Trees Don't Tell [BETA TEST READY!]

(EDIT: Beta test is linked down below!!! Feel free to reply here or message me personally with issues. I tested every option as each chapter went by, but I know I probably misspelled a variable or something somewhere. Thanks for your time!)

Hey there, I go by Wuffles or Taylor Zane. Hope all is well.

I like writing of course and have created a project within choicescript. I’m mainly making my first topic to make sure I’m doing everything on the forum correctly. I’m practically ready to upload but not too sure how everyone does beta testing. I see a lot of COG posts but not a ton from hosted. (Also not going to lie, I’m a bit nervous!)

The project is a bit different than most and also a tad shorter. During production I found game creation almost as fun as writing. So this project may be a bit different than the ones I’ve played on mobile (I’m sure others have made things similar just haven’t seen them yet.)

Anywho, it’s called Trees Don’t Tell and its more of a puzzle type game than reading through a prolonged narrative. I wouldn’t call it horror but it can be a bit spooky. The lore and story of what has happened to your character and what is going on is displayed through items and things you come across in the game. It has a loop action timer so if the player runs out of time during option clicking they are set to start again in the chapter they are in. (Never are they forced back chapters, this is simply to prevent people from clicking every possible action and immediately finding the answer to the puzzle and moving onto the next chapter without truly playing.) The game is simple and short. I’ve had friends play a two chapter demo and one person beat it in like 20 min while the other took 40+. So it could easily be beaten within 2-3 hours but could also take someone longer. Hard to tell, I never made puzzle narrative before :o

Also there is gender choice of course, and effects the story in a small way. I’m really nervous to display it but oh well. Here it is!!

https://dashingdon.com/play/wuffles325/trees-wont-tell/mygame/

(Fixes:
There is an image in the last part of chapter 6 that shows the maze section again. This was supposed to be a place holder for a different image I forgot to add. It has been added to the choicescript but not uploaded to dashingdon yet.)

Please let me know if you seem to get stuck in a section at all. I’ve added a hint system to pop up if you die twice in a chapter and it should help you get through. If you’d like I can add a cheat sheet. The only reason I haven’t yet is because I don’t really know how hard the puzzles will be until people try them. They shouldn’t be too bad so have fun!

Let me know. Also, Hello and good day! ^^

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Hi Taylor, welcome and congrats on being ready to test your game!

First things first:

I actually think you might have this reversed: the majority of the WIP projects on these forums are intended for Hosted Games, and a few threads are development threads for COGs.

In terms of testing, there are multiple ways you can go about it. You can:

  1. Call for a private beta.

A private beta will take place on this site’s PMs. You would post a message asking for people to sign up for the private beta (or message you about it) and then give them access to a group PM, which would have the link to your game. This keeps your game private, but the amount of people who see it, test it, and can offer you feedback is much smaller.

  1. Do a public test (this is what the vast majority of people do).

Post your link now in your OP of this thread and people will comment here with their feedback. :slight_smile: This is actually necessary if you want to keep this thread as-is, because without a playable demo linked, WIP games should be in the “Interest Check” thread.

  1. Semi-private, semi-public.

You can post the link here publicly but request feedback be sent to you privately. This is a lot of moving pieces, though, so it’s up to you how you want to handle it.

In any case, please edit your post accordingly whenever you decide which route you want to take. Good luck with your project and happy testing! (And yes, the majority of the people here use dashingdon.)

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Thank you so much for your info! I’ll probably end up doing open beta. Will update my thread and links when Im off work later tonight.

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Giving this a soft bump back up so people can see that the beta link is ready! Let me know how things go, peeps!

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I literally just started playing, but damn I gotta comment, I love the look and the design!

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Nope nope nope. Once I saw scary girl on the video camera I scrammed. Fun game so far, but I cannot finish it.

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Thanks! I wanted to try something different for a small project

I can understand that haha xD

Absolutely love the look of this game! The black and red are outstanding, and the spooky pictures really add to the ambiance.

Just can’t figure out what “Percept” means :thinking:

Thanks for your input!! Glad I have something to check back up on if it seems a tad muddy.

I’m a bit of a DnD nerd so percept is like an action to take in areas to see if you can perceive or investigate something that’s not initially noticeable.

For the game it works as a buffer so I don’t overwhelm the player with all options right away, it lets you uncover whats around you more slowly and also acts as an additional action counter.

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Maybe say “look around” or “investigate” instead? Just wondering how to make it more intuitive… :thinking:

Yeah Investigate might be a better choice for it.

Love the puzzle. I admit it bits hard for me, but the challenge make me trying and trying again and yes the game is spooky

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