SpyParty Beta Registration
This is it, finally! The SpyParty Early-Access Beta is now open to everyone. No more signing up with your email and waiting years1 for your invite. No more watching streams and Let’s Play videos but not being able to play yourself. Now anybody can join right now, and be playing in as long as it takes to fill out some web forms, visit PayPal,2 and check your email.
I will eventually write something really awesome here, about all the cool stuff I have planned for the game this year like more maps and missions, spectation and replays, and more, and how friendly and helpful the community is for new players, and even the plan for getting the new artwork in, but right now, I’m about to collapse from exhaustion, so you get this slightly lame paragraph of meta instead.
A Few Frequently Asked Questions
Here’s a super-mini-FAQ for stuff I either completely forgot to put here on this page when I posted it, or stuff that isn’t clear:
- Do I have to have friends to play, or is there a central server and I can play other people?
There’s a central lobbyserver, so you get to see everybody who’s currently playing, or waiting to play, or just hanging out and chatting with the really awesome and helpful beta community. It’s pretty ugly right now, but it works. It looks like this if you’re curious. - What platforms does it run on?
It is a Windows game, but it actually runs really well on MacOS using an amazing piece of free magic called Wineskin. A lot of beta testers play on MacOS with Wineskin, and one of them wrote up a really nice and easy tutorial in the beta forums walking you through installing everything you need with screenshots and links and everything, and there are a bunch of people who can help you get it set up if you get stuck. Wineskin works so seamlessly that even the game’s auto-updater works in it. It’s kind of crazy, actually. - Is there a single-player mode yet?
Not yet. Well, there’s Practice Mode, but that’s not really a game, it’s more of a way to get used to things as a newbie, or hone your skills as an advanced player. Eventually there will be a single-player mode, but not for a while. However, as I’ve said, the community is incredibly cool and supportive, so come on in, the water’s fine! - Can I read more, or watch a video before I decide?
Definitely! The manual is here, and the Welcome post, which contains the tutorial video, is here. There are also tons of videos on YouTube, and people streaming the game all the time, so check those out too. - Can you take my money some way besides PayPal?
Sadly, right now, no. I know a lot of people have trouble with PayPal, and I’m going to add Amazon and Google at some point, hopefully soon. A couple things, in the meantime: 1. You don’t need to register for a PayPal account in most countries, you only need a credit card; 2. I’ve found PayPal’s email support to be terrible, but their phone support to be actually really good, so if you are having troubles you might try calling them. - Wait, slow down, I came here from the internet, what the heck is this game?
SpyParty is an asymmetric multiplayer espionage game. One player is a Spy at a cocktail party, trying to accomplishing missions while simultaneously trying to blend in with the other guests. All of the missions have subtle tells associated with them, and all of the other guests are AIs controlled by the computer. The other player is the Sniper, looking in at the party from afar, wishing he or she could order a nice gin and tonic. Because the Sniper can’t order a gin and tonic, somebody at the party is going to get shot, and hopefully it’s the Spy. The Sniper only has one bullet, though, so observe the behavior of the people at the party and choose wisely. If this sounds somewhat familiar, you might want to read this FAQ, where I talk about games with similar mechanics. - What’s the deal with this Early-Access Beta?
After over a year in closed beta, SpyParty is finally open to everyone. It’s a paid beta, which is helping me fund the development of the game. I realize paid beta’s aren’t for everyone, and that’s okay, if you’re more comfortable holding off until the game is done, that’s great, you can still follow along with the progress here on the blog or at the social media outlets on the sidebar. I literally have no idea when the game will be done, most likely years from now. It takes a very long time to tune and balance a game that’s trying to be as deep and competitive as Poker or Go. On the other hand, if you like the idea of getting early-access to the game, helping it evolve, and of course getting the final game when it’s released as part of the deal, then this might be for you. - Can I ask more questions?
Of course! I answer a bunch in the comments below, and feel free to add yours if you don’t see it already, and check out the real big FAQ, although it needs a fresh coat of paint.
I really deeply appreciate your support!
See you in the lobby,
Chris
SpyParty Early-Access Beta Registration
If you have problems or find bugs in the registration process, please send them to support@spyparty.com, don’t post them here as comments since I might not see them. Any other questions or discussion is a-okay here in the comments!
WOOP WOOP
I can’t wait for the new artwork. It looks super nice
I would buy the game, but I don’t see anything about a free second copy. Unfortunately, that’s kind of a deal-breaker on a game that’s strictly multiplayer. Why buy a beta multiplayer game if I can’t play with a buddy (without having to pitch them and get them to throw down $15 first) ?
Guess I’ll wait until the big release…
Yeah, I’ll almost certainly do a two-fer price thing at some point like Frozen Synapse, but I don’t have the infrastructure for it yet and . I’m also going to support “spawned copies”, so you can play with a friend with an account derived from yours that will only play you, which will be pretty cool, and you won’t even have to buy two then. But that’ll have to wait a bit too! I can’t wait for THE FUTURE.
Yeah, I mean I don’t blame you. I’d rather see a dev focus efforts on designing/balancing the game rather than fiddling with high-end payment and account crap. And the game is still in beta, the whole point of which is to better balance the game. I don’t mind waiting.
“Spawned copies” is an AWESOME idea and would certainly help this game get more sales via word-of-mouth. I can’t wait either!
I bought a copy for my cousin but her computer is too weak apparently.
So I kept the second copy for lending it to any friend I want to play with.
This got a few of them to buy it for themselves so far.
What an amazing piece of news! I had my invite thanks to randomness, but my friend was still waiting for one!
What about an option to gift it? Would that be possible? I’d like to buy it for a few people.
Yeah, I am totally going to do gifts, I just haven’t gotten to it yet. It’s high on the list.
I just gifted by putting in a friend’s email address, then paying with my paypal. The email with all of the info is sent to their account, so they can pick it up from there.
Oh, right, that would work! You’re a gifting genius!
Been looking forward to this for so long. Does it work on Mac OSX?
Yeah, through wineskin. I need to add a mini-faq on this page. There’s an awesome tutorial for how to set it up in the beta forums. It works amazingly well, a lot of beta testers play on MacOS. Eventually I’ll do a native port, but Wineskin kind of blew me away with how well it worked…even the auto-updater works with it!?
Hello,
Can you join “public” servers of some sort ? Or is there a system of random matchmaking ? Or is that planned ? Or is it too much a heavy infrastrucutre to invest in for an unsure success, for an independant developper ? In that case, are there plans to bring it to steam in order to have more server ease (if steam provides such things for games he distributes – which i don’t know, but, er, maybe possible) ?
Yep, another good one for the mini-faq. It’s all through a single lobby right now, so you can see everybody else playing and hanging out and chatting. There’s no automatic matchmaking yet, but you can see how many games everybody’s played so you can tell the veterans from the newbies. The community is really amazing and supportive of new players, it’s kind of magic. You’ll often see somebody with thousands of games playing somebody with zero games, mentoring them and helping them learn. Hopefully it stays that way now that the beta is open!
Great ! Might be the answer i hoped for the most :)
Dude, if you do the spawned copies thing you’ll get ten times the sales. Including mine.
Yeah, it’s definitely in the plan!
Huh, for some reason if I change the country from United States to South Africa I no longer have the option to just pay with a card without creating a PayPal account. I have no interest in creating an account so I guess I will have to wait until other payment methods can be used :)
Gah, that’s annoying, sorry about that. I’m going to make a mailing list so I can notify people who can’t pay with paypal when I add google and amazon payments.
Same with Finland, which unfortunately I knew already, but had hoped would change. Amazon or Google – no problems – hoping they aren’t horribly difficult to get working.
You can never trust people from Finland.
I think they should be relatively similar. The Humble Bundle guys helped me out when I was getting it working, and they said they had a lot in common.
Oh my, can’t afford it untill the 18th. Will probably buy it then. You know if it will be in open beta then? Would love to be apart of this game early in development. :)
Best of luck.
It’s going to be in open beta for a looooong time, no worries about the 18th. :)
Hi… What aobut us, on the other side of big polluted water… Can i pay in euros?
Paypal should handle all that, right? Lots of overseas beta testers, so it must work somehow.
Can I download the game on another computer without having to purchase the game again but with logging in with the same account that I recently bought on the other computer?
Yeah, totally, there’s no DRM or anything like that, just log into your beta homepage and download it again and install. You can only log into the lobby once per name, obviously, but you can run it anywhere you want.
Sorry, how do I do that? I can’t seem to find a login space or anything
The link to your beta homepage is in your confirmation email. Or send mail to support@spyparty.com and I can resend it.
thank you very much =D P.s …….I LOVE THIS GAME!!!!!!…….
♥ ♥ ♥
If we buy the beta will we get the game for free?
Yep!
Will there ever be a backgrounds in the missions? Like skies or ground?
Oh yeah, we’re going to show the concepts for the new environments pretty soon, they’re unbelievable, as big a difference as the old characters to the new characters. Can’t wait to reveal them! Hopefully in a month!
*swoon*
Just started playing with the latest closed beta batch, and I’m loving it. And now I can bug all my friends about buying it as well! The environments will probably be a great argument :D
Awesome, so glad you like it!
You send me an invite after two years? I’m sorry, but I simply can’t work up the enthusiasm to care anymore. I do hope you attract lots of new players that sign up and enjoy your game, I won’t be among them.
No problem, but I’m sorry that something has to be “new” for you to care about it, that seems like a great way to miss out on a lot of really amazing art and entertainment that humanity has created. Just hit the unsubscribe link in the invitation mail to make sure the scripts don’t bother you again. If you reconsider, we’ll still be here. :)
Hi Chris,
i reinstalled my system and would like to play some games of SpyParty again. Unfortunately i can not find a way to reinstall Spyparty. There was a Sign up section for the early beta customers somewhere. Can you send me a link or give me a hand how to get on track again?? Much appreciated. Best
Send mail to support at spyparty dot com and we’ll get it figured out!
Hello. I seem to have this bug where I can’t get past the registration page that was linked in the email. The payment confirmation page never loaded for me and I’m not able to get the game download. Help? Whenever I fill out the registration form and register it just reloads the page. Thanks!
Huh, weird, sorry about that! Can you send mail to support at spyparty dot com and I’ll take a look?
Yea I did a few hours ago. Awaiting Reply.
Just needed to make sure the username is all lowercase. Thank you!
Do you think you’ll ever put this on steam? I’m sure it will get a lot of sales on there as well as here. The only thing is that it can be a pain to get it on steam in the first place, and you might not want to deal with all of that, but I was just wondering.
Yeah, it’ll be on Steam eventually, but not for a bit. I couldn’t deal with the influx of players through Steam right now, so not having it on Steam allows the community to grow more slowly and healthily while the game gets its legs under it.