Developer(s)	ArtePiazza
Publisher(s)	JP: Marvelous Interactive NA: Natsume Inc. EU/AU: Rising Star Games
Director(s)	Sachiko Sugimura
Producer(s)	Takeshi Ogura
Artist(s)	Shintaro Majima
Writer(s)	Chie Yokota Keigo Yamaguchi
Composer(s)	Yutaka Minobe Yasufumi Fukuda
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable, PlayStation 2
Release	April 27, 2006 PSP JP: April 27, 2006 AU: March 22, 2007 NA: May 15, 2007 EU: May 18, 2007 PlayStation 2 JP: March 29, 2007 NA: February 12, 2008
Genre(s)	Simulation/role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon (イノセントライフ　～新牧場物語～, Inosento Raifu ～Shin Bokujō Monogatari～), also known as Harvest Moon: Innocent Life, is a 2006 farming simulation video game for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). It is a spin-off of the Story of Seasons series of games, and was released on April 27, 2006, in Japan and in 2007 for the rest of the world.

A special edition of the game was released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) called Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon (Special Edition) (新牧場物語：ピュア　イノセントライフ, Shin Bokujō Monogatari: Pyua Inosento Raifu) on March 29, 2007, in Japan and February 12, 2008, in North America. Apart from minor changes, the PS2 version is essentially a port of the original.

Gameplay

The game takes place on the relic-filled Heartflame Island which can be explored by walking or riding on a buggy. Players have the ability to explore the island's ruins and even visit a volcano. All these areas have their own terrain and resembles a tropical paradise. In order to explore all over the island, the player must collect jewels and break the seals.

Aside from growing plants and raising livestock, the player has weekly requests from Volcano Town for help with a job.

Plot

On Heartflame Island, a heart-shaped island with a volcano, a scientist named Dr. Hope Grain has created an android boy (the player, who is by default named Life) to serve as a rancher for the island. After getting to know Dr. Hope and a girl named Marcia, the player moves to the Easter Ruins to begin his life as a rancher. He also learns of a company called the Banks Corporation has plans to stop the volcano's eruption, which will destroy the island, but the plan soon backfires. During a meeting between Dr. Hope and the mayor, the player and Marcia learn of the player's origins, but Dr. Hope and his maid Vita explain their purpose of why he is created. The player later learns that the island is watched over by three deities: the Forest Spirit, the Water Spirit, and the Fire Spirit. Two ancient races: the Easter People and the Volcano People, had fought each other in the past and to defeat their enemies, the Easter People tricked the Forest Spirit into helping them steal the Crest of the Water Spirit to strengthen their power. The Spirits, angered by their actions, cut off all resources from their lands and the Water Spirit imprisoned the Forest Spirit as punishment for helping the Easter People. The Easter People eventually died out and the survivors fled the island.

Learning that the Fire Spirit is causing the volcano's eruption and only the Water Spirit can stop it, the player makes it his goal to save the island (not succeeding in this in time will result in the island being destroyed). After finding the Crest of the Water Spirit, the player also meets a hag who gives him the Crest of the Forest Spirit, and later meets two Nature Sprites, who are the split forms of the Forest Spirit. However, there is one Nature Sprite who will only appear in a very special event. Dr. Hope eventually falls ill; this causes the third Nature Sprite to appear. After bringing the Nature Sprites the Crest of the Forest Spirit, they merge together to retake the form of the Forest Spirit, who opens the way to the tower near Mermaid Lake. With the hag's help, the player returns the Crest of the Water Spirit to the tower. The Water Spirit, grateful of the player's help, advices him to put the Crest of the Fire Spirit on the Ice Grail located on the Alter of Ice in order to calm it down. After finding the Crest of the Fire Spirit, the player heads to the Alter of Ice to put the Crest there, which summons the Fire Spirit. The Water Spirit calms down its wrath, averting the island's destruction. Back in town, the mayor thanks the player for saving the town and he goes to see Dr. Hope, who is also grateful before dying, causing the player to shed a tear, showing that he has become a human somewhat.

In the post credits scene, Marco, the CEO of Banks Corporation, wonders what went wrong with his plans before suddenly coming up with another idea.

Development

The game features a new art style that steps away from the traditional style of the previous Harvest Moon games. It focuses more on solving a main storyline like traditional RPGs, rather than concentrating on farm works. The concept used in Innocent Life would be continued on the Rune Factory series, which also involved ARPG battles. However, the removal of the marriage system in this installment also departs from any previous or later game in the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series except for Harvest Moon GB, Harvest Moon 2 GBC, and Software:Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score PS2 PSP EGM N/A 5.83/10 Eurogamer N/A 7/10 Famitsu N/A 29/40 Game Informer N/A 7.25/10 GameRevolution N/A C+ GameSpot N/A 5.3/10 GameSpy N/A GameZone N/A 7.9/10 IGN 6/10 (UK) 6.9/10 (US) 6.5/10 Pocket Gamer N/A PSM N/A 8/10 RPGamer N/A 4/5 Aggregate score Metacritic 63/100 67/100

Both Innocent Life and its Special Edition received "mixed or average reviews" according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. IGN said of the former in its U.S. review that the story develops slowly and the gameplay strays too far from Harvest Moon's traditional farming focus. In Japan, Famitsu gave the PSP original a score of one eight and three sevens for a total of 29 out of 40.

External links

• Official website
• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers". This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months. The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing. A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school. Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information. In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount. This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign. A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art). Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel, and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million. The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface. This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue. Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.

See also

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

External links

• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers". This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months. The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing. A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school. Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information. In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount. This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign. A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art). Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel, and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million. The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager. Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface. This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue. Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.

See also

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions