Need Help Testing My Game

[chaucer345 0]

Hello All!

 

     So, I've been hard at work for an extended time on a text adventure based on my MLP fanfic The First Prince, which can be found on Equestria Daily. It's said that you are the worst possible person to test your own game, so I thought it would be a good idea to get comments on an early (prealpha, or whatever the proper name is) build so I can make sure I'm not coding myself off a cliff.

 

I'm looking for comments about:

 

Runtime (I still don't know how long it takes to get from start to finish in this build of the game)

 

Bugs (I know there is at least one path in the game that completes the current main quest, but I'm not sure about the alternate paths)

 

Story (If something seems too darn weird or boring, just tell me)

 

General Design (different colors, more ascii artwork)

 

Anything else you can think of.

 

Again, it should be noted this is a very early build. Not only does it stop in the middle of the game's story, but there are a lot of typos and likely a lot of bugs to iron out. If you're interested in seeing how the text adventure turns out long term and are looking to play a more finished, polished product, I would reccomend waiting until a later build to play through it.

 

The current build of the game can be found here:

 

http://firstprinceproductions.heliohost.org/Wounded.html

 

I hope you find it fun!

 

Also I'm trying an experiment, could you try accessing the page I created first by going to:

 

http://firstprincepr....heliohost.org/

 

and then clicking on wounded.html from the list. I'm not sure why, but that seems to work pretty well for me.

 

 

EDIT: Note, this is based off a dark fanfic, viewer beware. The game is not likely to be higher than pg-13 rated though

 

EDIT1: If an error message appears, that's just because I'm currently using the old style of calling an applet. Just click the play button and I think it should work.

Edited June 29, 2013 by chaucer345

[FractalMoon 378]

Your host may have failed... I couldn't load the file. Is there a way I can download and compile the source myself? That would make testing a bit easier.

[chaucer345 0]

Your host may have failed... I couldn't load the file. Is there a way I can download and compile the source myself? That would make testing a bit easier.

I was able to click past the error message and run the program in browser on my end, all I had to do was click the applet with the error message. I have attached the code in .txt file form if there are further issues. Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my game (sorry my code is so horrifyingly sloppy).

Story.txt

StoryTeller.txt

MainProgram.txt

[chaucer345 0]

I'm trying an experiment, could you try accessing the page I created first by going to:

 

http://firstprinceproductions.heliohost.org/

 

and then clicking on wounded.html from the list. I'm not sure why, but that seems to work pretty well for me.

 

Note, I have made this suggestion in other forums where I'm requesting help. I'm just letting you know, because it's apparently a bad thing to do that.

[FractalMoon 378]

I'm trying an experiment, could you try accessing the page I created first by going to:

 

http://firstprinceproductions.heliohost.org/

 

and then clicking on wounded.html from the list. I'm not sure why, but that seems to work pretty well for me.

 

Note, I have made this suggestion in other forums where I'm requesting help. I'm just letting you know, because it's apparently a bad thing to do that.

It was a problem on my end... I'm used to using an IDE, so I forgot to set the path variable on my machine... works fine now... though you may want to set it to clear the input area after a question has been answered.

[chaucer345 0]

It was a problem on my end... I'm used to using an IDE, so I forgot to set the path variable on my machine... works fine now... though you may want to set it to clear the input area after a question has been answered.

Hmm... that's perturbing ( the website part) can you see any of the pages I've linked to at all?

 

Also, thank you for helping!

[FractalMoon 378]

Hmm... that's perturbing ( the website part) can you see any of the pages I've linked to at all?

 

Also, thank you for helping!

Yeah... I meant the failure to run the game... It works just fine... The website isn't pretty (I'd recommend dolling it up a bit before you start promoting it), but everything works as advertised.

[chaucer345 0]

Yeah... I meant the failure to run the game... It works just fine... The website isn't pretty (I'd recommend dolling it up a bit before you start promoting it), but everything works as advertised.

I definitely hear that, I've sort-of been trying to just get the bare bones functional before I really focused on aesthetics. Still, anything which makes my players not want to play my game has to be a priority to fix.

[FractalMoon 378]

I definitely hear that, I've sort-of been trying to just get the bare bones functional before I really focused on aesthetics. Still, anything which makes my players not want to play my game has to be a priority to fix.

Yeah... as I said, most text games clear the entry area after an entry (and your code breaks if you don't do that).. If you want to go the extra mile, set it to take the input on pressing enter instead of an "input" button.

[chaucer345 0]

Yeah... I meant the failure to run the game... It works just fine... The website isn't pretty (I'd recommend dolling it up a bit before you start promoting it), but everything works as advertised.

Just to clarify, the applet on the website ran as intended correct? You had mentioned earlier that you couldn't get the host to load the file.

[FractalMoon 378]

Just to clarify, the applet on the website ran as intended correct? You had mentioned earlier that you couldn't get the host to load the file.

Yeah. I couldn't get it to run the file... I re-pathed java and it worked just fine... My computer doesn't usually play nice with java most of the time.

[Concord Discord 35]

Mine works fine. Great job on the game, it's really cool. The way you enter choices is a bit tedious, though. If that's the only way, then it doesn't really matter, but if there's a different way to enter choices then that might be better.

[chaucer345 0]

Yeah... as I said, most text games clear the entry area after an entry (and your code breaks if you don't do that).. If you want to go the extra mile, set it to take the input on pressing enter instead of an "input" button.

I have made the modifications you suggested! You should be able to play the game just by using the keyboard now (after clearing the initial box, but I think that prompt is an important guide).

Mine works fine. Great job on the game, it's really cool. The way you enter choices is a bit tedious, though. If that's the only way, then it doesn't really matter, but if there's a different way to enter choices then that might be better.

Thank you! As I mentioned above, I've just modified the UI so it's a little more streamlined now.

 

I have a ton of questions!

About how long did it take you to finish the game?

Did you feel like it needed a save function, or will it work without it?

Was there any point in the story where the characters stopped being believable?

Were the circumstances too coincidental, and if so, what would you recommend changing so the puzzle still works?

 

if you have the time to answer any of these, I would really be grateful.