Topic

Staff Topic

We are back!

And it’s up!  The grand Imagination Conversion of ‘12 completed a few minutes ago.

Two big things in the game changed with this update: we’ve switched to the new Imagination system and overhauled the UI.

Glitches now have Imagination (iMG) instead of experience points (xp).  As you gain Imagination by playing, you can spend it on Upgrades (as well as expanding and cultivating your property … and other stuff, still to come).

The various Upgrade Cards do things like increase your brain capacity, add one-off improvements to skills you’ve learned, increase bonuses for activities in the game and even enable whole new capabilities. You can choose from 3 possible Upgrade Cards at any given time. You’ll be able to “re-shuffle” to see different upgrades once each game day.

We also reorganized and modified the game interface to streamline, simplify and better reflect these changes. Look in the upper left corner to check out the new energy and mood display, as well as the revamped “player menu” (just click on your pretty face). The iMG button next to it opens the “imagination menu” which is the new home for skills, upgrades, and moving back and forth from the surface world to imaginary spaces, like your house.

Of course, there’s a lot more detail than mentioned here.  If you want the nitty-gritty, check out the FAQ! http://www.glitch.com/help/faq/#imagination

So get in game and check it out.  We love reading your feedback and be sure to let us know of any problems you encounter.

See you in game!

---------

Q: Where is the keyring?
A: It is disabled temporarily; it will be back in the game, but not right away.

Q: The new growl messages (explanation/notification text at the bottom of the screen) are bugging me!
A: We are still working on the final design for this, but they will bug you a lot less soon anyway, since a large number of them will just stop showing up and go straight to your activity log (e.g., almost all animal interactions, since those already give you feedback via talk bubbles).

Q: I see random XP notices here and there!
A: We haven't taken all out yet, but we've got most of them cleaned up. If you see something else, go ahead and open a case and we'll be sure it's on the list if it isn't already.

Posted 7 months ago by Mayor Quimby Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Where do I find my brain capacity number? Yes, I can imagine you all laughing and questioning whether I have any brain capacity at all if I have to ask that question! Someone please take pity on this computer illiterate old fart and tell me where it is.
    Posted 7 months ago by Mostly Mellow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It is on your skills page :-)

    edit. Profile page. Apologise it's 5am and Im not with it.

    Any answer to my question above by any chance please?
    Posted 7 months ago by Kalli Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mostly Mellow, you can see yours on this page:

    www.glitch.com/profiles/me/...
    Posted 7 months ago by kevbob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MostlyMellow you should be able to find it here:

    http://www.glitch.com/profiles/me/upgrades/
    Posted 7 months ago by Not A Brontosaurus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks everyone! Blushes with embarrassment.
    Posted 7 months ago by Mostly Mellow Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Louis - Just trying to get back to where I was in the first place isn't what I'd call being hasty.

    I've seen numbers in the forum and Global of lvl 60's that have already spent well in excess of 1 million iMG on upgrades.

    The 100 iMG for the shuffle isn't the issue and suggesting that is kind of insulting. 

    I don't have enough iMG to just throw it around like that, but I'd like to be able to choose a la carte how I spend it, and not forced through limited choices - or per your suggestion - repeated logins.
    Posted 7 months ago by Sooriyan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yes, the chance deal of three cards was cute at first, but I absolutely resent having to either pay for upgrades I don't want, or pay to reshuffle the deck, just to have the opportunity to get back to where I was before.  And I don't see why TS wants to have it this way, because it doesn't benefit them at all. It's not like they're making x-amount of money for each iMG purchase we make.  It all feels very forced and scammy to me.
    Posted 7 months ago by Aurora Dellaterra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yay for Ideas Forum things showing up in the the cards! I've seen that too. Love it.
    Thanks Staff for the budget estimate of 100k iMG for future housing upgrades. Now I can spend my schwack of imagination more easily.

    Please make the Energy text darker. The currants, even highlighted, are hard to see.

    My glitch's pissy expression at 65% mood is cracking me up.
    Posted 7 months ago by Ooola Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Help please.. where do I find these alleged cards :(
    and also..

    Constructive Criticism (I hope) ~ The Energy meter is sooo grey it's really hard to see and notice.. please consider making it larger and brighter / easier to read... (( EDIT: Nevermind, I just realised the green swirly thing is the energy meter.. I fail..)

    and

    The notices saying what I've done are too in-the-way, please put them back in the top left and dim like they used to be. (It reminds me too much of the camera notice and makes me always think I accidentally switched to Eyeballing)...
    Posted 7 months ago by ♪♥~ Auren ~♥♪ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Auren - click your imagination bubble in the top left, and then click "upgrades" :)
    Posted 7 months ago by Aurora Dellaterra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh it's clickable!  Neat.  :)  Thanks Aurora.  * kiss *

    Edit- more constructive criticism ~ Please make the bags like they were before.. it's really hard to see those little tiny thingies they have now.. :(
    Posted 7 months ago by ♪♥~ Auren ~♥♪ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • yayay !!!!!!! thx devs!
    Posted 7 months ago by Misty Power Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I just want to say - THANKS!!!! I was nervous about the conversion but have been very pleased with the changes (I even like all of the on screen growlers). Thanks for the hard work you all have put in and thanks for making an already great game just burst with the awesome sauce (while still allowing for some smarmalade here and there).  :)
    Posted 7 months ago by foolbunny Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This all looks so amazing! Now to get out of Big Sur so I can find Internet not run by sleeping squirrels. (it's killing me that I can't get into the game!)
    Posted 7 months ago by Violet Faulds Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Was some of my currants supposed to go away and be changed to imagination?

    it didn't happen as far as I can tell..... unless I was on the tiniest part of the curve and had less than 1,000 taken......

    as far as I know I had 118k going in to the update, and I still have 118k now
    Posted 7 months ago by Amari Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I really appreciate the house cost approximation. :) 
    Posted 7 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I too thought that some currents were supposed to be changed to imagination. what happened with that?

    Otherwise, the changes look fine so far. I would have to play for awhile to really be able to say how well I like the changes. So far the game seems a little more refined, a little more sophisticated.
    Posted 7 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We spent lots of time (and resources via donation) to learn skills.  Now we have to wait for a random deal  of cards and BUY upgrades to get back to where we were?
    Posted 7 months ago by MontytheGeek Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, it's not so bad. :)
    Posted 7 months ago by Tibbi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Interesting upgrade.  Waiting to get a bit more used to it before making too many comments.

    Will there be a shortcut to get back into the world?  I liked the single click before, and now it's a two click function (not a huge deal, but slightly more inconvenient).

    Thanks for changing some of the furniture to free.  Nice to have at least one option to the default furniture even if they don't match in style.  Really glad to see at least one free picture, though was a bit sad to see the lizard go to sub only - would have spent 15 credits to get him.  Could we have the furniture auto sort from cheapest to most expensive...not sure what the sort algorithm is currently.  Will the sub only free furniture be taken away (like the clothes are), if the player is not able to maintain a subscription?

    Thanks for working so hard to get this out!  Know there have been a lot of devs that pushed hard to get this upgrade done.
    Posted 7 months ago by Pink Flamingo Subscriber! | Permalink
  • For what it's worth, while I admire the effort that went into the mood/energy appearances of my avatar in the upper left, I really don't need to have my own face taking up all that real estate. It's NOT clearer than the little simple smiley color-coded icon we had before.

    Round meters are harder to read than linear ones, IMO.

    Having said all that, I'm sure I'll become thoroughly accustomed to those elements of the UI in due time.
    Posted 7 months ago by Pascale Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What? Seriously!! OMG I NEED TO GET ON!! Sounds AMAZING.......... I. CAN'T. WAIT.
    Posted 7 months ago by jjbob Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i lobe it all.. even the uncomfortable bits :)
    Posted 7 months ago by Joni Mitchell Subscriber! | Permalink
  • MontyTheGeek, re "We spent lots of time (and resources via donation) to learn skills.  Now we have to wait for a random deal  of cards and BUY upgrades to get back to where we were?"

    You could look at it that way … or, you could look at it like this: (1) a significant chunk of the value of some skills was split between the old skill and the new upgrade and (2) the value that was removed from the skill was given to you in the form on imagination.

    You can now use that imagination to recreate the way the old skill worked (and still have plenty of imagination left over for other upgrades) … or, for skills that you don't care about as much any more, you can decide to spend the imagination on something else. In the old system, the only thing you could do was unlearn the skill, which took more time and threw away all the value.

    (In another thread, a bunch of hardcore miners all had their mining efficacy back to its previous level within a few hours of this release so it is not like this is a long or time-consuming process.)

    But, here's the deal: the game design was changed. It's not like we were trying to keep this change a secret — we announced it every way we could. And, we're very confident that this is a much better direction and makes the game a lot more interesting & flexible in the long run. (I'm sure some people won't ever like it, but that's life. I'm also sure that most people who have an panic'd initial reaction to the change will like it a lot once they understand how it works.)

    We're not trying to design specifically for "the experience of conversion, for players who have already put in 100s of hours of play time" because that is a one time event that approximately 0% of all Glitch players will ever go through: normally, skill learning and upgrade-picking will go hand-in-hand: the availability of relevant upgrades is locked by whether skills have been learned. But, since you are coming through with dozens of skills already learned, most of you have a much larger "deck" than you would ever have naturally.

    So, we could spend another few weeks trying to figure out how to make that one-time, very temporary experience juuuuuuust right or we could spend that time on stuff that will have lasting value for all players. Easy choice!
    Posted 7 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Spend the time drinking mojitos!
    Posted 7 months ago by shhexy corin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's the spirit!
    Posted 7 months ago by stoot barfield Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Do the cards work the same way as the shrine? Meaning...if I were to learn a skill faster by using a card and then decide to learn a different skill first, would I still be able to go back to the other skill and then use a shrine to speed it up even more, or would I lose that ability to do so?
    Posted 7 months ago by FriedTurkey Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Obviously getting nerfed is no fun, but it beats a complete reset!

    It seems to me there is more flexibility now?  Like with upgrade cards learned one could unlearn some high-level skills to free up brain space and still have reasonable mining speed or harvesting efficiency?

    I'm liking the card system.  I found some nifty cards, one gives me imagination when I change fruit, another increases my herb super harvest frequency.  Fingers crossed I'll find the animal ones soon because I miss my 10 grains per chicken.
    Posted 7 months ago by Lucille Ball Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You smelted 105 Chunks of Metal Rock into 21 Plain Metal Ingots (+46 xp, -63 energy).
    Posted 7 months ago by Electric Wizard Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Lucille- I almost wish it was a complete reset. . . Adjusting to this now in the middle of a game after playing one way for so long is weird. Its like playing say, soccer one way for x amount of time. Then suddenly they decide to completely change the basic concepts you were already used to. The soccer ball has turned into a beach ball and you can't use your feet... even after you spent DAYS learning to use your feet in the right way. But hey you can always draw a random card eventually that allows u to do so ;-)
    I feel like I would adjust better just starting over... May test this theory with an alt acct just for fun. Plus who doesn't want a second glitch!
    also
    @stoot- I love the way you word things. The more this sinks in the more im trying to look at the positive things. =) yay for keeping up game moral!! You're. The BEST. just saying. You guys all have legitimate reasons behind your actions. This is obviously going to be hard on the older players but the new ones.... Wow. I would love to be a new player coming into this game. Everything is so shiny and amazing. Its unlike any other game ever. I'm excited for when we come out of beta and the new players come rolling in all bright eyed and bushy tailed
    Posted 7 months ago by Clickadee Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So far I'm finding the Upgrade Cards really interesting to pick and choose among, so I like that part of the upgrade.  I'm not going qurazy over them yet, because I want to save more than enough iMG to design my house and cultivate my yard.

    I will echo a few of the things being discussed about the interface:
    I like having the notices/growl at the bottom of the screen; for me that makes them much easier to read.  I also like them being less intrusive on the game screen.  However, I think scrolling down for the next one might be a much better choice than zipping across.
    I like having the picture of my face in the left corner, but it is just....weird having the energy meter be a bar, and the mood meter be an expression.  Can we have two bars for the numbers, and the face reflect your overall "health" at the moment?  Or have the energy meter be a full body portrait with running, standing, lying down showing how tired you are, and have the bars under the pictures?  Mixing the types for the meters makes them harder to work with, and needing to mouse over the face to get the mood number is a pain.
    The currant meter is very hard to read.
    The timers and buffs are pretty difficult to use in the new interface.  They are hard to see without interrupting what you're doing to mouse over them.  If you are primarily driving by the keyboard, this is a bit of a pain.
    I think the new menus for the avatar and for iMG are really good.
    Posted 7 months ago by KhaKhonsu Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't get one thing. Imagination points are used also for leveling up? For example, I have 0 iMG and I find some imagination points on the street, how these are divided into the leveling points and points I can spent on cards and etc?
    I also miss some better explanation of some cards, for example, what  does the card Brain Capacity mean? Will it take less time to learn another skill or what?

    Anyway, thanks for great upgrade! Even I do not understand some things, still like the idea :)
    Posted 7 months ago by skera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Not sure about brain capacity... I think its just the same as BL. Here's a link to another post about people chit chatting about it www.glitch.com/forum/genera...
    About iMG im pretty sure the game keeps track of the total iMG we've gained since the beginning and also lets us spend it... Like you've gained say... 400,000 in the reset. Then gained another 1,000 thru game play but spent 200,000 on upgrades so your iMG shows a spendable amount of 201,000 but a total record of 401,000 for leveling purposes. Correct me if I'm wrong. Lol.
    Posted 7 months ago by Clickadee Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I haven't tried it yet, but I guess I won't be levelling any more.
    Posted 7 months ago by MOLAIN Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "And, we're very confident that this is a much better direction and makes the game a lot more interesting & flexible in the long run." - Stoot

    ^^ this

    The randomness of the cards and the ability to pick and choose and really think about where I want to use imagination has added a whole new level of interest to the game for me.  I can totally see the potential for TS using the cards system to easily add nifty enhancements very quickly.

    I love the new changes -- thanks TS!  My only request is that the bottom scrolling text should fade out instead of scrolling off to the right.
    Posted 7 months ago by Rowan Croft Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I for one am happy that we were allowed to use our iMG to buy the upgrades we specifically wanted. When I was a new Glitchling I learned a lot of skills that I am not really interested in now - I find mining dreadfully boring, and the elemental stuff never did much for me. So I'm glad that I was given my iMG and a choice of what to use it to upgrade - I have completely ignored all mining and elemental upgrades, and instead concentrated my iMG on the stuff I enjoy - cooking and gardening. I'm glad that it wasn't "wasted" on things I have no interest in doing.

    The only real thing I don't like is the meter for energy now with the actual numbers kind of greyed out and hard to see. It's not as easy to keep an eye on without actively looking at it as it was before; however I'm fully aware that given time, I'll get used to it.

    However, I think people need to keep in mind that this is beta, the devs are still tweaking things and exploring and seeing what works and what doesn't work, and we all need to just have a little patience. You are playing, yes. But you are beta testers, and if you don't want to play something just to have it changed, might I suggest you wait until they go live (again) and see what you think then. I happen to find the beta process fascinating, and it's been a long time since I've been a part of that (2003? Whenever Puzzle Pirates was in beta).

    I kinda miss having my Rock right there, though. Heh.
    Posted 7 months ago by Aliera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, and I have to say I am totally embarassed that I didn't even notice the bottom text "zooming" off the screen, and I played for like 3 hours last night.
    Posted 7 months ago by Aliera Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Looks awesome! Can't wait to keep exploring!
    Posted 7 months ago by Folderol Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Las night I arrived home massively drunk and logged into Glitch. I remember clicking on some cards and being confused... but now that I'm mostly sober again, mind = blown! So many changes and new things to absorb, though slightly irked I spent all those weeks getting up to BL5 when you can now feasibly get it much quicker through the cards, or so it seems. The conversion of skills and whatnot needs some getting used to. Though happily my skill timers were not negatively affected.
    Posted 7 months ago by Spirit of Xanadhi Subscriber! | Permalink
  • These quoin multipliers are sucking hardcore. I'm still only finding quoins that are 12 or 14 count. Used to be that they'd be at least 21.
    Posted 7 months ago by Fauxfire π Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OK, so it's a little irritating not to have the brain capacity I think I should have at formerly level 60 with all available skills learned (and most of the achievements completed) and a hefty bank account, but I was sooooo bored with not having anything specal to do (and not being able to rack up any more XP points) that this revamp was and is much more than a welcome relief; it is fantastic! Now I have goals to achieve, accomplishments to aim for, a brain capacity to expand! Color me happy. Thanks, Stoot and Co., for a marvel and a wonder of a game.
    Posted 7 months ago by Mollie Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Is there any way that cards to reduce the maximum energy bar (and thus the maximum mood) could be added?  It says in the FAQ that there are no cards that produce negative effects, but having too much mood is actually a negative effect.  Now I know it's my fault that I got over excited about the new upgrade feature and I just started buying energy upgrades for the soul purpose of getting to upgrade cards I actually wanted like "Overachiever I" etc...  I would be willing to pay more imagination to reduce my energy cap as I know I'm not the only one who feels lower mood is a benefit.
    Posted 7 months ago by Xopher TAF Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Change is inevitable, sometimes it’s really easy to acclimate and sometimes not. When it’s such a big change (like this has been) it’ll take a little while to figure it out again. It’s almost like starting a new game but having a ton of resources right from the start.

    I can understand some people being upset, you’re used to a thing and then it’s totally different. But give it a chance before you decide it just sucks completely. (And even 1 full day is not enough of giving something like this a chance.) You might find you actually like things this way and then you look back on your comments and wish you had waited to complain.

    I used to head up a website and anytime we changed anything at all there was always someone unhappy, it’s the way of things. Unfortunately the people that liked the change(s) usually just sat back and enjoyed them and never said that they did, so all it looked like was that people hated things.

    So that’s what I’m here to say, I appreciate the hard work, and accept your challenge! The challenge to enjoy this game in a new way, to grow with it and find things I loved before and new things to love. Thanks for everything! Yins are doing a great job!
    Posted 7 months ago by Viresse Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think it looks awesome! Well done!
    But...that white line flashing in the bottom of your screen telling you how much mood/energy you lost and so on... is really erm.. annoying. Local chat tells it to you if you are interested in this. i dont have to know each time I pet a piggy what I lost and gained. It gives me a feeling of watching television and these are the subtitles. It creates a distance. If I want to enjoy my surroundings, then it is best not to do anything....then my screen is peacefull. Scraping one barnacle and I am watching cnn. I think this will be the first change they ever made in this game I can not get used to. The rest looks awesome.
    Posted 7 months ago by Atlantis Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Faux - agreed.  My xp coins before the conversion were 28, and now my iMG coins are only 13.  Similar decrease for mood and energy. Not too pleased about this.
    Posted 7 months ago by Aurora Dellaterra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Still having problems loading with Flash 10.3
    Posted 7 months ago by Rook Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This may be just my having difficulty retraining my brain, but I'm finding the indicators for buffs, mood, and energy very hard to make sense of at a glance. Aside from the fact that it feels quite creepy to be constantly looking at a picture of my own Glitchy face all the time (do I really look that dorky when I smile?), I really miss the simple, side-by-side, same-sized graphics and easy-to-see numerical values of the old indicators. Again, it's only been a day and maybe over time I'll find it easier to take in the information. I have a feeling I'm still going to wish for a numerical mood indicator, though. 

    Also ... it would be great if upon entering a street with a qurazy quoin, I could receive some sort of tiny sound notification. The growl is easy to miss, especially if you're not totally riveted to Local Chat as you move about in the world, and a little chime or ding or happy-sprinkle sound could be an unobtrusive alert.

    Edited to add:

    Would like to echo others who have said the new buff indicator is difficult to see. I'm also having trouble with it being a circle, but I think that adjustment will come with time. Ha, if I can distinguish it from the background, that is.
    Posted 7 months ago by Sirentist Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm just annoyed that for things like BL and UL, I spent the time to learn it and then paid for it AGAIN with imagination. At least, as I understand it, the conversion-related upgrades DID cost us imagination, even though we'd already spent the time/favor/money (for favor)/etc before hand. That's the only thing annoying me. Really, I understand the necessity of massive nerfing. Hoarding and people like me with full skillsets at level 45 are signs of a game that's too easy, so I'm excited for this change. I might go for an optional character reset, even. :)
    Posted 7 months ago by Lady Cailia Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Miss Cailia: I don't think of it as having paid for anything again. It seems like parts of my previously-learned skills were converted into Imagination, and now I have the option to either keep that as Imagination (in order to redistribute it), or put it back where it originally was (in the skill).  

    Not sure if this makes sense, but it's how I explain it to myself when I start feeling cranky that I have to trade in Imagination to get back the benefits I used to automatically have.
    Posted 7 months ago by Sirentist Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Anyone and everyone unhappy with where they are after the conversion

    As a player who's spent all of their imagination (Yes all 2.1 million of it) I can guarantee that if you spend all you have available to you you can match, and even greatly exceed, what you had in the old system. All of my skills are at max efficacy, at least as good as they were before, and some are even working far better than they ever did. My superharvests are now dropping 36 extra treesources in by bag, and much more often too! I'm also getting 40 per quoin now, as opposed to 29 before.

    So, if you think about it, the conversion GAVE us additional effectiveness. It didn't take any away. The only reason you feel that way is that, instead of growing up as a new glitch spending your imagination on upgrades and cultivation as the imagination came in, you were handed a giant wad of something you have no experience with and asked to try and buy back your efficacy all at once. Is the imagination valuable? Hell yes. How valuable? No idea yet, lots more testing to do before we'll really know. 

    However, what that does is it means you haven't been spending all of it. You don't want to waste 3000i on some mining upgrade if you're a super farmer, so you wait for that reshuffle card, or that new day.

    But I can tell you, it gets better :) If you spend all you would have spent if you'd grown up under this new system, you will be a powerhouse of earning that you never were before ;)

    And those who say you're saving some for cultivation purposes? That's all fine and dandy, but you can't complain about not being as efficient as before, since, if TS was being 100% fair with this transition, we should really only be able to get to exactly where we were before with the imagination we were given. Since that's how much we earned under the old system.

    Tl;dr You can be as good as you were before with a little patience, and don't be afraid to spend away, a few hours of playing and donating will have the imagination back in the bank account.
    Posted 7 months ago by Liza Throttlebottom Subscriber! | Permalink