Molyneux Seeks Curiosity Beta Testers

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Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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Molyneux Seeks Curiosity Beta Testers



If you have a spare hour and an Apple mobile device Peter Molyneux would like your help.

Nobody knows what's inside Peter Molyneux's Curiosity - What's Inside the Cube [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/117778-Molyneuxs-Curiosity-Offers-77-800-DLC], but if you want to get a first glimpse at gameplay and have either an iPad or iPhone, you could volunteer to Beta test. It's only going to be a brief test - running about an hour from 1600 GMT, Tuesday to Friday - but Molyneux needs the feedback to tweak his Cube to perfection.

"As we get nearer to releasing our first App Curiosity - What's Inside the Cube," says the commentators complained [http://www.facebook.com/22Cans?ref=stream&sk=app_408047395921554] that only Apple mobile devices were being included in the beta. 22 Cans was reluctant to discuss the issue, saying only that "we're currently testing (and developing) for iOS."

Gameplay as it has been described so far is simple enough. Chip away the Cube one bit at a time, and the first to the center gets to see what all the fuss is about. There's a lot of bits to chip before that happens, so Molyneux has offered to sell players chisels to get the job done faster; the most expensive is a diamond chisel, the only one of its kind, on sale for $77,838 (£50,000). Molyneux calls the Cube a test of "the psychology of monetization," and says he is attempting to determine whether curiosity alone is enough to get players spending cash.

Source: PC Gamer [http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/09/11/whats-in-the-cube-sneak-a-peek-in-this-weeks-curiosity-beta-tests/]


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Chinchama

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What type of feedback is there to give? Advice on texture/graphics of the cube? or chipping animations arent pretty enough? ...does it even matter?

Seems like a pointless beta.
 

Bernzz

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When is he going to admit that it's a cash grab?

Chinchama said:
What type of feedback is there to give? Advice on texture/graphics of the cube? or chipping animations arent pretty enough? ...does it even matter?

Seems like a pointless beta.
Agreed.
 

Rainforce

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"we're currently testing (and developing) for iOS."
aaand the curiosity is gone. (don't have any iOS device)
...that was pretty easy, in hindsight. He could've told us that sooner though, but maybe I'm just jumping to conclusions here.
 

Azuaron

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Bernzz said:
When is he going to admit that it's a cash grab?
Umm...

Karloff said:
Molyneux calls the Cube a test of "the psychology of monetization," and says he is attempting to determine whether curiosity alone is enough to get players spending cash.
I think he just did...

Basically, there's either going to be something really amazing inside, a "haha, aren't you dumb" joke, something really pretentious, or it will be empty (which, also really pretentious).

Or there will be... ANOTHER CUBE! SUCKERS!
 

Tallim

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Mar 16, 2010
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This has potential to be the biggest Rick Roll in history.

And really? A public Beta test for THIS?

Oh not sure if this is a bug or a feature but it's BORING.
 

Formica Archonis

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Nov 13, 2009
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Ah, Petey, I'd love to but I've got this other game I'm beta testing. It's nothing world-shattering. A platformer, a little bit Trine-ish. But there's this odd thing about it: Even after my onscreen heroine gets caught in a wall or falls out of the world geometry or vanishes for the duration of her attack animation, I keep wanting to play. Why? It's fun. You might want to try that some time.

Honestly, Peter needs to think hard about what he's doing. Questioning if curiosity alone will make people spend money is all well and good, and I can't (too harshly) condemn good ol' naked greed, but there's probably a psych study with better controls and a low-variable environment that provides cleaner and more useful results. Less profit to be made, but without seeing some hard numbers I honestly don't believe he's made back server costs on this 'experiment'.

When these experiments were announced I was intrigued, because I was expecting them to be cranked out one after the other, cheapie things each with a different core mechanic in an effort to see what grabs people. So far it's been one big hype machine that's cashing out his rep for... not much of anything. At this rate it's going to be about three or four YEARS before he's done dicking about with these things. And then he can start making a game based off info he gleaned from teenagers who are now in college and college students who are now in the workforce.

I don't know about anyone else, but in a 24/7 industry where new kings are crowned and forgotten overnight, Peter's plan seems to be to lean on his name more than I honestly think it can support.
 

Marik Bentusi

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Chinchama said:
What type of feedback is there to give? Advice on texture/graphics of the cube? or chipping animations arent pretty enough? ...does it even matter?

Seems like a pointless beta.
He probably wants to know at what stage people start buying stuff in hopes of winning the game, or how many people choose to withhold their chisels for a good opportunity. It could just be most people hold back, some start digging, but eventually those get bored because of slow progress, and the project de facto dies out.

Such a scenario could be countered for example by lower tier chisels that go for microtransactions or other incentives that keeps people interested until the final sprint is happening.
 

F'Angus

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Nov 18, 2009
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Really he's trying to determine is whether people are stupid enough to spend insane amounts of money on a cube. The answer, yes.

I would like to know what's inside, but I'll wait till someone opens it and finds a LOLcat.
 

antipunt

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Jan 3, 2009
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What if.... the BETA ITSELF IS A PART OF THE TEST O_O

:conspiracy keanu:

anyways, I'm totally immune to Curiosity because my thrifty shield is at 100% power >_>
 

Nurb

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Dec 9, 2008
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>Molyneux
>Seeking Beta Testers

Alright!

>Apple mobile device
>mobile app
>monetization

...Fuck off old man
 

frobalt

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Jan 2, 2012
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Karloff said:
Many commentators complained [https://www.facebook.com/22Cans/posts/465985423421602] that only Apple mobile devices were being included in the beta. 22 Cans was reluctant to discuss the issue, saying only that "we're currently testing (and developing) for iOS."

It's bad enough that this thing has been delayed already, but he needs a beta test on it? And making it iOS has just made me completely lose respect for this guy.