This week while doing research on my Flash Games weekly topic, I stumbled upon a new online game that intrigued me.



( Photo Credit: Tiny Speck)

The game is called "Glitch." It was started by a group called Tiny Speck. Tiny speck was founded by Stewart Butterfield and his partners, Cal Henderson, Eric Costello, and Serguei Mourachov. Butterfield is the Flickr co-founder. Glitch has been in the works since last March, and has been continually changing.

CNet News says, "Glitch is a social online game that takes place in the imaginations of 11 ancient giants and tasks players with essentially growing an optimistic future from the ground up through complex questing, resource development, and interactions with others." There are some really cool innovations that this game is taking. It just isn't a mindless game. Butterfield admitted, "There's not a better way to say [who we're targeting] than people with above average intelligence and sophisticated tastes, in their 20s or early 30s...The intersection of NPR listeners and game players."

Gamers get to choose their path, and choices effect in-game reactions. Your choices change how things are in the game, making it an ever changing gaming experience. You gain levels and do quests to be able to accomplish certain goals all within a 2D Flash world. You can interact with other players making it a "social sim." It will be an interesting mix for this "Web Based Social MMO(Massively Multiplayer Online game)." As of now it will be free-to-play.

Forms of the game will be available in many ways, web based such as Facebook, and mobile on the iPhone or Android phones. A player can buy mini-quests from their phones that will allow them to upgrade their accounts and manage things in game from their phone that will help them get an edge on the competition. Butterfield said, Tiny Speck would like to make Glitch available, in some form or another, on as many platforms as possible, up to and including Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.

This seems like a very interesting concept, and I am looking forward to seeing how this develops. Will it be the next online hit? Who knows, but I will be watching to see how it develops either way.

Here is a mini-trailer as a "teaser" that was released:


(Credit: Tiny Speck)

Sources from CNET News:

The technology and platforms of Tiny Speck's Glitch

In depth with Tiny Speck's Glitch