Beta Testers For Text Adventure?

[Taskmaster]

OK, I'll start by begging right up front, and save the sobbing and insane rambling for later. I'm looking for a few people - even 1 person - who would be willing to help beta test my text adventure.

My so called gamer friends are all "newbies" to game playing... by that I mean they were weaned on the fancy 3D graphics games of today and have no passion for the historic roots of gaming. I understand that text adventures can be boring to some, but I digress.

Anyway, if you feel you can spare time to honestly Beta test a game, let me know. That means I would need to you to e-mail me trace logs, play the game a few times, look for typos, bugs, etc.

The game is freeware so I cannot pay for the help. I can add your name to the "Thanks to" credit, but that's about it. Not much I know, but isn't the satisfaction of helping your fellow game playing brethen enough reward?? (Don't answer that! :D )

If you are interested I will provide you a download link and then mercilessly spam you with e-mail until you play it! :evil:

Oh, it requires Windows 95 or better. DirectX is not required).

Thanks in advance!

[Jesus]

Is it a game about me?

[Taskmaster]

:blink: Wow, is that a sign? Actually the game is not about Jesus, but there happens to be a "street preacher" in the game that adds a little flavor to it.

My next adventure game - which I do not have all the skills I need to make at this point - is designed to be a "Lucas Arts" style Bible based game.

The game I need help with is actually named "Search for the Sacred Stone"

[Jesus]

This game is not about me!!!??? You shall be smited!

Smite!Smite!Smite!Smite!Smite!Smite!Smite!

Oh and By the way could you please give me a download link?

You could advertise it as the only game that is religious but not religious!

[Sean]

I'd be happy to test.

Haven't got a huge amount of time, heck I have a GCSE exam tommorow but I should be able to get a few solid hours of play in over the next week or two.

Let me know.

Sean

{Formely Known As Magic}

[Sebatianos]

I'd give it a go (played tons of text based adventures in my time... wait a minute... I still do, when I'm reviewing them).

[Reup]

Count me in as well. I have some semi-spare time to fill as well!

[Taskmaster]

Thanks for the response. I know beggars cannot be chosers, but I'm looking for folks who will help, and be respectful of the fact that this is still beta. That is, I would appreciate it if this game stays only on your computer. The game will be free, but I don't want a game with my name on it getting out in a buggy state.

The game produces a "stone_trace.log" each time you play, overwritting the existing file, if any. I want the first stone_trace as this gives me your expectations before you adjust to what the game actually handles. I wan to improve the parser to what you would expect as opposed to you having to "dumb down" to the parser.

Finally, I am about to make changes to the drawing code to get rid of the shadowed text. If the text is "blurry" to you, I will have this changed soon.

Here is the link to the beta test page: Search for the Sacred Stone (http://www.mikelrice.com/betatest.html)

Lastly, just to set expectation, this is a Windows port of an adventure I wrote in 1986 on a IBM Mainframe, so it is fairly old in terms of puzzles, etc.

Anyway, thanks again!

:ok:

[Sebatianos]

Don't worry, will keep all of the above in mind. *starts downloading*

[Sebatianos]

Sorry for double posting.

I like it.
I only played for a few minuter (first try), but it's very user friendly.

I like the idea of the text in the main window changing automatically (but I was a bit confused the first time - when the receipt fell out of the news paper). I was only looking at the white window and didn't know what to pick up from the ground.

Apart from that, it's really nice. You get enough tips to know what you shouldn't/should do - and if you don't get them soon, you get them in the end. Like: I didn't know I needed money for a cab (never checked the inventory), so I missed the plane. I'll know next time.

And I especially like the style of writing. It gives enough details, yet it's not to cramped with words.
Looking forward to finishing it (unfortunately I'm a little pressed for time now, but I'll try to manage).

Excelent work :kosta: :ok: :kosta:

PS: Here's the log file.

[Taskmaster]

Thank you for starting to playing it so quickly. I have played the thing so many times while coding it that I am almost sick of it. Due to the nature of the game I have played the beginning much more than the ending, so most likely bugs will be more toward the later part of the game.

Did the room description text look blurry to you with the light gray shadow? It looks fine on some machines I've tried, but blurry on others, especially older monitors.

The parser can handle the two commands, but it can also handle more complicated sentences, which is one of the things I improved from my original mainframe version. For example, you can "Get note and read it" and the game should understand that.

Anyway, have fun. I have tried to spell check everything, but there may still be typos.

[Reup]

Look pretty good to me! To bad my taxi drove away :( Oh, and I got killed allready as well :P

Anyway, here's my log.

[A. J. Raffles]

Taxi? What taxi?:P
I'm afraid I failed rather miserably as well, because I mixed up west and east. Oh well.

By the way, there's a grammatical error in the intro: "a heretofore undiscovered tribe - upon which a team of explorers stumbled onto". "a heretofore undiscovered tribe which a team of explorers stumbled upon" would probably be better.

[Sebatianos]

Originally posted by Taskmaster@Nov 24 2005, 03:59 AM
Did the room description text look blurry to you with the light gray shadow? It looks fine on some machines I've tried, but blurry on others, especially older monitors.
The text was perfectly clear.
Well, I have a flatscreen with a 12ms responce time, so I guess that would rule out the old monitor :angel:

I'll play some more and let you know (I'll also try to explore all the options - haven't even begun on that one). Are there any funny responces for crazy random offensive commands (I remember Sherlock Holmes Another Bow had some great ones).

[A. J. Raffles]

Well, my laptop is five years old (so I assume the screen would be as well), but everything looked fine to me.

[Taskmaster]

Thanks again to everyone for playing and the tips. I made some changes to the screen to improve some things. I also changed the game so that if the taxi leave, the game ends as there is no way to get another taxi.

I will have to package the changes and put them on the site at some point. If you type something and get no response, such as Shoot Gun, let me know I thought I had SHOOT coded, but apparently not.

[A. J. Raffles]

Hmm, I know it sounds pathetic, but I'm stuck already. Just what am I supposed to do with that beehive?:unsure:

Edit: Never mind, I figured it out. Whee!
Edit2: Stuck again. Oh well.
Edit3: When I entered the cave, the pedestal was empty. I put the rock on the pedestal and got a message that the exit was now open again (which didn't make sense, as it was open all along). When I removed the rock again, the exit was blocked. Is this really how it's supposed to be?:huh:
Edit4: I'm guessing that the stone is meant to be on the pedestal when you enter the cave, but as mentioned before, it isn't. However, you can magically make it appear by typing PUT STONE ON PEDESTAL - even though it never was in your inventory to begin with. But as far as I can tell, that bug is the only way of finishing the game at the moment.
Another thing: after taking (or smashing) the bee hive, it's still mentioned in the description of the place. Incidentally, isn't it slightly illogical that GET HONEY will result in you being stung to death by bees, while SMASH HIVE doesn't? I would have thought the bees wouldn't react too friendly if you smash their hive. Maybe you ought to distinguish between trying to smash the hive before and after driving the bees away.

Overall, it's a nice little game so far, but it would be even better if more commands were recognised. For example it took me quite a while to figure out, that you were supposed to BURN the mat, not LIGHT it.

[A. J. Raffles]

Another thing: the game obviously expects you to get the stone (once it's there, that is) through a partecular sequence of commands:
1. GET STONE (after which the cave exit is blocked)
2. PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL (after which the exit is open again)

However, if if you do it the other way around:
1. PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL
2. GET STONE
you get the "exit opens" message when putting the rock on the pedestal, even though it is still open and when you take away the stone (leaving the rock lying on the pedestal), the exit is blocked. The only way to unblock it again is to type TAKE ROCK and PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL again.
I would have expected the game to recognise the command SWAP ROCK FOR STONE, by the way, but I suppose that's a minor detail...

[Taskmaster]

Well, that why you're beta testing it. I am trying to find the bugs. You would be amazed at how many lines of code there are for this game. I have to account for hundreds of things that you may or may not try.

For example, I never tried to put the rock on the pedestal until I looked at the pedestal, which then says that the stone is there. As the coder I know what is expected, so I have a hard time testing it. There is a rule that a programmer should not test his/her own code for just that reason.

Anyway, if you look at the pedestal first, then take the stone, etc. then it will work. I will, of couruse, correct the rock issue.

When you encounter and issue such as the smash thing, save the trace log so I can reproduce the issue easier. If you can give me a bit more detail as to what you did it will help.

As for Light I will check. I thought I had it working so it would tell you to BURN X with Y.

[Taskmaster]

I'm sorry for double posting, but this is for a different topic.

In the "old days" the games, for the most part, did not tell you the commands that were allowed, and that is how I grew up on the games. I had to work out the commands. I am trying to make the puzzle frustrating not the commands. To that end I have included as many synonyms as I can for the various commands.

I wanted to hear what you all think. Should I have a "Commands," "Verbs" or "Vocabulary" type command that would list the known verbs or not?


By the way, if you come across a situation, such as A. J. Raffles did, where SWAP was tried, let me know and I will see if I can implemented it. I will look at adding SWAP (EXCHANGE)

[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by Taskmaster@Nov 26 2005, 12:59 AM
Anyway, if you look at the pedestal first, then take the stone, etc. then it will work.* I will, of couruse, correct the rock issue.
Sorry, didn't mean to criticise you there. It's just that not everybody will think as straightforward as you do when you're coding it.;)

About looking at the pedestal, when I do that, I only get the description of the pedestal itself ("The waist-high pedestal is ornately carved, etc"), but nothing about the stone. I can't pick it up either, which I suppose means that the game still thinks I haven't noticed it yet.

When you encounter and issue such as the smash thing, save the trace log so I can reproduce the issue easier.* If you can give me a bit more detail as to what you did it will help.
All I did was to walk to the area with the hive and type SMASH HIVE. This results in the message "You tear open the fragile skin of the bee hive, exposing the golden liquid inside. You eat severalmouthfuls of the delicious wild honey. Mmmm... That's some good stuff!" (by the way, there should be a space between "several" and "mouthfuls"). The line in the upper screen changes to "You see nothing of interest at this time", but the description of the hive is still there, and it remains there even if you exit and re-enter the place. (That thing about the hive still being present in the description also happens when you pick up the hive after scaring away the bees.

About listing the commands, I think that would make the game too easy (for example by telling you that you need to DIG or CARVE at some point).

Another thing: don't you think GRAB VINE should have the same effect as SWING VINE? At the moment it has no effect. The bit where you need to make the canoe is also a bit tricky; I'd say this is one of the few cases in which you might allow the boring old USE command. It took me quite a while to come up with CHOP - and I didn't expect it to result in a boat.

Oh, and are you planning some sort of interaction with the fireplace or is it just a flavouring element?

[Taskmaster]

No need to apologize. I don't take anything personal about the game. I understand you are just telling me what you did and what the game didn't do.

So SMASH HIVE is broken. It was not checking where or not the hive was still in the tree, it just allowed you to smash it if it was in the room. I have fixed it on my end, but will not be able to put the game out until Monday (I develop it on a laptop and the disk drive is at the office, and my network hub is not plugged in).

I have added KNOCK DOWN HIVE as well. I did not add SWAP (REPLACE, TRADE, EXCHANGE, CHANGE) yet, but I will get to it.

I fixed the PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL to not allow it if the stone is still on it and vice versa. If you LOOK AT PEDESTAL you get a different answer than if you LOOK ON PEDESTAL.

As for GRAB VINE, that really isn't the same thing. Grab is treated as GET, but I think I make reference to Tarzan if you mess with the vine trying to climb it or such, so I think SWING is OK. Jump on vine works also I think.

On LIGHT, it was checking for LIGHT FIRE, then it would tell you to use BURN X or SET FIRE TO X. I corrected this so if you try LIGHT X it will tell you. Technically you can not LIGHT MAT, but you can LIGHT LIGHTER.

I am trying to draw the fine line between making it too easy and too hard. I just want it to be fun. I'm not out to set up a pay hint line! :D

As for the canoe I'm not sure exactly what you mean. The game allows for MAKE, BUILD, CARVE, CHOP, CUT, and maybe more. I tried to give some hints there also, and you can always type HINT, HELP or PRAY for a little extra hint in some places.

Please feel free to suggest anything, and do not feel I am not open to it, because I am. I appreciate the help and would not be ungrateful about it!

[A. J. Raffles]

Look on pedestal? It never occurred to me that could yield a different description. I mean, if you look at the pedestal, wouldn't you also notice there was something lying on top of it? I would certainly have expected EXAMINE PEDESTAL to tell me at least that there was some object lying on top of it, even if it didn't specify what it was exactly...:unsure: Have you also fixed that bug about making the stone magically appear (PUT STONE ON PEDESTAL before you have discovered, much less taken, it) or do you not expect that anyone will try that?
Another minor thing I noticed is that the elevator at the hotel is a bit strange: to go up you have to press the button, but if you leave the hotel and then leave the elevator without pressing any buttons, you'll be on the ground floor again.

By the way don't pay too much attention to my comments regarding commands. I'm theoretically old enough to have played text adventures, but at the time when my friends were playing them, I didn't even have a computer (didn't get one until I was thirteen, in fact).:D

[Taskmaster]

You also get a different response if you LOOK AT SINK vs. LOOK IN SINK, just as IF you LOOK AT DRESSER instead of LOOK IN DRESSER, so it is consistent. Of course, you can SEARCH DRESSER OR SEARCH PEDESTAL which ast like a LOOK IN/ON I guess.

Yes, I fixed the ROCK/STONE thing so you get a clue as to why you can't put the rock yet.

I have updated the betatest page now and the updated version is ready. Please download that when you have time. Please retest some of the bugs to ensure I have indeed corrected them.

As for the elevator, if I am understanding you correctly, you go upstairs, then EXIT HOTEL, but not using the elevator. This should not work, obviously, so I will check on it. Thanks for letting me know.

[A. J. Raffles]

Originally posted by Taskmaster@Nov 28 2005, 01:15 PM
As for the elevator, if I am understanding you correctly, you go upstairs, then EXIT HOTEL, but not using the elevator.* This should not work, obviously, so I will check on it.* Thanks for letting me know.
Not quite. To get to your room you
1. ENTER HOTEL
2. ENTER ELEVATOR
3. PUSH BUTTON.

To go downstairs again, you can either
1. GO WEST
2. PUSH BUTTON
in which case you'll find yourself in the lobby, outside the elevator after getting the message "You press the lobby button and ride the elevator down. You step out of the elevator and into the spacious lobby."

or

1. GO WEST
2. GO WEST (inside the elevator, that is)
in which case you'll "take a leisurely walk to the west" and end up at the lobby as well, which clearly doesn't make sense.

About the sink, I'm prette sure I found the key by typing LOOK AT SINK rather than LOOK IN SINK, but I'll have to check it again.
Edit: Don't you think it's a bit odd that LOOK AT SINK will let you find the key whereas LOOK IN SINK won't? I mean, the key is in the sink, isn't it?

About the new version, you can still make the stone appear by typing PUT STONE ON PEDESTAL before you've actually discovered it. The room description for the room with the hive still doesn't fit after you've taken away the hive. I'm referring to the "The non-climbable tree seems to be home to a large swarm of bees that are buzzing all around the tree, and a large hole in the side. You also notice a bee hive hanging from one of the remaining tree branches." bit, which is still there in the room description, even after you've driven away the bees and taken the hive. Theoretically you'd need two alternative room descriptions, one after you've driven away the bees (in which case you'd scrap the first sentence I quoted) and another one after you've taken the hive (scrap the second one as well).
The LIGHT MAT and SMASH hive thing is fixed now, so that's fine.
A few more points: it would be a nice touch if the game recognised the commands POINT GUN AT ELMO / PREACHER / DOORMAN and BUY ATARI (at the pawnshop, obviously). Inside the cage you might consider adding HOP as a substitute for JUMP.
SMASH HIVE in front of the bear should provoke some sort of reaction. I mean, the bear is hardly going to let you eat the honey all by yourself, right?
THROW ROCK THROUGH HOLE in the room with the pedestal is another way of putting yourself in a situation in which you can't win, so maybe you should add some sort of death message after the "you wonder whether you needed it at all" bit. For example you could have the rock fall back through the hole again and knock you over the head, cracking your skull open.:P

[Taskmaster]

1. GO WEST
2. GO WEST (inside the elevator, that is)
in which case you'll "take a leisurely walk to the west" and end up at the lobby as well, which clearly doesn't make sense.


I'll fix this. In the original game the elevator simply crashed when you used it and there was no "room" you could get to. When I changed it I must have missed this. Good find!

About the sink, I'm prette sure I found the key by typing LOOK AT SINK rather than LOOK IN SINK, but I'll have to check it again.
Edit: Don't you think it's a bit odd that LOOK AT SINK will let you find the key whereas LOOK IN SINK won't? I mean, the key is in the sink, isn't it?


I checked my code and I allow the key to be found by simply examining the SINK, whether you say LOOK SINK, LOOK AT SINK, LOOK IN SINK, LOOK UNDER SINK, etc. I guess that means I should make the pedestal work the same way. It would eliminate some confusion it seems.

A few more points: it would be a nice touch if the game recognised the commands POINT GUN AT ELMO / PREACHER / DOORMAN and BUY ATARI (at the pawnshop, obviously). Inside the cage you might consider adding HOP as a substitute for JUMP.

The gun is not really the focus of the game, and honestly I do not want to encourage using it all. In my original game it was there as a puzzle to stop you in the airport. If you did not drop it before the metal detector you went to jail. I decided to change that into what is there now (i.e. sell it).

I could spend another year adding all the things that some one could do, but I am trying to concentrate on the actions necessary to complete the game. There will be limitations, but that is an accepted and expected side-effect of text adventure games.

I appreciate the ideas, and I'm not being rude, just letting you in on my thinking.

[A. J. Raffles]

Fair enough. It's your game, obviously, so you should know best what you want it to be like. I'm only making suggestions, you know.:) But if you don't want people to try and be violent with that gun, maybe you should change it into something else... Although I really like the idea about the metal detector at the airport, actually.
You're right about the sink, by the way. I must have done something wrong when I tested it.:crazy:

[Taskmaster]

OK, I'm a bit busy at work at the moment - don't you hate that - so it will probably be the weekend when I get to do anything else. I did fix the elevator issue. EXIT ELEVATOR was not taking into account where the elevator was (up or down) and just letting you exit to the lobby.

The Go West issue you found is also included in the fixes.

I will make LOOK (AT/ON) PEDESTAL all work the same and show the stone as being there. That should clear up some of the issues.

I also changed the "bee hive" room text to clear up the issue of the bee around the tree vs. the hive.


It seems that you are the only one left testing, so I appreciate that.

[Taskmaster]

Verion 0.31 is available for downloading and testing, if you are still interested. The website listed the changes included in this version.

If you don't mind, I'd at least like for you to complete the entire game one time, just to ensure the game actually let's you win correctly. It works for me, but as I lamented previously, I know what is expected and it makes my testing less reliable at finding bugs! :D

Thanks!

[A. J. Raffles]

Well, I sort of know what's expected as well by now... :whistle:

Anyway, winning seems to work fine as ever (was there anything flawed about it?), but I've noticed another bug: as you can see from the attached log file, I was able to complete the game without ever getting the rock. Looks like there's some sort of check missing as to whether you actually have the rock when you type PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL.

[Sebatianos]

Well, I feel somewhat stupid now.

I hadn't a lot of time to play in between and now I started again. I forgot to get the parachute at the airport and couldn't leave the plane, but the game didn't stop. I was stuck in that plane for the whole afternoon, before I decided to replay the game and found the parachute...

[Taskmaster]

I forgot to get the parachute at the airport and couldn't leave the plane, but the game didn't stop. I was stuck in that plane for the whole afternoon, before I decided to replay the game and found the parachute...

Ah... I will fix that. I will indicate that you don't have a chute and have to return to the airport or something.

Of course, if you jumped I think the game would have ended!! :sneaky:

Please make sure you are playing the newest version also as I have made fixes. (0.31)


Thanks again for helping!

[Taskmaster]

Anyway, winning seems to work fine as ever (was there anything flawed about it?), but I've noticed another bug: as you can see from the attached log file, I was able to complete the game without ever getting the rock. Looks like there's some sort of check missing as to whether you actually have the rock when you type PUT ROCK ON PEDESTAL.

Sorry, you never mentioned that you finished it. You had mention bugs that were found near the end - which gets the least amount of testing by me as I'm burnt out by then - but never metioned winning, so I wasn't sure.

As for the rock - pedestal - stone thing... Arrrghh!!! I'll take a look and see if I can fix it correctly this time!


Oh, and how do you want your name to be listed in the game? A. J. Raffles or as something other. You can PM me with the info if you prefer.

[Taskmaster]

:ranting: Bump!

Still accepting other volunteers! :angel:

I guess I won't meet my state goal back when I started Beta testing in June of releasing this year! :D

Oh well, there isn't anyone waiting for it anyway...

[Ignite]

If you need it, i wouldnt mind lending a hand...

[Taskmaster]

:D Sorry, I didn't notice that anyone else had replied. Feel free to have at it. The link is posted near the beginning of the thread. Feel free to post any issues you find right here. Don't expect much and I'll exceed that!