Sunday, May 13, 2012

Ginshu Phase 2: Closed Alpha and Pre-Orders

Wow, that happened quickly. The fifth alpha release already created more feedback than we could immediately handle, and the first players have become confused about the stage of progress that the game is in.

To make this clear: Ginshu is not fit for anything other than a behind-the-scenes insight into our development process. To prevent further confusion that might taint future expectations ("Yeah, I've played Ginshu. It's pretty buggy, the puzzles make no sense, and my avatar is just a big box with slits!"), we will move alpha releases to a closed stage, opened only to a hand-picked crowd of testers. And you.

Yes you. You will be able to pre-order the final release of Ginshu, which makes you an early bird, and early birds get full access to our weekly alpha builds to take an exclusive sneak peek behind the shimmering curtains, to dip their finger in the Duangle secret sauce, which is nothing short of delicious! But I get ahead of myself.

"Well I don't want to be an early bird because I am boring" you might say, "so what do I get?" you might add, and I would nod in agreement, for passing on the unique chance to pre-order would certainly render you boring. Still, I forgive you, because my wife asked me to be nice to the customers. Anyway, you'll get videos, which will be way better than accidentally stumbling on our alphas, because you can just watch them, and they will be narrated, and I will say things like "this puzzle makes no sense yet" and "the avatar is just a big box with slits, we like it that way", and it will be OK, and not confusing, and you can pass this on to your friends and colleagues and your boss and say "look what these amazing people are doing" and your boss will say "I need to pre-order this game and you need to get back to work" and then you will both laugh and he will add "but, seriously. Get back to work" and then you walk back to your cubicle, slightly depressed, but also quite happy, because - you have pre-ordered Ginshu before your boss did. Twist ending in your face!