Drag Star -- BETA TESTERS NEEDED

In the high-pressure world of drag competitions, you must strut your stuff with the best the competition can throw at you! Throw shade, serve looks, and slay every day in this primetime drag competition! Can you impress the judges, steal the show, and keep your wig glued down?

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.

If you feel the game is rushed, take screenshots of those moments and explain why it feels rushed.

If you feel the game ends abruptly, take a moment and explain how it ended, and what more you would have liked to have seen. Did you want a final romance scene? Did you want a recap of what happened? Was there a plot thread that was unresolved? The more specific you can be, the better.

9 Likes

I’m going to hold on admitting new testers until I receive a new draft.

1 Like

New draft posted!

Change Log:

BTW, many reported “typos” were intentional slang. Urban Dictionary is your friend.

Stats & Start up

Hid Scandal relationship rating until he comes back in Ch 8

“Stats-Screen coding error: saboteur and suspicion don’t show up correctly. They show up, but weirdly.” — not sure how to correct this, or what’s wrong with it. Need more information.

Ch 1
Capitalized “This sexy MF”

removed “gender” from “gender nonbinary” in St Sebastian self description

Made Moment Slater a “glamour queen” instead of “banjee comedy.” I realized she isn’t very funny.

Ch 2
Fixed bug of “set camp %-10” appearing to players

Fixed bug of “set solo %+10” appearing to players

removed “white” and left “ginger-haired” in descrip of Kali’s husband

Ch 3
Fixed awkward sentence and following pagebreak button about St. Sebastian naming themself after Sailor St. Claire.

Fixed bugs of $ absent from {kaiheshe} and {himher} (updated as kaihimher)

Added a brief note of delineation between Kai and Kali, added “Lady” before each instance in this chapter that Kali appears as a primary name.

Ch 4
Fixed missing text when being coached by Luscious

Ch 5
Fixed issue of {ameliadeath} and {amelialegacy} not having $ (how did we all miss that?)
Eliminated extra period in Ricky’s opening statement

Ch 7
Adjusted gameplay so all players search hotel, but must pass test to find glitternote

Ch 8
Fixed bug of missing before ((snort) or (taste)) Fixed ! in front of instead of behind
Fixed missing text when announcing winning team
set Scandal relationship visible in stats screen as of Ch 8

Ch 11
fixed issue of game retaining whether Line 3 of lyrics are changed or not

Ch 13
2x Fixed synch/sync
2x Fixed missing @ before multireplace of PCdoublewin

5 Likes

New draft posted!

*All those errors where you’d pick one thing and the game would display the other option’s result are fixed!

3 Likes

Now taking more testers!

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If a previous tester for this, is re-applying required?

No. It just means Jason has more to go through.

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It also means, if you’re a current tester you should consider replaying now.

Fine. I’ll…consider it. I am looking forward, to be honest. This was a long playthrough, but definitely fun.

I’ve been really enjoying this so far, it’s absolutely laugh-out-loud funny at several points. I sent in my feedback for chapters 1-6 to Jason so far. Not sure if I should refresh and start a new game since I didn’t finish on the original draft, or if I should keep playing to the end. I’m a slow reader when I’m testing, so it takes me a while to do a full playthrough.

1 Like

And yet another new draft! With extensive change notes from the author:

I’m looking forward to the new beta feedback when they’re not mired in continuity bugs!

Round 2

General: (Abby suggestions)

cut lists of options down at Abby’s request.

lifted the restriction on how many episodes can be won, but some are still no-win

Made sure Attention, Integrity, and Selfcare aren’t establishing choices or testing choices in Ch 1 and 2. They start to adjust in Ch 3, and there’s a test of attention in Ch 4 after a choice that can raise attention score.

(beta feedback)

corrected(?) the bugs around multireplace displaying the wrong choices

corrected !{ when it should be !{

light little continuity shifts to answer betatesters’ questions of “why is this happening?”

corrected stat displays of saboteur and suspicion with Mary’s help (okay, she did it for me because I’m dense)

Ch 1
Foreshadowed Ricky refusing to do a female vocal

Ch 2
added establishing test for Tyra’s departure

established voguetype for reference later

@{(voguetype) old school|elegant|campy|avant garde}

Moved Scandal’s hidden stat to display at end of Ch 2, showing that he’s not going home too soon.

Ch 3

Foreshadowed Scandal refusing to do filthy/raunchy

Ch 6

Cleaned up some bad taste comments from beta tester. Eliminated “Harambe” as dead celebrity to impersonate, reworded the PTSD joke about Amelia statue.

Made Oscar Wilde available to all genders for impersonation, switched out Eartha Kitt for Carol Channing (RIP), now available to all genders.

Corrected Miss Cleo bug of displaying as “True”

Ch 7

Added achievement for finding glitter note

Ch 8-11
reworked drug choices so that using the drug isn’t an automatic disqualification (now a skill test)

Ch 11
added options for prewritten lyrics (@MeltingPenguins)

Ch 12-13
added achievements for either choosing or refusing rehab. I hope these aren’t in bad taste, but rather show equal incentives for accepting or refusing

1 Like

Oh god, thank you, send the author hugs and kisses :heavy_heart_exclamation: The lyrics part had me despairing

Aww, that’s a shame. One of my favorite things about drag is being irreverent, but I suppose I can sorta understand why people were bothered by it. It made me laugh though. I like subversive and dark comedy that goes places that most people wouldn’t dare to go.

2 Likes

I didn’t suggest Harambe being removed, but I’m glad it was, not due to taste, because…you nailed why. I just don’t think Harambe has the stamina to be relevant years down the road when other people discover this.

To be fair, there are a LOT of pop culture references in this (and in the original Drag Race show) that will lose relevance down the road. That’s just part of the game when you’re courting and/or satirizing mainstream pop culture, memes, and art.

But in the end I support whatever changes the writer chooses to make because this game is absolutely amazing and hilarious. I genuinely adore it.

1 Like

Quick question to other testers (hope that’s ok):

Anyone gotten the achievement for finding the you-know-what i got the the text that i mamaged but never got the achievement throughout several drafts.
(Just answer yes no. No spoilers)

EDIT: Found the reason, handed in report

1 Like

New draft posted:

  • Added cast of characters to stats screen

Ch 3:
*Gave Armand a little more to say in cutaways
*Corrected typo: “to for”

Ch 4:

  • Changed some options in reaction to Kali’s win. (beta)
    Fixed the continuity of guest judge thwoorping on Sudden Death (they’re not supposed to) (beta)
  • Indicated that the mini stunt is more about getting attention than winning it. (beta)
  • Increased the +% when forming alliances (beta)
  • added a variable for whether PC lies to Moment (Abby and betatesters)

Ch 6:

  • added options for regret so it won’t just be “input text”
  • Found what I hope is the last bug in the backupseance look / favor to Amelia thing. (was backupseance, which is a string variable, updated it to backupseancetrue, which is boolean)
  • Fixed the forced-choice to keep Trigga (no choice necessary now)
    (previously updated but not logged [Abby suggestions])
  • Adjusted “How are you going to make this funny?” choices to provide actual results
  • Adjusted repeat the look choices so there are no auto-fails/deductions)

Ch 7:

  • distinguished why Dorian picks first after mini stunt (Abby)
  • fixed so that choosing direction = 1 isnt an auto lose (Abby)
  • adjusted choices for cake vs not cake (Abby)
  • fixed eathair true/false continuity
  • Updated interactions with Moment if PC lied to her in Ch 4

Ch 8:

  • Deleted narration of relationship (Abby)

Ch 10:

  • Continued cutting lengthy lists of choices (Abby)
  • added stat consequences for lying about kiki/kaikai/byebye (Abby)
  • added *achieve for finding the saboteur before finale. (oops!)

Ch 11:

  • reworked snapping at Mega so that player has more choices and branches based on selfcare. Also added alt version if not (thirsty). (Abby and Betatesters)
  • Added a moment of friendship (or not) with competitors

Ch 12:

  • Fixed missing quotation marks and letter F
  • Added acknowledgement that PC may have lied to Moment to get her to quit

Ch 13:

  • Tweaked final interaction with Amelia
  • Added missing quotation marks
  • Fixed (again) missing culprit from “ended up in jail”
  • found and fixed last ! when it should be ! (TurDuckHen option)
6 Likes

New draft posted!

General:

  • fixed lots of typos and slight additions to plot for clarity or to avoid offense.
  • development/foreshadow/backshadow

Remember that Urban Dictionary and Google are your friend if you don’t understand drag lingo and culture. I’m leaving most of that as is. For instance, “Glamour” is quite intentionally spelled with a U in the French way, like the magazine and the witchcraft spell. I adjusted some of the wording so that things weren’t insulting to readers, but it’s drag. There’s going to be sass and people making fun of one another. Also, the narrator is first person plural.

Ch 1

  • fixed continuity of driving vs flying

Ch 2

  • added stat adjustments to the book choices

Ch 4

  • added a little congrats for winning the mini
  • added some reactions from PC to Moment lurking in Sebastian’s lair

Ch 6

  • Clarified whether PC is fibbing or not when saying they’re looking for clues in spare time.

Ch 7 & 10

  • double checked bug of auto disqualification for drug use; god i hope this is solved now.

Ch 10

  • Changed it so Amelia and Sebastian catch PC with drugs (if they do), rather than Scandal/Trigga and Amelia. More incentive for the NPC to turn the character in.

  • Corrected switch of Kai’s drag persona

Ch 11

  • eased percentages needed to pass the Jamie fumble during the live dance

Ch 13

  • Fixed some extra space typos.
5 Likes