Topic

Will Glitch scale well?

The street projects and mines can already seem awfully crowded at times. Are there streets allowing such high-value activity (compared to other streets) that they'd be overpopulated once Glitch opens?

Posted 16 months ago by Otterlicious Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • If you're on a busy street and it is causing lag for you, it's usually better to go to another area that is less crowded.

    One advantage of crowded mining streets is that you get more people working on a rock together and thus more ore for each person.  If you prefer fewer people and a lower return rate, many outlying areas are better suited for that style of play.  There are a few streets in Alakol and Groddle Heights that I mine without seeing very many people at all.  Often I can set up a mining line, and by the time I get to the end, the rocks at the beginning have regenerated.

    Street projects are awfully crowded.  Are you suggesting that certain people not be allowed to participate to keep the numbers down? 
    Posted 16 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's a pretty bad misreading. He didn't say he was having lag, or that he needed places to mine, or that he wanted less people on projects. The only thing he asked was if certain high-activity streets will be able to handle the increased activity upon launch.
    Posted 16 months ago by The Crepeist Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Devs said they're thinking something completely different for street projects. Let's wait and see.

    Apart from that, I guess there could always be several projects at the same time, diluting the number of players on them.
    Posted 16 months ago by Ximenez Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm worried too! I am getting more lag this test. My pc is fast and my network connection is mediocre! But other MMOs have not given me trouble... let's hope they have lots of extra server power ready to tap..! Seriously, though there are other issues. The random kindness menu is a good example of crowded scenes not seeming ready for serious crowds. Anyway, maybe they have it all figured out! Yay TS!
    Posted 16 months ago by FlirtyvonSexenhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There are many, many types of scale we think about. The most important are: (1) server capacity, (2) crowding in the world, (3) client performance, (4) community, (5) resources/economy/ecology.

    I lose no sleep at all over (1). Neither should you! It's hard, and there will be stumbles along the way, but years of planning and coding and testing have gone into it and it will work. And, FlirtyvonSexenhaven: when you or anyone else experience "lag", 97% of the time it is because the game client is slow and has nothing at all to do with the servers (2.9% of the time it is the network/the connection to the server being slow and 0.1% it is actually the server being slow).

    I don't lose much sleep over (2) either. I think it is something we'll continually work on and have new problems to solve, but they will all be solvable: we can instance (i.e., make duplicate copies of) popular locations, we can create new routes from A-B, we can create new locations with popular resource types, etc. It will be work, but again we've been thinking about it a long time and we don't believe there needs to be some crazy breakthrough to keep it under control, just steady effort.

    I do lose some sleep over (3), but the farther we push the game client, the more ingenious stuff the client team does to make it run better. Anyone who was around in the very early days of Alpha can attest that the game runs MUCH faster now while being a lot better looking and more capable. Always upwards!

    And, I lose a lot of sleep over (4) and (5). They are difficult. But, the eminently capable men & women of Tiny Speck are committed to making it work … and work in new, awesome, and interesting ways. And, part of my job is to be an optimist. So, no surprise: I am optimistic!
    Posted 16 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How is your optimism scaling?
    Posted 16 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ha! Awesome reply, stoot, to the point and brutally honest. The client is a real feat - I'm no expert, but I've played a lotta flash games, and I've never seen one do so well given all the networking and chat stuff. And we all know you have a lot of experience scaling with internet business! Let's just work together to keep griefers bored.
    Posted 16 months ago by FlirtyvonSexenhaven Subscriber! | Permalink
  • They have simultaneous rook attacks now which fix several problems. It certainly helped with the lag problems, but also now each attack lasts longer as less people are fighting on one street. Finally it allows further cooperation between the community to keep Ur rook free.

    Simple changes like this that have a huge impact made me proud and trust tiny speck even more!
    Posted 16 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For #5, Realty is another resource that currently seems to scale badly.  I'm very picky about my house.  When I was searching for a ~10K house, there were only about 6 in the cottage style that I like, and I was lucky that there were 2 in the interior style that I liked (not into Goth or PacMan furniture).  Of course it forced me to change regions.  This may change a great deal if the rumors of  customizing houses are implemented.  However, having lived in both Bortola and Groddle, I think that competition over preferred housing regions may become a problem.
    Posted 16 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nah — we can produce another thousand houses with a few button presses. And, in the glorious future, they will all be modifiable by you so you can choose whatever kind of decor/layout you want. That part is easy!
    Posted 16 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lol there only has to be one other player on the same street as me and I lag ... I can't even imagine trying to go build a street!!! I'd never make!
    Posted 16 months ago by Brekkana Subscriber! | Permalink