This is the official Zero Summer discussion thread.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! And on behalf of the entire Zero Summer team: thanks for playing, and ENJOY!
(We’ve also got this Facebook page we think you’d enjoy.}[li]
edited by levineg85 on 8/14/2013
I like what I can see of it so far (at “Rules of the Game:Time” which appears to be as far as I can go). It is an interesting setting that hints at promising stories to come.
The one oddity I did notice was that “Far, Far From Home” was showing up in two spots, both above and below the fold and I wasn’t sure if that was intentional to have it displaying twice like that.
edited by Hythian on 9/8/2012
Hythian: thanks for writing! The duplication of BasicAbility, Progress, and Menace Qualities above and below the fold is a function of Story Nexus, not a design choice.
Day 1/Morning will likely be available to the public in about a week. Keep your eyes on this thread for it! :)
[quote=Gordon Levine]Hythian: thanks for writing! The duplication of BasicAbility, Progress, and Menace Qualities above and below the fold is a function of Story Nexus, not a design choice. [/quote]Ah, okay. Was the first time I’d actually noticed something showing up twice then and it stood out to me so I thought to mention it.
[quote=Gordon Levine] Day 1/Morning will likely be available to the public in about a week. Keep your eyes on this thread for it! :)[/quote]Will look forward to it.
Did notice one other small item, I tried using the “20th Century Penny” that I had and it appears to have broken my character as it took me to a page where nothing is displaying, likely because it moved me to a location that I do not currently have access to any storylets at.
Edit: Refreshing the browser window does, however, fix the problem as it moves me back to having “The Rules of the Game:Time” pinned instead.
edited by Hythian on 9/8/2012
Oh no! Got caught in a little tomfoolery with the new usable item feature, I’m afraid. I’ve fixed the penny in question and provided you with a card that SHOULD get you back on track. Please let me know if it’s visible/functional. Thanks!
[quote=Gordon Levine]Oh no! Got caught in a little tomfoolery with the new usable item feature, I’m afraid. I’ve fixed the penny in question and provided you with a card that SHOULD get you back on track. Please let me know if it’s visible/functional. Thanks![/quote]Yep, the penny is fixed as it now takes me to a page that tells me to try it somewhere else and a button to take me back.
edited by Hythian on 9/8/2012
You’re now back at Platform #1 with more cards to play, then?
[quote=Gordon Levine]You’re now back at Platform #1 with more cards to play, then?[/quote]Past Platform #1, gone to visit my new “friends” warren, night has come and gone, and am at “The Rules of the Game: Time” which is locked until you open up Day 1, but I can use the penny and return to having that card pinned and waiting to be playable now.
Noticed the penny’s behavior as I was sitting at the page poking around to see if there was anything else I could do at the moment.
edited by Hythian on 9/8/2012
Awesome. Sounds like you’re good to go then. Thanks for your help!
Joy!
(There may be minor spoilers in this buglist, but hopefully things shouldn’t be terribly specific, I think?)
-“Date” shouldn’t be capitalized in the description for the date quality.
-The Harvestmen card is titled “Banditos and Harvestment”, intentional?
-In the “Velvet and Steel” branch of the “Showing a Little Charity” card: “I work with a group of concern ladies and gentlemen”
-The initiation branch of the Hallowed Ground subplot has no Gumpton requirement.
-Hm. “Down to the River to Pray” result of “O Brother, Let’s Go Down” card: “[…]while she’s fine on her own, 'anybody[…]” – shouldn’t that “anybody” be capitalized, since it’s the start of a dialogue sentence?
-The Highrise Hotel has no unique cards…?
-“The Wall Market” card has no branches…?
-In the area change card, “Move to The Highrise Hotel”
-The Scrublands has no unique cards…?
-Neither does the Mission…
-Success branch of the level 1 Gunslinger grind: “[…]you do spot in the distance a clusterof gray splotches[…]”
-Success branch of the level 5 Doc grind: “A there it is!” I believe than should be “and”?
-Fail branch of the level 7 Doc grind: “[…]or that its packed full of books.”
-Rare success branch of the level 7 Doc grind: “the wall” isn’t capitalized. Also, “‘Everyone is so focused on the strange aspects of what happened,’ she says with her eyes cast skyward, ‘I think we forget to notice all the ordinary changes, too.’” I believe the comma after “skyward” should be a period, since that bit is breaking up two separate sentences, not a single sentence.
-Possible way of making the grind cards more attractive without making them opportunities: perhaps give them an additional static increase to the stat, like some storylets do in FL? That way you do get something additional, making it a better tradeoff if you want to upgrade your stats in a hurry.
-I just noticed that some of the branches that have rare successes can be permanently locked if the quality gets to high? As a completist, this makes me very stressed. D:
-The second Harvestman card: “You spill the beans about the Harvestment.”
-The third Harvestman card: “all up an down”
-The way you’re using Must coding to format the main storyline is wonderful and reminds me of Varytale. I love it. Really helps engagement.
-Without wanting to spoil too much, the way you’re describing the protagonist’s feelings in the main storyline card is delightfully creepy and unsettling. I’m really wondering what’s going on with him now.
-The second Hallowed Ground card: “we’d all love it, wouldn’t we!” Shouldn’t that sentence be capitalized?
-The third Hallowed Ground card (An Eye for Trouble): “Your hands are not unsmall[…]” – spellcheck says that’s not a word, and it seems like a double negative – basically “your hands are not not small” – which is strange given the context. Is that “un” supposed to be there?
-I am further convinced that “quality” is not supposed to be capitalized, as the challenge text doesn’t capitalize it.
It’s getting late, so I think I’ll stop there. Looks great so far! I’ll post more tomorrow.
edited by Little The on 9/9/2012
I’ve only just started on the new content, but from what I’ve seen so far, I’m enthused. I’m particularly interested in “The Door”. Is that a set result or are there other things that can be drawn?
edited by Doomlewa on 9/9/2012
DoomIewa: Interesting question. I think I’m going to let your fellow players handle it. ;)
[quote=Little The]Joy!
It’s getting late, so I think I’ll stop there. Looks great so far! I’ll post more tomorrow.
edited by Little The on 9/9/2012[/quote]
Thanks so much for the heads up, especially on proofreading. Catching all of those little things is great.
Super excited for our launch. Keep it coming at us, dearest bunnies!
edited by Becks on 9/9/2012
The pinned thing is working for me for the most part. It’s pacing is good, as before due to your action refresh rate, by the time my new cards had loaded my actions had to. Not all the time but enough that if I take my time enjoying your wonderful writing I will never run out of actions.
Nice to see some things that I hadn’t seen beyond the veil so to speak. As has been mentioned the other parts of the town appear to have no unique options, I can see this would help keeping the basic stuff pinned in every location. However the story lines are probably best scattered. (I know that they do indeed have unique story lines you just have to take a while to reach them)
Also much easier to hit the higher ranks of skills, doesn’t feel so grindy. The little rare success item have me curious on how to use them. Will continue to explore, good work. :D
Just found something interesting: I got the rare success on the gunslinger 11 branch and it showed my Gunslinger increasing twice, which I don’t remember happening on the other rare successes. Bug? or Feature?
Samuel: thanks for all your kind words! I’m glad the pacing is working for you. I live in fear that it won’t take long enough/will feel too grindy.
DoomIewa: feature. All rare successes on grinds give an extra +4 to the Style, and most give a little something else extra – dollars, bullets, special items and Qualities.
(And a broad comment: Zero Summer is going to be challenging for completionist players. It’s designed to show you less than 2/3s of the content on a playthrough.)
Progressing along the main storyline now, and I noticed an inconsistency
MINOR SPOLIER
Wehn Fighting John the Biter I took some damage. In the card that pops up for dealing with it The quality for Injuries in this fight is written in the warning as “Losing Ground to John the Baptist” as opposed to the actual name of that quality “Losing Ground to John the Biter”
I assume this is left over from a previous version of the story?
Typo: In the storylet ‘Old Fashioned Research’ in the Harvestmen story, there’s this:
“She asks what exactly you’re looking for. You spill the beans about the Harvestment.” With an extra T on the end.
[quote=Doomlewa]Progressing along the main storyline now, and I noticed an inconsistency
MINOR SPOLIER
Wehn Fighting John the Biter I took some damage. In the card that pops up for dealing with it The quality for Injuries in this fight is written in the warning as “Losing Ground to John the Baptist” as opposed to the actual name of that quality “Losing Ground to John the Biter”
I assume this is left over from a previous version of the story?[/quote]
That’s a homophone mistake. Thanks for the catch! :)