NOT-SO Friendly Banter

"In the beginning there was Acrophobia"
Started by szatuchny on 11/10/2010 2:43:14 PM


 
szatuchny
11/10/2010 2:43 PM
I realize I am a stranger on these forums and have PR in my title, which would make even my mom suspicions, so let me begin with a little background.

Back in 1997 I first met a game designer whose most recent accomplishment was a game called Acrophobia. It was a pretty amazing game for its simplicity and had 700,000 fans which I thought at the time and even today is astonishing. Acrophobia unfortunately didn’t survive her departure from Berkeley Systems but the players never wavered, always looking for a place to play the game they enjoyed.

All of us think it’s great that so many clones have been made such as this game “Acro Challenge” which seems to have a thriving community.

Today I wanted to drop by and let everyone know what Andrea has been up to lately.

Andrea has managed to convince a number of her past coworkers from THQ that players really enjoy word games, they like games that challenge them mentally and want to be able to play anywhere, any time and on their own schedule. She is one of the founders of play140 a new company making games with words.

It should come as no surprise that her first design was for TAG (The Acronym Game). In beta, the game is played using twitter, which means no installation and facebook and sms versions are being developed.

The rules and explanation of how to play are at http://play140.com/tag

I also put together a quick Facebook page to allow people to give us feedback and follow the latest at our company play140. http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4752159271#!/pages/Play140/157788850917129

The game right now is in early beta and stats, rankings, accomplishments etc. are all still being developed, but I hope if anyone gets a chance, they drop by our Facebook page and say hi to Andrea and time allowing, drop a note in the suggestion tag about what they would like to see.

-Supper Steve

P.S. Being sort of a newb at first, I didn’t understand how the fear of heights turned into the fear of acronyms, so to make fun of myself, I put together an amusing movie about it. It’s linked from the Facebook page, I hope it brings a smile to someone.
Rainy
11/10/2010 3:14 PM
What do you think of the fact that none of the clones last very long?

Do your funders know?

Did you ever try acrobabble and what do you think of how it ended?
Phlegmmy
11/10/2010 3:26 PM
Yet again, someone selling MacDonalds thinks it is ok to go into Burger King to advertise

How do you justify this?

You may have a great idea and a great game, but to come here to advertise, to the ONE place that has given us a game to play when there were no others is really very rude and IMHO disrespectful.
amysloved
11/10/2010 3:35 PM
AND WE'RE OFF!!!! THIS OUGHT BE GOOD! I FOR ONE, AM LOYAL TO MY ACROCHALLENGE, MICHAEL N OTHERS (u know who u r) HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL HERE RUNNING THIS PLACE, I KNOW WHERE MY LOYALIIES LIE, I RESPECT P'S THOUGHTS N EVERYONE'S BEFORE THIS THREAD REALLYY GETS HEATED, REMEMBER EVERYONE IS ENTITLED TO THEIR OWN OPINION, SOME MIGHT BE INTERESTED IN NEW PLACES, OTHER WILL FEEL LIKE MYSELF N P, LOYAL, AND BUY DISRESPECTED, FOR SOMEONE TO POP IN DOIN AN ADVERTIZEMENT/SPAM.. ITS LIKE TRYIN TO STEAL AWAY OUR FAMILY.. OK IM OFF MY SOAPBOX NOW, BUT KEEP IN MIND, PEOPLE WILL HAV VARYING DEGREES OF OPINIONS,..

I LOVE MY ACRO FAMILY HERE!!
((((( ACROERS))))) (clean n adult)
szatuchny
11/10/2010 3:59 PM
OK two excellent points and I expected both.

[quote] What do you think of the fact that none of the clones last very long?
Do your funders know?
Did you ever try acrobabble and what do you think of how it ended? [/quote]

I think people make these games out of love and longing. Most do it as a hobby and when life sends a curveball, and time is scarce, they die. Others do it wrong and never have an entertaining product, and yet others such as this game do it really well, but not being a business it thrives as its own mini community never really growing but remains a really comfortable place for its residence.

Our funders are pretty smart guys, when you throw $100’s of thousands into a company you don’t do it because you’re a gamer. TAG (The Acronym Game) is only one of dozens of games we plan to make. Our goal is to show that games can be played across a huge number of platforms, so someone at work can play over twitter against a friend with an old fashioned sms phone against a group of friends on Facebook. The technology is the real value, we are not under an illusion that we’re going to make an acronym game and get rich, or even be able to buy lunch tomorrow.

Lastly I’ve never tried Acrobabble. I am a hardcore gamer and fully realize I am not smart enough to play word games, I’ve tried, god knows I have, but my submissions always sound retarded for lack of a better word. Andrea and I however have always had a great working relationship and I fully believe the more intelligent gamers are not getting the support they deserve while there is always another Halo clone around the corner. This is the reason I came to join play140.

What I do know is how to run contests, and promotions and set up player meets and conventions, this is something I am really looking forward to doing with the types of gamers in this genre. We’re not here to throw up an acronym game and toot our horn, we have the funding to do some really cool stuff down the line, and being a kid who never grew up, I look forward to being involved in everything.

[Quote] Yet again, someone selling MacDonalds thinks it is ok to go into Burger King to advertise
How do you justify this?
You may have a great idea and a great game, but to come here to advertise, to the ONE place that has given us a game to play when there were no others is really very rude and IMHO disrespectful. [/quote]

I’ll admit, I took pause before posting the above message. I certainly wouldn’t do it for any of our other games, and wouldn’t have even considered doing so for TAG except for one thing.

The designer who created the game concept is really the one who deserves all the credit. She and I disagree on many design concepts but I can’t deny that turning acronyms into a game with community features is pure brilliance.

I figured if there was one group of people who would want to hear that Andrea is back, it’s the people who are still playing the game she designed.

I mean no disrespect and I think it’s awesome that this community not only survives but thrives. HUGE PROPS go out to the Acro Challenge guys for this design, it’s superb.

My real goal is to get some of you guys to give us comments on what we’re lacking and what OTHER types of games you may enjoy. Being a core community guy, I know there is no way in hell I am going to steal players, but if I could get some of the people who enjoy Andrea’s design to give us feedback it would really be superb.

Notice I didn’t post a link to sign up, it’s a simple html URL, but that wasn’t my goal. My main desire was to get people to visit our facebook page and give feedback and participate in design discussions. I’m also quite amused with my video and wanted to share.
Rainy
11/10/2010 4:08 PM
i just looked up Acrophobia on wikipedia. Doesn't mention an Andrea...
szatuchny
11/10/2010 4:13 PM
ya ummm...

Andrea used to be Anthony, last name still Shubert. Still just as brilliant, maybe more so.
Rainy
11/10/2010 4:14 PM
Gotta admit after reading your response, I feel a little like I just got something lubricated shoved up my ass.

Thanks for the Vaseline.
szatuchny
11/10/2010 4:23 PM
o0 what part?
andreashubert
11/10/2010 4:50 PM
I haven't come into any of the Acro games that came after Acrophobia, until just now.

Hi. I was once BSIOrionBlue. I was once "Anthony." Things have changed - my love of Acro games have not.

You can follow me on twitter.com/andrea2s1.

It really threw me to see these blue wavey lines again. =)
Rainy
11/10/2010 5:36 PM
This part...

"OK two excellent points and I expected both.

[quote] What do you think of the fact that none of the clones last very long?
Do your funders know?
Did you ever try acrobabble and what do you think of how it ended? [/quote]

I think people make these games out of love and longing. Most do it as a hobby and when life sends a curveball, and time is scarce, they die. Others do it wrong and never have an entertaining product, and yet others such as this game do it really well, but not being a business it thrives as its own mini community never really growing but remains a really comfortable place for its residence.

Our funders are pretty smart guys, when you throw $100’s of thousands into a company you don’t do it because you’re a gamer. TAG (The Acronym Game) is only one of dozens of games we plan to make. Our goal is to show that games can be played across a huge number of platforms, so someone at work can play over twitter against a friend with an old fashioned sms phone against a group of friends on Facebook. The technology is the real value, we are not under an illusion that we’re going to make an acronym game and get rich, or even be able to buy lunch tomorrow.

Lastly I’ve never tried Acrobabble. I am a hardcore gamer and fully realize I am not smart enough to play word games, I’ve tried, god knows I have, but my submissions always sound retarded for lack of a better word. Andrea and I however have always had a great working relationship and I fully believe the more intelligent gamers are not getting the support they deserve while there is always another Halo clone around the corner. This is the reason I came to join play140.

What I do know is how to run contests, and promotions and set up player meets and conventions, this is something I am really looking forward to doing with the types of gamers in this genre. We’re not here to throw up an acronym game and toot our horn, we have the funding to do some really cool stuff down the line, and being a kid who never grew up, I look forward to being involved in everything.

[Quote] Yet again, someone selling MacDonalds thinks it is ok to go into Burger King to advertise
How do you justify this?
You may have a great idea and a great game, but to come here to advertise, to the ONE place that has given us a game to play when there were no others is really very rude and IMHO disrespectful. [/quote]

I’ll admit, I took pause before posting the above message. I certainly wouldn’t do it for any of our other games, and wouldn’t have even considered doing so for TAG except for one thing.

The designer who created the game concept is really the one who deserves all the credit. She and I disagree on many design concepts but I can’t deny that turning acronyms into a game with community features is pure brilliance.

I figured if there was one group of people who would want to hear that Andrea is back, it’s the people who are still playing the game she designed.

I mean no disrespect and I think it’s awesome that this community not only survives but thrives. HUGE PROPS go out to the Acro Challenge guys for this design, it’s superb.

My real goal is to get some of you guys to give us comments on what we’re lacking and what OTHER types of games you may enjoy. Being a core community guy, I know there is no way in hell I am going to steal players, but if I could get some of the people who enjoy Andrea’s design to give us feedback it would really be superb.

Notice I didn’t post a link to sign up, it’s a simple html URL, but that wasn’t my goal. My main desire was to get people to visit our facebook page and give feedback and participate in design discussions. I’m also quite amused with my video and wanted to share."


***by the way, Acrophobia, Acrochallenge and Acrobabble alllllll have Facebook pages. Did you think of posting there?
Hippy Feller
11/10/2010 5:54 PM
I tried to read these posts, I tried really hard.

Once I realized the original point of this entire thread, I decided to think about what I really like about the oritinal! Acrophobia. Created by Berkley systems developed by Bezerk. I am really not interested at all in other word games, other distributors or developers, when it comes to Acrophobia, the original game is still the only game i would like to see returned.

No games going forward will ever compete in my mind. I felt like I was really in a room, it was dark, it was dimly lit, it was atmosphere and a hell of a concept. It's coding was nearly flawless. It's algorithms were superior to anything that has followed.

So if you are going to try to sell anything to me, it will only be the Original Bezerk acro reborn or redeveloped into a windows xp+ landscape.

That's about all I have to say, thanks for listening

MsMcQ
11/10/2010 6:42 PM
I gotta agree with phlegmmy here.. this is not the place to advertise for another acro site. As for me.. I'm staying right here!

love you Michael!
amysloved
11/10/2010 9:13 PM
Ditto! MsQ (((laura)))
Shelou
11/10/2010 11:47 PM
Rock on Rainy, P, MsMq(sp?)!

I love Acrochallenge and feel loyal to the game and the developer(s). Playing this game (I really thought it started around 1995ish in the form of Acrophobia) has always been fun. At first it was silky negligee-like - a new marriage full of excitement and all-nighters, now it is a comfortable long-term marriage, flannel jammies and all. HOWEVER, in Acrophobia during those days, so many more people played. We had our favorite room...maybe (Anthony's Pizza was one of mine. Hi Andrea!) and now it seems like there is only a 2-3 hour window of play when there are enough players. I love MNA/WNA and appreciate ALL OF the effort the hosts/coordinators put into getting us together to play. Thank you ALL.

So, I won't leave this game, I love it. It would be NICE, though, if the game didn't stick so much and I'd love to see new people coming who are interested in improving their skills, so we had more than 1.4 rooms going at a time. On a side-note, my 24 year old son (who was an Acro-orphan at some points) emailed me a few weeks ago to tell me that in his Abnormal Psycholoy class, he specifically thought of Acrophobia as they studied other phobias. I've scarred him. ;-)
Rubberdonkey
11/10/2010 11:53 PM
C'mon folks, lets let calmer heads prevail here. We actually had THE creator of original acrophobia on Bezerk post on here, to me that's an honor!

The proof is in the pudding folks, this is the last one standing after the big long gunfight and its an honor to be able to play here.

A very sincere thank you goes out to you Michael.
Jane Eyre
11/10/2010 11:55 PM
I gave Phlegmmy a good laugh some time ago when I told him that when I first started to come here, I used to see his WednesdayNightAcro.org sitting in the lobby all day Wednesday, and get annoyed at it. It seemed so rude of someone to come on one game in order to advertise another. Well, now I know the truth about Phlegmmy, but I still don't know why szatuchny (or anyone else) thinks it's OK to use Michael's arena to advertise another.

Add me to the list of loyal guys. I wouldn't leave Acrochallenge.

((((Michael))) thank you for all the hours of relaxation.
Loc
11/11/2010 3:45 AM
Now, i know i aint the brightest... so i'll need some help here to grasp the full concept of what's going on.

Basically some sales guy came on to tell you that the chick who made the original game that you all rave about, has tried making another variation of it.... but needs help to figure out a good design for it??

If she really is the original creator, why is she having such a hard time?
amysloved
11/11/2010 4:46 AM
VERY WELL PUT LOC KUDO'S TO YOU? LOC BRINGS UP A GOOD POINT, WHY DOES THE ORIGINAL HAVE TO ADVERTISE HERE, WHEN THERE ARE BILLIONS OF OTHER RESOURCES OUT THERE TO ADVERTISE ON? HMM? THEY SAY ITS FOR "OUR INPUT" TELL ME NOW.. WHY WOULD WE WANNA GIVE THEM OUR INPUT, TO MAKE WHAT THEY THINK IS A BETTER ACRO/GAME SITE? APPARENTLY, THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, AND MICHAEL HAS OUR LOYALITIES...
Rainy
11/11/2010 11:08 AM
Hey szatuchny.... regarding this statement of yours---> "Our goal is to show that games can be played across a huge number of platforms, so someone at work can play over twitter against a friend with an old fashioned sms phone against a group of friends on Facebook. The technology is the real value"

If the above is really your goal and this game already exists, why create another game at all? Just make the technology so we can play acrochallenge site thru different technologies. That would prove your point and you wouldn't have to waste time reinventing the wheel.

There. I was nice and provided feedback. :)

Stanky
11/11/2010 11:52 AM
As somebody who played the original version of acro through IRC I respect your creation a lot.

While we all love the game that you conceived (without that chances are none of us would be Acroing online right now) I think you should've run through the site owner here first (my guess is he wouldn't of cared). That seems like the courteous thing to do.

While we grew addicted to this game, everyone else (besides AcroChallenge) shut down yet AcroChallenge remains, and not only kept it alive, the concept, but kept many of the original players intact, as well as giving growth to new players throughout the years.

'Mach' himself has a reinvented a version (along the lines of IRC and java version) and has kept it alive as well for all those that still stayed true to the IRC version and enjoyed it. Some of the very 1st players still play there. As great as they are, and I think the site is... I would not post it here (publically) at all unless I ran it by Michael.

(background- for anyone just curious)

"Acrophobia is a multi-round, multiplayer online Internet Relay Chat game. The game was originally conceived by Anthony Shubert and programmed by Kenrick Mock (aka Mach) and Michelle Hoyle (aka Eingang) in 1995. Players enter a channel hosted by a bot (#acro, #games-abc, port 6667) which runs the game."

Though the concept to acro remains pretty much the same, I wouldn't necessarily call all the variations 'clones' (including your very 1st concept).

"Acrophobia has similarities to the board game "Acronymble". Acronymble is a board game that came on the market in 1991. It challenges players to create the funniest acronyms using random letters to start their words."

Not to mention I played Acro in Elementary School on the chalkboard, as many of us did I'm sure.... that's old school.

I felt that sense of loyalty way back when to IRC acro and missed out on the Bezerk format because of that. Not all too long after that I was left homeless (Talkcity claimed it was because people lost interest in an outdated version of Acro, the truth.. Talkcity destroyed it with Ops) until I found Uproars version.

Like everywhere Uproar left us homeless yet AcroChallenge took us all in (but they didn't come to Uproar posting for us to come check them out)....
Spuddy
11/11/2010 11:58 AM
I C S M D W A

"Is Calamitee stealing my darn "W's" again?"
alaskanqt
11/11/2010 12:06 PM
Well here goes my 2 cents for what it's worth.
Usually I am not fond of people advertising other games on here BUT I have to say that being a long time player of Acrochallenge, things have changed A LOT here.

I use to get my housework done and play the rest of the day till everyone came home from school and work. Now for whatever reason there are never any players during the day. Unless its an adult room and I dont play there.

Like someone else said, now there is only a small window at night to play with fellow acroers and sorry to say but my family comes first and that is our family time so this is why no one sees me playing anymore.

Bezerk was the bomb! So if someone is really trying to get another thing like this going again, I might have to check it out. Does this mean I would leave Acrochallenge??
Hell no this is my home away from home even if it has only been to lurk the message boards lately.

You can be loyal to a game but variety is nice too.

I tried acrobabble as did a lot of people here, I quit playing simply because I did not like the format or the gobs of people who just had to see how much raunchiness they could get away with in the clean rooms.

Guess basically what Im trying to say here is IMHO, no harm now foul for reaching out to advertise a new twist on a game we already love. And what better place to do that than with people with the same interests. I mean honestly for those that played at babble, how did you even find about about it? I found out about it right here on this very message board :) And well looky here, Im still here haha!!

Stanky
11/11/2010 12:18 PM
I agree QT... just think Michael should've been included.

I'll play anywhere there is a game going. I've learned not to just grow attached to strictly one place because tomorrow it may be gone and you're left package all your luggage up off the street.

I welcome many variations... I think if they worked together rather than as competitors (including the players who play one or the other, such as those that would still consider themselves 'Babblers' despite the fact it no longer exist and they now play here) then both would prosper from that and would draw in more new people as well.

It's the players that make the game to me, as I've said before.
CaptainTrips
11/11/2010 1:07 PM
I'll probably play Acrophobia or Acrobabble if they come back, but I'll most likely stay retired. @~BrettFarve~@ is done. Maybe FATFAG occasionally (Friday Afternoon Total Fark Acronym Game)