Torn City Beta

The Torn City Beta was a test run of the game prior to its official release on 15 November 2004. The beta began in August of 2004. The servers were reset at the end of the beta in preparation for the game's official release, and users who wished to continue playing had to create new accounts. This was Torn's first and only server reset.

History

The game's owner, Joe Chedburn (known as Chedburn [1] in game) met Quacks [2] and SandyClaws [12] (Previously known as GodPants) through another online game in the early 2000s. Chedburn had the idea for Torn and Quacks and SandyClaws worked together with him on the programming. The exact date of when the beta for Torn went live is unknown, but the Web Archive shows the website live as early as 11 August 2004. All three of the founders were students at the time, and SandyClaws has said he is "nearly positive [Torn] all started during the school year," so the date for Torn's founding is unlikely to be earlier than August. [1]

Game Details

Few records of the Torn beta survive. As a result, much of the information about the beta has been lost to time, and most information available is through player interviews. Human memory regarding a short period over a decade and a half ago is not perfect and few to no official records exist, so this information cannot be officially verified, but is the strongest info available. The beta changed in massive ways over its run, meaning something that may be true for the beginning of the beta may not be true for the end and vice versa.

The best current information on the beta suggests Torn was a very barebones version of itself in the opening days of the beta. The Gym, Properties up to a Mansion, and Jobs were available at the beginning of the beta, but the only job available was the Army Job. Crimes and Attacking were both added later on in the beta.

Items were likely added throughout the beta as time went on. Player interviews point to there most likely being 68 items available (Item IDs 1-68) at the end of the beta, with the last item added before the beta's end being the Small First Aid Kit. The first item added after the beta finished would have been the Simple Virus.

During the beta and for some time after it, the amount of cash players had on them was a public stat displayed on their profile.

By the end of the beta, the six basic city Jobs and a basic attacking system existed. Several crimes existed, but it is confirmed that crimes that costed 12 nerve or higher had not yet been added by the end of the beta.

Table of items available at the end of the beta

Item ID Name Item Image*
1 Hammer large.png
2 Baseball Bat large.png
3 Crowbar** large.png
4 Knuckle Dusters large.png
5 Pen Knife large.png
6 Kitchen Knife large.png
7 Dagger large.png
8 Axe large.png
9 Scimitar large.png
10 Chainsaw large.png
11 Samurai Sword large.png
12 Glock 17** large.png
13 Raven MP25 large.png
14 Ruger 57** large.png
15 Beretta M9** large.png
16 USP large.png
17 Beretta 92FS large.png
18 Fiveseven large.png
19 Magnum large.png
20 Desert Eagle large.png
21 Dual 92G Berettas** large.png
22 Sawed-Off Shotgun large.png
23 Benelli M1 Tactical** large.png
24 MP5 Navy** large.png
25 P90 large.png
26 AK-47 large.png
27 M4A1 Colt Carbine large.png
28 Benelli M4 Super large.png
29 M16 A2 Rifle large.png
30 Steyr AUG large.png
31 M249 SAW** large.png
32 Leather Vest large.png
33 Police Vest** large.png
34 Bulletproof Vest large.png
35 Box of Chocolate Bars large.png
36 Big Box of Chocolate Bars large.png
37 Bag of Bon Bons** large.png
38 Box of Bon Bons large.png
39 Box of Extra Strong Mints large.png
40 Pack of Music CDs large.png
41 DVD Player large.png
42 MP3 Player large.png
43 CD Player large.png
44 Pack of Blank CDs : 100** large.png
45 Hard Drive large.png
46 Tank Top large.png
47 Trainers** large.png
48 Jacket large.png
49 Full Body Armor** large.png
50 Outer Tactical Vest** large.png
51 Plain Silver Ring large.png
52 Sapphire Ring large.png
53 Gold Ring large.png
54 Diamond Ring large.png
55 Pearl Necklace large.png
56 Silver Necklace large.png
57 Gold Necklace large.png
58 Plastic Watch large.png
59 Stainless Steel Watch large.png
60 Gold Watch large.png
61 Personal Computer large.png
62 Microwave large.png
63 Minigun large.png
64 Pack of Cuban Cigars large.png
65 Television** large.png
66 Morphine large.png
67 First Aid Kit large.png
68 Small First Aid Kit large.png

* Modern images are displayed for each item. Torn did not have images for items at the time of the beta.

** These items had different names during the beta, and were changed to their current names at varying times during the main game's run. See the historical notes section of the items' pages for more details.

Legacy

After the servers were reset upon the closing of the beta, players who wanted to continue playing had to sign up for new accounts for the main game. Player retention rates from the beta to the full game are unknown.

A poll was run among the player base in 2005 to see if players preferred Torn servers to be reset at regular intervals like they were at the end of the beta, or to be run continuously without resets. The exact results of the poll are unknown, but the option to never reset won the poll.

Gallery

Frameless‎ One of the earliest concepts of Torn, which predates the beta going live.

Frameless The login screen for the Torn City beta as it appeared in August of 2004. This is Torn's earliest known login screen.

Frameless An example of how player profiles appeared during the beta*

* This profile is from shortly after Torn's official launch, and not the beta. Profiles had no major visual differences between the late beta and the early game.

References

  1. ↑ Sandyclaws, private communication 24/01/22