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MMObility: Glitch's change log describes a very busy Tiny Speck
Glitch has quietly been working its way through beta, adding new content and tweaking exisiting content while many wanna-be players await their turn in the world of Ur. I love the fact that I can log out of the game for several days or a week and log back in to find some newer, better way to play. I'm a bit shocked that the game is taking as long as it has to "re-launch" because it has been a very wonderful and airtight experience for a while. I have a feeling the team at Tiny Speck is a bit on the obsessive side. How many updates have there been? If you aren't following @PlayGlitch (or @GlitchLog) on Twitter or reading up on the official blog or forums, now is as good a time as any. But I thought it'd be a good idea to round up some of the best for you.
The Perfect Ten: Ways MMOs explain infinite resurrection
Why? Why do we die in MMOs and receive an infinite number of resurrections? Are we in a type of hell defined by endless combat and suffering, doomed to never escape the cycle? Is this a cruel experiment being performed by supreme alien beings from afar? Does that make us the living undead, immortal Highlanders, or something even more significant? If you're looking at me with that look you have in your eye right now, I'd like to remind you that asking these questions is more in line with the core of RPGs than just mashing the 1-2-3 buttons. The rules that make up and dictate our virtual lives should have both meaning and sense, yet so many of these games expect us to just blithely accept that we can come back from the dead over and over without nary an explanation. Well, I like explanations. Even if it's just polite nonsense, a thought-out reason as to why our characters are death-proof tells me that the devs treat their game with a higher degree of integrity than others. So here are 10 MMOs in which the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets at least a backhanded explanation instead of "shut up, just accept it."
Charadium resets, rebrands as Draw Mania
The Pictionary-like iOS game Draw Something has been a huge hit on the App Store, so much so that it claimed millions of users in a shocking amount of time, and was even acquired by Zynga for the trouble. But Draw Something was hardly the first app out on the store to borrow an idea from Pictionary. Ngmoco published Charadium long before Draw Something ever appeared, and while it never did as well as that other drawing title, it was doing the online guessing game thing early on. Now, Charadium (which appears to be free of Ngmoco's influence and is now being run directly by On5) has pushed the reset button and has essentially been re-released as Draw Mania. The new app, available for $1.99 right now, is described as an update, but it's really a whole new app. In addition to the rebranding, players can now use custom words and there's a friend management system included in the game. The title's even borrowed a page from the Draw Something book, in that games are now endless, and players are competing for points for as long as they like. Charadium has actually gone through a few different stages in its life -- Ngmoco also attempted to rebrand the title as "We Doodle" at one point, to fit in with its popular freemium series. But hopefully this last change is what the app has been needing for a while. It's hard to see any app experiencing Draw Something's huge burst of success, but On5 is definitely trying its hardest to keep this game going on the App Store.
One Shots: Still got it
Runes of Magic was a F2P game before the cool kids joined the F2P party, but it's been a little neglected by MMO players. Massively reader Andrew wants us to know that it's got some spark left in it: While Runes of Magic may be three years old, the graphics are still looking great. There's some awesome vistas in RoM that appear when you take the time to control+z your interface and look around. This shot is from Southern Janost Forest. In fact, Andrew sent us two pics, and they're both behind the break along with a few more of your One Shots!
Garriott's Portalarium partnering with Zynga for Ultimate Collector
Former Ultima Online guru Richard Garriott is joining forces with Zynga, the social gaming behemoth that has been hemorraging users and executives in recent months. Garriott's Portalarium company will use the Zynga Platform to launch its Ultimate Collector game, which is currently undergoing a limited Facebook beta. "Ultimate Collector is really three games in one," Garriott says via press release. "It's a collecting game where players go on a major hunt for collectibles ranging from toys, gadgets, historical weapons, novelties and famous art and display those collections in their homes. It's a shopping game where players can visit shops and stores in our game, some of them from national retailers, to purchase items and add to their collections. And it's a world building game that allows players to outfit a home, show off their collections to their friends, sell virtual items to other collectors and make in-game money to upgrade their house and grow it even larger."
MMO Family: Lessons from an MMO-light summer
Ever find yourself telling your kids to log off while you're holding your smartphone in one hand and have one eye on your email/Facebook/Twitter/browser/game of Angry Birds or Plants vs. Zombies? I admit it, I caught myself doing that back at the beginning of summer, and it happened to be around the time I stumbled on an article from David Gelernter titled Make it a Summer Without iStuff. Around the house, we stay on top of gaming time and try to stick to hard limits so that it doesn't dominate the day. But summers in New England are fleeting, and having been inspired by Gelernter's article, we decided to cut back on gaming even more. What I noticed during our dialed-down summer is that there's a lot more to it than just shutting off the iStuff and that MMOs might not be the "mental purgatory" that Gelernter says is created by iToys. Let's take a look in this week's MMO Family!
FarmVille 2 updates Zynga's cow-clicker (but not too much)
FarmVille. Just the name likely conjures up some vivid thoughts and opinions in the minds of gamers everywhere. As the flagship casual social game for both Facebook and Zynga, FarmVille can't help but be a lightning rod for debates about gaming's audiences, game design, and the role that video games can and do play in our daily lives. Time labeled the game one of the "fifty worst inventions" of all time, but that hasn't stopped over 80 million people from logging on and doing some cow and crop clicking.And now Zynga (which itself has attracted plenty of controversy recently) is going to try and recreate the game's success with a brand new version called, simply, FarmVille 2. Director of Design Wright Bagwell showed Joystiq what the future of FarmVille's crops and farm animals looks like, how the game will reach out (but not too far) toward a more hardcore audience, and how Zynga plans to take the world's most popular and oft-hated casual and social game and make it even more casual and social.%Gallery-164312%
NPD report: America's gamer population is shrinking, mobile overtakes consoles
Is the video game industry finally returning to earth after years of sustained growth? Possibly, although a new market research report that suggests a shrinking gamer population comes with some rather significant caveats. First off, the report by the NPD Group claims that 211.5 million people are playing video games in the U.S. this year, which is approximately two-thirds of the country's total population. That number is 12 million less than in 2011, though (a five percent drop). Console gamers, light PC gamers, avid PC gamers, and family/kid gamers saw the biggest drop, but the downloadable/online and mobile gamer segments experienced substantial growth. According to NPD, mobile gamers now constitute the largest market share, edging out core console gamers at 22 percent of the total.
Glitch status report discusses the impending relaunch
Once upon a time, there was a game called Glitch. This game launched, and it made several people very happy, but it made its designers sad because it didn't feel ready for launch. So the designers called backsies on launch and took the game back to beta for more development and refinement. It's been nine months since then, and according to the latest developer update, the game is almost up to the point it should have been during its first launch... but not quite. The blog post explains that there were three core things that the design team wanted in the game before the official relaunch: a better introduction for new players, imagination and upgrades as a core advancement system, and a better land and housing system. While those features are in place, they've just brought on new challenges for the designers and new updates that need to be added. The overall takeaway is that if you're not playing now, you will be able to soon, as the game is almost as the designers want it, and then we can all live happily ever after.
Funcom tweaking The Secret World's lairs for casual players
If you're a casual player of Funcom's The Secret World, you may not be aware of the game's lair mechanics. Lairs are basically pockets of super-powerful mobs designed for three players in endgame gear. Each adventuring zone has a lair, and each currently offers signet drops and the chance to summon world bosses on par with those in the game's nightmare dungeons. With the upcoming 1.2 patch, though, Funcom is tweaking lairs to be a bit more palatable for less dedicated players. A new blog on the official site outlines the reasoning behind the changes. "Some people don't like the intense build requirements of nightmares, or don't have the time to dedicate a few hours per night to wiping on the Ur Draug. When we launched, there was not a whole lot of focused endgame content for these players to participate in," Funcom says. "The intention going forward is that lairs should offer full endgame progression for casual players of The Secret World," the company continues. The 1.2 patch will turn lairs into 5-player affairs, and it will also add a few anima wells to lessen the traveling pains associated with wiping. New missions and loot progression are the order of the day, too. Full details are yours for the reading on TSW's website.
The Daily Grind: Do you view MMOs as disposable entertainment?
Emotions were running high regarding City of Heroes last week, and for good reason. NCsoft inexplicably pulled the rug out from under its community by announcing the imminent closure of one of the more feature-rich games to ever grace the MMO genre. There was an outpouring of disbelief, sympathy, and shock, both here at Massively and around the blogosphere. There were also a few folks who simply didn't get it. One comment even likened MMOs to television shows and suggested that both are inconsequential ditties unworthy of your long-term devotion or emotional attachment. What about you, morning crew? Do you view MMOs as throw-away entertainment, or do you get involved and attached to the game and its community? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Do you log in for chance-based daily activities?
Daily quests are a fixture in MMOs. Whether a game is subscription-based or free-to-play, it has a vested interest in cajoling you to keep coming back (and spending money). F2P games in particular have latched on to a very specific type of non-combat daily "quest." In Free Realms, for example, players can spin a wheel once per day to receive a chance at random prizes and rewards. In Glitch, you can shuffle your upgrade cards for a new batch every game day. And the RIFT mobile app provides "Lootables," virtual lottery scratch-off tickets that you can play a few times per day for a chance for, well, loot in the real game. These types of "dailies" can sometimes put players who play in a few long bursts at a disadvantage to those who play in many short bursts. I know I'm annoyed when I constantly feel as if I need to log in and perform routine maintenance on a game so that my "real" playtime is enhanced. And that's without mentioning that some games will happily sell the equivalent of wheel spins to those players who didn't like the results of their freebie. Today, Massively's wondering what you think of non-combat daily quests transparently designed to keep you thinking about the game even when you're not playing it. Do you log in to spin wheels, shuffle cards, and scratch off virtual lottery tickets? Or do you ignore those daily activities? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Blizzard clarifies the raid finder's role in gearing progression
Blizzard blue Taepsilum posted today on the EU forums regarding the role of the raid finder as a key part of the gearing ladder. It has been regularly mentioned how the raid finder in Cataclysm became a vital part of gear progression, offering items that were an upgrade from Firelands normal gear and -- with procs and set bonuses accounted for, as well as the half-tier increase in item level for drops from Spine and Madness -- upgrades from Firelands heroic gear. I posted a while back about the purpose of the raid finder and how while it was intended as a means for folks who didn't have access to a raid team to see content, it became a rung on the gearing ladder. Well, it seems that Blizzard is taking steps to change that. Matt Rossi posted earlier with more information on the loot changes, and Taepsilum's post only serves to add weight to the notion that the raid finder will be adapted to serve its intended purpose. This shift was mentioned yesterday on the Q&A with the Devs at Gamescom, but it bears repeating for all the raid finder naysayers out there. When Blizzard knows millions of players will see content, it makes it easier for them to justify allocating resources to it. It's really hard for Blizzard to justify putting the huge resources to design a raid into something a fraction of players will experience. WoW Insider had a message direct from Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas in which he restated this point: The existence of LFR justifies the creation of more raid content for casual and hardcore players alike. See Taepsilum's post after the break.
MMO Family: Pirate101 and the Pixar effect
Back at the ranch, it's been a pretty busy (and off the grid) summer. We've spent the bulk of it at the grandparents' house at the beach, complete with snorkeling, beach combing, hikes to a nearby island, and lots of late nights discussing the finer points of the Harry Potter series. That made for many late nights, but a couple of weeks ago, I suddenly didn't have to struggle to get my kids to go to bed. Turns out, they wanted to play a certain game to wrap up their day, and that game was Pirate101. What's interesting is that they liked it for different reasons than I do, and I actually found myself rethinking my approach to games by watching them play. In this week's MMO Family, we'll look at some first impressions from a kid's-eye view and explore how KingsIsle is able to hit all of the right notes (again) to make a compelling game for both kids and adults.
Daily iPad App: Puzzle Craft is puzzle farming bliss
I came to a realization a little while ago: I love grindy games. I really enjoy games with a certain amount of repetition to them, games where I slowly but steadily build up resources and a character (or an empire) while performing somewhat mindless but infinitely amusing tasks. Puzzle Craft fits right in that category -- like that other great puzzle/RPG mashup, Puzzle Quest (as well as the recent 10000000), it provides a solid and rewarding system of progression to a fairly basic but amusing puzzle system. The progression system is all "built" around a town: You start out the game with just a farmfield, and then slowly use that field, collecting its resources in the puzzle game, to build up houses and a mine, and then a windmill and so on, until you have a thriving metropolis in its place. To do all of this, you collect a series of resources, each of which can be used to build buildings, tools, or hire certain citizens or workers. Because Puzzle Craft is published by Chillingo, all of this is very clear, and the graphics are colorful and clean, with specific icons used for each resource that easily and quickly convey what you need to collect more of. The puzzle mechanic itself is reminiscent of Dungeon Raid -- it's a match 3, but instead of moving items around a grid, you need to draw a line through as many of the same items as possible. Puzzle Craft does iterate on that system, however, by letting you combine objects when you collect enough of them -- you can combine 10 grain into a carrot, and then combine carrots into a soup. Hiring workers lets you change how those combination rules work, and tools can be used in certain situations to help clear the screen or collect a certain kind of resource. Puzzle Craft is a really terriffic game, possibly my favorite App Store entry of the year. It's a 99-cent universal download, and I highly recommend it. Yes, it can get a little grindy, and specific strategies (like when to use tools) can get very complex. But it brilliantly combines a very casual puzzle mechanic with a very engaging progression system, and that's made me put hours of gameplay into it since it was released last week.
The Soapbox: The demise of the core gamer
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. The MMO audience seems to be undergoing a change. It's been slow enough to pass as a typical shift in the market, and it might be. I'm no analytical expert, and I certainly do not have access to the inside of every game studio. What I do have is at least 13 years experience as an MMO fan. I've not only covered them but been obsessed by them for that time. I have always been interested in new titles, movements, and changes in the market. It's a hobby turned job turned fascinating social investigation. I think there are generally three types of gamer: casual, core, and hardcore. Feel free to correct my terminology in the comments section or in an email, but let the discussion that ensues be proof that the shift is real. It seems as if the great mass of MMO fans -- not shooter fans or MOBA fans or fans of mobile, single-player games but fans of MMOs -- has split itself in the middle and pushed to both sides. The fandom has become more extreme, moving to hardcore or to casually hardcore. The core gamer is a thing of the past.
MMO Family: Clone Wars Adventures' tale of two card games
Even though Clone Wars Adventures is a kid-friendly MMO, I've always been a fan of the title, partially because it sort of came out of nowhere and launched soon after it was revealed and partially because it's done a terrific job of matching content and itemization with the TV series. The Darth Maul content update was a household favorite, particularly because the pint-sized players in the family got a chance at going face to face with one of Star Wars' major baddies after seeing him on the animated show. Talk about an epic moment for a CWA fan! The most recent update, though, left me scratching my head a bit. Clone Wars Adventures has had a trading card game called Card Commander for quite a while. Recently, though, SOE added a completely new trading card game called Card Assault. What's the new game like, and why would an MMO have not one but two card games? This week's MMO Family will take a look at the new game and theorycraft on why we're neck deep in cards!
Amazon announces 'Amazon Game Studios,' starts with a Facebook game
Amazon's evolving from a digital marketplace into a content creator as well, today announcing its first game development studio – "Amazon Game Studios" – with the launch of its first game, "Living Classics." The company's starting somewhat unremarkably with a hidden object game (which it's dubbing a "moving object game"), and it's ready for you to play on Facebook right now. There's also a trailer for the game above.Per the announcement, the studio is also hiring. And hey, despite our reluctance to play casual games, it's hard to get upset at someone hiring game devs.
Why I Play: Glitch
As I began to write this column, it struck me that there are some people who do not actually want to play Glitch by Tiny Speck. I wanted to change the usual title of this column to "Why, of course I play Glitch!" but then I thought about my editors glaring at me from across an email. I guess I should explain my love for Glitch, the type I normally reserve only for certain wonderful titles like RuneScape, Dark Age of Camelot, Mabinogi, Wurm Online, Ryzom, MilMo, or even World of Warcraft years ago. I apologize, but it's a bit hard to explain something that seems so obvious. Some people probably consider Glitch a game for younger players or for players who are not as serious about their digital lifestyle. Why Glitch would not be taken as seriously while a game like Darkfall or (ironically) World of Warcraft is considered a more serious gaming venture is beyond me. But then, I think all gaming is silly... that's why it's wonderful.
The danger of assuming personal experiences to be universal
Whether or not you can believe it, there are players right now who have not finished regular Dragon Soul. Some of them raid less often, some of them started later, some of them lost players, and some of them just raid more slowly than you. And yes, you may be a better raider or have a better raid group than they do, a more skilled collection of people. You also might have a better class comp or have gotten lucky on a few occasions when they didn't. Some groups lost key players at the worst possible time, had real-life issues to contend with, or simply started later than everyone else. Why do I bring this up? This forum thread on the EU forums, where Draztal ( who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite CMs) is constantly forced to deal with a mindset that does not seem to understand that each raiding group's experience is personal to that group and cannot always be extended to the game or all its players as a whole. Now, not every poster in that thread has that issue; there are some good ones in there, and you should read it. But it's a mindset I see over and over again. The game is large, and no two raid groups have the same experience playing it. Some raid groups loved tier 11; others were bored or hated the fights. Some raids had fun in Firelands; others found it repetitive or disliked the zone's tendency to be all one color. (I still say Bastion of Twilight had exactly the same problem, but that was alleviated by its being one of three raids at launch.) Some folks have enjoyed Dragon Soul; others dislike the mechanics or the use of Wyrmrest art assets. Having these differences of opinion is a fine thing and can be good for the game and its community -- when you acknowledge that they exist, and when you realize that your own strongly held opinion about the raid finder, heroic modes in raiding, or the superiority of this fight or that fight is rooted in personal experience to some extent and that experience will never be shared with everyone. That goes for things you love and things you hate equally.
