Looking For Playtesters For New Game!

[chrknudsen]

Greetings fellow DOS gamers!

Over the past year I've programmed a game called WormWars 3. It's based on the classic Snake game with a whole bunch of extra stuff, including 20 different weapons and devices, three levels of difficulty, 11 default levels, built-in level editor, two game modes (score match and death match), and a fairly sophisticated AI for challenging games against the computer. The game is textmode, so all 'graphics' are ASCII characters, but this shouldn't detract from the gameplay value.

I've currently finished the first beta version of the game (which is pretty much a completely finished version) and am looking for a bunch of people to test it for me (hopefully around 15-20 people). If you would like to test it for me, please drop your email address in this thread, send it to me in a personal message, or email it to me at: webmaster[at]wormwars.net. I will then send you an email that contains both the DOS and the Windows version of the game, as well as further instructions on how to test the game (i.e. what to do if you find a bug, what kind of feedback I'm interested in, and so on...).

As the game is freeware and I've made it in my spare time, I can't offer any form of payment for your playtesting services. But since you're all gaming fans anyway, I guess playing a game doesn't exactly qualify as "work"... ;o)

Thanks for your time!

Kind regards,
Christian Knudsen

[Icewolf]

I'd like to test it. Remove your email adress quickly, cause this is anpublic forum thus it could bring you load02z of spam mail.
webmast[at] should do the work. :ok:

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Icewolf @ Aug 25 2006, 10:38 AM) 250896</div>
I'd like to test it. Remove your email adress quickly, cause this is anpublic forum thus it could bring you load02z of spam mail.
webmast[at] should do the work. :ok:
[/b]

Thanks for the advice!

I'll need your email address to send the game to... :tomato:

[Icewolf]

I suggest the following thing.
You click on my profile (directly on ICEWOLF) and there is an option "Send an email" on the right. You can send me a link where I can download it. :ok:

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Icewolf @ Aug 25 2006, 12:18 PM) 250916</div>
I suggest the following thing.
You click on my profile (directly on ICEWOLF) and there is an option "Send an email" on the right. You can send me a link where I can download it. :ok:
[/b]


Ok. I've PM'ed you a link.


I guess most people are a bit uneasy about handing out their email address, which I can completely understand, so here's what I'll do: if you're interested in playtesting my game, just PM me or post in this thread and I'll PM you the link to the game.

[Abi79]

Could you please send me the links? Thanks! Also, when the game will be finished, you could get in touch with the crew at Abandonia Reloaded (http://www.reloaded.org), to have it featured on that site. Cheers!

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Abi79 @ Aug 25 2006, 01:28 PM) 250936</div>
Could you please send me the links? Thanks! Also, when the game will be finished, you could get in touch with the crew at Abandonia Reloaded (http://www.reloaded.org), to have it featured on that site. Cheers!
[/b]

PM'ed!

Thanks for the link to Reloaded. I've never seen that site before, but it seems to be exactly what I was looking for. I'll also make a post there to get more playtesters. ^_^

[chrknudsen]

I've got a bit of a discussion going on over at Abandonia Reloaded with some other playtesters. The thread is:

http://www.reloaded.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=1859

[chrknudsen]

IMPORTANT:


I've just discovered that I by accident have been handing out a DOS version of the game with an error -- when you play this version of the game, you always start out with 10 of each upgrade if you're player 1.

I've fixed this, so for those of you playing the DOS version, please re-download the file. The links are:

www.wormwars.net/ww3dos.zip
www.wormwars.net/ww3win.zip

Anybody else interested in playtesting can just download these files as well...

[FISHCHAIR]

not much of a challenge, but its addictive.

i like the idea that you play against the computer worm,

i cant stop playing the bloody game!! .....must...reach...escape...!

Score >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>6/10<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Score

really like the game. if you have any more games please paste them here on abandonia :ok:
keep up the good work.

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(GAME-CRACK @ Aug 28 2006, 12:25 PM) 251413</div>
not much of a challenge, but its addictive.

[...]

really like the game. if you have any more games please paste them here on abandonia :ok:
keep up the good work.
[/b]

Thanks for the feedback!

You're saying the game is too easy? Even on 'hard'?

The only other game I've made (worth mentioning) is the precursor to this game, WormWars 2. You can get it at www.wormwars.net/ww2.zip, but as WormWars 3 is so much better, IMHO, and comes in both a DOS and Windows version, there's really not much point in playing WW2... ^_^

[chrknudsen]

I've now released the game to the public. The public version 1.0 can be downloaded at WormWars.Net (http://www.wormwars.net). I'm still interested in feedback, though, for the future versions of the game.

[Icewolf]

I really like the game! I already found snake (Qbasic) enjoyable, but this is cooler - somehow.

[Maramil]

I like it! :ok: It's simple yet challenging!

[chrknudsen]

Thanks for the feedback! ^_^

Be sure to submit your levels and hi-scores to the website!

[Danny252]

Think this needs movement.. *does it*

[Koen]

Cool Game! :ok:

Only 'user-unfriendly' thing I have is about the level editor. I find it quite frustrating to put every corner / t-splot / cross piece on the right place. Why not have a 'fix' function for that, which looks for every piece what pieces are around them, and puts the right 'corner / t-split / cross' piece at every place? I noticed the 'line' function, yes, but that only deals with corners. Or did I overlook something?

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Koen @ Sep 17 2006, 09:12 AM) 255533</div>
Cool Game! :ok:

Only 'user-unfriendly' thing I have is about the level editor. I find it quite frustrating to put every corner / t-splot / cross piece on the right place. Why not have a 'fix' function for that, which looks for every piece what pieces are around them, and puts the right 'corner / t-split / cross' piece at every place? I noticed the 'line' function, yes, but that only deals with corners. Or did I overlook something?
[/b]

No, you're right. The 'line' function only makes cornes, it doesn't place 't-splits' or 'cross' pieces. For now you have to place those manually. I'll add your idea to the list of things to do for future versions.

Thanks for the feedback! :ok:

[HappyGamer]

I just downloaded this game and it is great. I love games like this that are simple to play hard to master. This is one of those games.

I also was wondering if you thought about adding an online play? This seems like it would be fun to play with someone. Also I had a minor 2 little gripes. One could be a result of my lack of skill but the controlls for the thrid version for windows seems a tad sticky and a little unresopsive and also it seems sometime very hard to line up the worm with what you are aiming at on screen. But over all way to go|! :w00t:

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HappyGamer @ Sep 24 2006, 12:39 PM) 257087</div>
I just downloaded this game and it is great. I love games like this that are simple to play hard to master. This is one of those games.

I also was wondering if you thought about adding an online play? This seems like it would be fun to play with someone. Also I had a minor 2 little gripes. One could be a result of my lack of skill but the controlls for the thrid version for windows seems a tad sticky and a little unresopsive and also it seems sometime very hard to line up the worm with what you are aiming at on screen. But over all way to go|! :w00t:
[/b]

I've thought about online play as I agree that it would add a lot to the game if you could play it against others online. However, I've never done any internet programming, so I would have to learn that from scratch, and as I've programmed the games in Pascal, I suspect a lot of the pre-made 'pacakages' for internet programming are outdated in today's modern internet realm. :max:

I can't completely rule out that one day I'll attempt to add that feature to the game, though -- or hook up with someone who has the programming skills to make it happen...

As to lining up the worm with what you're aiming at: that's what the crosshairs are for. :ok:

Which version of Windows are you using? I'm using Windows 98 and have found that the controls in the Win32 version of the game seem a bit sticky -- I just restart my computer in DOS mode and play the DOS version. Actually, I would recommend that you always play the DOS version in DOS mode, if you can restart your Windows in DOS mode.

I've also tested the game in WindowsXP and haven't found any problems with the controls.

[HappyGamer]

I using it under XP. The game runs fine. After I had found out that you had posted here I decided to play again and the controls seem to be really choppy at best. Also there seems to be times that it would say I have crashed when I had not and even the final screen before the game would go back to the start menu screen would show that not to be the case. Example would be that I was going for something next to the wall and then quickly pressed the arrow keys so I would not crash and then it say I had crashed when the pic I was left with show me costing down the side of the wall instead. Yet the game would end and I would have start a new one.

Also do you remember the game Sanfu for the Intellvision? It had a lot of cool play modes that would be awsome to see in this game. Such as a battle mode where you try to ween your oppent down to just a head and once you hit the head the game was over and you won. Also there was another play mode on that game that where there where four players on the screen 3 computer controlled players and you that would leave a trail behind them of there differnt colors and the goal was to be the one who survived the longest without crashing. Maybe you could also do this with two players as well. I think by adding more different modes of play that are creative and fun would add a whole lot to this little but addicting game. Anyway that is my 2 cents. Definetly think of adding online to this great little game whenever you get the chance. I not sure but I bet there are people here who would be willing to eaither help or give you pointers for that. Also if you add some more game modes to the game and online this could be a very promising homebrew game. Keep up the good work.

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HappyGamer @ Sep 26 2006, 01:25 AM) 257376</div>
I using it under XP. The game runs fine. After I had found out that you had posted here I decided to play again and the controls seem to be really choppy at best. Also there seems to be times that it would say I have crashed when I had not and even the final screen before the game would go back to the start menu screen would show that not to be the case. Example would be that I was going for something next to the wall and then quickly pressed the arrow keys so I would not crash and then it say I had crashed when the pic I was left with show me costing down the side of the wall instead. Yet the game would end and I would have start a new one.

Also do you remember the game Sanfu for the Intellvision? It had a lot of cool play modes that would be awsome to see in this game. Such as a battle mode where you try to ween your oppent down to just a head and once you hit the head the game was over and you won. Also there was another play mode on that game that where there where four players on the screen 3 computer controlled players and you that would leave a trail behind them of there differnt colors and the goal was to be the one who survived the longest without crashing. Maybe you could also do this with two players as well. I think by adding more different modes of play that are creative and fun would add a whole lot to this little but addicting game. Anyway that is my 2 cents. Definetly think of adding online to this great little game whenever you get the chance. I not sure but I bet there are people here who would be willing to eaither help or give you pointers for that. Also if you add some more game modes to the game and online this could be a very promising homebrew game. Keep up the good work.
[/b]

That sounds really strange, the way you crashed. Do you think you could take a screenshot if it happens again? I'd very much like to see the situation... You're sure that you weren't moving along the wall and then accidentally pressed the arrow key to move into the wall? This would result in the "crash message", but you wouldn't be able to actually see that the worm had moved into the wall.

I'll try to look up that Sanfu game -- it sure sounds as if there were a lot of fun game modes in it. Though that battle mode sounds a lot like the Death Match mode in my game, in which you can win by shooting your opponent until he/she has a length of 0.

By the way: what speed are you running the game at?

[HappyGamer]

The only program I have downloaded for screen shots is not very good for taking screen shots on split second notice like what you are talking about to capture the screen for the pourposes you are talking about anyway. Maybe if you could suggest one that is better and free I would be glad to do it.Also I am posting a pic here of the settings of the game.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m304/HappyGamer/wormWori3.jpg


Check out snafu if you get the chance. I can see a lot of that game here only better because of the fact that the A.I. so much better in your game. I see a lot of potiental for this game of yours. One thing I think would make this little title great is more modes of play. To change up game play. I would love to be any help that I can in your endevor to take this game to the next level. I have got a ton of ideas just no programming knowledge. But I can see this little title of your game taking wings and soaring.

[chrknudsen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(HappyGamer @ Sep 27 2006, 09:54 AM) 257670</div>
The only program I have downloaded for screen shots is not very good for taking screen shots on split second notice like what you are talking about to capture the screen for the pourposes you are talking about anyway. Maybe if you could suggest one that is better and free I would be glad to do it.Also I am posting a pic here of the settings of the game.

Check out snafu if you get the chance. I can see a lot of that game here only better because of the fact that the A.I. so much better in your game. I see a lot of potiental for this game of yours. One thing I think would make this little title great is more modes of play. To change up game play. I would love to be any help that I can in your endevor to take this game to the next level. I have got a ton of ideas just no programming knowledge. But I can see this little title of your game taking wings and soaring.
[/b]

Can't you just use PrintScrn and paste whatever you captured into a picture editor? That's what I normally do...

Your settings seem to be fine, so that's certainly not what's going wrong. :ok:

I googled Snafu and found some screenshots. I'll think about adding some extra game modes when I get around to programming the next version of the game. That might take a while, though, as my life is pretty busy right now -- and I've also started programming on a new ASCII game that will take a loooong time to finish.

[chrknudsen]

New DOS version (1.1) now available for download at WormWars.Net (http://www.wormwars.net).

"Runtime error 200" bug on fast machines fixed.