Sign In

### Topic

#### Ascension?

Maybe this was already discussed and I missed it (*cough* forum search feature *cough* *wink*), but I'm curious about how the game will change for a player over a longer amount of time (assuming after the release our skills and level stop getting reset). Should there be a cap on levels? I know I mention is ALL the time but ascension aspect of the game in KoL has an interesting way of keeping the skills set dynamic, and rewards advanced players without isolating the beginners. Maybe a glitch character could "evolve" and start back at 1 but with a new skill, item, badge, trophy, bonus, etc.?

Posted 2 years ago by Mursock | Permalink

### Replies

- There has been a lot of discussion about this, but it's in so many threads. I know there was a discussion about player mortality and the idea of starting over or being reincarnated to start over. I find myself thinking a lot about that myself, and I have high hopes for Glitch being something that could offer a real sense of evolution (or ascension as it were), but in a way that couldn't be defined only in stats.
  I want to evolve into being a chicken. I could have all kinds of quests, many of which would involve getting players to squeeze me.
  Actually, chickens do so little, I think I would rather come back as a pig. During gameplay, I would have to determine which area my pig would hang out, and after a certain level, I could earn items to make me stand out from other pigs, like false eyelashes or shiny red shoes. I could eventually give two seed packets in my poop vs. just one. Or a luminous moonstone in my poop, but once I achieved that, it would probably be time to reincarnate again.
  Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie | Permalink
- I wouldn't want to ascend in Glitch, but I'm a skill-collecting ascension maniac in KOL. I noticed I have 2 new ones to get over there now and maybe 7 old ones I hope to have by March.
  Having an animal companion would work about the same as evolving, its having quests and levels. Maybe ascension could work a little bit if we start as a butterfly, then chicken, then pig, then people.
  Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus | Permalink
- I also kind of like the idea of options for fate---for example, not always having an open-ended set of choices for skills. I noticed that through two (or is it three) resets, I always promised myself I would accumulate skills in a different pattern, but I haven't...I always pick the same things and ignore the same things. I guess that should be a conscious choice, but if fate (a set skill path, a set number of Glitch days to live) were an optional feature built into the game, it would certainly make for a different game experience.
  I don't know why, but for some reason this idea intrigues me, even though it is probably actually a bad idea. I mean, if my character could have a series of iterations, one that had definite elements of fate attached to it might be cool, and I guess I could always donate myself to a shrine and reincarnate if I didn't like it.
  Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie | Permalink
- I definitely like the idea of having familiars in the game. I also really like the idea of donating yourself to a shrine! Something like that sounds like it could make for interesting use with groups/guilds/ or religions. Imagine a player offering themselves to a god in order to reward the entire group of players with some new skill set.
  On a side note that reminds me of all of the wacky names I see on the wandering pigs, butterflies, and chickens. I think my favorite is the butterfly named EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.
  Posted 2 years ago by Mursock | Permalink
- That sounds like mine. I went on a naming spree a couple tests ago.
  Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus | Permalink
- ascension is a dead end in an open ended game.
  glitch isn't KoL. players work to actively build the world, an ongoing process not suited to having players gain and discard skills as quickly as possible without really taking the time to use those skills in the larger world.
  building the world requires tremendous effort and resources.
  uber-high-level players will collaborate to build the world the lower level players play in. those low level players will grow in ability and some of them will then get involved in building the world as well.
  gaining skills and leveling in glitch is not an end unto itself. there's a game beyond that game, and encouraging players to throw away their skills in order to grind their way back maximum power is incredibly counterproductive to the world-building aspect of glitch.
  if you don't want to do worldbuilding, since you enjoy figuring out how to gain skills and XP as fast as you can, then why not just create a new 1st level character and parade your old "maxed out dude" avatar as a trophy every now and again?
  ascension is what made me quit playing KoL. i got to the point of ascension, thought it was stupid to throw away all that time just in order to play again. realized the world had no more to offer than more funny quips and cute sketches, and that if i wanted funny quips and cute sketches i could read xkcd without the mindless, endless grindfest that KoL was actively presenting itself as.
  Posted 2 years ago by striatic | Permalink
- Good point striatic! I guess I haven't pictured glitch as an open ended world just yet. Bingobar also pointed out to me that once the game is released the skills and levels might not be as quick to achieve. I actually haven't gotten to partake in building much yet. I tried to a few times but didn't have anything available, and I didn't catch on when a new project opened up.
  And you may have well just stabbed blood-faced volleyball in the heart. You almost make me fee guilty for enjoying KoL's absurd inaneness. Almost.
  Posted 2 years ago by Mursock | Permalink
- Many people opt to play KOL as an open-ended game. Ascension doesn't work in the current version of Glitch because there are no classes (can get any skill) and Glitch isn't turn-based.
  Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus | Permalink
- Say, was encountering the "Chicken called striatic" news to anyone other than me after reading this thread?
  Posted 2 years ago by Greater Snotbug | Permalink
- It's not just about classes, skill trees, being turn-based or world building, etc., it's also about the story of your character.
  It's about being able to sacrifice your character to help defeat the Rook, and having an epic written about you afterwards by a scribe (the smallest but coolest niche of the Bureaucracy skill group).
  It's about heaving yourself off of Lemming Cliff, knowing that what awaits you is Hell Two: Other People, one of the most challenging and tricky of all hell levels.
  It's about reincarnating and traveling back to the place where you died, to see the marker that was left behind, which would be different, depending on the different kinds of death you have experienced. And players on your buddy list leaving small gifts at that marker to commemorate your passing (for mood points).
  It's about all the wonderful kinds of bureaucracy that could be involved with your stuff when you die-- possibly you could lose the whole schmoo unless before you died, you went to the trouble and expense of creating a will and appointing another player as your custodian (stuffstodian). Maybe reincarnation (or actually reanimation) would not be available to you until you obtain a notarized OMD form (Only Mostly Dead).
  Imagine playing as a reincarnated pig, and lacking the power of speech, anything you type into chat would appear as "oink".
  Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie | Permalink
- There's a Swedish fantasy film I saw as a kid that comes to mind for this thread, based on a story by Astrid Lindgren of "Pippi Longstockings" fame. Bless the internet for finding the (english translation) name: "The Brothers Lionheart" — www.imdb.com/title/tt0075790/ A review: www.badmovieplanet.com/unkn...
  Roughly, it is about two brothers living hard lives who have a special shared concept of the afterlife and heaven. Both brothers die and are reunited in their heaven, where they enjoy a better afterlife fighting as knights(?) with the forces of good against some heaven-specific tyranny. Heaven, too, becomes a life-or-death battle so they sacrifice themselves and move on to the next heaven, even better than the last.
  Glitch would fit that quite well: eventually you run into a choice to pass on to the next heaven. It could share the same map but have different populations, skill-trees and contribution to world-building. Reading the thread above, I suddenly had a flash of a heaven-like layer of Glitch users but they can't be seen by initial-life Glitches despite helping out with world-building.
  For example, in the initial world we see the usual skills to build a new street. But passed-on Glitches in (first?) heaven see a second set of skills they have to contribute, too, or it blocks the new street for everybody. Perhaps heavenly Glitches get different options about the level's look 'n feel, houses or vendor incentives. And perhaps a user could opt out of heaven entirely.
  How that ties to the Dreaming Giants concept I'm not sure but perhaps in first heaven instead of being Shrines they actually have a more Giant-like representation.
  Posted 2 years ago by tiff | Permalink
- It just occurred to me that we don't need reincarnation to become a pig. It could be anything from a timed quest to Animal Kinship XII.
  Posted 2 years ago by Tingly Claus | Permalink
- true dat, a timed quest sounds great, especially since I think one would reach the upper limits of the benefits of being a pig very quickly.
  Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie | Permalink
- It would be fun to be a pig for a while and giving snarky comments to heavy petters. Not sure I'd want to be hog-tied and dragged back to someone's house though!
  Posted 2 years ago by bluto | Permalink
- Maybe you could start out as a pig that can't use glitchren language (just oinking) until you rooted out a special truffle from under a spice tree. So once you got the truffle, you could speak, but then maybe you have to exchange the truffle with a player for something else that would be used to make you a glitchren again. Truffles would most certainly be of immense value to players...especially if they were only accessible from enchanted players, making them rather rare.
  Or maybe there would be other steps included. Not sure where you would keep your truffles (as a pig)..maybe your jowls could hold a limited amount of items. Except that that is kind of disgusting, so instead when you get turned into a pig, you have a little pig pouch, and jowls just stay OUT of the equation.
  Posted 2 years ago by Nanookie | Permalink