Peter Molyneux’s innovative app ‘experiment’, Curiosity, has suffered a litany of server problems because of user overload, and now the veteran developer is calling for donations to keep Curiosity running.
Curiosity: What’s Inside the Cube, the iOS and Android app ‘experiment’ released by 22Cans, is now looking for donations to keep the free app running, having experienced a series of server issues and bugs over the past 72 hours.
Created by veteran game dev Peter Molyneux, famous for the likes of Fable and Black & White, Curiosity has been described by 22Cans as an ‘experiment’, which is reasonable considering it’s not your typical gaming app.
Each player signs in, then is allowed to ‘tap’ and uncover one of 60 million tiles, or ‘cube lets’.
As more and more tiles are revealed, further layers become available until, eventually, the final piece is unveiled, at which the lucky participant gets a prize, known only by Molyneux and one other member of staff.
Hence the title ‘curiosity’. But as the number of players and downloads has gone from hundreds, to thousands, to millions, there have been various server issues, as well as game lag and payment difficulties.
A statement on the Curiosity iTunes page last week noted: “We know there are sever and coin issues and are working hard to fix these”.
As a result, 22Cans has gone cap in hand to its user base to improve the server.
“We are a small independent developer and due to popular demand we now offer the option for kind people to donate, so that we can make Curiosity the best possible experience it can be,” a statement on the 22Cans website states.
“However big or small the donation; it will really help us make Curiosity better,” it adds.
There’s been an intriguing media reaction to this news – many wondering whether Curiosity would have been slammed more had it not been fronted by Molyneux.
“Let’s put the debate aside and accept that the launch of Curiosity…has been a disaster,” wrote Ben Parfitt, before adding: “Luckily there’s still plenty of time for Peter to prove me completely wrong…I hope he does”.
Take a look at the 22Cans team’s response to the server issues in this video below:
