I, Cyborg -- BETA TESTERS NEEDED

Imagine a young Han Solo, on the run from Imperial troopers and space pirates, gets himself into a jam and activates a cybernetic copy of himself to function as a distraction so he can slip away. The Imperial troopers or space pirates realize their mistake and curse Solo’s name, but then go about their business.

Only, they didn’t bother to turn you off.

Ten years later, you still look just like Ypsilante Rowe, and you have all Rowe’s dare-devil piloting skills and smug charm, only you’re not Rowe. You’re literally a cheap knock-off, just trying to survive another solar cycle.

Until the real Rowe suddenly crashes back into your life…

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

(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.

15 Likes

Good luck on your new game

There’s a new draft posted!

  • Typos
  • Pronoun updates
  • Bugfixes

What is the email? Isn’t included in your post

Check his 5th paragraph. :slight_smile:

It is there. Trust us. It’s there.

3 Likes

New draft posted.

1 Like

New draft posted!

New draft posted!

New draft posted!

  • pronoun variables (mostly?) fixed
  • more end-convo with Marley
  • some tweaking of the pre-sex notifications
  • fixed bug in ch 10 with selling loot you didn’t have
  • new ending with/for PC death, including an achievement.
2 Likes

Umm… I’m new. So is this quite the right place to be asking on how to apply for beta testing?? Also, because how delightfully polite I am…cam somebody just guide me…even if it’s the wrong place? Thanks

Read the first post again, mate.

Can’t find that mail he’s referring to. He says not to message through the forum system right?

Email me, jason AT choiceofgames for access.

Think about how email addresses are typically structured. Ponder what that could mean. Know the origin of the @ symbol, and you will know the email address. And please don’t actually type it out to ask if it’s correct. The whole point of not posting it is so that it’s not picked up by spam bots.

7 Likes

New draft up!

  • Wider variety of reactions to meeting Pehlivan
  • Entering the airshow now happens in-story instead of offscreen
  • Numerous small bugfixes (incorrect ship names in the Airshow results; text at the end of certain jobs that didn’t reflect what you actually did)
  • Added additional options for Charm and Fast Talk options during flying jobs that didn’t already have them
  • Fixed paragraphing and punctuation that was generated incorrectly on some branches

New draft posted!

  • chapter headers in place!
  • fixes for a bug that could cause a crime lord to buy data at auction that they already had from the databraid
  • fixes for a bug where money the PC steals in Chapter 9 doesn’t turn up in their bank account
  • other bugfixes for text that repeated in dialogues or dialogues that ended up on the wrong branch
  • typo fixes, small changes to keep text consistent and logical across branches, etc.

so do beta testers, get a special mention or something?

Look at the credits page of any of our games.