Dawnfall -- HEART'S CHOICE -- BETA TESTERS NEEDED

Join the crew of the Dawnfall, a spaceship crewed by humans and aliens, and powered by the rhythm of the universe. You are a Navigator, one who creates and guards portals from one dimension to another, wary of the liminal sea between them. The worlds are balanced, until one day, an explosive disaster, a deadly energy storm, and an infamous pirate–the Ghost Queen–upend your life and plunge you into a race to save both worlds. Will you find love, family, and belonging with the crew of the Dawnfall, or will you bring these criminals to justice? Are connections between universes, people, and lives meant to be forged and protected, or severed for the greater good? Navigate your own course, and hope you can weather the storms.

No explicit descriptions of sex. Variable protagonist gender / variable RO genders. ROs are humans, humanoid aliens, and birdlike aliens.

Directions for beta-testing:

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 forum-name, your real name, and the game you want to test.

DO NOT POST ASKING WHAT MY EMAIL ADDRESS IS. The first test to becoming a beta tester is inferring what it is based on the above paragraph.

(You cannot be testing two games at once. Send feedback on one and you can apply to another.)

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.

“Mid-level” feedback describes things like grammar, style, or the use of commas. As I said above, I do not want mid-level feedback. In particular, DO NOT WRITE TO ME ABOUT COMMAS.

“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.

Some examples of useful feedback:

In Choice of the Dragon, you get to choose what type of wings you have: leather or scaled. Someone wrote in and asked about having feathered wings. Great suggestion! Done!

In “The Eagle’s Heir,” someone asked about Eugenie. They said that the romance moved too quickly–because she only appeared in the last third of the game–and wished they could have had an opportunity to meet her earlier. So the authors added an opportunity to meet her and start the romance earlier in the game (in a scene that already existed).

In “Demon Mark: A Russian Saga” several people commented on how the PC’s parents were unsympathetic, so the authors added a choice or two to deepen the relationship with the parents in the first chapter, to help better establish their characters.

Similarly, pointing out a specific choice and saying, “this is who I imagined my character was at this particular moment, and none of these options seemed right for me. I would have liked an option to do X instead,” is really helpful feedback.

Another useful piece of feedback: if you choose an #option and then the results of that #option don’t make sense. Like, if you thought an #option might test one stat, but it seems to have tested a different one.

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New draft is up! The loop in chapter 4 has been fixed.

This is version 17614

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New draft is up! Fixed the bug that caused all RO’s names to display as “Averis” in a few scenes :slight_smile:

This is version 17617

New draft! Fixes and changes include:

  • many typos fixed
  • stat checks recalibrated
  • more specific info about what the Anchors are and the limits on the crew’s options for dealing with them
  • more references to Rune early in the game

This is version 17691

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Are you guys still taking testers?

We are! Please see the instructions at the top of this thread for how to sign up. Thanks!

Are there certain requirements needed in order to sign up as a beta tester?

Not in the way that you mean, no.

Massive update! This is version 17857.

Changes include:

  • Emotional/Coolheaded and Drama/Subtle have been merged into a single stat, Impulsive/Composed.
  • It is much easier to save Rune
  • Lots of dialogue options added and changed, especially to offer more neutral responses in conversations
  • Changed Averis and Zenith’s reactions to the PC’s lying
  • Lots of assorted typos and code bugs fixed

Thanks to everyone who has tested so far!

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I sent out at least another dozen invites last night, but there’s still another dozen in the queue.

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I’m excited to see the new changes! The neutral dialogue options especially. :smile::heart: I’m play-testing in the browser, so how do I update to the latest version? Do I just refresh the page? And if so, will that restart my current playthrough? (Also, is the version number shown anywhere? I tried looking for it, but found nothing.)

The version number is on the About page.

If your browser isn’t recache-ing, try an Incognito window.

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New draft! This is version 17975

Lots of continuity fixes! Most notably:

  • it’s easier to convince Aeon to surrender
  • Vyranix doesn’t show up when he shouldn’t
  • If you see Averis and Zenith separately in the course of the ending scenes, you don’t then see them together.
  • In Ch 8, if you are only in a romance with Averis, if you choose to spend time with a ‘special someone’, you now get the scene with only Averis, instead of with Averis and Zenith both. (Please do a targeted playthrough on this one - we’d especially like to make sure that this one is fixed!)

Thanks to all who have tested so far!

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This beta is now closed!

Thank you to everyone who helped out. Keep an eye out for Dawnfall in a couple months, under the Heart’s Choice label!

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THANK YOU everyone! Your feedback has been amazing and so helpful! I can’t wait!

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Looking forward to trying this, so congrats! As one of the few M/F option games for HC the setup sounds great. :grin:

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Thank you so much! (For anyone first hearing about this, DAWNFALL is extremely gender-open - you can pick yours and there are 5 ROs of several genders - but m/f is definitely a possibility!)

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Awesome! I thought that HC games were 3 romances max so it’s great to hear that you’re including a few more! If it ends up like the better half of Mass Effect I will be happy.

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That’s literally what I’m aiming for LOL

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