By Quintin Smith on November 23rd, 2010 at 2:30 pm.
Jim posted about upcoming 2D browser MMOG Glitch at the start of the year. Back then, it all sounded deeply enigmatic. Developers Tiny Speck (a collection of ex-Flickr founders) stated that the game would see you exploring and growing the minds of 11 giants,and would be targeted at “people with above average intelligence and sophisticated tastes, in their 20s or early 30s.”
Now, there’s a video out. A video that doesn’t shed light on the game so much as spray you down with words and images like you’re nothing but a misbehaving dog. There’s also a song. A song which walks you through the game between chimes of “And that’s what this game is!” What is the game, Tiny Speck?! I don’t understand…
Watch the video for yourself below. In all seriousness, it could be the best trailer I’ve seen all month.
Piques your interest, no? Many more details on the official site.
23/11/2010 at 14:37 Dominic White says:
It looks like a bizarre hybrid of Maple Story and perhaps.. I dunno, some generic browser game? Maybe Farmville?
I really don’t get a 20s/30s demographic vibe from that trailer. Maybe tweens, but not my age.
23/11/2010 at 14:59 Severian says:
I think it’s because you can make smoothies in the game and everyone knows 20-30 somethings are obsessed with smoothies.
23/11/2010 at 15:31 Malawi Frontier Guard says:
Well, maybe you’re not intelligent or sophisticated enough!
23/11/2010 at 16:12 BAReFOOt says:
I’d call it a social network jump-n-run MMO with lots of crafting. In other words: A GUI for Twitter, with an excuse for micro-payment? :P (I hope I’m wrong.)
23/11/2010 at 18:19 truths33ker says:
” A GUI for Twitter, with an excuse for micro-payment”
this :/
Pretty-much exactly what it looks like to me (with some Little Big Planet swipery thrown in).
You stated it so much more concisely than I could have tho
23/11/2010 at 21:52 ORYLY says:
I’m amazed that they’re advertising the grind. At 0:50, a progress bar takes up the whole screen!
23/11/2010 at 14:38 The Hammer says:
The official site says:
“This is not something
you’ve seen before.”
And I’m inclined to agree.
23/11/2010 at 14:42 Kory says:
That trailer made me feel sick… What was that madness!?
23/11/2010 at 14:44 dobber says:
do not want! do not want!
23/11/2010 at 14:46 Jim Rossignol says:
Awesome.
23/11/2010 at 15:11 strange headache says:
I concur.
23/11/2010 at 17:20 DXN says:
Indeedy. I’m sure curious about it!
23/11/2010 at 19:05 Tims says:
+1
23/11/2010 at 14:47 Lewie Procter says:
It looks like it’s full of all the horrible stuff that social games and MMOs always have, although it’s obviously got a bit of design flair with the menus and flashy stuff all over the place. Presumably it’s a free to play/pay money for pretend stuff game?
23/11/2010 at 15:22 AndrewC says:
(every thing in every game is pretend, Lewie)
23/11/2010 at 15:49 Springy says:
But not every game has a little screen where you can enter your credit card number to buy that pretend sword of swift forumite justice-izing.
23/11/2010 at 16:46 AndrewC says:
Some make you pay for every thing up front?
23/11/2010 at 19:10 bob_d says:
Unlike the games that make you pay upfront for the “sword of swift forumite justice-izing,” even though you never get it in the course of play.
23/11/2010 at 14:47 yhancik says:
Glitch ?
What next, a casual MMO racing game called Circuit Bending ?
(I’m sad the song doesn’t sound more like Bogdan Raczynski)
24/11/2010 at 02:56 Thants says:
Or edIT.
23/11/2010 at 14:49 SpinalJack says:
It looks like you take items you find and combine them to create new things or grow new plants or similar and you get favour points from one of the giants which you can spend on upgrades. It sounds like a grind fest and I’m not sure that the rewards will be for doing it other than achievements and sharing stuff with friends. It looks a bit more involved than farmville and that would probably lessen it’s casual appeal… in fact I don’t know where this is targeted at. Will have to play it to find out I guess.
23/11/2010 at 14:51 The Hammer says:
Actually, having a look at the site, the game seems keen to attract disenfranchised gamers.
Glitch apparently “involves very little war, moats, spaceships, wizards, mafiosos, or people with implausibly large muscles. Also: we have egg plants. Egg plants make it very different.”
As for the payment question…
“Glitch is free to play. Some game items will be purchasable and there will be premium accounts available by subscription. We want to make sure anyone can play the game, and also make it easy for anyone to give us money, should they be so inclined.”
I’d say it doesn’t sound too bad at all; certainly not deserving of scorn quite yet, even if the trailer DID deploy a Glados-alike for the narrator.
23/11/2010 at 15:53 Dominic White says:
Well, if they want my interest, they’re going to have to show some depth to the gameplay beyond making numbers go up. Puzzle Pirates springs to mind as a great ‘casual’ MMO that actually really engages the player by making even the most menial of tasks an involving real-time puzzle game.
23/11/2010 at 14:53 roBurky says:
All I get from that trailer is it is full of drip fed external rewards and numbers that go up. That does not pique my interest at all.
23/11/2010 at 15:05 brian says:
But but they did a song and everything!!! It’s quirky!!!
23/11/2010 at 15:47 Corporate Dog says:
I think this is a game aimed at the, “I enjoyed the Juno motion picture soundtrack.” demographic.
23/11/2010 at 14:56 SHDR says:
The first thing I see in that trailer, the preview frame, immediately reminds me of the monster from Watchmen: http://robot6.comicbookresources.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/watchmen-squid-monster.jpg
Strange.
24/11/2010 at 01:04 MadTinkerer says:
As for me, despite the goofy song playing, the giants seemed to resemble Eldritch Abominations From Beyond Time & Space. Also Pokemon. Simultaneously.
Dang it, now I want to play the game.
24/11/2010 at 01:15 Dominic White says:
They are the Noble Circle Of Horrorterrors – the Gods of the Furthest Ring, patron deities of the Dark Dreamers.
Name the reference, win an E-cookie.
24/11/2010 at 10:16 My opinion is terrible and I'm sorry says:
Hey, a fellow Homestuck fan. Let’s be tangle buddies.
23/11/2010 at 15:01 Lars Westergren says:
That was lovely.
“There is Cosmo-booooooot and Matt!”
23/11/2010 at 15:08 Fuzzmz says:
After playing some time in the alpha the game is pretty fun and entertaining, even though it at times resorts to grinding in order to complete a quest.
What makes it nice is the quirkiness of the world and the options you have to interact with it (milking butterflies for example) as well as silly quests (the quest itself and the way it is presented to you) like kissing 5 players after eating garlic or drinking 12 beers.
Most of the quests are just ways to introduce you to the mechanics of the game and get you exploring the world.
The community so far is great and the in-game help chat channel is priceless as well as fun.
23/11/2010 at 17:45 maniacyak says:
I got an invitation this weekend and played for a while. I hugged a crab.
It’s interesting, pretty, obviously made with a lot of love, but still rather raw. I’m not sure if it quite knows what it wants to be yet.
23/11/2010 at 19:00 Fuzzmz says:
Yes, but at the same time it evolved in a nice way from the start of the alpha; back then you had no tutorial quests, no idea about what to do in the world and how to approach it. If they manage to keep that up it might end up a nice game to sink some time into from time to time.
23/11/2010 at 15:08 Jakkar says:
I feel inclined to fix the target audience to read;
“20-30s who consider themselves to be of above average intelligence, and drink red wine because they feel it’s classier than lager, while strenuously avoiding anything that could be considered ‘average’ ‘pedestrian’ or ‘cliche’, only to create another.”
.. leading to a product description of;
“Casual browser MMO designed to fill the time-between-tweets for bored internet hipsters”
..
Oh dear. I think I’ll stick to Die2Nite, for all that it lacks physical action.
23/11/2010 at 17:39 noodlecake says:
Red wine IS nicer than lager! Lager tastes like piss. Real beer on the other hand… :)
23/11/2010 at 21:54 Dances to Podcasts says:
Does that mean you’ve drunk piss, since you know what it tastes like?
*looks at Noodlecake funny*
24/11/2010 at 21:07 Nesetalis says:
It takes all kinks… or something?
23/11/2010 at 15:09 Chaz says:
I’m not too keen on the art style, and as a 30 something plus I can’t say that it looks even remotely interesting to me. But then I’m not really into the whole Facebook, Twitter social networking thing, which looks like the sort of group this game is aiming towards.
23/11/2010 at 15:11 BobDicks says:
I’m only of average intelligence so I’ll just go back to staring at my PC-Idiot Box and slobbering all over my fat dumb stupid self.
23/11/2010 at 15:14 James says:
I shall also slobber all over myself, though in an intelligent way. I’m also quite thin.
23/11/2010 at 15:12 James says:
That was (I don’t know what to put here).
I signed in just to share that with you all.
23/11/2010 at 15:49 Corporate Dog says:
That’s not at all like Call of Duty: Black Ops.
23/11/2010 at 15:56 outoffeelinsobad says:
Remote Herdkeeping. Sounds useful.
23/11/2010 at 16:01 KillahMate says:
I get the feeling the people who are calling this ‘cookie-cutter’ didn’t really pay attention to the trailer.
Seriously, at the risk of spoiling the joke – look at it. Let’s just say this would be Mr Lovecraft’s favorite MMO.
23/11/2010 at 17:42 Pony Canyon says:
Please spoil the joke, because I’m not getting it.
23/11/2010 at 19:59 KillahMate says:
Okay. What we’re hoping, based on the glimpses in the trailer, is that the cuteness is just a surface sheen covering the mind-warping eldritch terrors that lurk below. Hopefully.
23/11/2010 at 16:07 elyscape says:
And that’s what this game is!
23/11/2010 at 16:14 Arnulf says:
“people with above average intelligence…”
I think I’m this. Hehe.
… and sophisticated tastes,…
Hm. Not sure if that applies to me too.
… in their 20s or early 30s.”
Damn! And here I thought that was a winner. Oh well, next one please!
23/11/2010 at 16:16 godgoo says:
it’s like if They Might Be Giants and Adult Swim made game trailers
24/11/2010 at 03:02 Thants says:
Adult Swim does make flash games.
23/11/2010 at 16:16 Tei says:
In the year 2011 the aliens landed on earth.
The average inteligence of the aliens where 21003 points, the average for humans is 105.
The aliens tried to “play” with the humans (being soo smart, 20/30 years old forever,etc… all wanted was have sex and play games). So created pocket dimensions, items disociations, disloged moebious facts and party animals. The chaos, terror and fascination that erupted destroyed the whole human civilization.
One day, the aliens abandoned the earth,… a lot of alien artifacts where left. The people that hunt these items are called… STALKERS.
But you don’t play here as a stalker, you are a party animal here, originally intended as a in-joke, and a agresive-pasive stance against authority. You play in a pocket dimension modeled after Web 2.0 and Second Life.
23/11/2010 at 16:47 PleasingFungus says:
A roadside picnic! Delightful.
23/11/2010 at 16:17 Not that guy says:
Seeing as the game takes place in the minds of lovecraftian horrors, and the trailer took a turn for the dark at the end, what with the crows, I hope that this game has a horrifying underbelly to it’s farmville sheen. (Not that Farmville doesn’t already have a horrifying underbelly)
23/11/2010 at 16:24 KillahMate says:
Right. It’s looking like an inverse Hello Chtulhu.
23/11/2010 at 17:01 Jahkaivah says:
@KillahMate
Or an inverse inverse Eversion.
23/11/2010 at 19:40 KillahMate says:
-edit:replied wrong-
23/11/2010 at 16:27 Nallen says:
…stated that the game would see you exploring and growing the minds of 11 giants,and would be targeted at “people with above average disposable income, in their 20s or early 30s.”
23/11/2010 at 16:42 soylentrobot says:
…what
that looks awful. All it reminds me of is some Facebook game.
Also, the places look a little simple and idellic for the thoughts of those giant monsters
23/11/2010 at 16:48 PleasingFungus says:
I do like Lovecraftian monster-giants. Also, numbers going up.
We’ll see how it is, I guess!
23/11/2010 at 16:55 Flakfizer says:
No. This didn’t pique my interest. Quite the opposite.
More Onionbog please.
23/11/2010 at 17:11 mwoody says:
This looks atrocious, but so obviously so that I’m led to believe that’s the joke. It shows you doing horribly boring, farmville-y things in a hellish loop, building steadily to a crescendo of disinterest until demon-crows appear and tear the screen apart. I’m hoping that it intends to turn that genre on its ear and sink the happy-looking visuals into some sort of nightmare twist.
Or it could just be another shitty side-scrolling Flash harvest moon wannabe. Who knows.
23/11/2010 at 17:48 Dominic White says:
Apparently the crows turn up in un-maintained areas and ‘hate creativity’ and ‘eat ideas’. It really does sound like a concept straight out of a kids game, not something aimed at intelligent, mature adults.
23/11/2010 at 19:30 Mo says:
As opposed to guns and terrorists and blowing shit up and stuff, which is totally more mature and intelligent?
23/11/2010 at 20:43 Dominic White says:
You’re talking to a guy who just spent two hours playing LittleBigPlanet (which, tangentially, is infinitely more creative-looking than this, and LBP2 is producing some amazing things even in beta).. Ranting at entirely the wrong guy.
23/11/2010 at 23:02 The Hammer says:
Yet still a self-confessed lover of Bayonetta.
Stones and glass houses, Dom.
23/11/2010 at 23:03 Dominic White says:
I… fail to see any kind of point here other than an awkward, labored attempt at an ad-hominem argument.
23/11/2010 at 23:15 The Hammer says:
All I meant is that you’re being unusually dismissive of a game that is open with its target audience, especially when certain other games you’ve voiced approval of have been arguably more immature; kids games with boobs and blood, basically.
I understand that it’s a somewhat provocative statement for a developer to come out and say they’re going after the “above average intelligence” wallet, but the way you’ve been speaking, it’s as if you’re representing 20/30 year olds everywhere, and that this game couldn’t possibly be of worth to your age-peers.
Y’know, it’s an independent dev which doesn’t have the marketing budget or manpower to pump out a meticulously made, highly expensive trailer.
23/11/2010 at 23:21 Dominic White says:
I was just singing the praises of Puzzle Pirates above, which isn’t aimed at ANY demographic, as far as I can see, and while looking like a Playmobil set, is accessible and enjoyable for any and all people.
This is a game clearly marketing itself at a 20-30 year old ‘discerning’ market, but it looks like Farmville meets a slightly awkward looking platformer. They’ve set themselves this particular niche to market to, and certian expectations to live up to. So far, they’re failing pretty miserably.
24/11/2010 at 10:47 Josh W says:
I wondered the same seen as it has a box for learning a skill early in the video that says as it’s text:
“You fool, your not learning anything.”
The thing is, if it does work that way, it’s not a game for me; I can’t be bothered to move through hours of uncreative box ticking just to share a smug ironic nod from the creators about how pointless it is. That’s basically how corporate incentive structures work.
A game about expanding the game itself? That’s interesting, swapping points from one explicit metric to another with no transfer quirks to game, no estimation of divergent systems (like games with aiming and bouncing and stuff), no configuration puzzels with stuff like rotation and swapping, no timing of spatial paths, no understanding ai motivation and redirecting it, or other kinds of physics-equivalent-difficulty problems? That’s not.
Get some better maths people, some better structure.
Now this critique might be totally unfair, the game might not be just a series of variables you top up like slowly evaporating glasses of water with a cutesy veneer, and it might not be an ironic art-game dig at genre conventions. If so I’m just jumping to conclusions in a slightly crazed early morning manner!
24/11/2010 at 11:02 Tei says:
“You fool, your not learning anything.”
The thing is, if it does work that way, it’s not a game for me; I can’t be bothered to move through hours of uncreative box ticking just to share a smug ironic nod from the creators about how pointless it is. That’s basically how corporate incentive structures work.
Is fun, so is mean to laught. If we are goint to have this type of games, I am pro-fun, fun is some of my favorite stances.
25/11/2010 at 01:05 Josh W says:
Yeah, looking at it with a bit of perspective, I’m being too harsh! Probably due to being pissed off at being overstimulated with videos and coffee too early in my day.
I agree, fun is in general a good thing, something we should have more of even. :)
23/11/2010 at 17:16 Jake says:
Isn’t the music/funny voices/comedy sound effects at odds with the ‘sophisticated tastes’ part of the mission statement? I mean, the game might be great but the song sets a bit of a CBBC tone.
23/11/2010 at 17:17 ken says:
I was interested in this game. Now, not so much, and I’m more confused than ever. Fail.
23/11/2010 at 17:44 Internet Friend says:
I half expected this trailer to segway into ‘particle man’ and be done with it.
I also noticed that someone earned the ‘soil appreciation’ skill. Which is good. Don’t want the dirt to feel undervalued.
23/11/2010 at 18:22 thesundaybest says:
It looks absurd, and I think games could use a big dose of absurdity. They may have shot themselves in the foot a bit by making the statements about intended audience, but I don’t think we should let that colour the game. Is it aimed t hipsters? Probably – but what part of popular culture isn’t these days? I don’t begrudge them one whit for aiming at popularity. Giving them the benefit of the doubt to see if they do something different (and considering the talent involved I think they will.)
23/11/2010 at 18:40 A Button says:
Oh good. A game that positively hemorrhages the squishy, shiny web 2.0 artistic design garbage. It even has a song that doesn’t rhyme sung by a husky-voiced woman!
23/11/2010 at 21:40 Edwood Grant says:
Ok it was a little weird, funny and at the same time “normal”… but what was that with the insane crows ending?…
If there is something that I know is that “Glitch”, means precisely that, that funny little world could be scary with glitches inside I think….
I dunno I feel attracted to it, and afraid at the same time T_T
24/11/2010 at 00:28 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Awful dressed up in cutesy trappings?
24/11/2010 at 03:00 Thants says:
The trailer is fun, but it feels like it’s desperately trying to obscure a grindy, micropayment-hell of a game.
24/11/2010 at 11:44 FarmVille Game Card says:
I was looking forward to this game, but now what I saw it sux, honestly. Just my view of the game.
24/11/2010 at 12:58 James says:
It seems to be basically Game Neverending that Flickr started out as (no surprise, same team?) in2002, but given a slicker interface.
26/11/2010 at 04:51 vic says:
Cool someone else thought the same as me. I wanted in on GNE but didn’t take an interest until it was too late.
24/11/2010 at 13:46 alex dante says:
This looks remarkably like a modern revamp of Lucasart’s Habitat.
24/11/2010 at 16:47 Redford says:
I have determined that the only way this game could really be interesting to me is if the giants can actually fight, and these fights are a massive cooperative effort by everyone logged onto the two giants at that time.
What are the chances of that actually happening though?
24/11/2010 at 01:27 elyscape says:
I’m torn about this comment. On the one hand, it’s spam, and I hate spam. On the other hand, Shoes Forking is the most hilarious domain name I’ve seen in a while.
24/11/2010 at 09:02 K says:
If you cross a shoe with a fork, do you get s a shork?