James Yakura
Posts: 41
8/7/2012
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I'd suggest pinning the "Stock Up" card. As it is, resources build much faster than you can convert them.
Also, gender is messed up now. Female works, but male goes to asexual, asexual goes to hermaphorditic [sic], and once in hermaphroditic it's impossible to break out (the card doesn't go away, and taking it locks going multicellular).
edited by James Yakura on 8/7/2012
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My world: Sharazad
Play Comment Current state: Designing basic mechanics.
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+1
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Nigel Evans
Posts: 212
8/7/2012
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http://community.failbettergames.com/topic867-world-of-the-season-competition.aspx
Just sayin'.
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Torrain
Posts: 77
8/8/2012
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The "Sexy Sexy Organism" card remains pinned even after I select an option (I went with hermaphroditic for my first choice, so can't comment on James Yakura's experience with it redirecting you to something other than selected), and I can select it multiple times, getting Progress and Evolution each time. The message on Evolution doesn't display the total: it reads "You've gained 1 x Evolution (new total )" instead of providing a new total number. Also, the bottom gain only reads "dna"; there's no description of gain or total, and DNA doesn't show up on the Qualities list. If I select male or female, my Attractiveness increases; note that no matter what I select, my gender quality remains hermaphroditic.
On the side menu of Qualities, the images for Pseudopodia and Multi-Cellular Organism both try to link to "small.png" rather than "filenamesmall.png" and are thus broken. On "The Great Divide -> Speed it up a notch", the image for Multi-Cellular Organism doesn't appear, just the alt-text.
(Also, I can't discard the Drought card. Adaptivity went above 8 while it was in my hand.)
I also like the idea of pinning the "Stock Up" card, but I understand there might be some use for free-floating Food & Nutrients later. (ATM I've got 3645 F&N, and 4 Energy Reserves, just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from; possibly this is atypical?)
Final edit, I promise: there are no images for the "Take it easy" and "Exert yourself" options on the "Search for food" storylet.
L&c,
F
edited by Torrain on 8/8/2012
edited by Torrain on 8/8/2012
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
8/8/2012
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Thanks for the comments, Torrain. I'll look into them tonight, I think some things got out of sorts with the edits I was making yesterday.
I am going to officially put Evolve on hold while I make a few more major adjustments to the beginning of the game. I'll be removing the link from the first post, and ask that those of you who have it already please wait until I post that it's ready to go again. No sense in people being frustrated with a super rough beta test. :-)
Thanks for all the feedback thus far!
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Mike Grace
Posts: 42
8/9/2012
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Problem I've encountered is you can Rise to the Surface multiple times - and I assume other Energy finding options - and it simply sets your qualities to 1 - not raising them.
Also, I'm quite confused about the difference between Pinned Cards and Drawn Cards - do I go through Pinned first - or leave them - or....
Edit: Ah, didn't realise had been taken down. Got there through the Nexus drop-down.
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 8/9/2012
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Quirk of Fate finally in Beta here: Press to step into the phone booth
Constitutio Ergo Sum
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Mike Grace
Posts: 42
8/9/2012
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One more thing I'd look at is the style of writing - at the moment it seems as if there's a mixture of "Best friend" (Man, you keep adapting), "Scientist" (Your cell wall keeps X out) and "Mentor" (You can always work harder to find more resources. But you may exert yourself for nothing...)
It gives the feeling of an Overwatcher that could be used more effectively.
Edit: Of course, I may have misread "May" as "Man". Doh! 
edited by The Root Of All Evil on 8/9/2012
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Quirk of Fate finally in Beta here: Press to step into the phone booth
Constitutio Ergo Sum
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
8/9/2012
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No worries, and feedback is always good!
Pinned and drawn cards are intended to work the same as in Fallen London, where you can do things in basically whatever order. Cabinet Noir has a similar functionality. Some pinned cards won't show up until you've got the stats for them, some drawn cards won't show up until you've gone through pinned.
Re: writing style, well...I'm not a writer. And the Story Nexus format requires writing in at least 4 places per card. It gets a little repetitive when all you want to say is "a single-celled organism has these characteristics." So I've had to try to balance it out between conversational, scientist, and (forgive me) filler text. It's something I'll work on though!
That all being said, I'm working on a major re-write of the whole game. I learned a lot from the basic beta test (thanks all!) and now I think I know how to structure it properly. Trying to blend game choice and real scientific content has been tricksy, but I have a better handle on it now. Nothing will be released before this weekend though, and possibly not for two more weeks as I really put some effort into it. Wish me luck! :-)
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Mike Grace
Posts: 42
8/9/2012
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Caitydid wrote:
Wish me luck! :-)
And I did forget to say...what an excellent idea and implementation of a game. I will certainly be following this.
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Quirk of Fate finally in Beta here: Press to step into the phone booth
Constitutio Ergo Sum
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Aximillio
Posts: 1251
8/10/2012
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Mike Grace wrote:
Caitydid wrote:
Wish me luck! :-)
And I did forget to say...what an excellent idea and implementation of a game. I will certainly be following this.
Indeed =)
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Possibly returned after a long hiatus. Please do not send live rats or tournament requests.
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Nigel Evans
Posts: 212
8/15/2012
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I've had another play, and Evolve is much improved. You've made the qualities much neater and more understandable. And don't sweat the writing - it's clear and understandable. I'm looking forward to seeing more.
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Nick Keirle
Posts: 9
8/16/2012
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This is really great, Caitydid. As Nigel said, it's really good to see people doing different stuff with StoryNexus.
My only issue is slight - sometimes I choose a branch and am told that, say, 'Resourcefulness' is increasing or decreasing, but the number next to 'Resourcefulness' stays the same. Other times I'm told the same thing, and the number next to 'Resourcefulness' stays the same. As a result it's a little unclear what effects actions have.
But as I said before, colour me impressed. I'll definitely be following this to see what you do next. Oh, and I've got to follow Nigel's lead here: http://community.failbettergames.com/topic867-world-of-the-season-competition.aspx
Just sayin',
Edit: I forgot to say - I love some of the ways you've used qualities. The quality 'Millions of Years Gone By' is simple but extremely effective. Similarly, your use of icons is well considered, and makes great use of the symbolic.
Nick
edited by Nick Keirle on 8/16/2012
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Nick Keirle
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
8/16/2012
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Thanks for the kind words and encouragement, Nigel and Nick! I really appreciate it, especially as I haven't had much time for the project this week. Hopefully starting Monday I'll be back to writing more content.
Nick, I think the increasing/decreasing issue is probably my not selecting something properly on the programmer side. If anyone happens to know what would be causing that, I would love a nudge in the right direction.
The "Millions of Years Gone By" quality was a late addition, and I'm working to integrate it a little more smoothly into take 2, but in general I was very pleased with the concept. I found it to be nice and flexible, so that if you want to take a long evolutionary leap, I can program it to make 50 million years go by, or a disaster event with reduced oxygen might make 200 million years go by before you can make another evolutionary advancement. It felt more scientific this way. Glad you liked it!
EDIT: Oh, and thanks to Root and Aximillo, too!
edited by Caitydid on 8/16/2012
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Jacob Elliott
Posts: 48
8/17/2012
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You accidently capitalized both the R and the I in Your ribosomes
Keeping you fit and ready to divide
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Chrysoula
Posts: 40
8/19/2012
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This is really interesting and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. I love the mix of story/gameplay and education. I also feel like you've hit a sweet spot in the division between pinned cards and opportunity cards. Looking forward to seeing what you do next!
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Katherine Cunningham
Posts: 44
8/19/2012
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I can't tell if I am being blind or if others just saved the link. Because it appears that people are currently playing, but the main post still says that you removed the link.
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Chrysoula
Posts: 40
8/19/2012
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It showed up in the drop-down orange bar at the top on Cabinet Noir and my own project, along with Fallen London and Heroic.
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Katherine Cunningham
Posts: 44
8/20/2012
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Wait, how did you get Cabinet Noir?
Also, after four pieces of self-knowledge when we are being tested, the second option spelled cytoplasm wrong. As is Nucleoid in the Your/My Nucleoid card (I couldn't remember whether it was my or your).
Is it supposed to take away all of my In Progress after I get the message saying to come back soon?
edited by Katbeth86 on 8/20/2012
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
8/20/2012
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Ah, yes. It's still available through the Story Nexus front page, which is fine. Just don't expect any new content or fixes on that game, as I actually started entirely afresh with a new title. I figured it would be easier to build from the ground up the right way, than to go and fix every single card in Evolve. I'm hoping it will be much more streamlined this time around.
Thanks for the spelling fixes Jacob and Katherine! And thanks for the nice review Chrysoula. :-)
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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Katherine Cunningham
Posts: 44
8/20/2012
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Well, I look forward to seeing how that turns out. Will you post the new link here, or will it be classified as a new game?
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Caitydid
Posts: 65
8/20/2012
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I'll post here and in a new thread for second-round play testers. Thanks!
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You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, "Why not?" - G.B. Shaw
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