Not My House - Beta Testers Needed

I put this game together to test the IF waters, actually this is a rebuild of a game a friend of mine and I created back in 1989 in Turbo Pascal. (to be honest he coded, we collaborated on the creative . ) My hope is that I can build up my IF skills enough to take on a much more extensive project I have rolling around in my head.

Anyway, Beta testers needed, I have been through this game so many times I've taken to reading it backwards to keep it fresh...

Anyway, anyway... If someone could roll through this effort I would appreciate some fresh eyes on it. Brutally honest critique begrudgingly accepted.

It's a pretty straight forward classic text adventure set in an abandoned house (original, I know!) With what I hope to be interesting and witty interaction.

Minor work left to do:
A nip here, a tuck there, as well as folding, spindling, and all around mutilating the story.
There is a bit of first person editing that needs to be done (You to I etc.)

Major work I want to do:
I am still needing to build out "Rudy" as a proper interactive NPC but the bones are there.

Thanks for your assist in advance (Or is this an edit written to appear as if I was thoughtful and considerate?)

Click the link below... (Or if you want to take it with you, tear on the perforation)

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http://textadventures.co.uk/games/play/uua616k1u0wsoaqdnoyfrg
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http://textadventures.co.uk/games/play/uua616k1u0wsoaqdnoyfrg
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http://textadventures.co.uk/
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Vers 0.20... Started work on transforming Rudy into full NPC. Including a more random response to things you cannot do


Vers 0.30...
Another round of spell checking.
Adjustments to some of the game play (somethings could be skipped that should not be.)
More difficult to "Brute force" bomb defusing.
Additions to narrative.

Still looking for feedback on the game. Any thoughts?


Happy to provide feedback on technical issues, if that would be useful? For example, as the player can carry quite a few items, it might be better to allow the inventory pane to expand to use the full window as discussed here:
http://textadventures.co.uk/forum/quest/topic/dyj3h649ue64dwbaov8x7g/lengthening-game-panes-solved

Also, I notice Columbus isn't wearing his trench coat initially? ...and when worn, 'drop' doesn't work properly?


DavyB, Thanks for the feedback.

yes, very useful, as this game is very much a learning tool for me.

I had some issues early on with the initial wearing thing with the coat - I will revisit that, also I will see if I can do something about the item lists in the next release, thanks again. (thanks for the link.)


Vers 0.40

Okay, thanks to DavyB for those suggestions.

  • Implemented both. Not sure why just setting the "worn" attribute initially in the game doesn't work properly (it doesn't show the coat as worn, and displays both wear and remove in the verb list...)
  • Additional narrative added (Rudy is expanding as an NPC)

Okay Starrigger, I'll play the game through and send comments by private message when I reach the end.


Starrigger, in case you are waiting (im)patiently for me to play the game, here are two possible general improvements to think about:

  1. Showing indentation of items in the game panes (e.g. TV remote buttons indented to make clear they are part of the remote): https://textadventures.co.uk/forum/quest/topic/bnptm73dkkcr56d8_gnhzq/pain-with-panes-issue-1-handling-containers. It is not perfect but quite an improvement.
  2. I haven't worked out if I can ask Rudy for hints when stuck? I implemented a limited hint system in L Too and Giantkiller Too (https://textadventures.co.uk/games/view/y98gfs8dueudlctxnhx1ug/giantkiller-too). Also have a look at 'help' and 'about' in these games. A more thorough hint system is used in the Escape This Podcast series of games. (https://textadventures.co.uk/user/view/4ojnatf1wkwmgdan8a7zuw/james-spaid), equivalent to a full walkthrough.

DavyB. Thanks for the thoughts. (does coming back to the site and checking my inbox and thread every five minutes count as impatient?)

  1. Indented Items, yeah I don't much care for the way things are listed either. I will review the link and see what I can do for the next version.
  2. My vision of Rudy is the "annoying buddy" / help (if not a little twisted) system when the game is complete. I took a stab at it with the "Hole in the wall" in the closet. I would like to follow a pattern like this:
    2.1 "Rudy think" hint - crazy hint that most people would not get.
    2.2 "Vague" hint - a little closer to the answer, but still far enough out that you need to think.
    2.3 "Dumb as Nails" hint - Here's the answer. (please return the silver platter when you are finished.)
    I am thinking that the hint system would be context sensitive, in that you would only be presented with the hint tree for a particular problem where you are presented with the puzzle (ex. only able to ask Rudy about the "hole" when you are in the closet where the hole is.).

Thanks to some testing by DavyB I have made some key game play changes

Vers 0.45

  • Made changes to TV viewing
  • Fixed error in an existing Bomb clue
  • Made changes to how Bomb defusing works
  • Added additional clues to wiring order
  • Other minor changes

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