Glitch (video game)
Encyclopedia
Glitch is a browser
-based massively multiplayer online game
released on September 27th, 2011. Glitch centers on traveling through time in an effort to save the planet, and in order to accomplish this the player must enter into a creation myth through which they shape the future.
One of the most unique aspects of Glitch is that players can work together to build out each new street by cooperating on the completion of projects offered by a "Street Spirit." A project is made up of stages and numerous small tasks, some of which involve collecting (and sometimes even creating) quantities of items from throughout the world and returning them to the Street Spirit. Other tasks on projects involve the skills or labor of players to complete. Involvement in projects thus far have been fairly equitable as to the players level, allowing newbies as well as higher level players to participate in the projects together. At each stage of a project's completion, participating players get to vote in the direction that the street project will take, ultimately choosing the completed streets' attributes. Upon completion of the project, participating players are rewarded with valuable benefits. Unlike other massively multiplayer online game
s, Glitch's gameplay isn't centered on leveling up, it's about working together to achieve goals.
Based on the number of character profiles that had been created by the end of January, 2011, in excess of approximately 9,600 players had participated in the alpha testing of Glitch.
On 3 February, 2011, with the blessing of Stewart Butterfield
, an independent, alpha-tester created gameplay wiki for Glitch was unveiled.
The afternoon of 18 April, 2011 saw the URLs of all game links change from alpha.glitch.com to beta.glitch.com, followed by a short unannounced final alpha test session to make sure everything still worked.
On 27 September, 2011, at 10:00 AM PST, Glitch transitioned from private beta to gold, and the site's URLs changed from beta.glitch.com to simply glitch.com. Overall, the transition went smoothly, save for the fact that many existing players could not re-enter the game for approximately 5 minutes prior to the transition, and missed a special song written especially for the occasion. At that time, there were approximately 27,000 beta testers.
Web browser
A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. An information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Identifier and may be a web page, image, video, or other piece of content...
-based massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
released on September 27th, 2011. Glitch centers on traveling through time in an effort to save the planet, and in order to accomplish this the player must enter into a creation myth through which they shape the future.
Gameplay
Glitch's graphics are 2D, with platform game movements. After the player chooses their avatar's appearance and clothing, early gameplay involves learning how to interact with various objects and animals, mostly in order to obtain some reward from them. (Source: the game itself)One of the most unique aspects of Glitch is that players can work together to build out each new street by cooperating on the completion of projects offered by a "Street Spirit." A project is made up of stages and numerous small tasks, some of which involve collecting (and sometimes even creating) quantities of items from throughout the world and returning them to the Street Spirit. Other tasks on projects involve the skills or labor of players to complete. Involvement in projects thus far have been fairly equitable as to the players level, allowing newbies as well as higher level players to participate in the projects together. At each stage of a project's completion, participating players get to vote in the direction that the street project will take, ultimately choosing the completed streets' attributes. Upon completion of the project, participating players are rewarded with valuable benefits. Unlike other massively multiplayer online game
Massively multiplayer online game
A massively multiplayer online game is a multiplayer video game which is capable of supporting hundreds or thousands of players simultaneously. By necessity, they are played on the Internet, and usually feature at least one persistent world. They are, however, not necessarily games played on...
s, Glitch's gameplay isn't centered on leveling up, it's about working together to achieve goals.
History
Within the last few minutes of a short, 3-hour alpha testing session on 28 January, 2011, the ban on taking screenshots of Glitch gameplay and artwork was lifted with a global, in-game announcement:- GOD: My heart is softening at the sight of so many of you enjoying yourselves.
- GOD: No, not like *that*... in the game!
- GOD: I will still be ending the game in 7 minutes, but I'll tell you what...
- GOD: Since you've been so good, why don't I lift the restriction on publishing screenshots of the game?
- GOD: Now, don't go crazy. But if there's something you want to share with your friends, please do!
Based on the number of character profiles that had been created by the end of January, 2011, in excess of approximately 9,600 players had participated in the alpha testing of Glitch.
On 3 February, 2011, with the blessing of Stewart Butterfield
Stewart Butterfield
Stewart Butterfield is a Canadian-born entrepreneur and businessman. He co-founded the photo sharing website Flickr and its parent company Ludicorp with then-wife Caterina Fake. In March 2005 Ludicorp was acquired by Yahoo!, where Butterfield continued as the General Manager of Flickr until he...
, an independent, alpha-tester created gameplay wiki for Glitch was unveiled.
The afternoon of 18 April, 2011 saw the URLs of all game links change from alpha.glitch.com to beta.glitch.com, followed by a short unannounced final alpha test session to make sure everything still worked.
On 27 September, 2011, at 10:00 AM PST, Glitch transitioned from private beta to gold, and the site's URLs changed from beta.glitch.com to simply glitch.com. Overall, the transition went smoothly, save for the fact that many existing players could not re-enter the game for approximately 5 minutes prior to the transition, and missed a special song written especially for the occasion. At that time, there were approximately 27,000 beta testers.