So by now you’re looking at the title wondering “what the hell is DAW?!” – it’s a week long celebration of developers. In specific, it’s an event created by Scarybooster that has run for the last four years, giving thanks to the developers of our favorite games instead of acting like the ungrateful consumers of content we often come across as. Welcome to day one of the Developer Appreciation Awards.

My first award goes out to the wonderful developers of Glitch. Every single one of them. They created a game that was outside of the norm, and isn’t that what all of us keep asking for? Something different. Something new. Sadly, Glitch shut down last year and that’s why it’s even more important that I award this. If you enjoy playing a game, it’s so very important that you show your support, because not all games last forever. Eventually they shut down, and losing a game that you enjoy playing really sucks. I can’t even begin to imagine what that feeling would be like had I created the game. I imagine that when you work on a project like that you put little pieces of your heart and soul into it, and pray that the other gamers understand where you’re coming from.

So thank you, wonderful developers of Glitch. I really liked your game and appreciate all the hard work you all must have done on it.

Glitch was the first game shut down that I actually really enjoyed, so it hit me hard. Sure, it’s not Star Wars Galaxies, and it’s not City of Heroes, and it’s not even The Matrix, but it was a game I spent a lot of hours playing, and I’m sad to see it go. I logged in for the final two hours it would be running last night and I was pleased to see that the servers were absolutely packed with people coming to see the world for a final time.

A bunch of Glitch items also went up for sale on Etsy, had it not been so close to Christmas I would have tried to pick up an item or two, but the timing just didn’t work out for me.

I spent my time using the camera function to port around, and decorating my home. I tuned off general chat because the spam just became too much for me to watch, and I chatted with friends who had also logged in to see the game off.

I was once again reminded about why I’m supporting games that I enjoy, no matter if they’re indie or not. Games need players to survive (in almost all cases). Without players, games suffer. Without players spending money, in specific. Now, there were obviously a lot of issues with Glitch, if you have a poor business model it doesn’t matter how many people are spending money, it just won’t ever be enough. Still, I don’t want the next game to close down to be my game of choice, and I would feel perfectly horrible if it did and it was because I never supported it.

A sad learning experience, but a learning experience none the less. I’ll miss you Glitch!

Today Tiny Spec announced today that Glitch is going to be closing its doors forever on December 9th. You may not have seen a lot of my blog posts about Glitch, but I’ve played it for a while off and on. Spent money on the game because I wanted to support it. Apparently those few of us who did was just not enough.

The fact that this amazing game is closing down makes me mad. It makes me mad because so many people want games like this 100% free. They don’t want to spend $5 or $10 a month supporting the wonderful amazing people who work on games and not just this game, but lots of games out there. Then you see these wonderful indie games (and some bigger titles too) who just can’t support themselves any more, and they have to shut down.

I loved Glitch. I loved the game because it was a place where I didn’t have to swing a sword and lop off someones head in order to progress in it. I didn’t have to be mean to anyone, and it was a completely unique world that I could wander through and simply explore. I realize I’m a minority when it comes to enjoying these types of games, but I really wish that were not the case.

I dislike hearing about any game that has to shut down, and I hope everyone who is now looking for a new job finds one without too much trouble.

I know, this contest requires facebook which some people are completely against, and I don’t blame them at all! BUT! Credits! They’re very handy in Glitch, you can use them to purchase neat furniture, or a new outfit for yourself.

So if you’d like 25 free credits, they’re giving them away. You do have to ‘like’ them on facebook. You’ve been warned!

“Do you like Glitch? Well now, we will like you back for liking us, to the tune of 25 credits. Check out www.glitch.com/account/bonus/ for details. “

(If you’ve never played glitch before and have no idea what I’m talking about, check out the game! I’ve got two free invites I can send you, just leave me a message with your email, or email me requesting one [email protected]).

In October 2011 I was playing a little browser game called ‘Glitch’  – I wrote about it a time or two here on MmoQuests. The creators decided that the game was not as magnificent as they wanted it to be, and so they put it back into beta and changed a whole bunch of stuff with it. That’s the short story, at least. It’s been quite some time now, but my character is still there and today I was looking for something light and easy to play, and Glitch fills that desire quite well.

It took me a few minutes to catch up with some pretty important changes, most noticeably, I no longer owned a house in a neighborhood. It looks like I was refunded the cost, and all of my house items were placed in my inventory, including my pets, so that’s handy. I do miss the way my house used to look, but it’s FAR more customizable now. You place the furniture yourself, design the walls, ceiling, and floor, expand the yard (and the house) and where the neighborhood used to be outside is your own personal street that you can cultivate. There’s even a sign post at one end where you can add the names of your friends so everyone can port easily to their humble abodes.

You can customize each item in the house, some are free, some with a subscription, some with purchased currency. It seems like there are three types of currency now. One is currents, one is .. I’m not sure what it’s called but they’re purple little clouds with i’s in them, inspiration maybe? Then there are also credits, which is the currency you purchase with real money. You can use credits to purchase house furniture and clothing for your little avatar.

There are still quests, still a LOT of crafting, and I had fun just wandering around getting familiar with things once more. If you’d like to add me to your friends list you can check out my profile (I’m Stargrace in game, of course) and while I can’t promise that I’ll be playing a whole lot, it does give me something different to do, quickly, when I’m in the mood for that sort of thing.

I’m working on fox brushing right now. I don’t even know what that is, I just know it’s an animal skill that I don’t have yet. Once that is done, it’s time to move on to crafting furniture! I’m always a sucker for housing.

The subscription costs to Glitch is quite steep for what it offers you (imo), with three levels of subscriptions. Tin is $5 a month, which is a pretty good price, but comes with very little (you can view the plans here). If you’re REALLY a fan of the game I suppose the $14.99/m plan may be something you’d want to look into, but I can’t see myself ever spending that much on a browser game, even with the 400 credits and 50 teleportation tokens it comes with. There’s nothing stopping you from playing for free or even just purchasing some credits to help support the game. Buying a year subscription for $50 (the lowest price range, you save $10) is not bad, and it does grant you access to all subscriber only options and customizations. The problem is when your subscription runs out, so do those options. It’s still a great little game to check out and I highly suggest people give it a try.

Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

While most of my friends are playing the SW:TOR beta, or going on about Skyrim, the game I’ve been playing most this weekend has been Glitch. It surprised me too. I had taken a bit of a break from the game because I was working on a skill that would take 9 days to complete, and I lost the motivation to log in. This weekend however, the urge was there and so far it’s lasted all weekend. My little ‘stargrace’ has been busy in-game. I worked on a lot of mining and then I noticed there were some seasonal items around – the gardening vendors now sold pumpkin seeds which are used in some seasonal recipes as well as pumpkin carving! You can drop these cute little items outside (or inside) your home, and even teach them phrases. The packages of pumpkin seeds claim that they are only around during certain holidays, so I decided to load up on them (I bought 100) and store them in my cabinet for when all of those pumpkin moods over come me.

I’ve got 45 skills under my belt, am level 18 (almost 19) and have 137 achievements, which is really nothing in the grand scheme of things. Keyrings have also been added to the game so that you can give your friends a key to your house, they can come visit you at any time of the day or night whether you’re home or not. Beware though, this also gives them access to your cabinet, so if you don’t want your friends rummaging through it and stealing your 100+ packages of pumpkin seeds, you may want to warn them ahead of time. Or at least don’t give out keys to random strangers.

Next on my learning path? Alchemy! I love the creation process of Glitch. At first I focused on animal related skills so that as I wandered it would be easy to make money no matter where I was (animals are found pretty much everywhere) and since then I’ve focused on mining, as well as some gardening. Now I want to be able to create things, and we’ll see how far I get with it.

If you’d like to add me to your friends list in game please feel free! Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself.

what is it about Glitch that has me waking up every morning to check on my pigs, butterflies, and chickens? I couldn’t tell you. This little browser game has captured my attention in a way that very few games ever have, and I’m really enjoying myself. This morning I got incredibly lucky, I found a 15,000 currant home listed for sale in Groddle Meadow, UR which is an incredibly desirable place to live. This house came with 6 piggies, 2 fruit trees, 3 spice plants, a 32 slot storage cabinet, trophy case, and 16 crop garden plots. I was ecstatic, the 30,000 currant home I had been looking at came with 3 patches (2 less then my current home), the same storage, and 18 crop garden plots instead of 16. For twice the price! It paid off for me to be frantically checking the real estate listings periodically in the mornings. I saved a bundle of money and came away with an amazing home.

What have I been up to in Glitch? Well the past two days I’ve been doing nothing but trying to save up enough money to upgrade my home. Had I known I was going to purchase this (far) cheaper abode, I wouldn’t have had to work so hard, but now I’m resting on a pretty little sum of extra cash. In the mean time I’m working on my cooking skills, having completed all of the skills that involve animals. This is how I make most of my money at the moment, chickens reward me with a lot of mini radios which I can sell or donate to the Giants, and when I get a super harvest on a pig that’s 20 meat I can sell. I’ve been doing a bit of mining as well, but I need to get my skills up a bit higher before that will be a money making endeavor for me. Meditation has become a very useful skill, and I’m thinking of raising my tinkering higher. Being able to fix my tools instead of having to completely replace them is a blessing.

I’ve been lucky in game, too. I’ve come across some tools others have abandoned on the ground (free money!) and I’ve been exploring a lot. I came across this really neat desert area filled with sand, dunes, and the spirits of my ancestors. There was a time limit on how long I could stay in this area, and along the ground were sign posts that would grant me extra time as I passed them if they were standing up, or other goodies like drinks. If they were face down on the ground then they would reward me nothing.

I’ve climbed my way to level 14 (I have no idea how many ‘levels’ there are) and have barely noticed myself doing it. You earn a handful of xp for completing quests as well as earning new achievements. It’s still very much a ‘make your own fun’ game, I’ve been leaving notes around the zones I visit for other players to read. I found a few yesterday that were filled with star wars quotes. There’s so many little things hidden out of the way that players are forced to explore on their own to encounter.

You can find me playing as Stargrace if you want to add me to your friends list, in the mean time, happy gaming no matter where you find yourself!

Glitch is a browser based side scrolling game released by Tiny Spec, and there’s a lot of my fellow gamers playing it these days – but even more surprising to me is the number of times I’ve heard “I just don’t get it” repeated over the course of the weekend. To help with this confusion, I decided to post my thoughts and opinions on this gem of a game. To start things off, Glitch is a sandbox game, much like EVE. It has real-time skill training, so that you can train while in game and out. Most of the ‘fun’ of the game is what you decide to make it. Sure, there are some little mini quests you can do to pass the time away, but if that’s all you’re doing you’ll quickly find yourself bored. If you’re an explorer who enjoys a more non-combat related line of gaming, this may be a game you’ll want to check out.

I spent the first few days in game simply exploring around. I teamed up with a friend (yes, you can group) and we explored together, I unlocked a stalker badge for being on auto follow through zones while I took care of some RL things. Auto follow works better in glitch then I’ve seen in any other game I’ve ever played. It works across zones and you even mimic jumping. I bought a house – one note, if you’re looking for how to get your papers, go to http://wherecanigetpapers.com. I haven’t planted anything yet, I haven’t had time but I imagine I’ll get to it eventually.

I’ve been working down the animal related line. This morning I hogtied my first pig and then released him in a different zone. I used a random chicken to incubate an egg that hatched into a piglet which I’ve named and carry around in my bags. I plan on releasing him into my house once I’m able to confirm that he won’t leave. I think I need a few more skills for that. Trees can drop actual paper that players can write notes on, so I’ve been working on my inking skills so that I can leave random stories and poems through zones I visit for other players to read. I found one such person doing this over the weekend, dropping food and other components on the ground for new players to pick up.

I can name the wildlife that I come across which I think is awesome although it also lends itself to some pretty vulgar comments by others. The same can be said for the message board that each person can find on the main floor of their apartment buildings. I saw ‘love’ notices posted in mine. It’s not a game for children, in other words.
So how do you ‘get’ Glitch? You make the fun up yourself. Use the tools they provide to you and run out in the world doing whatever it is you want to do. You can find me playing as stargrace, milking butterflies (I don’t need to use lotion any more!) squeezing chickens, and nibbling pigs. Ah, that’s the life. Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!