Glitch

Day One DAW: Glitch #playglitch

Glitch_Logo

 

So by now you’re looking at the title wondering “what the hell is DAW?!” – it’s a week long celebration of developers. In specific, it’s an event created by Scarybooster that has run for the last four years, giving thanks to the developers of our favorite games instead of acting like the ungrateful consumers of content we often come across as. Welcome to day one of the Developer Appreciation Awards.

My first award goes out to the wonderful developers of Glitch. Every single one of them. They created a game that was outside of the norm, and isn’t that what all of us keep asking for? Something different. Something new. Sadly, Glitch shut down last year and that’s why it’s even more important that I award this. If you enjoy playing a game, it’s so very important that you show your support, because not all games last forever. Eventually they shut down, and losing a game that you enjoy playing really sucks. I can’t even begin to imagine what that feeling would be like had I created the game. I imagine that when you work on a project like that you put little pieces of your heart and soul into it, and pray that the other gamers understand where you’re coming from.

So thank you, wonderful developers of Glitch. I really liked your game and appreciate all the hard work you all must have done on it.

Goodbye Glitch @playglitch #Glitch

Glitch was the first game shut down that I actually really enjoyed, so it hit me hard. Sure, it’s not Star Wars Galaxies, and it’s not City of Heroes, and it’s not even The Matrix, but it was a game I spent a lot of hours playing, and I’m sad to see it go. I logged in for the final two hours it would be running last night and I was pleased to see that the servers were absolutely packed with people coming to see the world for a final time.

A bunch of Glitch items also went up for sale on Etsy, had it not been so close to Christmas I would have tried to pick up an item or two, but the timing just didn’t work out for me.

I spent my time using the camera function to port around, and decorating my home. I tuned off general chat because the spam just became too much for me to watch, and I chatted with friends who had also logged in to see the game off.

I was once again reminded about why I’m supporting games that I enjoy, no matter if they’re indie or not. Games need players to survive (in almost all cases). Without players, games suffer. Without players spending money, in specific. Now, there were obviously a lot of issues with Glitch, if you have a poor business model it doesn’t matter how many people are spending money, it just won’t ever be enough. Still, I don’t want the next game to close down to be my game of choice, and I would feel perfectly horrible if it did and it was because I never supported it.

A sad learning experience, but a learning experience none the less. I’ll miss you Glitch!

This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

Today Tiny Spec announced today that Glitch is going to be closing its doors forever on December 9th. You may not have seen a lot of my blog posts about Glitch, but I’ve played it for a while off and on. Spent money on the game because I wanted to support it. Apparently those few of us who did was just not enough.

The fact that this amazing game is closing down makes me mad. It makes me mad because so many people want games like this 100% free. They don’t want to spend $5 or $10 a month supporting the wonderful amazing people who work on games and not just this game, but lots of games out there. Then you see these wonderful indie games (and some bigger titles too) who just can’t support themselves any more, and they have to shut down.

I loved Glitch. I loved the game because it was a place where I didn’t have to swing a sword and lop off someones head in order to progress in it. I didn’t have to be mean to anyone, and it was a completely unique world that I could wander through and simply explore. I realize I’m a minority when it comes to enjoying these types of games, but I really wish that were not the case.

I dislike hearing about any game that has to shut down, and I hope everyone who is now looking for a new job finds one without too much trouble.

Glitch is Giving Away Credits #GlitchGame

I know, this contest requires facebook which some people are completely against, and I don’t blame them at all! BUT! Credits! They’re very handy in Glitch, you can use them to purchase neat furniture, or a new outfit for yourself.

So if you’d like 25 free credits, they’re giving them away. You do have to ‘like’ them on facebook. You’ve been warned!

“Do you like Glitch? Well now, we will like you back for liking us, to the tune of 25 credits. Check out www.glitch.com/account/bonus/ for details. “

(If you’ve never played glitch before and have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the game! I’ve got two free invites I can send you, just leave me a message with your email, or email me requesting one stargrace@mmoquests.com).

Decorating In Glitch (again) #PlayGlitch #Glitch

In October 2011 I was playing a little browser game called ‘Glitch’  – I wrote about it a time or two here on MmoQuests. The creators decided that the game was not as magnificent as they wanted it to be, and so they put it back into beta and changed a whole bunch of stuff with it. That’s the short story, at least. It’s been quite some time now, but my character is still there and today I was looking for something light and easy to play, and Glitch fills that desire quite well.

It took me a few minutes to catch up with some pretty important changes, most noticeably, I no longer owned a house in a neighborhood. It looks like I was refunded the cost, and all of my house items were placed in my inventory, including my pets, so that’s handy. I do miss the way my house used to look, but it’s FAR more customizable now. You place the furniture yourself, design the walls, ceiling, and floor, expand the yard (and the house) and where the neighborhood used to be outside is your own personal street that you can cultivate. There’s even a sign post at one end where you can add the names of your friends so everyone can port easily to their humble abodes.

You can customize each item in the house, some are free, some with a subscription, some with purchased currency. It seems like there are three types of currency now. One is currents, one is .. I’m not sure what it’s called but they’re purple little clouds with i’s in them, inspiration maybe? Then there are also credits, which is the currency you purchase with real money. You can use credits to purchase house furniture and clothing for your little avatar.

There are still quests, still a LOT of crafting, and I had fun just wandering around getting familiar with things once more. If you’d like to add me to your friends list you can check out my profile (I’m Stargrace in game, of course) and while I can’t promise that I’ll be playing a whole lot, it does give me something different to do, quickly, when I’m in the mood for that sort of thing.

I’m working on fox brushing right now. I don’t even know what that is, I just know it’s an animal skill that I don’t have yet. Once that is done, it’s time to move on to crafting furniture! I’m always a sucker for housing.

The subscription costs to Glitch is quite steep for what it offers you (imo), with three levels of subscriptions. Tin is $5 a month, which is a pretty good price, but comes with very little (you can view the plans here). If you’re REALLY a fan of the game I suppose the $14.99/m plan may be something you’d want to look into, but I can’t see myself ever spending that much on a browser game, even with the 400 credits and 50 teleportation tokens it comes with. There’s nothing stopping you from playing for free or even just purchasing some credits to help support the game. Buying a year subscription for $50 (the lowest price range, you save $10) is not bad, and it does grant you access to all subscriber only options and customizations. The problem is when your subscription runs out, so do those options. It’s still a great little game to check out and I highly suggest people give it a try.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

Nomadic Gamer