Sprinting Towards Alpha Testing
"Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" - The Red Queen in "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll
Twice as Fast
We’re going through the “final” push towards outside alpha testing of Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. I put “final” in quotes because this will be the first of several sprints towards releasing the game we’ve been working on for almost five years.
It’s hard to convey the thousands of things that go into a game. Small details make the game feel alive. Here are some of the non-game things we need to get in before we can start outside testing:
- “Branding” the game as pre-release so people know it isn’t the final version
- Choosing “first test” players out of our 750 qualified alpha testers
- Adding bug & feature request reporting to the game
- Setting up a QA/test database for tracking reports
- “Triage” on reports to eliminate duplicates, already-fixed, and low priority items
- Regression testing system to avoid breaking features while fixing bugs
- Internal testing to make sure we don’t ship a broken alpha test
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Once we have all of those elements in place (soon!), I will send a survey to backers who chose a reward that includes Alpha Testing. We will accept a small number to do the first outside tests and help us shake down the reporting system. The second alpha will go out to a larger number, and the full alpha version will be made available to everyone at that level. (Don’t worry - if you want to wait for the complete, polished game, just don’t download any Alpha or Beta version.)
The first tests will be solely in the Hero-U castle. Once we have some feedback and improvements to the castle, we will expand the test to include combat areas - the wine cellar, sea caves, catacombs, and finally the dungeon. These areas combine elements of adventure and role-playing gaming as in our Quest for Glory games.
With Hero-U coming down to the wire. Here’s what we’ve all been working on:
- Al - new animation for Shawn and certain monsters
- Charles - improving room behavior, fixing scripting issues
- Cidney - Helping us with UI issues and testing
- Corey - administration, achievements, and Shawn’s “task list”
- Graham - cleaning up some rooms
- Ian - improving the character sheet, journal and inventory screens
- John Paul - showing Shawn’s status visually
- Josh M. - text for examining and using things Shawn finds
- Joshua S. - throwing items in combat, general problem-solving
- Judy - Composer improvements, helping find errors
- Lori - final dialogue, such as dealing with the Dire Rat Queen
A Torturous Process
Recently heard in a Hero-U team meeting, “I’m currently working in the torture chamber and having fun with it.” And Josh wasn’t even joshing. Yes, there is a “dungeon”, complete with torture chamber, left over from some former residents of the castle. This plays an important part in the “meta story”, the background behind game events, that makes it possible for us to plan a multi-game Hero-U series.
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