Lego Keen
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- Posts: 90
- Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:12 pm
- Location: Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
- JosephBurke
- Posts: 94
- Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 9:51 pm
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- Posts: 90
- Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2003 9:12 pm
- Location: Ottawa, Ontario (Canada)
re: beta testing
*Xky didn't find this thread until it was 3 pages long--oops!*
there's more to beta testing than just finding collision errors or graphical misalignments (although that is what most people focus on)
the more important part of beta testing is exploring the levels and making sure the flow is there. think about it this way: Ilsoap, as the level designer, already knows where all of his secret areas are. he knows where the enemies are. he knows what order to do the levels in.
we don't :-)
whoever beta tests is going in completely blind--can the player jump through this wall? fall down this pit? get up to that ledge? we don't know--but Ilsoap does. so it's up to us to play through and give him feedback: "in level 10, it's confusing to see the red platform on the left part of the screen when i'm at the end of the blue mountains--i spent too long trying to get up there, and it's just a dead-end!" or "i think you used too many Yorps (or their equivalent) in level 6--it took me forever to navigate that vertical passage!!"
when i was working on my Keen1 mod, i had my friends sit down and play as far as they could before getting game over... and observed the way they played the levels... that helped me make things a bit more fluid.
if the spots aren't already filled, Ilsoap, i'll do some playtesting for ya :-) my email should be in my profile.
--Xky
there's more to beta testing than just finding collision errors or graphical misalignments (although that is what most people focus on)
the more important part of beta testing is exploring the levels and making sure the flow is there. think about it this way: Ilsoap, as the level designer, already knows where all of his secret areas are. he knows where the enemies are. he knows what order to do the levels in.
we don't :-)
whoever beta tests is going in completely blind--can the player jump through this wall? fall down this pit? get up to that ledge? we don't know--but Ilsoap does. so it's up to us to play through and give him feedback: "in level 10, it's confusing to see the red platform on the left part of the screen when i'm at the end of the blue mountains--i spent too long trying to get up there, and it's just a dead-end!" or "i think you used too many Yorps (or their equivalent) in level 6--it took me forever to navigate that vertical passage!!"
when i was working on my Keen1 mod, i had my friends sit down and play as far as they could before getting game over... and observed the way they played the levels... that helped me make things a bit more fluid.
if the spots aren't already filled, Ilsoap, i'll do some playtesting for ya :-) my email should be in my profile.
--Xky
- CommanderSpleen
- Posts: 1017
- Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2003 12:11 pm
- Location: The Land of Sparkly Things
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Indeed.
Very well said indeed.
With that reminder of good beta testing technique, I shall quite likely get back into it when this wacky weekend of no-sleep, all-racquetball/party/movie-watchage ends... or, at least, once the sleep debt is repaid some.
I have some info so far regarding flow, the map, etc... but I'll wait until I've played through what's there before sending the whole lot.
>Commander Spleen
With that reminder of good beta testing technique, I shall quite likely get back into it when this wacky weekend of no-sleep, all-racquetball/party/movie-watchage ends... or, at least, once the sleep debt is repaid some.
I have some info so far regarding flow, the map, etc... but I'll wait until I've played through what's there before sending the whole lot.
>Commander Spleen
LOL
LOL. Nice, very nice, I should do that sometime with my lego guys.