Topic

Staff Topic

How to Test the New Houses

OK! Now you can test some parts of the new housing system. We're concentrating here on furniture and decoration (later releases will add the ability to craft new furniture, expand houses, cultivate land and use imagination to grow your yard and home street).

To try it out, get in the game type "/home" in local chat (it is deliberately hard to do right now so that people don't get confused and think this is *the* permanent switchover — this house is just for your testing and customizations will eventually be reset). When you're at home, there will be a new button which takes you back to the regular game world.

Once you go inside, you'll see the new furniture tab by your inventory and a "decorate" button at the top-right of the game. Go crazy. Upgrading furniture is all free right now (in the future, some upgrades will be subscriber-only and some will cost credits).

You can't get any more furniture for now and you also can't give, trade or sell furniture until the next release (or maybe the one after that). However, you can bring your stuff over to the new house and not worry about it getting lost when we reset (we'll keep it all safe) — it is just the furniture customizations that you'll lose.

To move furniture around and place items on furniture, you need to be in "decoration mode", which will hide your avatar and allow you to use the arrow keys to pan around your house.

You'll be switched to decoration mode automatically when you drag something out of your furniture bag, but you can also hit the "decorate" button in the top right of the game window.

To change wallpaper, ceilings and floors, hit the "swatches" button which appears in the top bar when you're in decoration mode. You can stamp the patterns on or drag them into place. For wallpapers you can either to a single segment or the whole wall at once.

Finally, though the land outside your house is fixed for now (you can't expand it or add/remove resources yet) you do have a customizable signpost outside: you can use that to add up to five signs pointing to the home streets of people from your friends list.

Any questions? Thoughts? ;)

See also:  Blog post  •  Video Demo

Note: If you don't see any furniture (or just your trophies) inside your furniture bag when you enter your house, type "/home" again.

Note 2: You can type "/home" from wherever you are in the world, including other people's houses.

Note 3: We will give plenty of notice before the real switchover to the new housing system and, if you own a regular in-world house at that time, all of the items inside it will be moved over automatically. You don't have to move everything yourself.

Note 4: Many questions and answers have been summarized in this (unofficial!) FAQ

Posted 12 years ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • I'm getting hung up trying to exit a party space. It just says "moving". My destination is someone's new street. They are currently offline. When I reload I'm still in the party space...
    Posted 12 years ago by Otto Otto Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not sure if this has been asked yet but will we get our own mailbox?
    Posted 12 years ago by Leo D Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Otto Otto: oops. try leaving the party space first until we fix that

    Leo D: maybe, probably!
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OMGGGGGG!Just got home from work! Can't get in, I wanna test it so badly!!!!!!!! awnn!!
    Posted 12 years ago by Lila Clemenceau Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So... little idea here- since I can jump onto my shelves, could I perhaps use them as steps to an upper level in the future? Seems like that would be a lot of fun. :)
    Posted 12 years ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Feedback:  So very, very cool!  I've had a blast for the last hour and a half. 

    imgur.com/MdCU5
    imgur.com/TXhD4 

    Most of the weirdness in placing items (they kept disappearing into my inventory and refusing to stay put) were solved by refreshing. I played for 20 minutes just jumping up and down on my furniture...

    The stylistic inconsistencies between furniture types sort of drove me bonkers, ocd-ist that I am, but holy cow this is fun.

    Complete and total kudos for an amazing update.
    Posted 12 years ago by Mnēmē Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I, for once, am speechless!

    This is some of the most fun I've had so far...and that really is saying something, 'cause I have had so much fun since I started playing!
    Posted 12 years ago by Dahlia DreadNaught Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would love to be able to drag things from my inventory and place them in a bag that I have in my house like on a shelf or something.

    Great job on the upgrade! Really enjoying it.
    Posted 12 years ago by Tiktaalik Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Djabriil: there will be multiple floors in the next release
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Bees! - Oh yeah, totes. I just wondered whether I could use shelves rather than stairs when the upper floors come along- make people jump around on my wall to get upstairs, that sort of thing.
    Posted 12 years ago by Djabriil Subscriber! | Permalink
  • oooh please, let us keep our old houses as a beta-gift!

    I really like the new houses and how we can custom them. but I'll miss the old house design and I want to have a place to remember, like a half-imagined ghost

    maybe with credits? you know stoot, my money is your money ;)
    Posted 12 years ago by acreditando Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Here's a question: Will there be a way to change the background/decor on our streets? That is, any way to get out of the pines? I've always liked those flowers in Groddle Meadows... 
    Posted 12 years ago by GirlWhatSqueaks Subscriber! | Permalink
  • my cactus chair took the place of my biger bag can you fix this for me?
    Posted 12 years ago by Sir Rachel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • acreditando, 
    you may really like this idea
    http://www.glitch.com/forum/ideas/16968/
    Posted 12 years ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • acreditando: probably not, sorry
    GirlWhatSqueaks: yes!
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Bees - About rugs. I started test, which was right after New House release, I had 3 rugs. I now have only 2 rugs.
    When i had the 3 rugs, I changed the pattern on the rug and layed it on the floor. I attempted to change the pattern on another rug but it would not change. That second rug would only change to the same pattern that was on the first rug I had changed. That appears to be corrected now.
    The only problem appears to be the number of rugs in inventory which you may have already adressed.
    Posted 12 years ago by Ruby Specklebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is more amazing and beautiful than I could have ever imagined.

    Thank you, TS.

    I want you to name my kidney stone so I can shout at it. Name it something evil to balance out the good you've just done!

    Yay, morphine!
    Posted 12 years ago by girlthulhu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • BUG:  I place a shelf on the wall. I drag items from my inventory to the shelf just fine.  I have a bag open in my inventory.  I try to drag an item from the shelf to an open space in my bag and although the bag slot is highlighted it drops the item into a main non-bag inventory slot.  
    Posted 12 years ago by WalruZ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ruby: you only ever had 2. the 3rd was a ghost
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • WalruZ: known issue!
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • LOVE!!! :) What a fun thing to come home to (both in real life and in game). Yea!!! 
    Posted 12 years ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ok, the "I can only place one of (______) item of furniture" seems to all be one bug. I had it twice, once with shelves and once with rugs. I put one, I go to put the other nearby and it borks and I can't see either one. Sounds like this is happening with a few folks on the not-first item, so I'm not sure what's going on. But I hope that helps.
    Posted 12 years ago by Lady Cailia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • *
    Posted 12 years ago by Ari Cloud Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Will the new housing Home Streets and neighbor connections be available in API methods such as locations.streetInfo?
    Posted 12 years ago by TomC Subscriber! | Permalink
  • 7 pages, so I'm not sure if this is mentioned, but it would be nice if we could put a wall decoration on the side walls. And rotate wall hangings (so they could be upside down or turned on one side)
    Posted 12 years ago by g33kgurrl Subscriber! | Permalink
  • TomC: once we release it for reals

    g33kgurrl: all possibilities, but not planned right now
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nice beginning!

    One thing I'd suggest is to allow furniture placement outside (those default chairs would be perfect to relax in next to the garden).

    Another would be to allow us to name our "home street".

    Finally, it would be nice to be able to choose the region (backdrop).
    Posted 12 years ago by Janitch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Impressive! So far the only issue is not being able to add five friends to my sign post, nor being able to edit what I've now put there.
    Very excited about the potential changes to come....
    Posted 12 years ago by Angelic Acid Subscriber! | Permalink
  • datapoint:   I got on the subway and the train took off.  I typed /home and did a few things on my street.  when i reentered the world I was in the subway station i had initially entered, outside the turnstile and thus out 50C.   
    Posted 12 years ago by WalruZ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks TS - this is great!!
    just playing around a little
    Posted 12 years ago by Firestone1960 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks Bees! :)
    Posted 12 years ago by Ruby Specklebottom Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Why does taking an item off a shelf take you into decorating mode automatically?

    Putting it on doesn't take you into decorating mode.
    Posted 12 years ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @ Janitch, I agree regarding the backdrop. I love the snowy backdrop in the north part of Aranna.
    @ TS -- great job, thanks for all the hard work!
    @ all Glitchens -- what a great comunity we have here, everyone pitching in to test with so much joy and enthusiasm :)
    Posted 12 years ago by Morgan Rae Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It would be great if we could save (a limited number of) house layouts so that we could change easily for holiday/seasons/occasions. And I'm betting that we'd buy more stuff, hinthint.
    Posted 12 years ago by MaryLiLamb Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ooohhh, saving house layouts is a wonderful idea!!

    I'd definitely love a "back" button on the signposts -- especially if you find yourself at a dead end, where someone hasn't populated their signpost yet.  I know I can go back to my own front yard using /house, but if I had been going exploring, I'd definitely want to be able to go back to the previous cluster.
    Posted 12 years ago by Ashbet Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Janitch:

    "One thing I'd suggest is to allow furniture placement outside (those default chairs would be perfect to relax in next to the garden)." - coming
    "Another would be to allow us to name our "home street". " - coming
     "Finally, it would be nice to be able to choose the region (backdrop). " - coming
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Will be able to ever 'use' the chairs and things? Like actually be able to sit on them? How cool would it be to sit around in your lounge with a few friends. :)

    Aww, nevermind. Apparently, I missed it earlier.
    Posted 12 years ago by Od Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Really liking what I see so far.
    Since walls take up a huge proportion of the space I'm hoping for a massive increase in colour and pattern choices down the road.

    Placing furniture is more limited than I'd like.  Placing stools seems particularly  off kilter 
    see  http://imgur.com/V9E6M  and http://imgur.com/6edft

    The Yeti is fab, but what a spatial hog... and by that I mean that if I want to move the shelf behind him I have to drag the Yeti out of the way first, even though  part of the shelf was clearly visible. I could place my cursor on the shelf but only the Yeti got the hazy blue glow of action ready until I moved him well to the right of the shelf. http://imgur.com/Vp2k1

    While the flip action is really useful for the chairs, I don't see much of a difference in things like
     counters. For those I was expecting a 90-degree turn. And it would be great if the counters could also act as cupboards for storage since they take up so much room.
    Posted 12 years ago by caley dunn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • After I've selected a style for a piece of furniture, I can switch it to many other styles, but I can't switch it back to the unpainted raw un-upgraded original version.  Can we get that option?  I like the basic 3-stick-leg stool for example.
    Posted 12 years ago by Gaalen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I would like to be able to switch furniture back to the un-upgraded original versions, too.
    Posted 12 years ago by Tiarra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thank you! This is great!
    Posted 12 years ago by ☠ lala512 ☠ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "And it would be great if the counters could also act as cupboards for storage since they take up so much room." - coming in the next release

    "I would like to be able to switch furniture back to the un-upgraded original versions" - I agree, so maybe!
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I've found the scale of some of the items a bit odd - like the sofas are huge & some of the ceiling lights.   So relieved to hear that cabinets & other storage is coming..

    I'm so glad to hear that different regional housing styles will be available, not just meadow cottages, as I'm currently in a treehouse, which I love.  Sorry if this has already been answered, but will there just be the one garden style? I *adore* my treehouse garden & the idea of being without it or something very similar makes me sad. 
    Posted 12 years ago by Errata Stigmata Subscriber! | Permalink
  • At the moment I can plant a tree and mine rocks in my friend's front yard, but I can't go into their (undecorated) house. Does this mean a friend's front yard is "public" land? Or am I getting privileges as a friend with a key?

    I also had questions about the new housing system but found answers here: http://www.glitch.com/forum/general/15303/  so maybe others will too.
    Posted 12 years ago by Mount Aspen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Errata Stigmata: many garden styles!
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mount Aspen: yes, public land
    Posted 12 years ago by Bees! Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Feature Request: The ability to resize certain decoration types.

    Detail: I'm sure not all items would need to be resizable, but items like shelves, rugs, light fixtures and tables would be very nice. And if it makes the UI easier, I'm sure people would probably even be fine with presets size choices (ie. Tiny/Small/Medium/Large/Huge) instead of a granular slider, etc.

    -----

    Small UI Notes: 

    1. It wasn't entirely clear when I was in Decoration Mode... this was mostly a learning curve, having never experienced "modes" in Glitch before. Once I scanned the screen looking for clues, I found my answer, but there was momentary confusion.

    2. Same goes for the tab system down by the inventory. I wasn't immediately show how to begin decorating my house, but again, once I found the tabs, it was self-explanatory. 

    3. The pink flower vase was not able to placed on an end table. This may be intentional.

    4. Anecdotal testimony from friends suggests there may be some difficulty placing items near the left corner of the room. This issue does not seem to be present on the right side of the room. 

    Great work so far, everyone I've talked to about it so far is loving it - as am I. 

    Thanks!
    Bob
    Posted 12 years ago by megashub Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's neat and all, but...

    Never thought I'd say this: I kind of like my old house better.
    I think my problem is that I feel really cramped in the new house design, and in my head, I'm having a fit trying to figure out a logical way to put all my stuff down if I move it in to the new house.
    If I could have a mystical findusing orb of some sort that could condense sixteen rows of sixteen items, and an imaginary way of sorting them into a much more logical goop, even if I needed to buy two or three of them, it would make the transition easier by removing that "ARGH, how the boat am I going to move all the carp I own from my old house into this small one?" sensation.
    (granted, it'd be even neater if it could actually violate the "cannot see the bag in the bag" concept, because I'd imagine it so. Also, I've carried a bag in a bag in real life, and I could figure out what was where. :V)

    I also want to seriously change the music. That default folksy Groddle tune that you hear in so many places does wear on your nerves after a bit. Being able to take music boxes, shove them into a blockmaking machine in sets of five (any five), and letting it compact them into a tightly packed music block that can be played through some effort could turn out neat.
    Posted 12 years ago by Xial Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I like it ..but...I'm having separation anxiety already.. I soooo do not want to leave my old house..I have been in it since...well almost soon after the launch .. :( ..Hangs onto the balcony..I shall not be moveeeeeeeeeeeeeeed.. :'-(

    On another note..are our new houses going to have a cupboard?..Or is mine missing lol :D 

    P.S I love my new bed..and furniture..its very pretty.. :) 
    Posted 12 years ago by Cryztal Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is awesome. :) I was so excited when I saw this thread. It also kept me from going to bed on time, because I just had to play around some! I will have to play around more when I'm not so sleepy and can offer feedback if I see something amiss.

    Thanks! I can tell I'll be having more and more fun as more of it is released!
    Posted 12 years ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
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