PlayTesting: Quirk Of Fate

StoryNexus
1

Gamma Testing comes before Beta; so no invites in yet. I’ll alter it to link once it’s got to a state where I’m comfortable with it.

[ul][li][color=FF3300]Exposition[/color][/li][li][color=FF3300]Character Building[/color][/li][li][color=FF3300]Nemesis[/color][/li][li]Magic Area (1-15) : Base Skeleton[/li][li] / Training (A/W/R/C) / Healing / Power-Up / Trade-Offs - Fingers crossed - 27th September[/li][li]-------------------------------------
[/li][li]Costumes
[/li][li]Beta Level 1 - October 1st
[/li][li]Backgrounds[/li][li]Home Base
[/li][li]Exo Area (1-15) : Base Skeleton / Training (A/W/R/C) / Healing / Power-Up / Trade-Offs[/li][li]Genetics Area (1-15): Base Skeleton / Training (A/W/R/C) / Healing / Power-Up / Trade-Offs[/li][li]Gadget Area (1-15): Base Skeleton / Training (A/W/R/C) / Healing / Power-Up / Trade-Offs[/li][li]Nemesis Battle (15)[/li][/ul]
At the moment, this is more of a countdown thread; just so I can mark off the bits and pieces I’ve got to do - but a little taster to be going along with.

In a single quirk of fate, England became a nation not of shopkeepers, but of superheroes. The Difference Engine altered the very physics of the Universe, or at least the English ones. Within a 300 mile radius of Bletchley Park, things just “happened”. Not just centaurs appearing in the New Forest, but Cambridge University stabilising cold fusion, Jodrell Bank locating alien signals & Harland and Wolff raising the Titanic with giant exo-skeletons.

Things that just weren’t possible in other countries became possible within this range. But it couldn’t travel.

Once out of range; the new exo-skeletons would seize up, aliens would grow ill and die, magic simply ceased. And within the range, things often went disastrously wrong, the Sellafield Nuclear Plant had to be closed after a portal to the Nuclear Realm was opened.

Of course, the other countries weren’t exactly happy with this situation; America’s Difference Engine works in a brief range around the Hollywood swampland but no further. Terrorism, Sanctions and Blockades were imposed on the UK until they found a way through this; while they couldn’t bring the “Difference” out, they could use the talents within to create for the rest of the world.

By the early 21st century, the export of wondrous new materials had brought the world back on England’s side. Immigration is still huge - and trouble exists around every corner - but Homo Britannica manages to exist quite well with the rest of the world.

Mostly.

That’s where you come in.
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 9/20/2012
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 9/24/2012
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 9/27/2012

2

Splendid, Mike! It’s lovely to see more worlds emerging into the sunlight. It’s going to be great to see what everyone is making.

Tiny quibble - I think you mean alpha test? A gamma is usually just pre-release. But whatever state it’s currently in, I’m looking forward to it.

3

I’ve just gone through the greek alphabet, so it could be a pi test for all I know :)

4

All going to plan. The structure seems to be working now - just needs a little bit of careful word checking. Will post the link on Monday evening I think.

5

Monday obviously went down the swanee, but link will be there tonight sometime.

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[quote=]In a single quirk of fate, England became a nation not of shopkeepers, but of superheroes. The Difference Engine altered the very physics of the Universe, or at least the British ones. Within a 300 mile radius of Bletchley Park, things just “happened”. Not just centaurs appearing in the New Forest, but Cambridge University stabilising cold fusion, Jodrell Bank locating alien signals & Harland and Wolff raising the Titanic with giant exo-skeletons.

Things that just weren’t possible in other countries became possible within this range. But it couldn’t travel.

Once out of range; the new exo-skeletons would seize up, aliens would grow ill and die, magic simply ceased. And within the range, things often went disastrously wrong, the Sellafield Nuclear Plant had to be closed after a portal to the Nuclear Realm was opened.

Of course, the other countries weren’t exactly happy with this situation; America’s Difference Engine works in a brief range around the Hollywood swampland but no further. Terrorism, Sanctions and Blockades were imposed on the UK until they found a way through this; while they couldn’t bring the “Difference” out, they could use the talents within to create for the rest of the world.

By the early 21st century, the export of wondrous new materials had brought the world back on England’s side. Immigration is still huge - and trouble exists around every corner - but Homo Britannica manages to exist quite well with the rest of the world.

Mostly.

That’s where you come in.[/quote]

Brief Rundown of what’s in it so far:

Starting Area (1 of 4) - Magical
Nemeses (1 of 4)
Cards 21 of 36 (36 per area)
Costumes: Not yet
City Area: TBC
Country Area: TBC
Worldwide: TBC

Progress up to 12 in each Quality, I believe.

Any thoughts, ideas, etc. gladly appreciated, although some ‘mistakes’ are deliberate. Hopefully a lot of the humour is as well.

click here
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 10/2/2012
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 10/4/2012

7

You need a discard option on the Opportunity cards. I now have “A law with the brush” stuck in my hand, because the only option on it is a low risk challenge, and it’s now locked. And now “Don’t Feed The Ducks” is also stuck in my hand.

On “Vampires in the mist”, I’m pretty sure you want it to insert the character’s name, and not say:

On “Let Sleeping Flies Lie”, there’s text missing on the fail:

And, now I can’t test any more without resetting, because my entire hand is locked. The last card to stick was “Help Even A Little”.
Current qualities:

[quote]Bruises: Hurt 1
Illumination: Underpowered 17
Respect 12
Warfare 8
Awareness 12
Ingenious 1
Living area: Leyvale
Distance Attack: Energy Bolt
Close Combat: Punching
Defences: Super Reflexes
Vampire Emnity: Noticed
Friend of Demons: Friend
Neighbourhood Witch: Watched
Forofor: Hacker
Corporate Disagreement: Noticed
Sandra’s Feelings: Likes [/quote]
edited by Ruaidri on 10/3/2012

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Many thanks Ruaidri, I’m nipping through grabbing those little bugs now. (Still no idea why charactername appears like that)

Do you think those cards should stay in play with low requirements, or just disappear after a certain point?

To be honest though - I think you’ve just about reached the end of the test with that character, so a reset is perfectly OK.

Doh…and Save Their Souls wouldn’t have appeared…dammit.
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 10/3/2012
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 10/3/2012

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I’ve tried it out, and it looks pretty interesting. I would like a little backstory on exactly how the magic started (maybe a bit later in the game, once the player’s become accustomed to the world?) and I think you’ve got some very unique ideas in there (Vegetable Rights Activists, in particular). I did notice a few missing/misplaced commas, but they’re not extremely noticeable. I just tend to make a big deal about grammar. I’m definitely coming back when there’s more content!

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Many thanks Charlotte - this was the first email I saw this morning; and praise is always good.

There will be more information coming later depending on what you’ve found out - but I didn’t want to frontload the game with too much exposition, as I think it spoils the immediacy.

If there are any missing commas, could you let me know where? When you’re writing 250 odd pieces of text, the occasional mistake is bound to slip through.

Many thanks for your help so far.

11

Interesting.

Of the typos, the most annoying one is in the quality “Vampire Emnity”. It should be “Vampire Enmity”.
edited by cathyr19355 on 10/4/2012
edited by cathyr19355 on 10/4/2012

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[quote=Catherine Raymond]Interesting.

Of the typos, the most annoying one is in the quality “Vampire Emnity”. It should be “Vampire Enmity”.
edited by cathyr19355 on 10/4/2012
edited by cathyr19355 on 10/4/2012[/quote]
Changed. There’s going to be a few typos, but I hope that’s what the Beta test should show.

Due to feedback so far, I’ll be adding a History Card and a Diary card that should make things clearer, without providing too much exposition. Probably get that done over the weekend.

Thanks for all your help guys/gals. Appreciated.

Edit: Quick update: History card added - Medic card move to pinned to prevent Bruises locking cards.
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 10/5/2012

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Now that we’ve turned monetization on, worlds like this one that have playtesting threads can request if they’re ready.

You can work out whether a world is ready for monetizing here:

http://bit.ly/SNHowToLetPeopleSpendMoneyOnYourWorld

14

Apologies for my absence - beta testers running though it now and more content coming soon - went and had one of my wisdom teeth out.

Also, I’ve fixed the link to the game.