I’ve written about half of my game and have received pretty great feedback throughout. While I might not follow all advice given, I have done my best to balance scope and player expectations/wants as much as possible.
Now, I am wondering how to proceed with testing, whether to do the last three chapters as a private beta once all three are written or do a chapter at a time. I am a little worried that interest for testing may wane by doing it this way. Any advice is appreciated!
There are advocates for testing both public (Havenstone’s Choice of Rebels is 100% public) and private (Lucid’s games are all tested by email)
I am running my alphas in private, but will be posting all of the game for my Patchwerks projects in public betas.
I will be posting each update at a regular interval (still undetermined) and use both Havestone’s and JimD’s model for my beta.
I think it really depends what you’re personally comfortable with. There are people who have said they really appreciated testing the entire game in public, and others who have preferred to test privately and as far as I’m aware there have been success stories for both methods.
There was an interesting discussion on this subject a few months ago which doesn’t come to any particular consensus but may help you decide!
It bugs me to think that a big group of testers would catch the same errors all right away. I like waves of private. I take a few at a time, depending upon how much time I have to work on it.
First batch helps me to fix the more obvious bugs and make some big changes. I invite a few more in at a time and so on. Eventually I let in everyone who will help me make the game better.
This gives me fresh eyes who find me new errors without wasting time on the earlier problems. I can lower or stop new testers, which is helpful because I’ll need time to fix, balance, enhance, and edit.
It works for me, but everyone has their own approach. I’ve made a lot of great friends over the years who started as beta testers too.
I love the system you built. That with your established fan base means you get a really healthy testing regime and your wave-testing is a beautiful thing.
My alpha testing, including the test I completed this 4th is much like your entire process. My weakness is the pool of testers I can draw upon fluctuates and is inconsistent.
As Hannah said, both the public and private models have been used successfully. I highlighted your method because I feel, among the private methodologies I’ve experienced with Choice Script authors, your process is among the best in our community for Hosted Games Authors.
As of the last five days I’ve been writing/producing a visual novel, which is pretty hard because I’ve always been an artist first, and a writer… not-even-second.
I don’t really have much of note to say besides I have a big learning curve to overcome because I’m fine when it comes to prose… when it comes to intriguing plot events and themeing… not so much.
Late to the party, but goal for July is to finish the outline for the whole vn (6 chapters?). And be 100% finished with RenPy scripting for 2 chapters…
My advice about testing will be different to 90% of writers here thankfully, but still, I think it is necessary to tell the whole picture and the dark side of testing.
If you aren’t popular like in my case there is a big chance that no single person replaying to your testing at all It burns you and if you are like me with self-esteem issues you could end up burnt forever.
I personally just stopped all plan betas. Nobody will replay to mine so I don’t even dare to try again due to several no replay by anyone betas.
So if you are not sure if you won’t be able to handle a total failure, you don’t make a beta test, It is the same reason I don’t do wip threads anymore I know perfectly well how it will end, so I don’t even bother to try,
I’ve not done much writing for a few days since receiving the news about my submission but I only mean writing content for the Graveyard Watch.
Instead, I’ve been working on a demo for the system I want to add to the Graveyard Watch which I’m now calling DEAD or the Dynamic Event Altering Death system.
Currently, the code is just over 2000 words and I’m hoping to have it finished in the next few days.
DEAD is meant to spice up a player’s death. For the demo, I have split a death into four sections with each section having three variations. The demo picks these randomly before the death scene and will offer a slightly different scene each time you play through the demo.
I think it is working quite well so far with the sections being the appearance, the initial reaction, the follow-up and finally the kill.
Can’t wait to show it off 
I just completed a successful sex scene! It’s less about the sex and more about the fact that these are not writing muscles I have ever felt very comfortable stretching. A few years ago, the first time I ever tried to write one, I gave it my best and I ended up with a “scene” that was ten pages (ten single spaced pages!) of emotional slow burn and one boot was off by the end of it. Not so this time! 972 words of steamy~ if I do say so myself.
It’s maybe a silly thing to be so pleased about, but I am! I feel like I improved in a weak area and I’m thrilled. 
Finally finished my DEAD system and have posted the demo on the forums. I hope everyone enjoys their character’s deaths 
It’s wonderful that you’ve gained a new area of authorial competence, but please don’t consider yourself weak for writing a scene that focuses on the emotions leading up to sex more than the act itself. There are too many writers already who churn out sex scenes and call it a romance. The writers I appreciate most focus on the entire experience when they write about sex. Personally, I would appreciate a steamy scene more with at least a bit of emotional slow burn leading up to it.
I too, am a big fan of killing people.
In game of course…
But seriously, your DEAD system is really good, and as a fellow connoisseur of killing the player repeatedly I may just have to take inspiration from your system. Not stealing it though, I may enjoy murder, but I’m not a monster.
Okay thats enough murder jokes…
I have no issue with a copy-cat killer ahem I mean writer. Yes, a copy-cat writer is fine by me 
It was fun to code and I’m looking forward to integrating it into The Graveyard Watch.
You could say, it’s to die for…
Time to stop, I’m putting myself in the timeout corner.
I noticed. I died about eight times my first time around in your WIP (for those interested) before I realized that the skill checks don’t use dice rolls to determine success. Very fun!
Going over the code, I’m quite interested on how you’re going to implement it. Are you going to be using a tag system where the death scene presented depends on the conditions?
I am imagining a “murderer” variable and in addition things like “claws”, “knife”, and “detachable spines”. Then, mixing those variables together to get your very own death!
Doing it this way sounds like a wonderful compromise between routing all death scenes to small sections and writing out unique ones for each death. Can’t wait to see how you actually use it though instead of just speculating.
You’ve set me off laughing here. I’m just picturing a writer reaching the end of that 10 page sex scene and then going “It feels like I’ve missed something. Oh,yes…the sex.”
Well done on getting that sex scene done. I’ll have to do one eventually, if my game ever gets that far, and God alone knows what that’ll be like. Unintentional comedy gold, probably.
Yeah I will be using tags to track where the player is.
It is not silly. It is an accomplishment. I have never written a sex scene but want to. I had to start with describing nudity first, both women and men. Then I did a sensual scene involving a broach, no nudity. I’d love to read it if you are comfortable sharing. I’d also like to hear some ways other writers dip their toes into the steamier things. Way to be brave!
poison_mara: I understand how you feel. The feedback I received was largely negative and sometimes aggressive. It was also fair. I also talked too much. Something I won’t repeat again. There is an art to conducting the critique process; and, it is ok to screw that up when you are learning. I went for the post “the whole thing” publicly approach and bit the dust hard. I made changes and still received negative feedback. I then took a step back and binged a free class on fantasy writing. I found receiving information and “do’s and don’ts” from a likeable writer was just the thing I needed to get going again. I will read your work if you want.
Nocturnal_Stillness: I will have to check out your DEAD system. I also have some novel code using tags and gosubs. I hope I can generate the same interest. I am glad you had fun with your complex coding. I find it painful but rewarding. And thanks for allowing the MC the chance to die. Just adds to the suspense, right?
Thank you for that! I feel pretty good about my ability to handle emotions, and to create those emotional undertones, it’s just that when it came to writing romance specifically, I knew I wanted to be able to write a sex scene. Partly for my own self improvement, and partly because I know there are readers who like them and I’d like to be able to offer them a satisfactory experience, should they wish to see something more explicit. But yeah, I definitely agree: I value and want to prioritize the emotional aspects of the romance and I’m aiming for something that burns as slow and steady as the 112$ brand name candle in that fancy gift store that I love to smell but will never purchase.
I swear that’s what happened. I was so in the groove, I didn’t stop typing once during the whole session and then I looked at my page count and said, out loud, “gosh darn it.” As you can see, the part of my brain that works when I write is very salacious and so it’s no wonder it was so easy. /s 
Though if you do go for one of your own, I wouldn’t shy away from comedy gold if that’s what works for you. I know that’s not really what you meant but still. Fun, playful sex is just as great an experience as the hot and heavy stuff and I’m sure a lot of people would like the option to play through a game that includes a dynamic like that. It’s its own kind of intimacy, one that doesn’t get explored often enough imo. Either way, I believe in you! It’s all just practice, like pretty much everything else.
Thank you! I’d like to hear from others too. There are techniques and common practices for pretty much all aspects of writing and approaching genres so there have to be some for sex. Speaking for myself, as the opposite of an expert on the subject, what I did to help myself actually get started on this particularly very intimidating blank page was just to dive in by immediately typing the word cock. It sounds silly because it is, but one of the things I get hung up on, writing or reading the steamier parts of romance, is the vocabulary. There are certain words that I just cannot take seriously and I knew I’d sit there for hours just debating which slang words were less atrocious to me than others, so I just picked the one that I felt best fit the emotional tone I was going for (in this case: a little aggressive) and I just put it out there because I knew that would be the hardest part. And maybe for you, it’s not the vocabulary, but maybe getting the hardest part out of the way first will make everything after that flow more easily.
Writing sex. How can something so simple be so damn hard?! I swear, you won’t know how much your mind blanks until you try.