Remember... glitches and easter eggs.

texico · 2012-04-02, 04:03 PM

Sometimes people seem to think that a game that's completely glitch-free and completely polished is best, but that attitude kind of misses the point

The thing is, glitches and small bugs can be not only fun for the playerbase but also adds some interest and enthusiasm to the community - you get long discussions breaking out on forums as people ask how reach these glitches and people discuss them, post videos about them, speculate... hell, sometimes people spend hours trying out glitches in game. When you hear somebody talking about an interesting or funny one on a forum, a lot of people think, "huh? I've gotta log on and check this out when I next get the chance." They can also be the perfect cooling-off from the actual point of the game, and lets people do something a little different.

Of course, I'm not talking about glitches that cause problems for gameplay, but funny and interesting glitches.

In PlanetSide, there were a number of hilarious glitches. Vehicle jumping was one of the best known ones, and they were fun as hell. There was also a glitch where you could use a lodestar to dump an AMS through the capital-shield of an enemy base, and then you could spawn inside. There was one where you could use a telepad and router to enter the docking bay of the HART. Back in the day, there was also one where you could fly a hacked lodestar to your sanctuary which carried a Sunderer of enemies

My point is, when you come across bugs and glitches that do funny things, don't remove them for the sake of it. Leave them there and let the community find them. Only remove bugs and glitches that can ruin gameplay.

Although not "glitches", Halo 1 provides a pretty good example. Vehicle physics are pretty jammy. You'd think this was a drawback, but actually it's part of the beauty and hilarity of the game. I must have come up with a dozen different ways to make Warthogs flip and spin with grenades on multiplayer

So sometimes getting everything absolutely perfect is a mistake. Glitches, bugs, hidden areas, easter eggs, they can all add a lot of interest and funny memories to a game, so as long as they're not messing up real gameplay, leave them there for us to find, or hell, even deliberately add some

Zulthus · 2012-04-02, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by texico

Although not "glitches", Halo 1 provides a pretty good example. Vehicle physics are pretty jammy. You'd think this was a drawback, but actually it's part of the beauty and hilarity of the game. I must have come up with a dozen different ways to make Warthogs flip and spin with grenades on multiplayer

So sometimes getting everything absolutely perfect is a mistake. Glitches, bugs, hidden areas, easter eggs, they can all add a lot of interest and funny memories to a game, so as long as they're not messing up real gameplay, leave them there for us to find, or hell, even deliberately add some

Halo 2 was THE game for finding and trying glitches. There were so many no one could count them all.

texico · 2012-04-02, 05:42 PM

^ Awesome

I never played Halo 2 because it was never out for Windows XP, but if I get to play it I'll have to look some up.

There was one in Halo 1 where you could shoot a Banshee off a platform with a tank and therefore fly one way earlier than you were supposed to, which was pretty interesting because you could skip trigger points

I also think I managed to ram vehicles into places they weren't supposed to go so I could farm covenant easily.

Of course, in PS2 they can't be allowed to seriously affect gameplay like that though. Things like vehicle jumping didn't, apart from the rare time when a squad would vech-jump sunderers and then bail over towers :L but I think people found that imaginative rather than annoying considering how rarely it happened.

EVILPIG · 2012-04-02, 05:47 PM

Glitches become exploits and while exploits can be fun for those exploiting them, they cause harm.

Is it cool that FistofHair was the first CR5 in planetside because he used the CUD exploit to get it? I don't think so.

Bags · 2012-04-02, 05:54 PM

What exactly is the point of this thread?

Zulthus · 2012-04-02, 05:55 PM

What is the point of existence? There isn't one, we just go with it.

texico · 2012-04-02, 06:20 PM

^^^ Depends how exploitative. For example, the router to the HART bay didn't cause harm but was pretty funny. And also, very difficult exploits that cause a small amount of harm to people almost never are usually fine to. The capital-shield exploit could be used to drain NTU from a capital... But I can only remember seeing a capital's NTU drop from that exploit twice in about 3 years of PlanetSide. It's best not to over-think them though. They really only need to be considered for removal when people start complaining that the glitch can be exploited, because it's either causing a lot of harm/unfairness or is happening frequently and affecting actual gameplay.

^^ to point out that glitches and easter eggs are good and see if others agree or disagree?

^ yep.

Duddy · 2012-04-02, 07:02 PM

I think perhaps you mean "Emergent Gameplay"?

Certainly I think if emergent gameplay arises and it isn't detrimental to the overall experience then it should be embraced. What better defines a game where the players are the core content than the players defining new ways to play?

Question is, who's the judge?

Ultimately the devs have the final say, but there are plenty of the "unintended" gameplay features that survived not only in PS1 but other games to.

Naturally I don't think anyone supports the use of exploits which, while potentially similar, ruin the game for everyone except those exploiting.

bullet · 2012-04-02, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by texico

^^^ Depends how exploitative. For example, the router to the HART bay didn't cause harm but was pretty funny.

True but this bug also lead to the same ones that allowed people to drop right through bases into spawns/gens and screw the fight up. No thanks, fix them all.

Skitrel · 2012-04-02, 07:48 PM

There will be glitches, as game complexity increases year after year so do the number and variety of glitches games have.

It's been 9 years since PS1 was first made, expect MANY more glitches, particularly in the physics department, I'm looking at you flight physics.

Captain1nsaneo · 2012-04-02, 10:05 PM

Oh the stories I could tell. Actually, some of the best ones I have aren't even from PS but from WAR. I went places never meant for mortal men.

Eyeklops · 2012-04-02, 11:33 PM

And for fun,

headcrab13 · 2012-04-03, 10:57 AM

Polished or not, we'll see our fair share of physics glitches with the inclusion of PhysX and ragdoll. Can't wait!

BlazingSun · 2012-04-03, 11:03 AM

Some PS1 bugs from my collection (someone else uploaded that video):

Too bad youtube blocks the original song

klu · 2012-04-05, 12:53 AM

Originally Posted by Captain1nsaneo

Oh the stories I could tell. Actually, some of the best ones I have aren't even from PS but from WAR. I went places never meant for mortal men.

the story i always wanted to hear was about a million outfit point glitch going to an outfit that just happened to have a member obsessed with glitches. coincidence?