Life of a Space Force Captain Beta Test (CLOSED)

Life of a Space Force Captain

Status: Currently in post production and expecting a May 2022 release. Thanks everyone!

Link back to Upcoming Games: Upcoming Games by Lucid

Link to discussion about the game: https://forum.choiceofgames.com/t/life-of-a-space-force-captain-releasing-may-5-2022

spaceforce

Life of a Space Force Captain by Mike Walter

It’s hard to believe, but this will be my 8th release.

Introduction: Have you ever wanted to be the captain of a faster-than-light starship? You will live a full life starting as a young child of the future.

Play as human, various species of alien, or even a robot. With the help of your friends and your loyal, upgradable robo-pet, you will go to school to learn skills of your own choosing before taking a position as a lowly cadet.

You’ll choose which department to join and rise within as the Solar System trembles in fear when a powerful foe threatens its very existence.

Will you master the psionic arts or use technology to enhance yourself with cybernetics? Will you follow the rules or will you do whatever is necessary? The choice is yours in Life of a Starship Captain!

  • A new look at the Lucidverse. After the Lost Heir, Life of a Wizard, and the Last Wizard, there was New Daria (home of Life of a Mobster and Paradox Factor.) This story takes place a few hundred years after that.

  • 6 Friends with full back stories, character arcs, and possible romances, if you wish.

  • Cybernetic Implants vs Psionic Skills

  • An upgradeable faithful robo-pet companion.

  • 5 distinct departments to join (Engineering, Medical, Science, Navigation, and Security)

  • 7 Traits: Strength, Agility, Endurance, Perception, Willpower, Charm, and Intelligence.

  • 9 Skills: Combat, Computers, Ranged Weapons, Leadership, Mechanics, Medicine, Pilot, Science, Streetwise

  • 6 Fully Playable Species: Aurellian (beautiful bio-luminescent alien), Linnera (giant cockroach with hive mind), Orrok (strong four-armed alien), Reticulan (traditional bald, grey-skinned, black-eyed alien), Solarian (human), Synthetic Humanoid (robot)

  • 21 exciting and unique endings.

Open Public Beta Test:

Fully open to all at this time!

If you haven’t done a Beta Test with me before, you may find my system to be a little different from others. I started with multiple waves to test this game, which began with my Patreon supporters first: Lucid's Games is creating Interactive Fiction | Patreon

After five great waves I think I’m ready for continuous intake, so if you’d like to test it, send me an email:

Please email me at: lucid519 AT gmail DOT com Be sure to tell me your forum name so I know who you are. I’ll reply with beta testing suggestions and a link to the game.

This multiple wave system let me to spread out my testers. Instead of having 100 people sending me the same errors/ideas, I was able to fix the errors and get new, fresh eyes to find the next batch of problems/enhancements. I hope those early-wave testers keep playing and continue sending me feedback, they’ve seen some big changes.

Thanks in advance for your help. I really hope you enjoy the game.

Mike (Lucid)

43 Likes

Awesome response. That’s enough people for the first wave, thanks!

Don’t worry everyone else, second wave will likely open sometime next week.

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I’m ready for some more fresh eyes. If you have time over the next day or two, please read the first post in this thread and send me an email. If you don’t have time yet, just hold on. :slight_smile:

Also, Beta Version 1.02 is now live.

Thanks everyone. Just so you know, I’ve responded to every message sent to me as of this moment. If you haven’t heard a reply, let me know by email (see the first post). I’m closing this wave of Beta Testers right now, but don’t worry, Wave 3 should open sometime early next week. Please check the first post for details.

Version 1.03 has a big change.

I’ve always been bothered by the problem that my games really hurt someone who missed the boat at certain times. If you’re bad at Agility, sometimes you’ll just keep failing. I fixed it a bit by giving lots of entry/crossover points. Scenes where you grew strong at something. The idea was that succeeding had a reward of a stat bump, but it ended up just widening the gap and maybe winning should have been its own reward.

I haven’t fixed this problem in my other games because I felt that the player could think it’s an error when they saw that they needed a certain stat, gets a reward of that stat, and then sees that they have more than what they needed. I tried it once and I was flooded with false error reports. But I found a way around it. Seems obvious now and took only a little extra code.

Example of original fail:

The ball smacks you in the forehead. (Needed 30 Agility)

You check your stats, and yup, your Agility was only 28.

Example of the new style fail:

The ball smacks you in the forehead. (Needed 30 Agility, you had 28)
(Agility +5)

You check your stats and see that you’re Agility is 33, and it makes sense, right?

I’ve always been of the mind that experience builds skill. Lots of games mirror this idea, for example, Skyrim. So, now a failed attempt also gets a learning stat bump. I figure, if you just lost something, you’ve already taken a hit. No need to double penalize, right?

And for the story, it means that the character will grow by doing things and getting better as they go, yet still having weaknesses (at least for that playthru) with mysteries left unseen.

I still have the Skilled Option style. They give you a feeling of exclusivity. You’re doing something because you’re capable of doing it and not everyone is able to do it (at least not all on one playthru). They give you the feeling of confidence and reward at knowing that you’re getting better at something.

I did change them a bit for better convenience in this update:

Example of old skilled option:
[Grey]#Dodge the ball!! (Needs 30 Agility)

Example of new style skilled option:
[Grey]#Dodge the ball! (Needs 30 Agility, you have 28)

Less clicks for someone to have to open their stats and then look at how close they came to dodging the ball.

Hopefully this update doesn’t cause too many new bugs. :slight_smile:

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Anyone free this weekend to Beta Test? If so, please read the first post in this thread and follow the instructions found there. Current testers, keep on sending!

If you don’t think you’ll have time to play and report over the next couple days, hold on. You’ll get a your chance soon enough. :slight_smile:

Any current testers have some errors/suggestions you haven’t sent yet? Send them now, even if it’s an old version or there aren’t many of them. I should have time to work on them tomorrow.

As of this moment, I have responded to every email. If you haven’t heard back from me, let me know!

Thanks all! By the way, Beta Version 1.07 is now live.

Hey Beta Testers, version 1.08 is now up and my inbox is empty, so I have replied to every message sent to me so far.

I’m not going to close the Beta Test this time. If I get a huge surge of people, I may still close it, but if it’s a measured flow of applicants, I think I can just keep it open.

No, I don’t plan to share the link. If you’d like to test my game, read that first email and I’ll send you the link.

Thanks for helping, everyone!

On a side note, and this can be answered by anyone who’s played one of my games, what do you think of game statistics?

  • I always turn on Notifications. I want to see when my stats go up and down.
  • I always turn off Notifications. I prefer straight text.

0 voters

Either way, this game will allow you to hide those stats if that isn’t your play style, although I’m curious what everyone’s preference is.

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why not put up a demo of the game on dashingdon

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I have my own method.

I like to make contact with my testers. I figure, if a person won’t request a link by email, then they are very unlikely to report any errors or suggestions, so they might as well wait until it releases normally.

Using email also keeps me organized so I don’t miss any responses. :slight_smile:

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im so looking forward to this game ive been a big fan of your work for most my life

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Its extremly good already at this point im my opinion

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I’ve reopened the Beta Test for new players. I closed it for a bit to get caught up. If anyone is waiting for a reply, please email me again. At this point, I’ve replied to every message I know of and I’d hate to miss any.

Also, if anyone has errors/suggestions they haven’t sent, please send them so I can get them into the next update.

That makes me feel a little old, but thank you! I guess it’s been 10 years since I started making games here. I’m really happy that people enjoy what I make. :smiley:

Thanks! It’s getting a little closer every day. My list is now empty, which is a rare thing. I playtest it myself when that happens, so it should just keep on getting a little better.

This is a good time to mention, if you think something should be different, let me know. I’ve made a lot of changes since before Beta Testing. I started with 0.9 and had about 12 updates before coming here. We’re now on version 1.12, so that’s about another 12 updates.

I appreciate all of your help so much. The game gets so much better over Beta.

2 Likes

Link to Poll: Life of a Starship Captain Beta Test (Currently OPEN) - #7 by Lucid

This was interesting. I honestly thought that there were more players who wanted no notifications. Personally, I like them too.

Here are a few more questions, but you’ll have to play the game before you can answer them:

  1. Which species have you played?
  • Solarian
  • Reticulan
  • Synth
  • Aurellian
  • Orrok
  • Linnera

0 voters

  1. Which species was your favourite?
  • Solarian
  • Reticulan
  • Synth
  • Aurellian
  • Orrok
  • Linnera

0 voters

  1. Which departments have you played?
  • Security
  • Science
  • Engineering
  • Navigation
  • Medical

0 voters

  1. Which department was your favourite?
  • Security
  • Science
  • Engineering
  • Navigation
  • Medical

0 voters

  1. Which romances have you experienced?
  • Breezok
  • Krag or Flok
  • Alex or Rachel
  • Kl’k
  • Kyle
  • Luum or Nate

0 voters

  1. Who is your favourite Romance Option?
  • Breezok
  • Krag or Flok
  • Alex or Rachel
  • Kl’k
  • Kyle
  • Luum or Nate

0 voters

1 Like

Beta Version 1.13 is now up and running.

I think it’s starting to get close. If anyone has time to beta test, please read the first post of this thread and follow the instructions found there.

Thanks again to all of you wonderful people who have been helping me to polish this game over the last couple of months. You rock!

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Version 1.14 is up.

On a side note, Grammarly is pretty cool. Thanks to the tester who suggested it.

I run RandomTest and copy/paste it over in really big chunks. It catches lots of things, including pronoun variations. :smiley:

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Oh, and I finally got around to making the first post in this thread look pretty. Probably should have done it a long time ago, but I’ve been working on the game. :smiley:

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Hi! The demo’s only available for patreons, right?

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Nah evryone can try beta testing as far as im aware

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It’s open to all. Just read that first post for instructions. :smiley:

Exactly!

Bring on the errors and suggestions. :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the clarification! Sorry to ask dumb questions lmao

1 Like

Not dumb at all. Similar to beta testing error/suggestions: if one person read it that way, you know that many others will/did too. I edited my first post to be clearer.

Yes, the beta is fully open and public. I love starting with my wave system, it works so well.

The errors/suggestions have dried up considerably. That’s good news since it means most of the spelling, grammar, and continuation errors are now fixed.

I’m still fixing/adding/changing things from older-version suggestions. My priority had been to get the errors and “higher level”-that could-be-fixed-in-a-single-session stuff done first, and now it is.

So I’m hoping newcomers will still roll in to help or that current testers will find time to do another run as my changes will also cause new errors. :slight_smile:

People have been so generous of their time.
It’s been a really nice beta test.

Life is about to get very busy again, but I should be able to keep polishing this game until enough people (and myself) feel it’s ready.

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