I can stop worrying
Glitch was the first MMORPG I ever played. I had avoided most video games for a long time because I had a dialup connection, and avoided most things that called themselves "RPG" because I came out of tabletop gaming and had no interest in what seemed like computerized versions of tabletop wargames--sure, the adventuring was a bit more open-ended than most wargames with a specific endpoint, but the mechanics were a lot more similar to wargames than RPGS; you couldn't sweet-talk the guard into letting you pass if the game didn't have a sweet-talk option at that point, and you couldn't come back after dark and steal the sword you couldn't afford in daylight. You couldn't decide to be a merchant instead of a monster-killer. And so on.
Anyway. So. Glitch. First online multiplayer game ever. And wow. I posted some of my thoughts about that, a while ago. I spent my first many hours in Glitch just wandering around trying to figure out what was going on, and I never lost that sense of wonder... OMG I'm being chased by bandit gumdrops! The bubble trees are talking to me! The name on that piggy heh heh heh! Oooh helikitties and yay BACON! ... And so on. Right up to the end, Glitch was charming and preposterous.
Since then, I tried other things to fill the void where Glitch was. TL;DR details follow: Got invited to Flight Rising, which has a lot of very pretty dragons and no PVP (and is an entirely different kind of game); it lets me collect unlimited sparkly things. Played some HereBeMonsters as soon as it opened from Facebook to a dotcom game... I'm very frustrated with how much it isn't like Glitch, but I did enjoy making all the recipes and filling in the grey spots in the almanac (right up until they added a swarm of premium-purchase-only items that made it impossible for nonpaying players). Joined Storium, which is also nothing like Glitch, but is a creative-expression-communication game. Got a Steam account so I could get Road Not Taken, which has many obvious connections to Glitch. Signed up for DCU Online, because I like superhero tabletop gaming and wanted to try that; I can't say it's going well, but I'm enjoying it when I have time for it. (I am so incompetent with its controls. 'S fine; I don't care. I like smashing random objects with my staff.) Helped kickstart TUG, which promised to be a sandbox creative MMORPG; it's like Minecraft with better graphics (I've never played Minecraft) and will presumably have adventury things someday. Unfortunately, most of the playerbase seems eager for PVP options. A friend tried to drag me into Transformice and Thomas Was Alone. I discovered that I suck at timed jumping in many formats.
Short version: I tried a lot of games; liked some more than others; got somewhat familiar with common MMORPG tropes and mechanisms. And I worried that, when Eleven Giants got going, I wouldn't love Glitch as much... sure, many people said Glitch was unique, that the community and the game itself were special--but how many of those players were like me, having never played anything else before? How many were just caught up in the "oh no it's ending" angst, and would move on and not look back?
Now I've played some alpha, and it's (heh) glitchy and keeps throwing me out, and I can't do a lot of the skills because some of the achievements don't work, and the lack of ability to follow and lack of a home base means it's a nuisance to get anywhere, and...
Don't care. It's perfect. I'm HOME.
I'm not gawping at all the pretty art this time--I've seen plenty of pretty art over the last couple of years. I *am* gawping at some of the game mechanics... the keyboard controls especially. (I am so TIRED of games that require a mouse for everything... or just for some crucial actions.) I'm astounded at the smoothness of travel, of the little dot moving around the street, at the overview map to the side with the vendors and shrines noted, at how much *sense* the right-to-left or left-to-right movement makes. At the jumping to multiple levels, after participating in several games that can't be bothered to make sprite movement look natural. At the varied appearance of the groddle street spirits. At the useful tips on the opening screen, which quickly become irrelevant but are never intrusive, and reminded me of a few details I'd forgotten.
So many games don't bother with tutorials or tips; they expect players to provide that info elsewhere. (Apparently, the thought is, "why should we make a tutorial? Someone's going to put one on YouTube anyway.")
I had been worried that, after seeing and playing many other games, Eleven would lose some of the appeal that Glitch had--that I had been overwhelmed with the new-pretty-shiny, and that while I'd always enjoy it, I wouldn't love it as much after I'd seen enough other games to place it as "part of a genre" instead of "only thing like this I'd ever seen."
I was wrong. This game is so precious. I am so, so happy that it's being revived; I will happily keep bumbling through whatever limitations Alpha has, and be thrilled to restart when we get more features.
Anyway. So. Glitch. First online multiplayer game ever. And wow. I posted some of my thoughts about that, a while ago. I spent my first many hours in Glitch just wandering around trying to figure out what was going on, and I never lost that sense of wonder... OMG I'm being chased by bandit gumdrops! The bubble trees are talking to me! The name on that piggy heh heh heh! Oooh helikitties and yay BACON! ... And so on. Right up to the end, Glitch was charming and preposterous.
Since then, I tried other things to fill the void where Glitch was. TL;DR details follow: Got invited to Flight Rising, which has a lot of very pretty dragons and no PVP (and is an entirely different kind of game); it lets me collect unlimited sparkly things. Played some HereBeMonsters as soon as it opened from Facebook to a dotcom game... I'm very frustrated with how much it isn't like Glitch, but I did enjoy making all the recipes and filling in the grey spots in the almanac (right up until they added a swarm of premium-purchase-only items that made it impossible for nonpaying players). Joined Storium, which is also nothing like Glitch, but is a creative-expression-communication game. Got a Steam account so I could get Road Not Taken, which has many obvious connections to Glitch. Signed up for DCU Online, because I like superhero tabletop gaming and wanted to try that; I can't say it's going well, but I'm enjoying it when I have time for it. (I am so incompetent with its controls. 'S fine; I don't care. I like smashing random objects with my staff.) Helped kickstart TUG, which promised to be a sandbox creative MMORPG; it's like Minecraft with better graphics (I've never played Minecraft) and will presumably have adventury things someday. Unfortunately, most of the playerbase seems eager for PVP options. A friend tried to drag me into Transformice and Thomas Was Alone. I discovered that I suck at timed jumping in many formats.
Short version: I tried a lot of games; liked some more than others; got somewhat familiar with common MMORPG tropes and mechanisms. And I worried that, when Eleven Giants got going, I wouldn't love Glitch as much... sure, many people said Glitch was unique, that the community and the game itself were special--but how many of those players were like me, having never played anything else before? How many were just caught up in the "oh no it's ending" angst, and would move on and not look back?
Now I've played some alpha, and it's (heh) glitchy and keeps throwing me out, and I can't do a lot of the skills because some of the achievements don't work, and the lack of ability to follow and lack of a home base means it's a nuisance to get anywhere, and...
Don't care. It's perfect. I'm HOME.
I'm not gawping at all the pretty art this time--I've seen plenty of pretty art over the last couple of years. I *am* gawping at some of the game mechanics... the keyboard controls especially. (I am so TIRED of games that require a mouse for everything... or just for some crucial actions.) I'm astounded at the smoothness of travel, of the little dot moving around the street, at the overview map to the side with the vendors and shrines noted, at how much *sense* the right-to-left or left-to-right movement makes. At the jumping to multiple levels, after participating in several games that can't be bothered to make sprite movement look natural. At the varied appearance of the groddle street spirits. At the useful tips on the opening screen, which quickly become irrelevant but are never intrusive, and reminded me of a few details I'd forgotten.
So many games don't bother with tutorials or tips; they expect players to provide that info elsewhere. (Apparently, the thought is, "why should we make a tutorial? Someone's going to put one on YouTube anyway.")
I had been worried that, after seeing and playing many other games, Eleven would lose some of the appeal that Glitch had--that I had been overwhelmed with the new-pretty-shiny, and that while I'd always enjoy it, I wouldn't love it as much after I'd seen enough other games to place it as "part of a genre" instead of "only thing like this I'd ever seen."
I was wrong. This game is so precious. I am so, so happy that it's being revived; I will happily keep bumbling through whatever limitations Alpha has, and be thrilled to restart when we get more features.
Comments
I can't wait to be right there bumbling alongside you!
-Liza-