:: LOST AT SEA
:: ROTATING CUBESJack Attridge is an exceptionally busy man, along with the rest of the team at 22Cans. Not content with fixing the much publicised server issues with Curiosity, the team is working on a major update, recently teased by Peter Molyneux, mentioning the word "badger". That's not forgetting the plans afoot for the "reinvention" of the god game, courtesy of GODUS, 22can's latest Kickstarter fundraiser.
"At first we were going to just allow players to tap the smaller 60 billion cubelets that make up the cube one by one. This was to see if the power of curiosity alone was enough motivation for people to carry on tapping with no other benefits," he explained. "Surprisingly, this worked and it's great seeing tons of tweets flying through of people hooked on this…we could have left it as pure as this but we felt that there was more that we could do with the cube."
Jack explained that the inclusion of features such as the potential for combos via rewarding players with more coins, the longer they chip away for has added to the appeal: "…some people out there have been going crazy about getting the highest chain in the world: currently the highest chain is up in the millions! "
As he points out, "…there is an urge in some people to tidy up all the left-over cubelets that are scattered around where people have come and gone, and so for those OCD-type players (there's a few of those on the team) we give coin bonuses for clearing the screen of cubelets." With such bonuses, it enables players to buy small upgrades thus feeling "powerful", while aiding them in their quest to "get to the center faster".
"There [are] many wonderful things about Curiosity, the fact that people from all over the world can join together in working towards one goal…Each layer contains some mysterious image and it's really fascinating to see the world unwrapping it like a present before it is revealed in all its inspiring beauty…it's fascinating how each image or colour changes how players interpret the whole experience with some tweets saying one layer feels cold and and another motivating, and even thinking the audio has changed when it hasn't."
"I love that people have chiseled some phenomenal art into the cube that have surpassed my expectations and that literal art is being digested by people through their phones across the planet and then being shared across social networking sites and blogs. People have chipped marriage proposals into it as well as obituaries." As Jack describes it, "...the cube itself is a giant canvas that the entire world can share with no censorship or moderation."
Having said that, he does suggest that it's not entirely for the sake of it: "…there is something that people tapping on the cube are doing, and are already involved in that they are unaware of. I can't say what that is yet, but in the future…that tapping will have counted for something."
Given that Curiosity is just part of the 22 experiments planned by the team, we asked Jack just what the eventual end goal will be, "The final game we make is something that Peter has been thinking about for 20 years. He considers it the defining game of his career and we are all very excited about creating that experience for the world. The dream is that this final game will be something that 100 million people will play everyday."
Jack's willing to acknowledge, however, that this is a "huge ambition". As he points out, Curiosity managed over 600,000 players in the space of 4 days but that's still a way off such a lofty number. "…by creating these experiments and analysing the tons of data that we get from them we are finding out exactly how we are going to construct a game that can change the world."
A game that can change the world? Suddenly, huge ambition sounds like an understatement. It'll be fascinating to see what 22Cans come up with next, and after GODUS.
If you're interested in contributing to GODUS's development, check out the Kickstarter page.
The meaning of life is something that we've all pondered at some point. For some of us, it's our religious faith that gives us purpose to our lives, for others, it's simply making the best of things and being happy. Ultimately though, it's different for every individual, and some of us can confidently say they have no idea what the meaning is. Somewhat unusually, there's a 'game' that conveys that intrigue quite admirably, whether you think it's a load of nonsense or not. That game? Curiosity, the first title to come out of Peter Molyneux's latest studio, 22Cans.
We took the time to check in with a few different people to see just what all the fuss is about and attempt to gauge just what's keeping people tapping away at those layers.
One of the most positive opinions stemmed from indie game, Hug Marine's, CY Reid: "As a game concept, I love it - one of the reasons people enjoy games like that is because clicking or tapping repeatedly is so compulsive. There's a mindlessness to it that allows you to simply switch off parts of your brain and relax. Combine that with a massively multiplayer capability and you've got yourself a communal experience with everyone working towards an achievable goal. It's great."
Like any conscientious developer, however, his concerns are on how it's being handled: "my concern is that they didn't anticipate this level of popularity, and they're struggling to keep the game experience smooth enough to justify the appeal of the concept. Asking for donations doesn't help, either."
Regular Twitter followers of Molyneux's account will note that there have been frequent mentions of long shifts, including 36 hour long coding marathons to keep things working steadily.
Spilt Milk Studios's Andrew Smith is similarly intrigued, despite technical problems: "Curiosity is so aptly named I’m not sure that even Mr Molyneux himself was aware of how appropriate it was going to be. Some people are still probably curious about what you do in the game due to the server issues they experienced, but unfortunate technical problems aside I think it’s made everyone who’s played it at least question something about the nature of games and interactivity – just what is it that makes people play. Does it always have to be high scores and headshots? It’s been fascinating to watch so far, and I’m eager to see how the experiment ends."
Perhaps, ultimately though, it doesn't really matter what those within the industry think of it. The layers are slowly coming down and the popularity seems to be ever flourishing. A cursory glance at Twitter demonstrates that ably with tweets such as "EVERYONE GET THIS APP OMG. #Curiosity addicttteedddd!!! And its mad creepy but i wanna know the prizeeeeee" and "got my whole family playing #curiosity, that game is too addictive", amongst many other positive and 'curiously' addicted people's opinions.
As one person explained to me, "Wife just said she loves it when she's working on clearing an area and it syncs and it all disappears…knowing somebody else is in the world is right where she is on the massive cube".
Maybe that's all we need? That sense that we're all working together to discover something new and exciting. A concept that's helped us find out a lot more about our world and our universe, all wrapped up in one simple yet oddly beguiling app. Placing our mark on the world is, after all, consistently important to many of us and this app gives us the means to do it with minimal effort.
If you want to give Curiosity a try for yourself, it's entirely free to get involved with. Here's a rather cool, unofficial visualization of how things have progressed so far.
Peter Molyneux is a name that will be very familiar to many PC and console gamers. Known for his outlandish and over-enthusiastic statements, pre-release, he's been responsible for some of the best games out there from the Populous series to Theme Park and Theme Hospital. He's also been behind the Fable series of games, one of my personal favorites, but also a series that has been overpromised frequently.
Having left Microsoft and Lionhead Studios in March to begin work at new company 22 Cans, Molyneux has just announced details regarding Curiosity.
The title is set for release on August 22 and will focus on players hacking away at a giant cube, made out of 60 million different shapes. It's all in aid of finding out exactly what's underneath all those cubes. Initially, only the player who hits that final blow will find out what's inside, hence the name: Curiosity.
It's best thought of as a social media experiment with 22 Cans studying how this news will spread.
It gets stranger, still, with the prospect of in-app purchases funding everything. A Q&A Session at Indie conference, Rezzed, has reported that players will have to buy a limited number of chisels that will improve their tapping strength. While most of these chisels will be inexpensive, a diamond chisel will also be available, priced at an eye-watering $50,000.
It's frankly pretty bizarre stuff. Will it work? Only time will tell, but we'll be sure to keep up to date on developments as Curiosity could prove to be a fascinating experiment.
Do let us know how you feel about the in-app purchases involved. Would you ever consider spending so much on this kind of app?
:: HYPNOTIZING
:: BLOCK-BUSTER
:: COLORFUL CUBES
:: VERY CUTE
