75 Comments

1. keith says:

   2012/04/22 at 02:43

   Looking good. Loved reading that chat. Looking forward to all the data you have been collecting
2. Phil says:

   2012/04/22 at 03:46

   Fat party guest is OP, needs nerf.

   But in all seriousness I like the idea that there are other things to consider when choosing characters other than cosmetic.
3. Matthew says:

   2012/04/22 at 06:14

   The more I see, the more I want! Also “You were chillin’ nervously.” totally sums up what I imagine when I think about this game.
4. Mike says:

   2012/04/22 at 08:44

   Dang, missed the cut again! My wife is going out of town tonight, throw me a bone! :)

   No, in all seriousness, as long as more gameplay footage and game info keeps coming out it satiates my Spyparty appetite…for now!
5. Zeroth says:

   2012/04/22 at 10:30

   I can’t belive there are 4 people with 0 hours played when someone has 17 hours! Send an invite this way, Checker!
6. stan m.d. says:

   2012/04/22 at 11:09

   51 people in the game. I’m counting down to 707. This is so great, thanks for these chat logs!
7. Paul says:

   2012/04/22 at 11:47

   For the 3 beta testers who have played the longest:
   skrymir wins 57% of the time for both spy and sniper.
   bogger wins as spy 55% of the time, and sniper 50%.
   arbaard wins as spy 54% of the time, and sniper 67%.

   Checker, however, wins as spy 80% of the time, and sniper 79%!

   Chris, I think you should play some more online matches and even out those percentages. It’s only fair. (Also, I would love to see a video of you losing an online match.)
   • checker says:

     2012/04/23 at 10:13

     The current percentages are pretty worthless, just because those numbers don’t take into account how handicapped the game was, the skill level differences, etc. I basically wanted to put some information up there, but don’t pay too close attention to the individual numbers besides number of games played and time played. I’ll get a real ranking algorithm in soon and we’ll see what that spits out.
8. James says:

   2012/04/22 at 13:19

   WOW someone has 300+ games played already! That’s awesome. I can’t wait to play this, these people are so lucky!
9. cameron says:

   2012/04/22 at 14:07

   Please please please invite randoms so those of us who are farther back in the list have hope!!! We can’t wait!!! :)
   • checker says:

     2012/04/23 at 10:14

     I’m currently doing 20 from the list in order, and 10 randomized from everybody, so you have a chance!
10. Nocturna says:

    2012/04/22 at 18:56

    Invite me please!!!! I referred someone successfully, doesn’t that count for anything?

    Also, if I do get an invite, would it be illegal or discouraged to post gameplay videos?
    • Devin says:

      2012/04/22 at 19:33

      It would actually be encouraged, I think. Chris needs people to get the word out about the game in any way possible. And I’m sure everyone still waiting in line would appreciate some good footage of SpyParty gameplay. A few people have already posted gameplay videos or are planning to do live streams.

      You just might want to check with whoever you play with to make sure they’re alright with it.
    • Collin Hausman says:

      2012/04/23 at 02:35

      “You are welcome to talk about SpyParty as much as you want in public. You can record videos and post them to youtube, post on your blog, or twitter, or facebook about it, comment about it on gaming blogs, or mention it and your beta testing experiences where ever you like. 
      I’m even totally comfortable with you talking about it if you don’t like it, but at least post a link here or send it to support at spyparty.com so I can take a look at your criticisms and learn from them.” 

      -checker
    • checker says:

      2012/04/23 at 14:10

      Yeah, please talk about the game everywhere and anywhere!  Indie games like this need a lot of help spreading the word!
11. Jason says:

    2012/04/22 at 22:21

    So many hours played already! I have a feeling I’m going to be such a noob!
12. Zephrynn says:

    2012/04/23 at 01:46

    I know what you mean… by the time us later ones are invited, we’ll just be destroyed by those who are already in the beta!

    Loved the tutorial video, looking forward to more, especially some split screen real gameplay of sniper & spy!
    • checker says:

      2012/04/23 at 10:15

      Yeah, I don’t know if anybody’s managed to do that yet, or how they even would right now…both stream at the same time, and recombine them later? Anyway, it’d be awesome!
    • Zephrynn says:

      2012/04/23 at 17:37

      Awesome, I’ll try tee up a few games with someone who is already posting vids and put something together once I’m in :)

      Out of curiosity, how geographically spread have the beta invites been so far? Since I’m from Australia, how playable would the game still be if I’m against someone in the USA? Can the GUI show your ping?
    • Amagineer says:

      2012/04/23 at 20:44

      What if you provide some kind of replay/gamesave mechanism, in which the movements of the sniper and the spy (with camera) are saved, allowing review from the spy’s perspective, the sniper’s perspective, and potentially a “free-cam” perspective in which the watcher could move their viewpoint around as they pleased?
    • checker says:

      2012/04/23 at 20:47

      Yep, that’s totally the plan, I just mean without that, the two people will have to record the sides for the same game, and then merge them.
13. Collin Hausman says:

    2012/04/23 at 02:39

    I have siiiiiiiiiggnned up! 

    It’s funny because I don’t own a computer. 
14. Eric says:

    2012/04/23 at 09:20

    I had an gameplay idea that I’m not sure if it’s been suggested before. (Is there a particular place on this site to suggest features? I just figured I’d comment on a recent entry.) The idea is that the party could have random events that cause most or all of the NPCs to react in some way. If the spy was too busy doing spy things to notice, it would be another behavioral tell. Not sure if that is a good explanation, so some examples:

    1. A lady chokes and passes out (maybe a little extreme, but for the sake of the example). Everyone gathers around to see if she is ok. In order to blend in, the spy would need to feign interest for a short time rather than continue swapping statues. She would have to recover shortly to give the spy a chance to complete his stuff though.

    2. Somebody gathers people around to watch a magic trick.
    3. Somebody makes a toast and people stop what they are doing and pay attention.

    My point is that a party sometimes has a flow of activity or focus rather than only mingling.
    • checker says:

      2012/04/23 at 10:16

      Yep, there’s definitely going to be stuff like that, some of it triggered by the Sniper even!
    • Zephrynn says:

      2012/04/23 at 17:41

      Chris, we’re you ever planning on posting a ‘submit your mission ideas’ thread further down the track? Would be cool if we could submit and rate ideas (think steam workshop). 
    • checker says:

      2012/04/23 at 19:10

      Yeah, totally.  There’s a place for this in the beta forums, which will eventually be public once I open up the beta.

      For now, feel free to post it on the About page, or here, or whereever.
    • Nocturna says:

      2012/04/23 at 19:28

      It should definitely be cool if the sniper gets to interact, if even only a little bit, because that would add more depth to the sniper position.
    • Zephrynn says:

      2012/04/23 at 20:47

      I reckon it’d be cool to be able to include items that effect gameplay in a risk vs reward format similar to Team Fortress.

      Obviously you can’t modify the characters at all, so how about the furnishings? Before starting a match, both the sniper and spy could pick a couple of furnishings to be placed in the party room. For example, you could add in a grandfather clock that grants an extra 10 seconds when the spy adds time. The downside could be the clock would make a gong sound when the spy does so. 

      It’d also give the players a way to personalize their experiences more and extend replay value by finding/earning more items. But this would be waaaaay down thew track though…
    • Quirken says:

      2012/04/23 at 20:49

      I think what Zephrynn is saying is that this game needs hats.

      … I think having some customization on the level to be played is good, but I don’t think unlockables really mesh well with a game where skill is based on how much you’ve played, as it would further tilt things in favor of the person who plays more.
    • Zephrynn says:

      2012/04/24 at 02:29

      No hats! But a hat rack would be an amusing reference :P
    • checker says:

      2012/04/24 at 04:08

      Very true!
15. Quirken says:

    2012/04/23 at 15:09

    It’s great seeing the stats like this!
16. maarch says:

    2012/04/24 at 13:21

    Not even on the beta, and I already read and watched the tutorial, etc.. I’m ready to play as soon as I receive the invite ( after some practice for sure ;p )
    But the game really do offer something unique and I truly love it, I don’t know my position in the list, but I cannot wait to get in after 2 years following the development !
17. Nocturna says:

    2012/04/24 at 17:39

    Is there any way we could get some sort of an idea about when we’ll be getting an invite? Like could you tell us how long ago the person who got the latest invite signed up.
    • Quirken says:

      2012/04/24 at 17:41

      Checker will invite people when he invites them. Commenting asking for your place in line (or an estimate) is just distracting Checker from doing work that might actually get him to where he can invite more than ~20 people at a time.

      But chances are, if you didn’t sign up roughly a full year ago, it’ll be a while. IIRC, there were 12,000ish signups, and he’s only invited under 100 people so far.

      He *has* said that he’ll randomly invite a few folks out of line order, but still. Just wait. You’ll get it eventually!
    • checker says:

      2012/04/24 at 22:13

      Everybody be nice, please.  :)  I can empathize with Nocturna, and I’m really sorry everybody’s had to wait so long!

      I’m currently doing sets of 30, where 20 are from the front of the line, and 10 randomized from the rest of the list.  Trust me, I wish I could invite people in faster, but I don’t want to get overwhelmed with bugs and melt the server, and then nobody will have a good time, so I’m being methodical and a bit conservative about it.

      My original post about how the early part of the beta is going to go is still how I’m going to do it moving forward.  So, if you’re in the first 1000 or 2000 people, you’ll probably get in within a few weeks.  If you’re past that, unless you get randomly picked, it’s going to be a bit longer since I have to get the lobbyserver running in the cloud before I bring more people in.
    • Nocturna says:

      2012/04/25 at 16:01

      Ok, I apologize for taking up your time.
    • checker says:

      2012/04/25 at 16:21

      No, not at all! I was trying to tell Quirken to empathize with people still waiting in line! :)
    • Quirken says:

      2012/04/26 at 17:06

      I don’t have 1/10th of your patience, checker :P

      Didn’t think I sounded grumpy, so I apologize for that
    • checker says:

      2012/04/26 at 18:17

      No worries, I invited him into the beta because I felt bad about it. You guys can work it out in-game. :)
18. AVB says:

    2012/04/25 at 23:40

    Just a quick thought. What are you going to do with the highly trained snipers that will be entering the game? Earlier you had said how people just watching Spyparty matches became better snipers and with some many people waiting and watching youtube channels newcomers will be much better snipers. The longer it takes for Spyparty to go open the more unbalanced the newcomers will be….
    • checker says:

      2012/04/25 at 23:45

      Good question!  That kind of watching Sniper practice is only good for a few games worth of play advantage, I think.  Unlike PAX, where people would sit down for one game of each role and it would make a big difference, people are logging on and playing a ton of games in a sitting.  That observation advantage will be swamped by actual play within a few minutes (unless they’re hard-core studying, in which case, good for them! :).
    • AVB says:

      2012/04/26 at 00:02

      That is relieving, I want to play spy (though the current trend is to play both) and do not want an uphill battle… at least not a first.
    • Quirken says:

      2012/04/26 at 02:20

      As Checker invites more people, you’ll be able to play against people of similar skill levels. It’s easy to tell who is more advanced simply by looking at how many games they’ve played/won. I have yet to play in a game that felt unfairly matched, simply because I’ve only played against people with similar amount of playtime.
19. Comrade says:

    2012/04/26 at 16:14

    dbfclark:  wasn’t why I shot him
    …
    arbaard:   what did he do?
    dbfclark:  drank too fast, I thought
    ————————————-

    Moral of the story: Never empty your drink too fast in a social setting, or the sniper outside the window will think you’re a spy.
20. WolfieSelkie says:

    2012/04/30 at 14:58

    I’ve gotten to the point where I have mixed feelings about the SpyParty beta. I’m sad because I thought I’d signed up super early and would be one of the first to get in… I haven’t received an invite so far. However, I’m amazingly happy that SpyParty is getting the attention it deserves and I think it’s great that there was so much excitement for SpyParty that a lot of people were even faster than me to sign up.

    I’m at the point now where I’ve watched doctorwhy’s videos multiple times, the Guild Wars 2 beta just ended, and I’m pulling my hair out wanting more SpyParty, regardless of if it’s an invite or just more videos from people who are already in the beta.

    I think I speak for mostly everyone, whether they are in the beta or not- the game is looking to be coming along great and looks amazingly fun. It seems like there is enough variation in the encounters between Spy and Sniper through each game you play that the gameplay will stay fresh and exciting, with a different experience and outcome every time.

    I’m pretty sure I’d be able to upload videos once I got into the beta and I think it’s great that there are people that are uploading videos to YouTube, and that Chris allows and encourages them to do so. Hopefully we will have more guys uploading gameplay videos to YouTube as more people get invited, and SpyParty will gain a lot more attention because of it.

    Thanks for the game Chris, and thanks to the guys who are uploading videos to YouTube for those who are going insane waiting for their invite!
    • checker says:

      2012/04/30 at 18:11

      Thanks for the awesome comment, but don’t be sad, it makes me sad when you’re sad!  I must fix bugs so I can invite more people in, not be sad!  :)
    • WolfieSelkie says:

      2012/04/30 at 18:20

      Ha, I will try my best to suppress those negative emotions… And maybe the positive ones too… Good practice for becoming a Spy and blending in with the AI ;)

      In all seriousness though, I cannot wait to get into the beta. Human behavioural patterns and interactions are something that I find absolutely fascinating, and for these concepts to be a major part in SpyParty, I can’t help but constantly check my email account for an invite :)
    • Quirken says:

      2012/04/30 at 18:49

      You will get in eventually :) Try to look at the bright side: when you get in, it will be even better!
    • WolfieSelkie says:

      2012/05/04 at 23:10

      Just to follow up on what I said about possibly being able to upload videos of SpyParty once I get an invite… I spent the past couple of nights fiddling with streaming settings and mic levels and such, and it seems that I can stream to Twitch.tv in 1600×900, and the quality looks really nice.

      So after messing around not really knowing what I was doing, it appears that I have the option of recording videos and uploading to YouTube, or streaming directly to Twitch.tv- Which is a massive bonus considering I wasn’t sure how well it’d work. I’ll definitely be streaming a ton of SpyParty once I get in, and I’ll open up my channel for people to watch if they want to. As long as Chris doesn’t have a change of heart about people posting videos and such, I will definitely be playing and streaming a ton of SpyParty :)
    • checker says:

      2012/05/05 at 01:29

      No change of heart, a bunch of people are streaming it and posting videos, and the more the merrier!  I’m going to do a blog post with links to all of the ones I know about soon.
21. maarch says:

    2012/05/01 at 09:55

    You should put a countdown on the website. So every-time you are about to send invites, the countdown would reach 0. 
    Then freaks like us who come here everyday could wait for the countdown to end,  rush to our email and hope of being part of the few lucky selected one. 

    But then again… I guess I would rather have you make the game work better so you can invite more peoples in faster. 

    Forget what I said… I’ll go cry in my corner waiting for the invite :( 
    Keep up the good work !
    • checker says:

      2012/05/01 at 16:10

      Yeah, a countdown would just make more people upset, as I blew by 0 without sending more invites because I was stuck on a bug or something!  Following SpyParty on Twitter is the best way to get instant notification of when to check your email.  :)
    • Quirken says:

      2012/05/01 at 20:36

      One thing you might try doing is putting a marker somewhere on the website saying where you are in terms of beta invites, either in terms of raw “number that have gone out” or “latest sign-up that is in beta.”

      Example: I signed up 5/14/2011 (yay old emails!) Since you’re going in (roughly, minus some randomization) FIFO order, if you assume I was the last in my batch, you could then put 5/14 as a heuristic so people could estimate how long until they’ll get in, based on when they signed up.

      Then again, you’d probably need a big paragraph explaining that, so the simpler solution (or as it is now) is probably better :)
    • checker says:

      2012/05/01 at 20:52

      Yeah, let me think about that.
22. Rune says:

    2012/05/06 at 15:00

    I am well aware that just replying to the newest post might not be the most obvious medium, but I just had to finally voice my appreciation for this game!

    Firstly, let me say that I’ve been following your work on this site and on your twitter for almost a year now – actually I just checked my e-mail, and it’s only 5 days to my “sign-up-anniversary” – and I’ve never stopped being fascinated by your thoughts and speculations, and how carefully you shape your game. It’s really, really nice to be able to follow your process.

    But anyway, I thought I would finally write something here. And I think it is sparked by the fact that I’ve just spent my entire sunday evening watching every scrap of gameplay footage on Youtube (must be well over 3 hours – plus some reviewings to try and spot the spy earlier. I figure every bit of “practice” counts!) with my brother, and I just overloaded on SpyParty. I should tell you that me and my brother are extremely(!) competitive when it comes to games, and I just can’t wait to fool him as a spy. I just can’t! But, relating to that, I have some questions:

    Have you found that there’s any difference now when beta testers are playing each other distantly, as opposed to fx PAX and your earlier testings, when people where face to face? I ask because my brother and I probably would be playing opposite each other, and you had a post once, where you talked about some guy flicking the cam control to make the sniper think he was moving. I hope that question was understandable.

    Have you invited anyone outside the US yet? I’m Danish myself (this at the same time an apology for any inunderstandable english in this post) and just wondering. Especially since the video makers all seemed “american”.

    I could ask much more, but I realize that this post is already way too long. So, I’ll save them for when I eventually get in – I can promise you that two devoted testers are waiting in the form of my brother and me!

    Great work on the game
    Rune

    P.S. My name IS Rune, it’s a proper (albeit unusual) in Denmark. Hey, what do you know, language lessons.
    • Ashiataka says:

      2012/05/06 at 19:38

      Until you said you were Danish, I wouldn’t have known English wasn’t your first language.
    • checker says:

      2012/05/06 at 23:36

      Welcome to the blog, glad you decided to comment after soon long!  Yeah, as long as people are communicating with chat, the online games seem to be close to the in-person games.  Sometimes I see people play a few games and never chat, and I’m betting they didn’t have as good a time as the folks who do the post-game analysis every time, and they also probably don’t improve as fast.  Just a simple “why’d you shoot him/her/me?” and then a reply makes a big difference.

      There are a bunch of people from outside the US in, and more to come!  I’ll probably do a geolocated IP invite at some point to get some of the weirder timezones.  :)
    • maarch says:

      2012/05/06 at 23:38

      Maybe you could also invite people who speak another language like french ( in quebec ) to play the game to.

      Ok it would have no effect at all on the gameplay… I’m just trying to find a reason to get invited :p Always worth a try. 
    • Rune says:

      2012/05/07 at 03:07

      @ Ashiataka: Thank you very much, I’ll take that as a compliment!

      @ Checker: Well, as I said, in many ways a comment was overdue. I’m actually a bit surprised that some people “play a few times and never chat”. To me, I think, half the fun would be to analyze every little move. On that note, have you ever thought of some type of in-game replay feature? I realize that it isn’t an urgent feature, but that would be something that could really help people practice.

      Actually my question was more like: “Have you noticed any difference now that the real life out-of-the-game tells aren’t there?” Like fx the flicking of the cam control. I am divided between thinking that it adds another layer of deception or if it isn’t relevant at all.

      In that case, I hope Copenhagens GMT+1 counts as a “weird timezone”. :)

      Rune
    • checker says:

      2012/05/07 at 03:19

      PAX was actually a pretty good test of that, because it’s so loud there, and the monitors blocked all view of the other person, so it was basically like being alone, and it worked okay, so I was pretty sure it’d work fine over the internet.  The in-person tells are all kinda cheap, really.  They’re funny, but not really central to the game.

      Replays and spectation are the next big features on the list.
    • Comrade says:

      2012/05/07 at 12:43

      “On that note, have you ever thought of some type of in-game replay feature? I realize that it isn’t an urgent feature, but that would be something that could really help people practice.”

      A ‘ghost replay’ for snipers would be really cool. Trying to catch the spy before someone else’s (or your own) ghost sniper replay shoots him.
      It’d also be beneficial for the spy, to get to see (and interact with) the view of the sniper who just shot you.
    • Quirken says:

      2012/05/07 at 13:19

      I think the real appeal of head-to-head is right after a game ends, being able to communicate/gloat/taunt/congratulate face-to-face.
    • checker says:

      2012/05/07 at 13:37

      Yeah, I’m going to have a replay mode where it disables the laser and highlights so you can play the Sniper pretty cleanly.
    • Quirken says:

      2012/05/07 at 13:53

      it might be nice to have those as an optional toggle for the laser so that newbie snipers could watch what the other one was doing, while still trying to be one step ahead (the sniper laser does, after all, affect what the spy is or isn’t doing)
23. SignPainter says:

    2012/05/12 at 11:36

    Will you ever put up like statistics like how many people signed up and how many invited, just so we can roughly estimate how long we would have to wait. For me at least, that would ease my impatience.
    • checker says:

      2012/05/15 at 01:27

      Yeah, I’m just drowning in bugs and tuning fixes right now, so I haven’t had a chance to improve things for those still on the outside, for which I apologize! But, at least the game will hopefully work better when you do get invited in!
24. TNB says:

    2012/05/12 at 17:56

    I didn’t want to misplace this here but with twitter you only get so many characters :(. Anyways I’ve been following this whole SpyParty thing you’ve been working on for quite a while. I finally confirmed my email to get the early-access beta invitation. I know it can take a great long while to get one. I was wondering if there was any way to get it a little bit earlier or if you were ever going to pick a random batch again? I don’t mean to sound hasty. I’m just really excited to finally sign-up :)!

                          With Love,
                                TNB   
    • checker says:

      2012/05/15 at 01:28

      I do batches of in-order and random, so lately it’s been 100 invites, 60 in order of signup, and 40 random.
25. Bruce says:

    2012/05/14 at 17:15

    I’m starting to think my name has been lost somewhere in the beta sign up.

    In 2 days, it will be a full year since I’ve signed up. ;_;
    • checker says:

      2012/05/14 at 17:31

      Sorry, it hasn’t been lost, I’m just really slow!
    • WolfieSelkie says:

      2012/05/14 at 17:33

      Gah, I think I need to unsubscribe to this thread… My heart skipped a beat when I got the notification email. I managed to convince myself for about 0.5 seconds that it was DEFINITELY my beta invite :( Going to go cry in the corner now haha
    • Comrade says:

      2012/05/14 at 18:58

      Same here, freaked out for a second, then wondered why I received three separate notifications of my beta-invite… only to find out it wasn’t an invite.
      Three days until my “one year from signup” anniversary.
26. James says:

    2012/05/14 at 21:26

    As I understand from your twitter, there is currently a tournament going on?
    Is there anyway that us non-beta people could get an update on how said tournament is panning out?
    I’d love to see some videos of the final matches, whenever they are.

    P.S. My one year sign-up anniversary for the beta is tomorrow. You know what would be an awesome gift…? ;)
    • checker says:

      2012/05/15 at 00:34

      Yeah, I’ll definitely post about it!  So many posts backed up at this point…gah!