For Phrase Frenzy Fans – An Update
Caught off guard? Yes. To say we were caught off guard by the response to our Phraze Frenzy portfolio page would be an understatement. We knew the game was extremely popular, but had no idea just how much the game community wanted it to return. You certainly made that very clear. 
So, we have decided to revive it under a new name, built on a completely new platform and we plan to launch it in Facebook. We added this to our production schedule just over two weeks ago and we’ve made significant progress, working it in among the other projects on our plate. We have made a ton of progress on the backend of the site, the stuff that is invisible to the user. We have a lobby, chat and some game functions working already. So, we’re well on our way.
Now, what should we call it?
We received some excellent suggestions in the comments and we want to get some of the ones we liked in front of you here.
Word War
Word Fury
Word Herd
Pop Phrase
WhirlWords
Frenetic Phrases
Frantic Phrase
Phrase Flow
Word Whirlwind
Phrase Craze
Super Phrase
Thanks for lighting our fire! We’d love to hear your thoughts.
I’d vote for Phraze Craze as well. Can’t wait for this to return, I really hope it all works out.
Apologies for the double post but maybe you could look into something like a Kickstarter project (kickstarter.com) and if you manage to accumulate enough money it could become a full paying project?
Hey Jeff are there any updates regarding the status of getting this amazing game back online?
Any news? As the name suggests, I am getting antsy.
They’re taking their sweet time..
Any news on when or if this game will come back?? I am personal friends with alot of people who enjoyed this game and I think i speak for them to when i say this game was so fun! Missed dearly!!
Why can’t you guys put a little add-bar in the top of the game and make money off of Phrase Frenzy (the original name is best) and therefore, make it worth putting your time/resources into it now…?
Ryan, I know that sounds like a simple solution, but a game like this requires about $50-100K of resources. There is no guarantee that a game will make that back. We wish we could move faster. Really, we do, but we’ve been unable to move other projects out of the way long enough to give it proper attention.
Jeff,
Sorry to keep pestering you. But would there be a way of possibly letting us know around what time the game will be ready to play as well as how far along it is to being completed?
Andrew, we haven’t worked on anything with the game since getting up some basic server functions to manage staging of participants and basic multiplayer activities a few months ago. We have on other game we’re working on ahead of this one in our production schedule. We don’t have a target completion date. Sorry.
It’s been over a year… just saying..
My story hasn’t changed in a year… just saying.
I wish it would
continually…
As long as you guys insist that it will indeed come back at some point in time, I’m satisfied. I really miss the game, but I understand you guys have a lot of projects to handle before you can get to it. Just keep in mind how much desire there is for this game!
I agree. And I also can’t understand why other games seem to have top priority over this game which many people have been asking for for over a year now.
Will the same soundbytes be in the game? I neeeed to hear yiippeee!!!! Again. Lol.
My sister and I would be elated to see Phrase Frenzy again. We used to play it for hours a day in the summer time (along with Lingo).
I hope you guys finish it soon, so that we can play it before we get too old to enjoy it!
David – there’s no such thing as too old to enjoy anything! Don’t sell the old farts short – one day you’ll understand…..
I just came across this page and got SO excited! This was my favorite game and I was very disappointed when it was removed from GSN. As for the new name, my favorites by far are Phrase Craze and Super Phrase. I hope it gets finished quickly, so many people are wanting it now! I can’t wait!!!!!
get yer thumbs out of certain areas…
Has it really come to this, JEDIknight?
What games fo you have in front of Phrase Frenzy on your production schudule, and are their any other games that you can suggest while we patiently wait on Phrase Frenzy to return?
Right now we have a multi-player game called Word 4 Word that’s ahead of Phrase Frenzy.
Just one game ahead of it? Sweet! Dare I say that its finally coming soon?
Oh, BTW … Droid app please!
Soon is a relative term. All of our personal projects take a back seat to paid client projects.
yes. your lackadaisical nature has allowed it to be so…
Our hard work for our paying clients has allowed it to be so.
Languid…
Extremely relaxed, yes.
What is this Jeff and JEDIknight? The testoterone wars? You two are almost ludicrous in your banterings. This stupid thing – the game – has its upfront costs, but might pay for itself in the end with the ads. Nevertheless, PF has been gone 20-1/2 months from the GSN sight and we have been hearing it’s being worked on for almost that length of time. We all miss it, yet Zeek is going to take however long they take to get it back up and running. Everyone’s nagging has not sped up the process. It may never come back – at least that’s what several PF fans I still know predict. Let’s move on.
pf, I enjoy the banter with Jedi. I assume it’s good natured. We’re not trying to lead people on, I hope I’m not giving the impression. It’s a game that we created, so we obviously love it as well. We just don’t have the resources to move on it right now. And, you’re correct, there is a possibility we may never have them. That said, it has moved up in on our job board and we’re now considering moving it ahead of Word For Word. So… I apologize if I’m offending anyone. I’m just trying to be good natured about the work ethic comments.
actually, if your paperwork is straight, LINGO should be ahead of those AFORE mentioned. lol… have a nice day, and, may the force be with you…
I get these comment updates by email and some of these comments are really funny! Glad to hear that it’s being moved up! I came up with Phrase Craze so I hope it sticks! And an Android app would be awesome! Just sayin’
BRING BACK PHRASE FRENZY BRING BACK PHRASE FRENZY!!!!!!! That is the only game I can play for hours and hours that was my favorite game I wouldn’t play anything else well I can’t say that I use to play lingo but my favorite is phrase frenzy there is nothing out there like it If anyone no of any game like phrase frenzy please post something so I can past the time until it comes back. Thanks for any suggestions.
Any new updates on the Phrase Frenzy front?
Jeff – so any good word for us long-suffering fans of Phrase Frenzy? I was hoping you guys would get ‘er done for summer 2011 but doesn’t look like it, does it? Surely you haven’t gone on summer vacation already have you??!! – Just sayin’… !
Well, if you look at our most recent post, you’ll see we’re having a bit of a hard time finding a full-time wordpress coder to take some of the burden off of our development team. No luck so far. That doesn’t bode well for any internal projects.
It aint gonna happen, andrew and bunny. Abandon ship. I smell mutiny…
you would…
aw…come on, JEDIknight…I think I love you, too!! But smelling mutiny? What, pray tell, would that smell like, exactly?! Ya gotta have faith, man, – ya gotta believe Jeff wouldn’t string us along for as long as this already if there wasn’t a concerted effort being made behind the scenes to get our PhraseFrenzy back – otherwise, why would he bother?! Stand back and see the forest, JEDI, before you get so close to the trees. Do you think Jeff considers you his personal boy-toy?! Not at all – I wanna believe he is sincere and is busting a** to get this game back on line……
Laurie – Find Jeff his much-needed decoder ring, or whatever he said he needs, then maybe it’ll come back by 2013. Otherwise … who knows …. I loved that game. I’m not sure Jeff is really getting just HOW MUCH so many other people loved it, were almost addicted to it, lived on that site, played it from school during their free periods, played it before bed to relax, made it into a game at family gatherings (did you ever notice how many people were online with it on Thanksgiving Day?), played it in bed while they were laid up sick with nothing else to do, and I could go on and on. It’s been 34 months since it was taken down off the GSN site and people are still literally BEGGING for it to return. Thirty-four!!! That shows a devoted & loyal & devoted fan base.
Add me to the list. I am waiting with baited breath for the re-introduction of this game. Granted it wastes a LOT of my free time, but I Love it! Seriously, it there this much of an outcry for any of the other games you are working on?? Move it up the list, guy!
I feel bad that I have to say this but I’m seriously starting to lose hope.
all of zeek has
lol
Next month, which by the way starts in 2 days, it will be 2 years since PF bit the dust off the GSN site & still so many devotees hanging on! Two YEARS – not 2 weeks, not 2 months, but 2 years!! These Zeek-Nerds couldn’t care any less than they already do about the people who play the game they put out. They care about what they’re personally gaining & forgetting that their end-user, the one that should count & the one that consists of hundreds of fans & who has been on their site following their non-progress & consistently BEGGING them to make it happen – their end-seer (all of us) should be the ones that count. How lucky they are (& too bad they don’t realize it) that they make something that ie not only well-received, but something that is not easily forgotten. Sooo many games & products out there are forgotten once they’re gone: “Out of sight, out of mind.” That has not been the case with Phrase Frenzy. Out.of sight, but has.not left our minds. These guys are taking our adoration of their product for granted. They seriously don’t get how incredible.it is to make something like this game, maintain a strong fan base for years after its complete disappearance AND have people regularly begging for them to bring it back for us. Who else is more important than the people they make the product for? Have they just been spitting on us for 2 years? Idk. But, we have been a patient group. Jeff. Seriously. Set aside ONE week. Get some people on it. You said you already got a hung of stuff started last year. Get a site to host it. Make money. Make your followers happy. We’ve.waited 2 years. Dude – you’re taking longer than CalTrans is taking to widen the 405! I saw you’re also in CA, so I know you will know what I mean.
Oh, and I remember that one of reasons you gave before for.having such a tough time making it happen was because you didn’t have a WordPress Coder (which I thought was something you would purchase). But, low & behold I discovered on your site that it’s a job title & that you were advertising for it on your website as far back as March 25th of this year. You must’ve gotten one by now. Since this was what so vitally needed in order to move.forward & finish Phrase, let’s go, Jeff! Get that garlic press word Coder decoder whatever on this.
I agree, pfFan, it has really been a LONG time – and we, the devoted fan base have been suffering without recompense. Im beginning to thing Jeff may have taken a permanent summer vacation and left us all to hang out to dry forever. Do you think this game is really going to come back again? My heart says it will but my brain says no way.
I have been looking at this website from time to time and it still has not changed. Can you guys please me and the fans if there has been at least some progress? Phrase Frenzy was one of the games I played EVERY DAY on http://www.gsn.com I look forward to the return of this game if it happens.
lol…
gameshowguy, hey, don’t hold your breath on phrase frenzy coming back! We, like you, have been waiting endlessly but it appears we have been shortchanged and Zeek isn’t gonna find a way to get this game back for us. Jeff T has been stringing us along and tho he means well, it is obviously some higher up corporate decision and due to the financial aspects of it all, this game and its fans have been left on the back burner and forgotten…..just sayin’…..
Jeff…the puppet
OK, gang. We’ve been pretty open and honest with you all here, so I’ll continue on that route.
We met with another game developer this week to discuss working jointly on this and a few other games we have in our heads. They are giving it some thought and will be back to us shortly. If they come back with a positive, we’re going to dramatically speed up this process. If they come back with a negative, we’re probably going to kill this and move on. We simply don’t have the resources to build this and do quality work on other projects in house.
All you have done is tarried. YOU are a sojourner, turner. You’d be the first I would throw off of the ship to the sharks. But then, what use would THEY have with you…
Lol.
Thank you, Jedi.
Jeff,
While I do thank you for being open and honest with us all, I feel that I have the same right to be honest with you as well. I have to be honest in expressing my severe disappointment regarding the fact that this amazing game, which I know all of us here miss and have wanted to see return for quite some time now, seems to have been given a 50/50 shot of ever coming back. This disappoints me a great deal because it would have been one thing if you had just simply said “This game isn’t coming back” a year ago, but to string us all along for this length of time and make many of us hopeful that this game would one day come back when in fact it may never return makes me feel like you simply never cared about whether this game would return or not. Now I hope that this is not the case and I truly want to believe that you have tried your very best and done all you can as far as attempting to make the return of this game a reality. But to lead us all on for simply a “maybe” seems quite unfair to me when I really looked forward to the fact that Zeek Interactive was going to bring this game back with a launch on Facebook as well as possible iPhone/Android Apps as well. If the decision for this game was going to wind up as “maybe”/”maybe not” then you never should have had us give ideas for new names of the game and everything else in the first place unless you were positive that the game was going to come back eventually. While I’m really sorry to have had to go on this long rant, I just felt the need to let my feelings known not only to you but to everyone else as well, who wanted to see this game return once again just as much as I did. So I guess in the end, it’s just simply a matter of what the game developer says when they get back to you. If you guys get the green light, well then that will be great and like you said the process will be sped up dramatically. But if that isn’t the case, then unfortunately I guess that you’ll simply have to “kill this and move on” and everyone on this site will be back to where we began with hoping to one day see the return of this game. I sincerely hope that this developer will return with a positive, but until they do, I guess that I’ll just have to sit here and wait and see what happens.
That’s great you have met with a game developer. We all hope these people will be interested in working on it with you. However, should they not be interested in doing that, they are not the only game developers in town. And, in this job market, I bet there are a lot of people like them, or who have the same kinds of skills like they have, who could do this, too. Heck, I bet there are some college interns who would love to take on this project for the rest of the summer. Interns = little pay.
Glad to see you’re trying to keep us in the loop. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, Jeff, should these people not work out. Find another developer eager for a paycheck, find a cheap intern, hand it over to a PF Fan online here who can get it done. So many options!
Hey Jeff, you see what you are doing right there, though? You are continuing to what you have been doing that is the source of everyone’s, or at least a sizable portion of the bloggers’, complaints regarding your conduct. You are attempting to keep our hopes intact with your statement about the game developers you are meeting with, conveying to us the possibility that they may agree to take on this project. That only strings us along further, which may (and in my personal opinion, will most undoubtedly) lead to their rejection of the offer, due to beliefs that this is not a lucrative endeavor for them. What happens then is that we, as impatient PF players chomping at the bit for the return of this game, are only further disheartened, and in turn, disappointed towards you. Although you did mention that it is in face dubious as to the outcome of the situation, it would be more proper, in my opinion, to simply keep the aforementioned information you shared with us covert, and not to have us privy to any possibilities until it is a for sure assignment that is agreed to be undertaken. And if that possibility is diminished to an unprobable enterprise, then if you were to say anything to us, you honestly should let us know that it “will not be returning”. This way we do not keep our reveries of this game present, and if in fact, by a small chance, it does return, shoot us with the surprise. This way, the news is anomalous of what is expected, and you don’t consistently have people badgering you with their complaints, which I’m sure you tire of. I, of course, would really care to see this game come back, but after being fed uncertain facts for a year and a half, I cannot trust that there will be any followthrough on what you have told us. I’m not a consummate game programmer who knows how to reenact this game, so, of course, our only hope of a re enactment is you. At the very least, demonstrate our eagerness to the game developers. It really sends a message to people. Peace out all.
Skooler, I’m not trying to keep your hopes up. I’m trying to be transparent and accurate in my communication. What I’m trying to convey to you is that we had a meeting and that there is a possibility. The moment there is NO possibility, I’ll let you know.
As for demonstrating your eagerness, the link to this post was given to them to show “community interest.” We have NOT received a response from them yet. As soon as I do, I’ll let you know.
dot dot dot laughter ensues
that goes for dorothy too
…but JEDIkight, Toto has run off again…albeit this time, it was at the mouth…just sayin’
It’s cute how bunnyhop is always “just sayin”. Kinda fluffy too. Nice tail. (dangles a carrot in front of bunnyhop)