Congresswolf -- BETA TESTERS NEEDED

Announcements Beta Testing
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Congresswolf: as campaign manager for an incumbent Congressional Representative, what will you do when things start to get a little hairy around the full moon?

Email me, jason AT choiceofgames for access. DO NOT SEND ME A MESSAGE THROUGH THE FORUM MAIL SYSTEM. When you send your EMAIL, include your forumname and the game you want to test. I would also prefer if you included your real name, but you don’t have to.

(You cannot be testing two games at once.)

I will send you a link, a username, and a password.

Return feedback TO ME. Preferably part of the same thread, rather than a new email.

I’m looking for “high level” and “low level” feedback. Not mid-level feedback.

Low-level = typos and continuity errors. A continuity error is when a character’s gender flips, or someone comes back from the dead, or you run into a plotline that just doesn’t make sense (because it’s probably a coding error).

For these low-level issues, SCREENSHOTS are VERY HELPFUL. If you see a problem, take a screenshot, or copy and paste the text that is in error, and email that. Also, the “BUG” button is great; but if you use BUG, make sure to say in your email who you are, so I can give you credit for the report.

“High level” feedback has to do with things like plot, pacing, and characters. “Scene A didn’t work for me because x, y, and z,” is useful feedback. “B character was entirely unsympathetic, because u, w, and v,” is also useful feedback.

“I had a great time and saw only a few spelling errors,” is not useful feedback. In fact, it’s the sort of thing that results in you not being given access to future betas.

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Bugfixes posted!

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More bugfixes posted!

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New build up!

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New build up!

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New draft up!

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New draft up!

Love to have new players, and if previous players want to give it another spin, that too would be appreciated.

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New draft up!

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I can’t find a Congresswolf thread with the author… and don’t know if this is the right place to post this. I’m not a beta tester and didn’t know if this was a mistake or not.

Playing the steam version.

In the first chapter of Congresswolf you tell the same cop it is your first day twice, but she reacts the second time like she didn’t know, so either she wasn’t listening to the player character the first time around, which is weird for the cop in charge attending to the scene of a murder, or it was just unintentional by the author. Or I’m just being super critical. Is it weird only to me? In the game it clearly shows you are talking to the same cop.

[details=1st Mention]
*label police2

You nod. “I just got here for work—it’s my first day—and when I went into the office, I found her.”[/details]

[details=2nd Mention]
*label candidateArrival
(…)
“I don’t know,” you admit. “Today is my first day.”

Evans whistles. “Hell of a first day.”[/details]

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This seems like the best place to post about the game…

I just started playing through it and it feels like no money actually comes into the campaign (even after a major fundraiser). Moreover, if you’re in a deficit you don’t get forced to cut the budget…unless you decide to rework spending priorities, at which point you promptly have to fill whatever hole is in front of you all at once. Basically the money needs a bit of work.

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Playing the steam version.

There is a coding mistake in the chapter BigBadWolf.

The first choice in the chapter, the option:
*if (attitudeWolves >= 55) #There’s never been a werewolf in Congress before. I’d be thrilled to know I was working on the vanguard of werewolf rights that way.

Points to
*goto donor_presentations

When it should point to
*goto fundraising_update

There is a second mistake in BigBadWolf.

In *label donor_presentations
If you do not spend any money on polls in your budget plan in the earlier chapters, you get no context for the donor presentations call, and instead transition directly to:
The call gets off to a fractious start,

There is a third mistake in BigBadWolf.

In *label jonas_action
There is a mistake with indentations in the code I believe.

When checking the (knownJonasFollower = false) you get a bit of text you are not supposed to, showing this:

(…) an eye out

“That would be great,” you say. “That’s all I’m asking.” for him.

When it should be “an eye out for him.”

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In the chapter DogDaysOfSummer

I believe that the Social Animal achievement is broken, where it says
*if ((donorsCharmed = 3) and (choice_achieved_social = true))

I believe that the
(choice_achieved_social = true)
should be
(choice_achieved_social = false)
instead.

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@Gray I get what you mean, I’ve been playing for a bit and the money side definitely needs reworking.

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Were many of these issues resolved in beta testing, but the steam version just isn’t up to date?

The Jonas thing didn’t wrap up neatly even through he was arrested, Thomas is still in jail, and in the next scene I have Abby’s head in my lap as if she were my girlfriend, while I’ve definitely been in a relationship with Thomas.

I can’t be bothered trawling through the code anymore to see where things are broken, or just not written.

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I enjoyed the game, the politics side of it was fascinating and it had excellent pace. Writing without specifying the gender of the MC was a good touch too.

Like Gray and Zakkarian I found the money side of things awkwardly implemented.

Also, regarding Jonas is there the implication that Thomas murdered Maggie? If so I kinda messed up that sub-plot, but it’d make some sense? It’s odd you don’t get to talk with Thomas again either way.

But overall I had a good time, was quite nail-biting at points.

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One other random suggestion: You might want to switch the date for the death penalty being kicked out to 1972 (Furman v Georgia was that year and it imposed the moratorium…and, in this case, I would presume that knocked out the mandatory death penalty).

Had another error…got a memo saying “I know where I’d like to spend our excess [money]” and then I go to spend it and I’m actually in the hole and can’t leave until I fill the hole. How stupid can my finance director be?:wink:

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I’ve run into a couple potential bugs of my own in playing the iOS version and both of them deal with Spoiler-y issues:

Firstly, when romancing Thomas if Thomas has been arrested: On the day before the election I get the line about stealing away to be with him on the couch and eating Take-out. Then the very next paragraph has me with Abby and discussing our relationship. In a couple of the playthroughs I’ve done, I don’t have any relationship with Abby beyond what mostly amounts to ‘frenemies’, so it comes as somewhat out of the blue that we’d be on the couch talking about having a deeper romantic relationship.

Secondly, after the werewolf bite if your preference is to change and you do all the things you can to increase your chances of being infected, I have to wonder if one of the conditions for setting the change is coded properly. Granted, it’s possible that the RNG of the chances of being a werewolf are against me in every instance I’ve tried it, but it might be something worth looking into.

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Thank you all for these bug reports. We’ll get them fixed asap.

That said, in the future, PLEASE JOIN THE BETAS. I’d much rather have people report this bugs and have them fixed before release than after.

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@billyhtchcoc @jasonstevanhill

I have the same bug with thomas on steam. As for the werewolf bite, it is definitely broken, I just played through a few times quickly to test turning into a werewolf following through with the code to see the outcome of the choices and something seems to be broken somewhere for the guaranteed option, I think it might be
*if remedies = 3
*if wolfPreference = true <<<<< true should be “change”
*set isWerewolf true

Right now the only way to be a werewolf is if you only try one remedy to increase your chances or nothing at all.

I generally don’t like to join betas for things because I don’t want to spoil things for myself, I want to experience the story for the first time when it’s fully finished and the plot is fully nailed down and fleshed out.

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@jasonstevanhill Yeah, I will have to do so.

In this case I’d totally missed that this was even in development or I would’ve done so (I remember at least commenting on something on CoV back in the day). Especially since now I’m working on my own game I’ve been batting back and forth in my brain thanks to having been downsized this month.

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