BvS - the text adventure - WIP game. Feedback wanted.
Berstarke
11 Sept 2012, 19:22Hello there. I just published my first piece of a game I am working on. It is based on a mostly text-based browser MMO called Billy Vs. Snakeman (actually it's Billy Vs SNAKEMAN, but whatever). It's a small browser game on a cozy point of thems internets with a small but actually really nice community. It was first some sort of Naruto-parody, but eventually started absorving enough manga/anime references that it started to develop an original storyline of its own, which will be more or less used in this game I publish today.
Technically, it makes more sense if I call for testers from that gaming community (which I did already and got a couple volunteers), but I also would like to recruit people with no experience in that game whatsoever. People with some experience in interactive fiction already, so I can improve the chances of avoiding mistakes common to this kind of gaming. My biggest concern is keeping the moon logic and guess-the-verb issues under control, except that weird solutions are actually something intended (with proper in-game hinting, of course).
The game is right here. It's a very, very short thing that includes only one puzzle right off the bat, solvable in as few as 4, 5 commands if you know what you're doing (It is a wip, after all). Someone, please give this test a chance.
http://www.textadventures.co.uk/review/733/
Technically, it makes more sense if I call for testers from that gaming community (which I did already and got a couple volunteers), but I also would like to recruit people with no experience in that game whatsoever. People with some experience in interactive fiction already, so I can improve the chances of avoiding mistakes common to this kind of gaming. My biggest concern is keeping the moon logic and guess-the-verb issues under control, except that weird solutions are actually something intended (with proper in-game hinting, of course).
The game is right here. It's a very, very short thing that includes only one puzzle right off the bat, solvable in as few as 4, 5 commands if you know what you're doing (It is a wip, after all). Someone, please give this test a chance.
http://www.textadventures.co.uk/review/733/
sgreig
11 Sept 2012, 23:49I couldn't even get out of bed. The clock can't be reached to turn it off because you're in bed, and you can't get out of bed because the alarm is so loud it's draining your strength. There's nothing in the inventory, and standard commands like "hit" and "kick" don't work. If there's some crazy ninja commands available to be used, you should put those somewhere so players know they exist.

jaynabonne
12 Sept 2012, 00:38Some comments:
- It's "Willem"
- Whenever you reference "bed", it pops up a list with "your bed" and "bedroom", which just feels wrong.
- Once I had the kunai, I wanted to throw it at the clock. So I said "throw kunai at clock", which didn't work. But then when I said "throw kunai" on its own, it popped up a list and said "with what". So I was able to get to the clock that way, but "with" didn't seem natural. I'd suggest putting in a more natural verb combo.
- Once up, it says "A your bedroom". You need to turn off the default prefix.
- After getting up, it mentioned flipping the bed. So I flipped the bed, and it said "You flip the table..."
Apart from searching the bed, you pretty much telegraph everything. I assume getting out of bed was the entire first puzzle, as there's nothing to do afterwards (I know - WIP).
Definitely "WIP"...
- It's "Willem"
- Whenever you reference "bed", it pops up a list with "your bed" and "bedroom", which just feels wrong.
- Once I had the kunai, I wanted to throw it at the clock. So I said "throw kunai at clock", which didn't work. But then when I said "throw kunai" on its own, it popped up a list and said "with what". So I was able to get to the clock that way, but "with" didn't seem natural. I'd suggest putting in a more natural verb combo.
- Once up, it says "A your bedroom". You need to turn off the default prefix.
- After getting up, it mentioned flipping the bed. So I flipped the bed, and it said "You flip the table..."
Apart from searching the bed, you pretty much telegraph everything. I assume getting out of bed was the entire first puzzle, as there's nothing to do afterwards (I know - WIP).
Definitely "WIP"...

sgreig
12 Sept 2012, 09:54How did you actually get out of the bed though Jaynabonne? I must be missing something, lol.

jaynabonne
12 Sept 2012, 20:21I saw the bed in the room description, so I "x"d it. It said there was something near your feet which deserved a search, so I did "search bed", and then something turned up. After you take that and then "x" it, it mentions throwing. The rest came naturally. 
