Topic

Initial impressions of my first test

I was going to reply to the Post Mortem thread, but I got a little (ok, a LOT) wordy, so I decided to start a new discussion. This may be tl;dr for some of you, so just skip to my suggestions at the end. ;)

This was my first chance to play Glitch, and although it wasn't quite what I expected, I am really enjoying the game. In fact, Glitch is BETTER than I expected, and I only wish I would have bugged my Facebook friends with Glitch icons for an invite sooner!

The challenge of choosing which skill to master next makes this MMO stand out from the now-defunct Faunasphere and Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates, two games I used to play (I played Y!PP for 5 years). The skills feature reminds me a lot of the technology advances from Civilization, which I love. And the social interaction of the global chat makes the game fun and makes it easy to get a quick answer to a simple question. I think more people should mention the wiki in chat, however, to let newbies know there is such a thing, but that's not a big deal since most folks are quick to point out interesting tidbits on the wiki depending on the conversation.

My favorite game feature has to be the maps and the GPS system. When I first tried the "set as destination" feature, I was amazed at how quickly and easily the game led me from place to place. That was awesome, and so is the "create link for chat" feature. Incredibly helpful ideas! My Glitch spawned in Groddle Forest, so I picked a map destination waaaay up north, trying to see if the GPS would lead me there, and lo-and-behold, I got to the savannah area just fine. Totally amazing feature and different from the map/world features of the MMOs I've played before. In Faunasphere, there was an in-game map of your area, but you had to have a map handy (I drew one to use for reference) to easily travel from world to world, and in Y!PP there is an overall world map, but if you don't have charts or if you don't have league points memorized, you can't sail your ship to those islands (You can use a "whisking potion" to move your pirate around, but that doesn't work for ships). For me, then, the game's maps and GPS feature -- and the subway! -- was a really nice surprise.

So far, I have two favorite animations: the little wiggle the pigs do after you pet them and the adorable mail delivery frog. I haven't participated in a rook attack, but from the video I saw on Youtube, those animations are also fantastic. Having the rooks crawl OUTSIDE the game window was a brilliant idea, so major kudos to the clever Glitch who thought of that. I also enjoy reading the stories from the trees, rocks, and animals. I really appreciated the sense of humor that went into writing the game's dialogue.

Finally, I would like make a few suggestions. These are from a new player, so I don't know if they've been covered in other posts or discussions before.

1. Chat filters -- I personally don't give a fuck if someone curses, but I'm sure that when the game opens for real, there will be many people who get easily offended by others' language. I suggest changing curse words to more "Glitchy" words. For example, in Y!PP, the curse words become piratey; "fuck" becomes "scuppering," e.g., and "shit" becomes "barnacle." The abbreviation "omg" is "billions of blue blistering barnacles" -- my personal favorite. Something similar would work in Glitch to allow folks to curse without using words that people will freak out over. Also, a way to emote in chat would be handy, such as saying, "Tonya laughs" or "Tonya smiles." It would even be nice to be able to do a /em like in Y!PP to say, "Tonya gives you a cookie."

2. A few changes to the awesome map -- I love the fact that I can mouse-over an icon on the map to learn which vendor and shrine is on a particular street, but those icons are teeeeeensy, which reminds me: Being able to zoom into the map to better read names and see features would be handy, as would letting the streets' splash screens stay up a few seconds longer so you have time to read if that street really does have a bubble tree; also, why don't those splash screens tell you if there is dirt or loam or a patch to tend on the street? Back to the icons suggestion: If each giant and each vendor type had its own color or icon shape, it would make finding what players need easier. As I mentioned earlier, the map is my favorite overall feature in Glitch, and any changes could only make a awesome feature even awesomer.

3. A few more quests based on level rather than skill -- I decided to focus most of my time and donations to appease Lem and learn the faster learning skills (I recently completed Better Learning IV). Doing this, however, made me quickly run out of quests since I postponed learning many of the easy level 1 skills. I know some quests can't start until certain skills are learned, but maybe more of the "pet X number of piggies" or "visit X number of streets" quests could be created to give players who strategize like I do something to do other than mine 24/7 while waiting to complete a skill.

4. Ability to queue skills to learn -- I use Google Chrome so I have the extension for this, but it's such a great feature that it would be handy if the game would let you choose a few skills to learn at once. When you click on the rock, he lets you set up to 3 areas for teleportation, so why not let him have 3 skills lined up to study? He just sits there, so make him work!

5. "Are you sure?" pop-ups -- I know many people hate additional pop-ups in games, but sometimes they can remind you that you're about to do something stupid. For example, I bought a couple of the shrine powders, and I'd get about 3 uses out of them before I stupidly dragged the powder icon onto the shrine icon and poof! It was gone! I donated something that I didn't want to because I expected the powder to automatically sprinkle itself onto the shrine, since that's its main function. A warning of, "Wouldn't you rather sprinkle the powder thandonate it?" would have saved me a few moments of cursing at the computer. And while it's interesting to die and go to Hell (haven't done this yet), a more obvious pop-up reminding people they're about to croak may prevent there being so many tombstones besides sparkly rocks. 

6. The auctions really aren't -- Rename the auctions to classified ads or something. I expected to have to bid and wait to see if I won an item, but nope -- it was all buy-it-now. That's not an auction; that's a sale.

7. A refrigerator -- Since we have storage bags and toolboxes, why not a fridge that would only accept food items? I bought different colored bags and labeled them Food and Drinks, Ingredients 1, and Ingredients 2 to keep my foodstuff separate, but I kind of like the idea of having a little fridge icon to visually remind me that duh, there's stuff to eat in that there box.

Posted 16 months ago by Tonya Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Excellent round-up of initial thoughts, Tonya! Just curious: did you get the option of having a Greeter?
    Posted 16 months ago by Hburger Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Great suggestions! I love the fridge idea most of all. 

    I thought it was fun to read all of the aspects of the game that you enjoyed prior to the suggestions, too.
    Posted 16 months ago by StarBryte Subscriber! | Permalink
  • TY, Tonya, for a well thought out review!!
    Posted 16 months ago by Pirate Apples Subscriber! | Permalink
  • 1. Been long threads on the Chat filter issue. The game is intended for a more mature audience (beer, purple, hooch for example). Adding a language filters does add a significant burden to the game where performance is serious issue. I can dig up the arguments later. Your concerns aren't invalid though.
    2. Map improvements you suggested are generally good but resources often change and the map is pretty crowded as is. There are user created GreaseMonkey scripts that provide the functionality you describe though.
    3. Level based quests? Good idea. I think there are some but I don't think they are actually identified as such.
    4. Script for that one too ;) But it would be nice to make it a proper feature of the game rather than a user created one.
    5. Good one. "Oops" happens. :p
    6. Better auctions have been brought up before. Still a good point.
    7. Been suggested often :) In fact by @stoot himself recently. Likely in the works. I created some graphics related to that post too. Link HERE (shameless plug). I'd have created a 'fridge too, but I think TS already has them in the pipeline.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wonderful, thoughtful post! I agree with everything here except for the skill queuing--I think that makes it too easy. There is a skill queuer that a player wrote that alot of people use to do this, but I haven't used it because I don't like the idea of it. 

    Welcome to Glitch!
    Posted 16 months ago by Shepherdmoon Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There are Greeters. Anyone can apply. Ask @Jade. She's the staff member who is in charge of the Greeters.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Hburger - I don't think I got the greeter option, or if I did, I just dismissed it. Better to play and break things than ask for help! ;)

    I did notice the special chat area for help, but I didn't use it. I just used global chat like everybody else.

    Which reminds me, it took me a while to realize I could click on the chat areas. I was focusing on the game and not the chat. Also, I know there are supposed to be keyboard shortcuts to switch chat windows, but I couldn't get them to work. I had to click on the text area.
    Posted 16 months ago by Tonya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Man, a third person who posts ideas as a list? Whoddathunkit? 

    Anyways, glad you like the game. I do too. I played Puzzle Pirates only sparingly. I don't even know what FS is, but I know a lot of people here are fans. 

    Chat Filters—There's actually a thread going on about this right now. I don't care about language either. But! I do love things like the Y!PP you mentioned, and the one from eons ago, the bobba filter, has actually managed to stick with me and my brother to this day. We still replace some words with bobba jokingly. Good times. I'd love to see Glitch's approach to this. 

    Map Zoom—I don't know. While I don't see adding it causing anything bad, I haven't ran into the need. But, this is going to be person to person. Ultimately, this falls into a usability issue which, in another thread, I mention are (imho) not real issues in a game. Games are not concerned with usability in the same way a utility or company website might be. Gamers figure things out. 

    Skill Queue—As you said, Mr. Q is available. Part of why they opened the APIs is so that people can do things like this. Prior to finding Mr. Q, I thought the same thing. But why implement something that's already implemented? My 2 cents.

    Are You Sure?—I feel the same way, but I think it can be fixed in a better fashion. Firstly, the default option should not be 'all.' It should be just one. Nextly, they are 100% going to change the way the amounts are selected. It has been mentioned time and time again, so just wait for it. Also, it's a tough balance... I ultimately decided that I don't want any are you sures.

    Ok. Let's take a street sign that is by itself. Yes, it's possible to mis-click it while aiming for a b-fly. This happens. But, most of the time, when you hit enter at a solo street sign, you EXPECT it to send you through. It's not intuitive for it to ask you in this event. Are You Sure? Of course I'm sure, why else would I enter on the sign if I wasn't sure? It's a tough balance. If it wasn't a game, it would fall into usability. As a game, when we make mistakes like this, consider it like missing a jump in Mario. You missed the jump and you died. You missed the click and you donated your shrine powder. See?

    Rename Auctions—I can't speak with authority on this because I'm not staff. But! Stewart mentioned player's having stores in a post. So... the so-called auctions might be a temporary solution to a short term need. When we have other venues to sell our things, the 'auction' may go away. But, yeah, I agree. They're not really auctions.

    A Refrigerator—There's a very controversial idea thread on this. In fact, Stewart himself started it. The gist of it is that food can rot if not kept cool. Some like it, some don't. Either way, refrigerators will be implemented if that idea is implemented. Freezers, Coolers, and Refrigerators... and Mini Fridges. So we'll have to wait and see.

    Ok. Cool. See you in game!
    Posted 16 months ago by Mr. Dawgg Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Personally, I don't think Mr. Q is really working for me. Yes, he lists my skills on my Glitch home page, but I don't think he's actually DOING anything. I queued up a bunch of lower level skills (less than or around 60 minutes each), and he didn't learn them! It might be user error, but my overall impression of Mr. Q is, "He's not useful and just makes me mad, so phooey on him."

    As for Tiny Speck opening up the API and being so supportive of the wiki, that is AWESOME. The Big Fish Games people were way too anal about Faunasphere, and it took about a year before they authorized a wiki. (I also got yelled at a lot on their stupid forum.) Then just a few months later, they "phased out" the game. 

    I don't think the fridge should keep items fresh or keep sno cones from melting. I just want a cute icon. =)

    Another suggestion -- I would like the ability to move the patches and garden plots in my backyard. Stupid me didn't walk over far enough left, so it took me a while to realize I had 3 spots for trees instead of just one. Durrrh.
    Posted 16 months ago by Tonya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd like to be able to move my garden spots too.
    Posted 16 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ha. The replaceable swear words is a funny idea. Makes me think of Battlestar Galatica (frak). :)

    I'm another person who thinks the Skills Q is cheating (tho I've used it; a lot.).

    +1 for fridges.

    I really enjoyed reading your post, Tonya. :) 
    Posted 16 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mr. Q only works if you have the home page open when the previous skill ends and the game is open...I often keep it open in a tab since I use Chrome, and when one skill ends, I click on the home page, and hit refresh. It's only somewhat useful when you aren't playing the game, but are willing to leave your computer on, open to the page to let your skills autoload for you...or if you use it like I do, to queue up the skills in the order that you want to learn them so you don't have to rethink learning strategies while playing...

    Oh, and I like the replacement word idea, I think...for me, it depends on what they replace the words with...might actually offend me more than just the curse words, quite frankly...
    Posted 16 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @b3achy - You are awesome. Thanks for that! I knew it had to be user error! =)
    Posted 16 months ago by Tonya Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The queue doesn't work while the game is down, as far as I know. You can only finish the skill you were working on when the game closed.

    Edit: Eep! should have refreshed the page before posting :)
    Posted 16 months ago by Millie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Chat filters? Scuppering no!

    queue and fridges: yeah those have been mentioned already

    the map changes would be awesome, but hard to implement. it's great that you're thinking ahead like this, though. somewhere further in the forums, you can find a post someone did where a map was made that showed firefly locations, which I found very helpful.

    quests for levels: sounds good. some of what you're suggesting is done in the form of achievements though ( raise so many animals, visit so many streets, etc).

    +1 everything else :)
    Posted 16 months ago by bored no more Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lol I loved Puzzle Pirates when it was new ... I tried to play it again recently and wasn't as impressed ... hmmm probably my age showing ... I played Faunasphere from beginning but was bored before they sent it packing ... probably again my age showing ... maybe I played World of Warcraft too long ... back to your post ... I like how you listed everything, and it's funny, most of it is what I thought too ... especially the fridge, I thought "Hey they gave us a cabinet, why not a fridge?" Oh well in the pipelines I hear ...  

    Basically, I am saying "Welcome to Glitch!"
    Posted 16 months ago by Brekkana Subscriber! | Permalink