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Glitch Is Closing

glitch.com

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Re: Glitch Is Closing

#51

Post by noodle »

fernly wrote: post #18

About a year ago I somehow got an invite to the beta and played maybe 20 or 30 hours, on and off, over several weeks. The whimsy and quirkiness of the design elements were always impressive. And it was commendable that they were building a family-friendly, kid-safe game that could still be appreciated by adults. But somehow it just didn't hook me and I stopped going back. In hindsight it reminds me of my experience w…

I was in the same boat.

It was missing purpose, I think. I could grind out levels, but I didn't have any reason to. There wasn't any compelling reason to actually play the game beyond just scoping out the art (which only lasts so long).

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#52

Post by rscale »

trotsky wrote: post #12

We are offering refunds for all purchases made since November 1st, 2011 (a little over a year ago) and will immediately begin refunding all payments which can be refunded automatically through our payments processors (which will be nearly all of those made in the last 50 or so days). We will then move on to manual refunds for older payments. This will take some time to wrap up since there is not always a simple way t…

That gave me such huge respect for the team.

I've seen so many startups that took customer money even when they knew they probably wouldn't deliver the anticipated value. It's wonderful to see somebody who winds down a business with such concern for every stakeholder.

Good fortunes to the Tiny Speck team. I hope our paths cross someday.

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#53

Post by lazyjones »

dgreensp wrote: post #48

I played Glitch for a couple hours once and it's pretty obvious to me why it didn't work. After all the pre-launch hype about changing the face of gaming forever, the game was dreadfully boring -- you basically walk around and click on things. I described it to a friend as "FarmVille where you don't get your own farm." Sure, there was a lot of art; I think I had my pick of several dozen hairstyles and encountered hun…

> you basically walk around and click on things

Sounds a lot like Diablo III / Torchlight II, which supposedly aren't all that boring...

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#54

Post by saumil07 »

ericz wrote: post #50

A startup with a webpage offering employees for hire as opposed to hiring employees? http://www.glitch.com/hire-a-genius/ What a strange sight.

I'd say that's a nice gesture, really. The company's founders have excellent street cred. The game had a lot of hype/visibility. It did not fail for lack of technical prowess. People will (and, I bet, are already trying very hard) want to hire the people that worked on the game. The management team is simply facilitating this behavior. What' wrong w/ that?

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#55

Post by DigitalJack »

lazyjones wrote: post #53
dgreensp wrote: post #48

I played Glitch for a couple hours once and it's pretty obvious to me why it didn't work. After all the pre-launch hype about changing the face of gaming forever, the game was dreadfully boring -- you basically walk around and click on things. I described it to a friend as "FarmVille where you don't get your own farm." Sure, there was a lot of art; I think I had my pick of several dozen hairstyles and encountered hun…

> you basically walk around and click on things Sounds a lot like Diablo III / Torchlight II, which supposedly aren't all that boring...

I suppose a difference would be that in Diablo III you don't feel like you are just walking around and clicking.

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#56

Post by eps »

dgreensp wrote: post #48

I played Glitch for a couple hours once and it's pretty obvious to me why it didn't work. After all the pre-launch hype about changing the face of gaming forever, the game was dreadfully boring -- you basically walk around and click on things. I described it to a friend as "FarmVille where you don't get your own farm." Sure, there was a lot of art; I think I had my pick of several dozen hairstyles and encountered hun…

Two hours? You got some real patience. I was in the early pre-beta and they lost me few minutes in, right after I was given a "pet rock" that I was expected to talk to.

(edit) I also got a strong impression it was a single guy's visionary pet (for the lack of better word) project, and he had some spare money from a previous exit to throw at it. So he kept pulling it in his own direction. I might be and probably am off here, but that's the impression I formed by hanging around the project for a bit.

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#57

Post by tommypjr »

trotsky wrote: post #12

We are offering refunds for all purchases made since November 1st, 2011 (a little over a year ago) and will immediately begin refunding all payments which can be refunded automatically through our payments processors (which will be nearly all of those made in the last 50 or so days). We will then move on to manual refunds for older payments. This will take some time to wrap up since there is not always a simple way t…

refunds to the 10 paying users shouldn't break the bank.

kidding. they are right around the alley from us and i liked the game art. i wish they'd had had better success...

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#58

Post by gingerbreadman »

jashkenas wrote: post #37

It's a bit beside the point, but I'd like to note how refreshing it is to read an honest shutting-down-and-wrapping-up post from a startup that had big dreams. It's all too easy to mistake bluster for confidence, and end up writing a shutdown note that claims some kind of hollow victory. The true feelings of the Glitch team aren't being hidden here, and although it's sad, I think folks appreciate it a great deal.

True, very hard to shutdown a startup. But done properly in this case.

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#59

Post by recursive »

lazyjones wrote: post #53
dgreensp wrote: post #48

I played Glitch for a couple hours once and it's pretty obvious to me why it didn't work. After all the pre-launch hype about changing the face of gaming forever, the game was dreadfully boring -- you basically walk around and click on things. I described it to a friend as "FarmVille where you don't get your own farm." Sure, there was a lot of art; I think I had my pick of several dozen hairstyles and encountered hun…

> you basically walk around and click on things Sounds a lot like Diablo III / Torchlight II, which supposedly aren't all that boring...

Funnily enough, I have the same complaint about those types of games.

Re: Glitch Is Closing

#60

Post by rkischuk »

erikpukinskis wrote: post #4

Bummer for Stewart Butterfield. But maybe third time's the charm! This does seem to count as a vote against Big Production Up Front. I have to wonder if they had started smaller, used a more "Lean" strategy, got a product to market quicker, and started working on revenue, if they would've A) discovered the "insurmountable" problems sooner, B) had some revenue to play with, and C) been in a position to pivot when the…

I spent 3 years as a CTO and Executive Producer in social and children's games.

The world of gaming is surprisingly unreceptive to the premise of a "minimum viable product". It is EXTREMELY difficult to "pivot" a game. The level of polish and extent of gameplay required to meet consumer expectations for a game requires a commitment well beyond the bounds of any typical B2B or B2C product.

From my experience, the best approach to a gaming company is to build many, small games, taking on client projects to fund the company while building company projects with bench time. It's sustainable, but painful, and is an inferior path to success relative to most other startups.

The bar of quality in gaming has been set too high by companies willing to lose money on failures to make the occasional hit. You might as well start a movie production startup.

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