Questers and Touching Arcaders alike, rejoice! Yes, it's true. We are making another game in the Glyph Quest line. "Wait! What's Glyph Quest?" I hear you cry. Well, Glyph Quest is a series of puzzle RPGs with a long and convoluted history that all started with... hey, you know what? It'll be easier if I just give you some links and you go find out about it. Come back when you're ready. We'll wait. All caught up? Good. So what's new? It'll be very easy to sit here and say that we just threw in more of everything and, to a certain extent, that's true. In fact, why don't I make a nice, bullet point list explaining the new things that start with the word more? - More quests - More monsters - More playable characters - More gear - More tactical play - More fun Wow. That was easy. How about a list of new features? Of things that we didn't have in the previous games. - Pull Glyph - Frustrated by the glyphs that show up after you've cast a spell? Can't work out how that's determined? No matter! With the new Pull Glyph system, you can always guarantee what type the first glyph you cast will turn in to. - Power Up Glyphs - cast a big enough spell and be rewarded with a stronger, Power Up glyph for use in later spells. - Familiars - take a neat little pet with you on your adventures. Watch them learn, level up and evolve into whole new creatures. - Animation - see the adorable monsters come to life with actual animation. Shortly before killing them. Adorably. - Sound Guy - we're hiring a Sound Guy. An actual, bonefide Sound Guy to make sounds for us. No longer will I be messing around with as3sfx and hoping that nobody realises that I don't know what any of it means. But it's not enough to talk about the "more" - we also have to talk about the less, and this is where it gets really interesting. - There's less fluff. One of the biggest criticisms we received from Glyph Quest fans when they played Super Glyph Quest was that some of the spark of the original was lost. It wasn't as accessible and you spent less time playing the game and more time scrolling around menus, looking for the game to play. Chronicles will adopt a streamlined approach, much more akin to the original game. - There's less price. Glyph Quest: Chronicles will be Free To Play... ... no, wait. Come back. Yes, it will be Free To Play, but we'll be nice about it. How nice? Well, you'll just have to download it and see. I mean, it's free, right? What have you got to lose. If you want to keep up with developments, we'll be as active as we can be during development on this thread or over at our Facebook page (which you should all totally Like, BTW). Alternatively, why not follow @GlyphQuest on Twitter, or even us directly on @BulkPaint and @_ikouyo - we could certainly use the hits. Happy Questing! And don't forget to Tell Your Friends.
Well, hold up. These devs have done us right in the past and they even eluded to "being nice" about it in the post. That's why I asked if they would mind sharing any details as to how the IAP will work before we all completely write this game off lol Here's to hoping it's truly done right.
I will suspend judgment until I hear more details but I am largely a premium gamer what I could deal with is ad removal, characters/level purchases stuff like that. I don't do in game currency, lives, timers or stuff like that at all.
It's still early days yet but here's the current plan. Note that this is all very much subject to change. The game does feature an energy mechanic. Well, it's a blend between lives (which I like) and stamina (which I don't like). The way I see the difference between the two is this: Stamina is absolute - it's a cost. You lose Stamina by simply embarking on the adventure. Lives are skill based - the cost is only applied if you fail. From a business perspective, Stamina makes the most sense - the player pays whenever they play. From a gamer's perspective, Lives make the most sense - you can get good at the game. In the middle, we have our system. That is, it costs you stamina to go on a quest but if you successfully complete the quest, you get Stamina back. If we gave you back 100%, that would be the equivalent of a Lives system. So we're going to give you back a percentage somewhere between 0% (pure Stamina system) and 100% (pure Lives system). Currently the value is set to 10%, which means that for every 10 successful quests, you get enough stamina to do a 'free' quest - kinda like a coffee shop loyalty card. The final value will be decided upon later and may well change during the game's life cycle depending on feedback from the publisher and any analytics we have in place. The other thing that bugs me with energy systems is the inflation. Let's say it costs you 1 gem (or whatever the premium currency is) to restore 1 stamina. What you'll find with most games is that equation remains constant throughout the game. Clash of Clans, for example, has a fixed rate of Gems versus the amount of time they'll take to complete a construction, but the length of time each one takes gets longer and longer as the game progresses. Therefore, the amount of gems it costs goes up. In essence, players get 'punished' by sticking with the game. Instead, what we propose is that there's a flat rate to restoring your stamina. The amount of stamina you have will increase over the game, but it'll only ever cost you a single, prescribed amount to fully restore it. Technically, the value of your gems spent in this way would actually go up (although in real terms, you won't notice a difference at all). The IAPs that I don't mind at all are ones that give me a permanent benefit. Coin doublers and the like. We're certainly looking into having those. That and cosmetic ones - want to buy a new hat? A mouse in a space suit? Each to their own. Go nuts, man. Then it would just be a case of making the space suit mouse that people would want to buy... #horseArmour We've tried shareware and had a fleeting success. We've tried premium and had an abject failure. Now it's time to try F2P and see where that takes us.
It's all balance really. A timer of zero is perfectly acceptable to everyone as it's not really a timer at all. A timer of 24 hours between quests is probably excessive. Somewhere in between lies a good balance.
As in the previous games, Glyph Quest: Chronicles will also feature an Endless, score-attack mode with a Leaderboard. This mode will operate outside of the 'normal' stamina rules, meaning that it won't cost you anything and you'll be able to play it as much as you like, regardless of the current state of your energy. The flip side is that Endless mode will not drop loot or reward you with XP - it's a trade off, see?
I do appreciate your honest input on this Hoping no one here writes the game off without at least giving it a shot!
Okay, that's actually pretty cool. It will still "allow" us to scratch that itch while we have it, if we are out of lives/stamina.
What would be evil is if we withheld your highscore entry unless you bought an IAP - Hey, now there's a thought...
This is disappointing. I largely don't bother with F2P match-3, and even those I give a chance to and start to enjoy, the F2P mechanics start to wear me out and I move on to something else instead.
With the risk of turning another thread into a P2P vs F2P discussion, I can't blame the devs for at least trying this version of F2P. They have the right to earn money for their work and if this form of monetization allows them to do so, more so, than the premium versions they've done in the past...so be it. I know there are a ton of us on the forums that will turn our heads to this title simply because it's F2P. BUT, how many more downloads or how much more revenue can they get from a larger base of players that ARE open to F2P? For example (since we're talking about match 3): My wife has played Candy Crush for years. She on level 1 billion or something and she hasn't spent a dime. She has spent more time crushing candy than I have in certain MMOs. It works for her. I also work with a woman who spends tons of cash on Candy Crush. She will buy lives and what not like it's nothing, but it's her thing. I can't fault her for that. Again, that works for her (and for King lol). BUT, that's the ONLY game she plays. Same for my wife (aside from Trivia Crack with me). My wife wouldn't spend money on digital games, she just doesn't. So this game COULD attract my wife because it's free, where the previous paid titles she would just scroll right on by. Sorry for the rant, but I really do think this "freemium" version for them COULD work. You have to consider their field of competition. In a world of Candy Crush, Juice Jam, and so many other match 3 games that are free and can truly be played for free...I really can't blame them for this being a freemium.
It is, especially since we count you as one of our best fans. Rest assured that it's my intention to make the F2P trappings of this game as palatable as possible.
I like bothe previous games so would download this without a thought. IAP? Make it a one-shot (perm. Lives, coin doubler, or combo) and it's a no brainier. Make it free to TRY then pay to own because it's that good.
That's what we did with the original and, once people understood what we were doing, it was okay. But there were plenty who didn't 'get' it and thought we were F2P so were upset when we asked for money. Then there were those who thought we were traditional F2P, saw we had an IAP and decided to not even try the game.
make the IAP permanent, like Belle said, with coin doubler and timer essentially non-factored. The cosmetics is also an excellent idea. Hope this will be a success for you guys, and the Appstore NEEDS more good match-3 RPGs
Yeah, despite my general impatience with F2P mechanics, I'm more than more than willing to give this top quality developer the benefit of the doubt. Glyph Quest rules.
