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Peter Molyneux and 22 Cans’ intended Populous heir Godus is the most miserable gaming experience I’ve had in many a year. It was so crushingly short on joy and cleverness, it seemed like a tech demo made without a design, it seemed to believe Farmville was gaming’s future, it was a betrayal of its own heritage, and it was an insult to all that had been promised. I struggled to find anything to convince me that it existed for any reason beyond making money. As an angry young man, I loathed games often. These days, I simply feel sadness and tiredness when I play a game I don’t enjoy. But Godus I loathed, and completely so. There should be no surprise, by now, at unmet promises, but the sheer scale of the oath-breaking here was breathtaking.

Now there is Godus 2.0. There are apologies. There are promises. There is talk of it being an almost ground-up rethink. It may very well be true, and certainly an attempt at salvage on this scale is to be admired. But there’s been too much water under the bridge to take any of it at face value. … [visit site to read more]

Godus creator Peter Molyneux told me how much he's enjoying responding to feedback and using analytics to change his game in "massive ways." In the din of the Eurogamer Expo press area, the 54-year-old designer showed me spreadsheets stuffed with values that he could adjust there and then, things like how much an in-game follower wants to build temples or how social they'll be. It wasn't lost on me that I was watching the man behind the multi-million selling Fable series show me the Excel innards of his indie game.

Molyneux described these values as smaller changes that are easier to effect, but he talked about how 22 Cans has "totally changed" the rules of the game's multiplayer in Steam Early Access: "We love the Early Access thing, we love that every week there's going to be radical changes to this game."

It is 1991. I am eagerly clicking my way into my copy of Populous II, recently purchased from WHSmith (can you imagine!) and Uncle John is watching over my shoulder. He observes for a while, and then says “just looks like a lot of clicking to me.” It is, I say, but there’s something going on here, a struggle, a strategy.

It is 2013. I am eagerly clicking my way into my copy of Godus, recently purchased from Steam, and the internet is watching over my shoulder. It observes for a while and then comments “lol, just looks like a lot of clicking to me.” It is, I say, but there’s something going on here. Isn’t there? This time I am not so sure.

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Peter Molyneux is up to his old tricks again, for better or worse. He’s gone gaga for Godus, and he wants the world to hear all about it. And who knows? Maybe this time – finally, after years of squandering his legendary status on unfulfilled promises and mediocre games – he’s onto something. Godus certainly sounds fascinating, with Molyneux describing it as a massively polytheistic EVE-Online-inspired social experiment that seems destined for player-driven chaos. But there are still far too many question marks, with the Curiosity-born god of gods and an offline single-player story being the biggest. So I took my promise-weary, cynical heart to Molyneux, and here’s how he replied.

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True fact: pretty much all I do is interview Peter Molyneux. I try to do it as much as possible, because that’s the only time Jim lets me out of my box. Coincidentally, Molyneux knows a thing or two about boxes. His most recent one, Curiosity, erupted into a poof cloud of half-truths and forgotten promises, but now he’s sweeping them away to reveal a god game that might just be worth getting excited over. Admittedly, I say this with the caveat that Molyneux’s swung pretty wide of the mark in recent years, so take his promises to heart with a hefty swill of caution.

That said, he describes Godus as an insanely ambitious massively multiplayer EVE-Online-inspired god game social experiment – a “reinvention” of the genre if ever there was one. Head below for details on multiplayer, crazy god wars, why Curiosity was instrumental in reaching this point, the lessons Molyneux’s taking from EVE’s successes and failures, and tons more.

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The Godus beta will appear for us mortals not in a burning bush, but on Steam. Molyneux and friends’ “regenesis” of the god game will appear on September 13th, for $19.99, £14.99 or €18.99. Personally I can’t wait to get my hands on it, if just to keep the critical demon which feeds on my soul fed and warm.

Rather fetching beta trailer, below.(more…)

Game Informer have done a lovely thing and put Sean Vanaman (the creative lead and author of Telltale’s The Walking Dead games) in the same room as famed promiser-of-worlds, 22Cans’ Peter Molyneux. The consequence of this gentlemanly chat was an extended discussion of how Telltale have tried to up stakes on the adventure genre, writing for games in general, and some stuff about zombies: a topic on which all developers now have to part a three-stage exam if they want to be allowed to continue developing videogames.

Watch it below.(more…)

I played Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube.

I played it for a few hours over the course of its six-month lifespan. I feel a small amount of shame in confessing this, shame that I don't feel about anything else I've ever played - not Hooters Road Trip, not Dragon Power, nor any of the other terrible things I've subjected myself to. At least those things were games. Curiosity is a repetitive chore with a thin layer of "game" over it. It's gamification, applied to nothing.

But despite making fun of it relentlessly - and, on a couple of occasions, even simultaneously while making fun of it - I tapped cubes. My ironic detachment failed, and I couldn't help but buy into the hype on some level, at least enough to participate.

I admit that even though I knew it was a dumb game predicated on a promise from someone notorious for hyperbolic and unfulfilled promises, the novelty of the "life-changing prize" intrigued me. And so I joined thousands of strangers in helping some guy scratch off the world's most annoying lottery ticket.

After six months, Curiosity's final layer was peeled away today. No one knows yet what was inside the box after all of that clicking. Peter Molyneux tweeted that the winner is in the UK. On May 1 he said the prize will "change that person's life forever."

Peter Molyneux's 22cans studio has completed its Kickstarter for Godus with £526,563 ($852K) in funding, from 17,184 backers. The game, which is a spiritual successor to Molyneux's Populous, reached its Kickstarter goal of £450,000 two days ago.

If you'd like to check out some prototypes for Godus, 22cans gave an overview earlier this week, following up with a multiplayer video. The game will be out when Molyneux says it's out.

Kickstarter isn’t a kind place. Well, OK, aside from the whole “free money from the absurd generosity of people’s hearts” thing, I mean. But these days, if you don’t understand how to work the machine, it’ll chew you up and spit you right back out – probably with even fewer pennies to your name than when you first started. Even game design legends aren’t safe, as evidenced by high-profile failures like Old-School RPG and Dizzy Returns, and Peter Molyneux’s Project GODUS certainly looked like it could go either way. For better or worse, though, the Kickstarter deities have officially accepted fans’ offering, and GODUS will now get its wings.

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Peter Molyneux's studio 22cans has reached its £450,000 ($730K) Kickstarter goal for Godus, a spiritual successor to Molyneux's classic game Populous. The Project Godus Kickstarter reached its goal with a little under two days to go.

The studio has been a PR kick the past couple of days, summoning a pair of prototype videos that helped drive donations for the game's final days on the crowdsourcing site. The first gave a basic overview, while this morning's showed off the prototype for Godus' multiplayer.

Right then, lesson learned: Peter Molyneux really gets into multiplayer matches. He’s not one for pulling his verbal punches, either. Confronted with the idea that one of his employees could topple his burgeoning godtopia, he curtly fired back, “I’m the father of the god game genre.” You can’t really escalate it any further than that, can you? But yes, hot on the heels of a quick GODUS prototype, Molyneux and co cans have released a full-blown multiplayer demonstration. Granted, it’s extremely rough, but it’s certainly, well… something.

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Perception of time isn’t what I’d call one of my strongest traits. Case in point: has it really been nearly 30 days since Peter Molyneux and co’s Project GODUS stomped its monolithic, Monty-Python-like foot onto Kickstarter? And have I really been alive for more than 30 days? Am I older than that? Was high school years ago? How very strange. Anyway, we finally have a video now. Of GODUS, I mean – not my painfully awkward high school existence. Delve beyond that oh-so-divine of interventions known as the break to see an early prototype of the Populous successor in action.

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With three days left to go, and another £80,000 needed to reach its Kickstarter goal, Peter Molyneux's studio 22cans is throwing out a "hail mary" prototype video of Godus.

22cans also plans to post a second prototype video sometime today with commentary from Molyneux, detailing Godus features found in and missing from the current prototype video.

Project Godus currently has about £389,000 ($630K) in pledges, with a goal of £450,000 ($730K) and three days to go. Per the basic rule of Kickstarter, the project will not receive the pledged funding if it doesn't reach the goal. You can explore more about Godus and Molyneux's move back into indie development in our Super Joystiq Podcast Special.

#petermolyneux Peter Molyneux hasn't really had to worry about the money needed to make games before. More »

I love the development ‘show’ that’s accompanying the GODUS Kickstarter, because it shows the small team caught up in the decision making progress of Peter Molyneux OBE. The most recent diary has an amazing moment: the first time the game is shown running! It should be accompanied by balloons, streamers, Ode to Joy, and a visit from the Queen, but it’s instead turned into a game development jam session. And we all know jam rather can be rather sticky.(more…)

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Right that should get us the SEO hits, now let’s have some news about Peter Molyneux. His studio 22 Can’s divisive Project GODUS Kickstarter hasn’t set the crowd-funding world on fire to the degree he perhaps hoped – whether that’s because humanity has finally tired of his grand promises, of Kickstarted games or because the original pitch was so loose I can only guess. Now he’s saying there could be a playable prototype before the month is out, which would shake things up enormously (er, presuming it’s any good).(more…)

22 Cans Kickstarter project Godus will hopefully have a downloadable prototype by Christmas, Peter Molyneux told us in a recent interview. The 22 Cans founder, who is painfully aware of his public persona of over-promising over the years, recognizes Kickstarter projects are currently in that same precarious position.

"I hope by Christmas we have a prototype that people can download and say, 'Actually, you know what, they're already doing good work,'" Molyneux told us. "And this is what needs to happen with Kickstarter and games. The promises... wouldn't it be amusing if I was the one to prove this right? These promises have to result in great games."

Godus reaching its Kickstarter funding goal isn't a guarantee. The game (as of this writing) has £193,613 pledged of a £450,000 goal, with 18 days left to go. According to Kickstarter stat tracking site Kicktraq, the game will just make its funding goal if it sustains its average per day pledge total, but backers have been diminishing every day.

Last time I spoke with Peter Molyneux, he was practically abuzz with renewed vigor. He’d left Microsoft, started his own hand-picked studio, and ascended back into the high-concept realm he so loves to call home. But reality has a way of dousing even the most excited of flames, and Molyneux knows that better than just about anyone. But the godfather of god games was different when we spoke today: insanely thrilled to be launching a Kickstarter for his Populous meets Dungeon Keeper meets Black & White god opus GODUS, yes, but also wearied, frantic, and tremendously apologetic. It’s been a rough few weeks for 22 Cans, and it showed. And then something crazy happened: Molyneux cried. Openly. Without reservation. But not for the reason you might think. “I just,” he winced, his voice audibly cracking, “I still believe so much.”

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In an extraordinary interview to be published shortly, a clearly emotional Peter Molyneux broke down into tears when discussing the struggles he’s had with Curiosity, and his concerns about making promises for Kickstarter GODUS.

“I can’t blame people for not believing,” Molyneux responded, when it was suggested that his history of over-promising and under-delivering might hurt prospects for GODUS. Especially in light of the very negative reaction to Curiosity’s server failures – something the creator tells us was “a disaster”.

“I know I’ve said things,” Molyneux continued. “I wish I could not say them, I guess. I just… I still believe so much.”

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Peter Molyneux's next experiment with his new studio, 22 Cans, is a "reinvention" of his classic god game Populous, fittingly titled Godus. "Project Godus" is now live on Kickstarter, where 22 Cans is asking for £450,000 to develop this rebirth of god games for PC, iOS and Android.

"Godus blends the power, growth and scope of Populous with the detailed construction and multiplayer excitement of Dungeon Keeper, and the intuitive interface and technical innovation of Black & White," its Kickstarter description reads. It will be multiplayer, probably with up to eight players at a time (though it seems Molyneux would like more). 22 Cans expects Godus will take seven to nine months to develop.

This is the second endeavor from 22 Cans, following Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube. Check out the Kickstarter video for Godus below.

The last 48 hours have been tough for Peter Molyneux's new outfit, 22 Cans. After launching Curiosity: What's Inside the Cube? earlier this week on iOS and Android, the servers were overloaded by the sheer numbers of players participating. There is also another significant bug that seems to be erasing players' coins, which are used for in-game boosts.

The video update above was made by 22 Cans designer Jack, wherein he tours the office and asks a bunch of employees what they're doing about the problems. The team looks to be working to resolve these issues but, in response to the server overloads, 22 Cans has also opened a PayPal page for donations - you know, in case you really want to know what's inside that cube.

#curiosity Peter Molyneux and his team at 22cans are a visionary group, but that vision didn't include a million people eager to find out what's inside the cube in the developer's first foray into experimental mobile games. Today 22cans thanks tappers for their patience and promises to fix the connection and coin-retention problems with Curiosity. More »

If you ever read websites – or, indeed, words – other than RPS, you might have noticed that Peter Molyneux’s cube-tapping opus Curiosity is now officially inside the small, generally not-for-breaking wannabe-cubes we call mobile phones. You’ll remember, though, that 22 Cans’ original announcement definitely mentioned PC as well. So why aren’t we rapidly advancing our already inevitable carpal tunnel epidemic in hopes of gazing upon a “life-changing” secret? I got in touch with Molyneux to find out.

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#curiosity As Curiosity settles into its second day out in the wide world, players worldwide keep tapping away at the massive cube inside. More »

22Cans is at work fixing connectivity issues with Curiosity: What's Inside The Cube. If your experience with the networked cube-tapping game is limited to error messages, it should be addressed soon. "I now understand what's going on," Peter Molyneux tweeted. "Basically we and our server are overwhelmed by the number of people trying out the experiment." His team is working on an update.

As of writing, users who have successfully connected have cleared the first layer of "cubelets" off of two faces of the cube. After the first layer is completely cleared, players will begin clearing ... an unknown number of additional layers in an effort to find a secret in the center of the cube.

#curiosity It seems the world is indeed curious about what's inside the cube. More »

Peter Molyneux and 22 Cans' Curiosity - What's Inside the Cube? is now available for free on the App Store. The first of the studo's 22 "experiments" was due on Android tomorrow, but Molyneux tweeted this morning 22 Cans is now trying to push it out today.

So how does the game work? Quite simply, actually. Curiosity revolves around, surprise surprise, a giant cube. You can rotate the cube to get access to all six sides, and then zoom in and out as you please. The aim is to get to what's inside the cube, and that's done by tapping away at its sides to shatter its outer layers of 'cubelets,' one cubelet by one. Each tap alters the state of the cube on the game's servers - meaning in theory the cube appears the same to everyone at the same time. Of course, latency plays its part.

Tapping squares earns you coins, with multipliers added when you build up a run of taps. You can also earn coins by getting friends to play the game. Coins can be used to purchase square-smashing add-ons, like a diamond chisel or a bomb. We tried out the firecracker, which manically breaks the cubelets around it in a quick little spiral.

As for what's actually inside the cube, that is now public knowledge. And it is - drumroll please - a video link! That doesn't sound too exciting, but what's actually in the video? It could be instructions for how to find the secret treasures of Xanadu, or maybe all of Molyneux's hopes and dreams somehow condensed into five seconds of footage. Whatever it is, it'll be up to that one winner to decide whether to keep the link private or show it to the world. Of course, the winner could just link to some other vid and we'd never know.

Peter Molyneux's 22 Cans will satiate your Curiosity on November 7, releasing the game for free on Android and iOS. 22 Cans confirmed the Android release details to us, noting Curiosity: What's Inside The Cube? (to give it its full title) launches at 0.22AM Pacific (3.22 AM ET, 8.22AM British). Molyneux then tweeted Curiosity is arriving on the App Store the same day.

Curiosity is the first game from Molyneux's new outfit, and the first he'll have released since leaving Microsoft and Lionhead. Although, Molyneux is referring to Curiosity and his next 21 projects as experiments, before 22 Cans finally makes its one and only game proper. Whatever you want to call it, Curiosity is supposedly going to change someone's life forever.

So no, Molyneux hasn't really changed.