Topic
Glitch, Unlaunched
We are taking Glitch back to beta. This is some big news. The story’s told in this blog post, which you ought to read before continuing to read this. :)
But I know that reading about the over-arching thoughts behind the decision will raise many questions from you all, the most fundamental being: “How will the game change for me, and what does ‘beta’ mean?”
Playing Glitch will be a very similar experience to what you’ve become accustomed to over the past couple of months, except punctuated with some big changes to the fundamentals (like XP, energy and housing) and the addition of functionality that puts more creative power in your hands and allows you to have more of an impact on of the world of Glitch. To that end:
- The world will continue to be open around the clock, though there may be occasional (and brief) down-times
- You’ll still be able to invite friends in limited quantities, but general sign-ups will go back to being queued
- The player support team will be devoting more time to ensuring these new additions are working the way they should, which could mean slower response times to help cases (though we’ll still aim for the fastest turnaround possible)
- We’ll encourage players to help us test all of this out, and hunt down bugs with us as new features are released
- Though you’ll still be able to buy credits and subscriptions, whoever feels they want a refund because of the change (or for any reason) can do so through December 31st.
- And finally, while we are not currently planning another reset — resetting again is very unlikely — that might change. And even without a complete reset, some of the transitions will be big and the old systems won’t map perfectly to the new ones. For example, the new housing system will be a big change (some details here).
It’s all a bit crazy, but this is an exciting time for us. We’re doing it to make sure that all of you have a game that is awesome to play from the first moment you step into the world to deep into your Glitch adulthood.
If you have any further questions, comments or concerns, I will be reading along and answering them as best I can. You can also take a look at the new FAQ section we wrote just for this (we’ll be editing and adding to it as questions arise).
Replies
- WOW!! i saw "Unlaunch" and was afraid the explanation was going to be waaaaay worse! This has made me love TS even more! Ever since I joined up in (the first) Beta I've been impressed with the attention to detail and the dedication to get it RIGHT. Not pretty good, but absolutely RIGHT! I was dreading reset but it wasn't really that bad. If you need to do another I, at least, am okay with that.
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Do the reset if needed. Take your time, do it right.
Even if people don't think so right now, we would all have fun leveling up again in the new, somewhat different, game. I have 357 achieves and a house I love, but would be fine with starting over. Change is inevitable, and once players get over the shock they usually love the results.
Keep talking to the players, stay transparent, and stay brave! -
Oh noes! D:
I'm excited but scared. Will I lose everything I've worked toward? Does this mean eventually I'll lose all my currants and skills? I don't want to start over!! D: -
Wow, I almost missed this--so glad I caught the news!
I'm excited about the new stuff coming down the pike. While I love my little Groddle Forest treehouse, the idea of being able to personalize your home sounds like so much fun! And I've always wanted to be a moonshiner (lol)!!!
I appreciate your openness about everything that's going on and your desire to make this great game even better. I've been impressed from the very beginning about how it seems that Tiny Speck is more concerned about the quality of their product than the money. Giving everyone a free month subscription without asking for credit card information is unheard of these days, and I so applaud you for that.
I've been playing for about 2 months and have loved it all. I look forward to seeing what develops in the next few months! - Wow, a lot can happen when you're at work!!! I, for 1, am all for doing what you have to do to make our game better. Not a problem here at all, and definitely no worries about needing a refund. Stoot, you and your team have always been very up front with any changes and I love that! So count me in!!! I'm here for the long haul!
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I lost 32 levels in the last reset then spent days just trying to get into the game when it reopened and now I have 35 levels to lose and the prospect of another round of frustration trying to get in.
How do I feel about the prospect of a reset?
EXCITED! BRING IT ON!
Take my 35 levels, start me over, do whatever you have to do to allow me to create my own house cos all I want is to be able to have an egg tree and a bean tree and garden plots and herb plots in the same house!
I think the option to be able to reset ourselves if we want to is a great idea too.
I'm a member of the TS fan club. They can do whatever they think is necessary because I have blind faith in them and will back them all the way! - I haven't read the whole six pages but i read the blog post. Just wanted to add that I, for one, rather liked the reset. Just don't take my GNG box away please.
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I am not too worried about the possibility of a reset -- I mean, obviously I don't like it but I'm not especially stressed about it. And I am very grateful that you're staying in regular communication with us; too few websites do that these days, and I love the Glitch staff's regular, honest, and friendly interaction with the userbase.
But guys, it was NOT COOL to open up a whole new block of very highly sought-after housing immediately before announcing this decision. My friends and I rushed to get cottages, which we'd all wanted for literally months, and coordinated an evening of tedious currant-shifting and bag-moving just to move into houses that you're about to vapourize. I can't imagine that you didn't know before last night that you were going to eliminate everybody's houses, so why on Ur did you encourage us to go through such extraordinary efforts to move house?
I'm not saying "I wish last night never happened" or "that's three hours I'll never get back" or whatever -- I had a fun night hanging out with my friends, even if most of it was spent shifting crap into bags -- but I do feel a bit cheated. If you'd given this news last week I would have shrugged (too bad I'll lose my little house, but perhaps this'll be a chance to upgrade, etc.), but you gave us cottages and then took them away again? What's the logic in this? - I would like an item called Gamma Mr. HappyCorndog. Just a thought.
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Well the beta pickle was given so everyone could play with their pickles...maybe a good gamma tester gift could be a nice set of cans...maybe with something in them, ya know, so we could jiggle our cans?
jus sayin ;) -
Dear Developers,
Awesome idea unlaunching, well done. My friends and I started playing glitch around Sept/Oct, poured hours into it, because the world is fantastic and you did a lot of things right, but most of us seem to have gotten bored with it. There's only so much to do. The ability to rapidly add content without worrying about scaring away new players, by flat out rejecting them access, must have been a hard one to make, but is genius. Keep at it. -
@Staff/Blanky/Stoot:
So, yeah, there's lots of folks here worried about a reset/losing stuff/levels/achievements/etc.
And there's lots of us who are rather more sanguine about the prospects of a better game, losses be damned.
And there's some of us who are in the middle.
What I think is needed here, at least for the nerds in the family, is a skosh more transparency surrounding the statement (paraphrasing) of "We don't think we'll have to reset, and we'll super try not to."
What are you guys investigating that you think may NEED to force a reset, but you're hoping will not? I know you don't want to drop spoilers about future game features...I get that.
But I gather you're trying to work out some architectural issues.
Can you shed any more light on what those are?
Just an ask. A nice to have.
Not a barn-burner. - Do we get a stipend in return for the houses we have already purchased, since we have to buy them again?
- I think they are just saying they can't make any promises. They can't promise they won't run out of resources some day and close down either (but it doesn't seem likely). Not sure what people want them to do? Promise to never reset no matter what? Wouldn't you rather play a better game even if you can't keep your pixelated "stuff" and have to start over?
- Will there be some form of reimbursement for the homes we already own? I would assume we would be able to sell them for the normal 80%. I am MORE then excited to see the new housing feature, customizing here I come!!
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This is amazing! Thank you TS for all your hard work and time spent making this world an awesome place to be in. I'm very excited for housing upgrades and more surprises to come. And Tinctures, Distilling, and Potions!? Are you kidding me? WINNING!!! I freakin love this game so much, I wouldn't even think of asking for a refund. I completely trust you to make the game for us as you see fit. Bring on a reset! I'm fully ready to be fresh and new again :)
May I request one thing if reset is to happen? I think it would be uber kewl if the world after reset didn't have any more than one tree/animal per street. Really give us a chance to plant all the trees in the world and place all of the animals. Maybe baby animals and tree beans would drop pretty heavily the first week or so...
Whatever happens, good luck to you, and thank you for always letting us know what is up :) -
I really don't think the funpickle should be re-issued. Some people went to great lengths to buy them simply because of how rare they are. It really isn't fair to create something rare, with the implication that their numbers will be limited, and then suddenly interfere with the market value of that by issuing more.
Make a new unlaunch beta tester thing,. - And I think we only got the funpickle to compensate for the fact that the reset meant we would lose everything else we had earned in the game.
- Please no reset, if you have to take our houses that's one thing, but I have so many hours in since the reset. Acquiring currents, skills and items, as if it was permanent this time. Might be too much for me.
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I too would like to know if we will get a refund for the houses we have already purchased. I spent a lot of time and saving for a 50K modern home only to discover that it will be phased out.
Please give homeowners a heads up. Will we be given priority during the housing change? Will we be reimbursed? Should we all just dump our homes now?
I don't care about losing achievements, levels...but the housing loss is annoying. - Roll with the punches, little glitches. Roll with the punches.
- Oh dear... Anyways I am just a month old into Glitch but I have read that the earlier Beta phase was exciting..So looking forward to the changes..
- Holy shittake mushrooms! This is actually really cool. And like some others have posted, I'm excited about the changes, but I wouldn't mind a full reset. Third time's the charm, and this time I'll do the entire Better Learning queue from start to finish, no matter what happens. =)
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Name another game that voluntarily went BACK into beta so they could make it better rather than just ride out their legacy code and make money.
Pretty short list in my experience.
This is what makes TS unique.
This is what makes it compelling.
This is what makes it revolutionary.
Proud to be here.
Proud to witness.
Quell those worries, folks.
You're in the hands of the Giants.
Pretty comfy here. -
Wow great response that show just how much we love this game. I really think it says a lot about the devs when they are willing to do what is right rather than just what is easy. I like the long view they seem to have, rather than just a profit now motive. This is a great game and I think it will be better.
I was not in the original reset but I can see the down side of having to redo it all, but I noticed while the first 10 levels were fun and full of challenges I started to wonder if there was going to be much more to do after I got to level 23.
I thinks the devs are right about reducing the steep learning curve when you start and leveling it out so that it just seems to get better and better, pulling you back everyday to play some more. A restart may be necessary to pull that off, so going back to beta was the right move.
I want this game to have the staying power that 2nd life has had but with a better looking enviroment. - I support this un-launch 100% but only if we get to call it Mo' Beta.
- Wow!! Happy. Sad. Scared. Excited. EXCITED. DEFINITELY EXCITED. I'm fine with all this. As long as we get another "Señor Funpickle" like item. Maybe a Señorita Funpickle :D So Senor Funpickle has a friend. Or is that accomplice?? Well, something like that. Love the new skills, hope the new releases are better than that!!
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I say Do What Must Be Done. All for Mo'BETA!
I do have one request however...
Big 50k swamp houses. I want to live in gourdzilla.
Love the direction of the new skills! - Wow. so happy to hear about the coming changes. Very cool. The new skills and items added yesterday, btw are sweet additions. I can hardly wait to play architect and landscape designer...Thank you
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If Glitch is back in beta ... do I get a super beta-only cubimal?
My only other game is Second Life, and it's been in beta since it launched -
Very exciting :)
I look forward to being able to customize my lodgings.
Since bootlegging has been added as a career path, I would like to request a hound dog and a shotgun so I can defend my still from the revanoooers!
Thanks for having such awesome communication and for taking feedback from your customers so consistently. I will continue my subscription and have every reason to expect more great things from the team :) -
I am striving to remain cautiously optimistic. I see that reset is a remote possibility, so I won't panic yet, but, yes, I would be thoroughly discouraged to have to re-do everything, re-level, re-earn currants, go back and collect ALL those emblems all over again. I mean, I JUST got all the icons! I was SO relieved to be done with that chore. I JUST got the Make A Crab Happy badge today! That was a bear to get!
For now, I hear "the chance of yet another reset is a remote, unlikely possibility at best," and am latching on to it.
I'm a little sad AND excited about possible housing changes. I saved up and traveled Ur to find just the right neighborhood that had vendors nearby that I would use most, and I am only a few planks away from the regional subway. Even my house address number is easy to remember (a bonus for me). I would be bummed that all my careful research and patience when house hunting might be for naught. I could deal with the vendor system being revamped. I could deal with having my current house become customizable in some way. The location of my house "lot", however, was a big factor in my decision to purchase the house I did where I did. Even if I max out my TP skills, I befriend newbies who find it convenient to use the subway to visit. I like that my region is well-populated and thriving, convenient to the very busy Groddles (and now a NEW region, yay!) and has a good balance of resources (another factor in my choice of home lot location), but is not so busy that I can't do a bit of quiet, solo harvesting now and then when I am in a hurry or not in the mood to have a long chat.
In short, I trust TS's intention to make the housing better. I'm just moping a bit that those changes, while great in the long run, MIGHT cause me to mourn the loss of my current home. I am comforted that, supposedly, new "moving boxes" will preserve my hoards...er, I mean, my STUFF, if/when we do have to vacate our homes. I assume if vacating is not optional, TS will make sure everyone has their currants refunded, too, so I'm not too bothered by that.
I mean, maybe we will get those "sticky Welcome Mats" / "mail slots" people have been asking for in the Ideas forum, where friends and neighbors can leave you little presents / notes and know they will be there, unmolested, when you return home and find them. Maybe we will get bulletin boards on residential streets like apartments have. Maybe treeless residential streets will get tree plots. Maybe house keys will offer levels of access from "exactly the same as the owner in every respect" to "come in, but touch nothing, not even stuff I drop on the floor," as people have also requested. Maybe we will be able to paint walls and floors, change the view from our windows, craft chairs and beds to rest in, and tables and cabinets to put stuff on or in. Maybe we will be able to customize art for our walls, or move our trees and garden plots around. Maybe we will no longer be restricted to one kind of crop or a few kinds of trees in houses. Maybe we will get a gallery for our icons and be able to hang them on the wall, along with snapshots we have taken with the Glitch camera. WE DO NOT KNOW, yet.
Heck, maybe houses won't exist in a "physical space", per se, anymore. Maybe we will all carry little portable Portals that we open (wherever we might be) to leap home, and visitors will have to find our homes via a link on our profiles or the key we may have given them or an interactive feature in a Group building or an invite link in an email. Maybe we will be able to email people directly by clicking on their Glitch name rather than searching out a mailbox, and send them an access pass or key if we like. (If we want the experience of a neighborly street full of friends, we might have to do that sort of socializing in the group islands / housing / clubs / areas / buildings / mini-villages / whatever I have heard rumors about. Maybe we will have the option to set up Portals in those Group areas, or more than one Group area if you wish to pay for that convenience, and then those Portals will lead to our housing.) MAYBE, in these Group areas, there will be a "wall" or "sign" that allows you to search for a friend or a particular "street" and navigate there that way. We just don't know what TS has planned yet, but that would solve the problem of people squabbling over particular streets in particular regions or agitating for more of a particular type of home (or worrying overmuch about whether someone is active enough to "deserve" their very desirable real estate holdings).
I'm just saying, maybe the new housing system will eliminate any concerns about specific location or special house number or number of neighbors you can have or being restricted to a particular type of home in a particular region / street. I'm open to seeing what TS comes up with, but, yeah, IF the system remains bound to having homes on lots on streets in specific areas, I will be greatly disappointed to lose my close proximity to the subway, friends, vendors, resources and my house number IF that has to happen.
I suspect that TS is closely researching how housing et al "works" in other player-modifiable PC games and online MMOs (not that they haven't already done so; it may just be being done more intensely now, who knows?) and figuring out how to adapt the best ideas to Glitch.
I think as long as they focus on ADDING features and avoid taking away things that people perceive to be valuable stuff like hard-to-get badges or cash / homes / rare items earned, things will work out just fine. - I have had time to think about all this,and can now say I look forward to it all with equal amounts of excitement for the new and wondrous things,and dread for the,granted, -slim- possibility of a reset. As far as resets go,I can deal with it all except having to learn all them blinkin' skills again,and -of course- I would want to keep my Pickle and GNG.
- I assume a reset means we go back to square one. If I lose my levels and my stuff, I'm going to quit playing. In fact, since I'm unsure if this will happen, I'll quit playing now. I know you want to make the game better, but I DON'T want to do all that stuff all over again.
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I understand that it's "highly unlikely."
I also know how game development works. If there's someone who thinks it's a good idea, they can begin pointing to the few posts that support it and say "well look, not all players think it's a bad idea."
So I still think voicing your disapproval is a good idea. They're not conducting polls about this, they're going by visible response. -
Stoot has said its highly unlikely.
It probably won't happen, and if it does it does. (been there done that will do it again)
Some of us have gone through reset fine proving that we can and will grow again.
I purchased a moly subscription in beta beta, and am keeping it. This is a fun, and growing game that I enjoy many many hours playing. I will continue to enjoy many more hours, just please don't put the closed sign back.. that will kill those of us who are *addicted* -
A reset isn't a matter of a vote. A reset is something that would, if it happened, happen because it was a technical necessity.
It's not like the devs are going, "Hmm, should we reset?" *shakes magic 8 ball* "Hey, it said 'it is decidedly so'! Let's try it!" - LOL, @Xev. Though to be fair, in Ur it would be a magic 7 ball. Or a magic 11 ball. Or, if we were really lucky, a magic 7-11 ball. (When it tells you no, it consoles you with a slurpee!)
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I <3 you guys and your honesty, but have chosen to unsubscribe for the time being. Don't take this as a vote of no-confidence however. Money's tight in these part's, and I had actually planned on canceling after my first month, but missed it by two days.
That said, I have no intention of grabbing a refund! I love the game you've made, and subscribed more as a show of support, than a desire for tokens or clothes. I still rock the starter gear! XD
I know you're going to make Ur a bigger, better, and more bodacious place! I look forward to exploring the changes yet to come! - I am not going to plead for anything (ie, reset) - one way or the other - I love the game, I'm a staunch fan and player, and nothing will change that. I agree with all above who stand by ts, congratulate ts, and appreciate ts' transparency, communication and honesty. This is not an invisible or detached entity where you type in a 17-digit customer number, sit "on hold" for half an hour listening to Kenny Gee muzak, until you're the "next caller" and... you get disconnected. We have Names and Faces, they have Names and Faces. They respond personally, they help personally (and generously). This is not Their Game, but Our Game. We really are a Community. We really are connected (no pun intended). I might lose everything (even my cherished Mr. Funpickle), but I hope I don't lose the Friends I've made. I stand by ts and its decisions - and I thank them all!
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If i wasn't on vacation ( WHY do major changes come when I am away with little to no acces,arrggh) -I'd make a super long post. BUT- in short, Like many others -LOVE the game, LOVE LOVE the transparency,communication and goals of TS (u rock), I do NOT want a refund, I trust TS to make OUR game (yes they make it -but we are the community that plays it- so it's really a joint venture!) to be it's very best!
+1 to a nice item for us beta peeps -senorita funpickle sounds super awesome!
Lastly - could some lovely Glitch pity me and add a comment that shows links to all these various pieces of info (ie moving boxes,etc) -cause I dont currently have the capability to read 7 pages of this thread to catch all the nuggets of info. (also maybe the OP could add the links to pertinent things? ) _ I did read in the FAQ in the help area- but that doesnt have the nuggets of info that I am guessing I am missing. Thanks TS! oo (emo bear hugs) -serenitycat - I'm not remotely concerned about the possibility of a reset- as they've stated, they're gonna try not to reset, so getting in a tizzy over it is kinda wasted effort; if it happens, it happens. If not, yay! Either way, they're gonna try not to reset.
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Sounds like the giants may have done some beta unlearning, and now putting that to great use..... excited for the changes, nothing but the utmost confidence in TS.
Now just imagine if the tiny glitchy thoughts in your mind started controlling those thoughts themselves.
Happy to boldly go where no glitch has gone before, whatever the giants imagine.
Senor UnPickle? - I hate to be just another person with a reset on their minds...but please please don't reset. I've worked so hard to be where I am today to be knocked all the way back down. It's exhausting to put in all this work, just for it to be in vain. :/
- The very notion of the game being reset is making me consider quitting now, or at least taking a break until the game's officially out of beta again. I have spent hours and hours on getting to where I am in-game. Why should I waste any more time for my work to be reset?
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Because you love it.
And you worry too much. -
And because the chance of it being reset is less than minimal. :P
If you're banking on (here comes the arbitrary percentage) a 0.00000000000000000000000000000000001% chance that it will all be reset... don't. - I'm ready. I can even deal with a reset if necessary. :) Customizable houses? How freaking cool is that?
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I think it's great that TS realized that there were changes that they wanted to make and were brave enough to go ahead with those changes. I am super pumped about customizable housing, and while I'm not thrillled with the idea of a reset I trust that TS would only do that if necessary to make the game better.
In short: Hooray! - Reset is only a remote possibility, so I'm starting with crossing fingers and toes that it won't happen. Devs could make it more palitable, if it happened, by lessening skill learning times and adding fun stuff - and adding fun stuff is what they are busy doing anyway. But if reset is necessary, it will be because of problems with new stuff requiring it, so a possibility that they will be busy with getting the planned changes working right, moreso than making extra provisions to keep us from pulling our hair out in case of reset. What I'm tiredest of currently is feeding shrines to speed skill learning and create icons. I'm up to 10 icons, so at least looking forward to not doing that part much longer...