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The information below is for testers, but anyone with bug reports, suggestions, feature requests, etc is of course welcome to post here.


Thanks for offering to help test the game. I hope you enjoy playing it despite it's imperfect state! I'm eager to hear feedback and criticism on pretty much every aspect of the game, but especially the following:

1. Gameplay
I think this is the most important thing, because if the core gameplay isn't fun who will care that the characters can be customized? Testers, please play the game and tell me honestly what you think. What aspects are fun and what aspects could be more fun? How is the difficulty? What things would you do to improve it? Of course please report any bugs you encounter.

2. Customization
Please mess around with the customization features; there's bound to be plenty of bugs and issues I haven't considered. You don't need to create content you would ever share with others. Just play around and see if you can do the things you're supposed to be able to do. Try creating a character or two and writing a little bit of story for her. Again, what you write doesn't have to be anything serious, but see if things really work.

3. Story & writing
Please give me constructive criticism on the story and the writing for the built-in characters. What do you think of the characters? If there are bits that you think should be rewritten for any reason, please don't hesitate to tell me. I realize some of the story (including the premise) may be corny, so maybe you have suggestions on how it could be better? Of course also report any bad spelling or typos or anything else that's off.

4. Documentation
Is the help file which explains how to do all the customization stuff easy to read and easy to understand? Please tell me if any parts aren't clear. I want the customization process to be easy and fun as much as possible.

5. Any other suggestions you have!
Don't hold back. If you have something to say which could help me improve the game I want to hear it.



07-01-2011
Well it seems that nobody yet has gotten a good ending (a non-generic ending). This tells me that it might be too difficult or maybe unfair?

A good ending requires:
1. The character is in a state of Love or Lovesick
2. You have completed her story route

Everyone seems to be doing well with the first requirement.
The second requirement is tricky because you have to make some correct choices along the way AND some of those choices require that you pass an attribute check. Attribute checks are in multiples of 10; either 20, 30, 40, or 50. (So if you get an attribute up to 50, you'll pass any checks involving it in story events)

I suppose the problem is that it's not clear what attribute checks are coming up for a given character. Also, with the longer stories, you might simply be running out of time to complete them.

For the next release I'm going to make it a little easier to pass attribute checks by making it easier to raise attributes. I might also add a means of getting in-game hints for characters.



07-05-2011
I didn't intend to put out a new release so soon, but there really have been a sleugh of bug reports and changes in the last two days. Testers, please grab the new release (v0.4).

I should have mentioned this earlier but if you encounter a serious bug I'd be greatly appreciative if you can send me a save file prior to the bug's occurrence. The game autosaves each day during the status screen where you can spend orbs so you can use that file. There are a few bugs that have been reported now which I've not able to reproduce and seeing the save file could help me out a ton.



08-01-2011
I can see myself tweaking this game and adding new features for awhile to come, or for as long as people are interested in it, but I'll stop calling it a beta when we get to the point where any new releases will not render saves and records incompatible. There are still a few changes I'm considering that could possibly do that.

Here's some of the ideas for new features in consideration:
- "mental notes" about a character can be reviewed
- generic event for walking to school together
- support for BxB (only if there is interest)
- support for dual character endings
- Mouse support
- additional mini-games

The top two of those will likely make it into the game in the near future.



08-21-2011
The new version, among other things, finally fixes the "script is hanging" error which people with slow computer sometimes encounter after the ending before or during the credits roll. Well, I think I fixed it. If anyone still gets that error at the end of the game, please let me know! I don't have any older computers around the house with which to test it on.

Posts

Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I didn't mind the first draft of that post, dude, but the second one is pretty concise. As for the text for "Hint!", it should probably be formatted something akin to:


Some board icons move on their own.
Good things may come to those who "Wait"!
Hmm, I'm actually not entirely sure which layout I prefer. There's a few things I would change that would apply to either:
- Let's change the hint to "Some board icons move on their own. Good things come to those who wait"
- Let's change "Obtain movement item" to "Obtain a movement item"
- Can the blue square behind the question mark for Chance, and the green square behind the arrow for Decision be removed?
- Let's put "Reach the end of the board" and "to enjoy your afternoon" closer together

And you know, the funny thing about that hint is that it hints at more than I think you could have known....
There is an easter egg I put in the game in which waiting 10 times will sometimes replenish items on the map.


Anyway, as to which layout to use, I need to think ahead. Whatever further help screens we end up making will need to have a similar layout.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
If there's a "Chance", where's the "Community Chest"?

Let's put "Reach the end of the board" and "to enjoy your afternoon" closer together


Totally agree with this. If the second screen is used, it should probably just look like a normal sentence rather than being spaced out like it is. If the first screen is used, I would think the white line that spaces the text out would be taken out, and the two lines would be closer together. Well, that's how I'd envision it.
I love how everyone complains about the fonts I said I was gonna tidy up later, you people are all slave drivers that don't want me to sleep :(

I don't think "Good thing come to those who wait" should be in final product, it is more of a place holder till I find something wittier (witty donations accepted) to write. Lastly, maybe I'm color blind, but what white line are we talking about?

author=marrend
I would think the white line that spaces the text out would be taken out


chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
you people are all slave drivers that don't want me to sleep :( , yeah man, just go to sleep, Jesus!
I think I do slightly prefer the first layout. Maybe it wouldn't look as cluttered if "Roll your fate!" and "Reach the end of the board to enjoy your afternoon" could be combined in one box? And take your time, there ain't no rush. I don't ever want to be the cause of someone not sleeping! (I don't let anything or anybody ever get in the way of my sleep, I can tell you that)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Lastly, maybe I'm color blind, but what white line are we talking about?


With this post, you make two suggestions for the help screen. In the first suggestion, there's a white line between the words "Reach the end of the board" and "to enjoy your afternoon". I was saying that, if that was the suggestions that is to be used, the white line would be removed and the text would be placed closer together.

Make more sense now?
Ehh the sleep thing was a joke, guess no one got it.

Anyway, so for the help screen we are talking like a book layout? So it would be 2 boxes, one with icons the other would be a big box divided into three sections (for the roll, wait and reach sections)?

Layout aside, what about the aesthetics of the screen? Does the pink to white fade work? Is there a specific background you had in mind?

@marrend
oh that line. I was just testing out the gradient tool to see what it could do. You're absolutely right though, that shouldn't be there.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Sleep is overrated. Mak gam 24/7!

I should really have something serious to post as a follow-up, but I currently don't.
I'm thinking the left hand side can be divided into two sections, one for roll & reach, the other for wait.
Pink to white works, but maybe white to pink would be easier to read?
I don't have a specific background in mind. (but whatever it is should be something we're legally able to use)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Now that was an interesting interaction! I was playing through Unchioniko, focusing on Shoko. There was a "bug" icon right in front of the starting tile, right? I "Waited", and the bug came right on me. It gave me the standard message 'bout my character getting ill, but it didn't warp me straight to the phone screen. In fact, I stayed on the board, and was able to roll. However, regardless of what I rolled, or what "Move Forward" item I used, I moved forward one square at a time.

Sadly, I had no "Move Back" items on my person to test how those worked under these conditions, nor are there any "items" to pick up.

I've not had a "bug" icon move onto my position before, so I can't say if this is always true. However, this sounds like, um, a bug!


*Edit: After a bit more playing with the situation, I inevitably landed on a "Choice". One of the choices was "Move Back 3". I chose that, and moved back one. Eventually, I landed on the end-square. School phase didn't end. Looks like I have to re-play that day regardless.

Like I said before, interesting interaction!
Thanks for that. Should be fixed in the next release.
Ok for this next attempt, I tried to match the layout you wanted. I changed the gradient color just for kicks, but I think pink is better suited. Finally, I thought that where "heartache 101" is positioned, we could maybe add the logo you use in the title screen, a prinny or some other random image you have in mind.

Lookin' good.
I don't know if a logo would fit in the middle. But the upper box could maybe stand to be a tad bit larger; the text seems like it's crammed.
Maybe we could change the text in the bottom box to "Hint: Some icons move on their own" to be more concise. (if it takes two lines to print that, see if you can put "Hint" on the top line and the rest on the bottom line)
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Why aren't I making attempts at this?

I like the placement of "Heartache 101" with the hearts and everything. However, the whole image feels like it wants to be centered horizontally, and the bottom clearly as more empty space than the top. I dunno. Maybe playing around more with space in general could be beneficial? I'm assuming these mock-ups are being done in GIMP, and that there's a lot of elements (read: layers) to move around.
I use photoshop cs5. It's basically the same as GIMP but has more feature and is more flexible.

Yes, there a lots of layers. Every sentence and gradient box has its own layer.

I've been thinking about positioning and was thinking it might be best to combine the left hand side boxes and leave the lower left hand corner free for a logo. When I get home I'll see if I can do that.
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
author=dude797
[hide

Really beautiful! (if that help screen is not a work of art by the time you're done I don't know what it takes!)
New sample. For this attempt I moved the left hand side together so we could maybe cram a logo in the bottom left. Instead of a logo, we could put one of the default girls in the corner, a small scale replica of a game board or something else game related.

@dude
Hmm, I think I like the third box on the left separated like it was before. And I think it should say "Hint:" somewhere. Maybe it could be "Hint: Try waiting. Some icons move on their own"

For the second box, I still think "Reach the end of the board to enjoy your afternoon" could stand to have the font size slightly smaller. Also, it might look better to not have a dividing line between the first and second boxes? Not sure about that. Pardon my pickiness!

I'm not against putting a logo on the screen. But the thing is that LivingEffigy made the logo (the same one that appears in the background of Story Test) and I don't think he's around. So you would have to "extract" the logo from that image which might be a pain.

Implemented requested changes for help screen: