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Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

Hey everyone!  I've recently finished de-bugging my storygame for the Manifest Destiny contest, Ruins of Anzar, and intend to republish it officially soon.  First however, I'm hoping I can get a few people to beta read it (or beta re-read it, if you've already played once) before making it public again.  Is anyone available to give the story a play through and give me some feedback on the new edits?

 

In addition to general feedback, I have a few specific questions for beta readers:

1) Did any of the puzzles seem counterintuitive, or was the answer not obvious enough?  I don't mind some being difficult, but the answer should at least make sense in retrospect.

2) Does the difficulty level of 4 and maturity level of 2 seem accurate?

3) Would this game benefit from having an in-game hint book guide?  This guide would include multiple hints for solving puzzles before revealing the answer.  Alternatively, would this game benefit from having an out-of-game hint guide, such as the walkthrough forum thread used by many other games on this site?

4) Was it clear how to use the constructable items, or should that have been explained better?

 

For those of you who played the first version (the one entered into the contest), here's a list of the things I changed:

1) Items such as the torch and hatchet are now constructable directly from your inventory.

2) Unlocking the secret passage is now a more involved process, and requires using the lens at the specific scene, rather than having read the scroll automatically open the link.

3) Some puzzles now have flavor text describing how using the incorrect item fails.

4) Most items now have descriptions, and the map's function is more obvious.

5) Many specific bugs and typos were fixed.

 

Finally, I'd like to give a big thanks to the people who have already played the game and given me feedback, especially mizal and Camelon.  Your responses were very helpful!

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

How soon do you want to republish it?

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

Soon-ish, it depends a lot on how quickly people respond.  I don't have a specific deadline in mind, but I'll probably publish it as soon as I get enough feedback to be certain the game is enjoyable, and there aren't any more bugs I missed.  I'm not asking anyone to rush through reading it though, if you're interested, take whatever time you need for it.

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago
>Did any of the puzzles seem counterintuitive, or was the answer not obvious enough?

If items are craftable in the inventory now instead of the character arbitrarily leaving portable things (like unlit torches and sticks) lying around all over the map, that would cover the main issues. Just as general advice though if you ever do one of these again, you might want to avoid putting such a useful multipurpose tool as a hatchet or even a knife in a game like this. Most players are going to realize that realistically the hatchet would've been the solution to most puzzles where "leverage" was required, and any piece of steel (such as a knife) would create a spark with flint. (That said, if they've played adventure games before, they'd be used to humoring this kind of thing if the rest is entertaining enough.)

>out-of-game hint guide
I think this is the way to go. In game hint guide would be taking on a lot of extra work for no purpose, when you just make a Parlor Room thread and link it in the description.

>especially mizal and Camelon
*Mizal


I'm curious what exactly inspired you to make this sort of game by the way. Do you play parser IF games or were you into the old point and click adventures before coming here?

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

Yeah, if I were starting this from scratch, I'd probably avoid adding the hatchet to the game.  It kind of stretches credulity for me to explain why it can't be used in most of the situations.  If I do something like this again, I'd either cut it out, or have it be useable in most of the situations it could realistically be used, it's always fun as a player when you get to use an item multiple times.

I've never played a purely text-based parser game, but I've played and really enjoyed a number of games with similar exploration-based and item-based mechanics, just with more complex artwork.  At one point, I tried to make a paper-based one of my own, which predictably didn't go too well.  After making my first game on here and actually learning how the CYS editor works, it seemed like a great opportunity to create one now that I had access to actual computer coding tools.

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

I'm obligatorily bumping this thread so it doesn't get lost in the bowels of the writing workshop.  Anyone availiable for this?

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

I'm now available to do so! Tell me when, and I'll get to reading through it!

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago
Think it's ready to go, they just wanted someone to play through to make sure it all goes smoothly. There's some pretty complex scripting going on in some places.


Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago

Yup, as Mizal says, it's pretty much ready to publish, I just want to have a second or third set of eyes to make sure there's nothing glaringly obvious I missed.

Mizal, in response to your second comment, that's fine, and thanks again!

Looking for Beta Readers

2 years ago
I know I said I'd look at it the other day, but I lied and I'll actually look at it tomorrow. (Or the day after.)