Elements the Game Forum - Free Online Fantasy Card Game

Other Topics => Off-Topic Discussions => Tech Talk => Topic started by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 09:43:28 pm

Title: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 09:43:28 pm
Why are glitches (in Elements, as well as other areas of the Technical Biota) almost always bad?

I thought of this when I considered all of the glitches I have encountered on Elements:

1) The spinner came up with two matching rollers, and then the third roller just never stopped; I left it for a few hours, and it was still spinning.  I quit and never received the reward.

2) Very similar to (1), except when the third spinner clicked, there was the celebration music, but the roller was blank, and the reward card, on the left, was blank.  I received no reward.

3) This current PvP glitch: you can do nothing but lose to an opponent who gracelessly beats on an unarmed deck.

4) Any play glitch, where a card does something wierd: I have yet to see this come to my benefit...

Why are glitches always bad?  Has anyone seen a positive glitch in any media?  I have never experienced 'free electrum' or 'positively glitched spins'; do they exist?

On a broad note, why do you think this is?  I have Darwinian thoughts about this, but ... what does everyone else think?
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: Espithel on December 06, 2014, 09:46:02 pm
Depends on your perspective on positive.

Is a glitch to get infinite electrum a positive glitch or a negative glitch?
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 09:49:39 pm
If there was one of those, then everyone but me must be using it, so I guess it is negative?
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 10:00:10 pm
Seriously, is there an infinite electrum strategy?  Is this how everyone manages to upgrade entire decks?  I spend a good amount of tiem grinding, but I have to eat, work, sleep and ****, so it seems daunting to amass the 45 000 necessary to upgrade even a small deck.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: Espithel on December 06, 2014, 10:01:17 pm
An infinite electrum glitch doesn't exist. It was an example.

But, positive and negative are kinda subjective.

I mean, wouldn't we all, the players, LOVE an infinite electrum glitch? Positive to us.
If Zanz found people were abusing such a glitch though, he'd freak out. Negative to him.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 10:05:48 pm
But also negative to us, as part of the challenge would evaporate!  Also, upgraded cards would become common, and we would need Zanzarino to design "Ultra Upgrades" which cost 15 000ep, a rare weapon, a shard, and a human baby to acquire.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 06, 2014, 11:03:13 pm
That is true.  Once I came to predict the behavior of the AI, the arena really opened up for me (excepting, of course, the braindead Aether rushes we all love so much)
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 28, 2014, 07:58:14 pm
Depends on your perspective on positive.

Is a glitch to get infinite electrum a positive glitch or a negative glitch?

Someone mentioned this the other day in a bug forum, saying PvP one allowed you to make unlimited electrum.  That is insane - what a boring waste of time!  Who would actually do this?  Electrum isn't even that useful, because (IMHO) the rare are what really make the game go around.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: bossitron on December 29, 2014, 02:34:32 am
a glitch where you got infinite electrum would be horrible. it would leave people with no incentive to actually play the game and legitimate players who didn't abuse this would always get destroyed by someone who does.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 29, 2014, 04:12:51 am
I agree - that it is pointless - but rares are, to me, the challenge
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: Sera on December 29, 2014, 04:37:55 am
It's pretty simple, actually. Games are designed to work well. If there's a glitch, then it shouldn't follow design. And if it doesn't follow the design, it's highly likely that it will harm the game experience. Even if it's a glitch that only gives players a minor disadvantage, it still breaks game experience, because now people are supposed to abuse the glitch instead of actually enjoying the game to progress as fast as everyone else. I think this is common for almost every game.
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: allembrande jackson on December 29, 2014, 11:39:12 pm
And I think that is the answer I was looking for.  Thanks Puff

You are a magic Dragon

What about ('q' stands for colourless quanta)
_________________
| Magic Dragon: 10q |
|                             |
|  OO                       |
|  vv  \         /          |
|         \      /            |
|           \_/              |
|           ^^       5/4  |
|                             |
| 2q: Generate a       |
| 'Jackie Paper'         |
|________________|

_________________
| Jackie Paper:     4q |
|                             |
|           OO              |
|            /|\             |
|             ^             |
|            | |             |
|           ^^       0/3 |
|                             |
| 5q: Generate a       |
| 'Magic Dragon'       |
|________________|
Title: Re: Tech, Philosophy, and Bugs
Post by: dragtom on December 30, 2014, 12:53:31 am
actually, I've seen one game with quite a few giltches that I'd consider 'positive'.
Namely, in the game called 'platform racing 2'.
The game itself was only fun for so long, as most levels were pretty much a variaton on the rest.
Glitches, on the other hand, were tricky to pull off, allowing for much more challenging levels.
While unintended initially, they provided so much, that they never got fixed.

Of course, during the design of a level (there is an editor), you'd have to make sure that glitching through it isn't possible.

As for the reason glitches are rarely 'positive' for those it happens on, is that they are kept 'secret' untill fixed.
If a person unaware of a glitch faces somebody who randomly gets a positive effect, he probably thinks he faces a cheater.
If that person would bump into a glitch that set him back, he'd more likely recognise it as a glitch.
blarg: