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[Tilla]

I thought I'd share this project that's been getting a little bit of press lately, and that I was lucky enough to get in on the current beta for. Recently it caught my eye as it was announced that Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi was moving to Canada to join the project.

Glitch is an MMO that is entirely unlike anything I've ever seen before. Elements are familiar sure - the skill system trains over time like EVE for instance - but the goal is very much different. This is a game about building a fantastical sprawling world with others. I find it hard to describe exactly.

The gameplay is 2D platform style as you travel around the world and is focused mostly around various forms of crafting, collecting, and so on. It is a sandbox environment but there are goals - primarily in the previously mentioned building with the Street Projects skill - huge amounts of items contributing to the generation of a new 'street' section. Creator Stewart Butterfield (Co-founder of Flickr) described the genesis of the project as wanting to play as a citizen of a Sim City type building game.

I'll stop babbling on and simply say if you like this sort of thing - in-depth and interdependent crafting in a quirky world, you should probably sign up for the Beta at Glitch.com. There is more information here: http://www.glitch.com/about/ and an insanely quirky trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6O5QXj6n18

[sluissa]

Looks like a frakin' facebook game.

[Cthulhu]

I also wasn't impressed.  I was expecting something a bit more realistic, I guess.  This is goofy and looks like, like sluissa said, a facebook or Zynga game.

[Tilla]

While that's a fair criticism, I'd say it's a little off - yes it is a cartoony style, particularly the character design, the Zynga style is just lazy - no texture to it, no little details. I'd compare this more to a 2D take on Little Big Planet artistically. Compare:

to the detail of my character avatar:


Of course ultimately graphics don't make the game - as anyone on this forum would well know. It's the distinctive game setting, style, and play that I am hooked on.

(Ironically there is farming in the game that is fairly simple but contributes to a great system, including cooking and alchemy skill trees and so forth)

[Wolf Tengu]

Hoo boy, don't get me  started on the EVE levelling system. Bleh. It sucks all the promise out of everything for me.

[inteuniso]

... Y U LINK GAME I CAN NO PLAY?

On a more intelligent manner, I like the idea, but just not the art style. That being said, I can probably get past it to craft.

EDIT: Just read an interview, you can make crystal meth, take it and basically be able to do everything free of charge, but you need more crystal meth or you'll die.

[Tilla]

... Y U LINK GAME I CAN NO PLAY?

On a more intelligent manner, I like the idea, but just not the art style. That being said, I can probably get past it to craft.

EDIT: Just read an interview, you can make crystal meth, take it and basically be able to do everything free of charge, but you need more crystal meth or you'll die.

The beta is actually PRETTY easy to get in, just sign up for an account (they only ask for like 3 or 4 bits of info) and then when the beta is opened for the weekly playsession (usually a few days, I think they're planning for thursday or friday onward for this weekend) they add a 'queue-jumping' link, where you can enter your email address to jump to the front of the line for beta. I did this and two hours later had the password to get in and play.

[Ozyton]

Just read an interview, you can make crystal meth, take it and basically be able to do everything free of charge, but you need more crystal meth or you'll die.

So you'd just make more crystal meth for free.

Or just get some power thirst.

EDIT: Any gameplay videos, or are people not allowed to put that sort of thing up?

[Tilla]

There are bits and pieces of gameplay videos out there. They tend to be not entirely useful though - the whole is more interesting than any few minutes of gameplay to me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuSxwPwSyEQ Here is Stewart talking about the game with a local indie news source.

This shows a Rook attack, a form of entropy trying to degrade the world that will play a bigger role when the world is bigger: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCWn95ISJDo

A more platformy simple race level: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E41OOKMklLU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySrRoPXD6DU Some typical early gameplay, before the cooler skills.

Sadly there's not a lot in videos as they just recently lifted NDA. And yah, it seems kiddy and simple at a glance, but building your character up is what I enjoy, and getting to make greater things. I went into the game blind myself after the trailer. Best I could compare it to is A Tale in the Desert probably.

[Haschel]

The LittleBigPlanet reference seemed pretty dead on to me, as far as simplified explanations go. It could be fun, but I'm seeing a lot of opportunity for bad decisions in grinding/crafting and the like. If it were F2P I would maybe give it a try, but I don't personally care enough for the idea to invest money into it. I like the idea of these games, but not particularly interested in playing them much myself.

[Tilla]

The LittleBigPlanet reference seemed pretty dead on to me, as far as simplified explanations go. It could be fun, but I'm seeing a lot of opportunity for bad decisions in grinding/crafting and the like. If it were F2P I would maybe give it a try, but I don't personally care enough for the idea to invest money into it. I like the idea of these games, but not particularly interested in playing them much myself.

It's F2P.

[hemmingjay]

Tilla, I applied to get in and am very excited for the opportunity. Thanks for bringing my attention to it. Let's hope I get in!

[Levi]

I'm still not entirely sure what it is about(probably because I can't watch videos from work).

Is the goal to build a city?

[sluissa]

I wasn't referring specifically to the art style, although that is part of it. The mechanics I saw in the video just screamed "Annoy Ask your friends for help and spend money to do things faster!"

[Tilla]

I wasn't referring specifically to the art style, although that is part of it. The mechanics I saw in the video just screamed "Annoy Ask your friends for help and spend money to do things faster!"

Neither of those things exist in this game in any form. I mean, I guess you could actively annoy your friends if you really really wanted to but there's no mechanic in the game for it, and there is nothing you can spend money on besides cosmetic items for your avatar and teleport tokens (which only save you some of your in-game gold or a few minutes tops)