I’ve been relatively quiet here lately, in spite of having several reader and player comments that I still want to respond to. Unfortunately, several aspects of my “real life” are demanding a lot of my attention, and probably will continue to in the near future. And I’ve been keeping relatively quiet to try to focus my attention on finishing the update to Sanctum 1. But I did want to take a few minutes to post an update on my progress.
First, the good news: this weekend, I finally finished an alpha test of my rewrite of “The Sight.” The “makeover” turned out to involve much more work than I’d intended, and I’m glad that it’s now almost over. A lot of the changes involved doing certain things “right” that I didn’t know how to do properly when I first built the module, but do now. A lot more, though, involved adding new content (especially new dialogue, scripts and areas). After a few pages of relatively minor bugfixes and another Alpha test run, I should be ready to post a beta version, hopefully by next weekend.
On that note, I’d like to ask if anyone would be interested in helping beta test the new version. Several players have mentioned an interest in doing so, and ideally I’d like to try to find several people willing to test out each of the different options that the new version provides. (The main ones are: easy/hard combat, male/female Robin, and male/female player.) I won’t post a final version to the Vault until the beta test is over, since I prefer to do short and private beta tests with only a few testers, and after I’ve shaken most of the bugs out of the module myself. If you’re willing to play a (mostly polished) beta version and email me some notes on any problems that you see or thoughts that you have, post a note here or drop me an email, with my thanks. 😉
Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten to the end of my ideas regarding how to improve the module yet — but I’ve decided that I really do have to draw the line at this point at making any more significant changes. I did take to heart the comments of players who objected to Robin’s “harshness” in several conversations. I reworked them to try to make them less punitive, to let the player feel less pressure to “be nice” to him/her, and to allow for a little more “attitude.” I’ve also changed the way that Robin’s relationship “points” accumulate, which should make it easier for players to miss or pass on some choices for RP reasons and still “gain influence and fulfill the romantic aspect of the campaign,” as LadyN put it. But I’m passing on some of the more extensive writing changes that I had in mind (some of which I’ll try including in the next module).
And thanks in advance for any volunteers interested in beta testing!
I would like to try out the easy/hard combat option.
I alway play male PC. Usually either a tank/caster combo or a tank/caster/sneak combo of some sort. But I have been known to try a pure blood caster or a pure fighter type on occasion. The only kind of character that I don’t really have much practice with is a bard. But I am willing to give one a try for the sake of covering all the bases.
RC
I would be willing to beta test. I dont like real heavy combat (just barely survived the big battle with the general)so I wont be very good with that.
The battle with the Drow general isn’t as bad as it could be. You’re not fighting to win that one, you’re fighting to buy time. You don’t have to gain victory. All you have to do is *not die*. A little bit easier.
Hi A- yes, I’d love to go through it again. I can’t wait to play it through anyway. I am on tenterhooks until it comes out, really. Just hopefully before westgate so I can devote more time to it.
Thanks for your interest in Beta testing! If anyone else is interested, let me know — I think that one or two more testers wouldn’t make too large a group. I’ll contact the vounteers and manage the test by email, so if you’ve volunteered and I don’t have your email address yet, please send it to me (there’s a link on the link bar to the left).
The alpha test is done, and I’ve made several pages of resulting fixes. I want to run through it one more time to make sure there aren’t any game-stopping bugs, and then I’ll prepare and upload a file for the volunteers. I should have it ready by the weekend.
If you still have need — or space — for one more tester, I’d be happy to have a go at it. Do you mean for each tester to try all the different options, or just pick from the list and go with that?
Thanks, Uire! Yes, I there’s certainly space for another tester. What I had in mind was for each tester to pick a combination of options that suits them, play through once, and let me know if they find anything amiss.
Here are the options I wanted to cover:
Male/Female Player
Male/Female Robin
Hard/Easy Combat
Romance On/Off
My test is unfortunately still running into a few problems, so I’ll need another couple of days to straighten them out. I’ll send out email when it’s ready. 🙂
Andarian
Do you still need another tester? If you do, I’d be more than willing to help. However, I’ve only played through in the normal combat mode and as a female character (though I play both female and male Robin). But if you need me, I’ll be here.
It’s way late, but if you need another tester I’d be more than happy to lend a hand and such.
Wynele,
No, it’s not too late at all! I’ve just finished making changes from the first round of Beta tests, and should be uploading a new file tonight. I’ll send out an email to everyone with the links and add you to list. 🙂
Andarian