Acheron Beta Testers

Well, it's time for me to ask for some beta testers for the Acheron project. While I don't consider it fully complete (there is no organized storyline and some of the sounds and explosion graphics are recycled from EVN), it is certainly fully playable, and complete enough that I personally find it a lot of fun to play, even without a main storyline. The development team for Acheron has been pretty small; mostly it is just two of us (LNSU and I), though there were several developers who helped with the original Darkstar project, and the Acheron landing pictures and most of the planet pictures were donated by Ragashingo and Nick Anderson from Aftermath. Due to the lack of storyline and a few recycled resources, I like to think of Acheron as an "Almost-TC".

Beta testing will not be particularly work intensive, but I would like beta testers who are dedicated nonetheless. As far as I know, there are no bugs, as I have handled most of the bugs myself, but I have only played Acheron on my own computer and have no idea if it will work as well on other systems. I also need spell checking and a double check of all of the little details in the game; basically, beta testers will need to play Acheron and report bugs, mispellings, serious grammatical errors, and other details to me. I prefer developers who have some knowledge of the EVN engine, in case you can help to fix any problems yourself. I also hope to hear opinions on game balance, graphics, and general gameplay.

The best way to contact me is to either post here or send me a PM. Not everyone will get to test unless there are only a few offers. I can only use or even keep track of so many testers, and I'll also need someone to play the actual almost-TC when it's released.

As for my opinions on the fate of the Acheron project: if an experienced developer would like to take over later on and keep going with the project, I have some notes and documents that will be of use to that person, and I am perfectly willing to help contribute to plugs for the TC, but I do not want to be a lead organizer or coder any longer. Also, this version of the TC will be released as it is (once the kinks are ironed out), even if someone would like to continue with it, because continuing work on the project without any sort of release sounds to me like a recipe for high risk of vaporware.

Some stats on the Acheron project:

24 systems
39 spobs
12 ships
30 outfits
14 weapons
7 governments

And a whole lot of descriptions and graphics work to go with those.

So. If you're interested in beta testing, post here or contact my via the PM system.

Wish I could help, Crusader, but I can't. I promised GSN that I'd beta test the Ashen Galaxy TC as soon as I was finished with testing CTC for JoshTigerHeart. That was supposed to happen last month. But I'll keep an eye out for your project, hopefully Acheron will still be alive when I'm through with Ashen Galaxy.

I believe after the graphics you donated to Colosseum, I at least owe you some testing for your project.

How many graphics do you still need for CTC anyway?

I think about twenty outfits, if that many, and the main menu interface. Explosions and asteroids would be nice too, but not needed.

I have... lets see... six guns, one blast rifle, one doodad thinger, a couple of skyscrapers that with different materials could work as doodads, a hatch that could work as a doodad, a doodad panel, a couple of engines, the wheel for a car that could also look like some sort of intake, and an old website design that might work as an interface.

By the way, I greatly appreciate testing, thanks

This post has been edited by Crusader Alpha : 27 January 2008 - 11:15 PM

Got a place where they're hosted so I can see them?

And sign me up for testing.

Alright, you're in. I'll get you the files.

As for the outfits, most of them aren't textured yet. I can just slap some textures on real quick and run some renders, but I might not get them done until next weekend.

This post has been edited by Crusader Alpha : 28 January 2008 - 04:05 PM

I might be able to help.

I'll send you the download link. I have to upload it again because the hosting site I was using wasn't working particularly well.

I need at least one Windows beta tester, and I would like some help with double-checked grammar and spelling.

Also, does anyone know how to make hypergates cost about a week of game time? I know that in Nova they are used for quick deliveries but here they serve a somewhat different purpose.

@crusader-alpha, on Feb 14 2008, 11:12 AM, said in Acheron Beta Testers:

I need at least one Windows beta tester, and I would like some help with double-checked grammar and spelling.

Tentatively raises a hand I'm on Windows, but I can't really promise I'll be able to spend a great deal of time testing it. I can do spelling and grammar too.

Quote

Also, does anyone know how to make hypergates cost about a week of game time? I know that in Nova they are used for quick deliveries but here they serve a somewhat different purpose.

Make it a normal space station that automatically activates a mission on landing that auto-aborts, with a Nxxx operator to send the pilot to a new system, and a Date Increment of 7. Mind you, that'd make you unable to select a destination like you can with hypergates, and it doesn't let you change your mind if you land on it. Can you have a mission starting from a spöb which is a hypergate?

@crusader-alpha, on Feb 13 2008, 04:12 PM, said in Acheron Beta Testers:

I need at least one Windows beta tester, and I would like some help with double-checked grammar and spelling.

Raises hand I'm your guy. Unfortunately, with school and all, I'm not sure how helpful I'd be...

There are very few reported bugs left to iron out, but I do need to see how it runs on Windows and my writing hasn't been checked yet. Since you're both working with time constraints, help from both of you would be appreciated, if you're willing.

I'm not sure if one can have a mission start from a hypergate. I suppose it's a good idea to check. I'll give it a go as soon as time allows.

@crusader-alpha, on Feb 14 2008, 02:24 PM, said in Acheron Beta Testers:

There are very few reported bugs left to iron out, but I do need to see how it runs on Windows and my writing hasn't been checked yet. Since you're both working with time constraints, help from both of you would be appreciated, if you're willing.

Aye, I'm willing. Mind you, checking the spelling is the easy part.

Woe! Teh double post!

This post has been edited by Belthazar : 14 February 2008 - 01:17 AM

Okay. I've done a little testing. I haven't found any spelling/grammar errors, but then again, I wasn't looking.

I am using an iMac G3 600mHz with 384 Mb of RAM, and Mac OS X 10.3.9

-----

1. The interface font is nearly unreadable.

2. Whenever I hyper into a system with a Skybridge, the game freezes for about 8 seconds, presumably loading the Skybridge. The effect does not occur when entering a system through a Skybridge.

3. Reloading my pilot takes several seconds.

4. Whenevr I hail a starport on a planet, I get empt space for a pic. This likely isn't a bug, but I just brought it up anyway. Is there a way to either put some kind of starport or planet picture there? I think BluePlanet figured something like that out once.

This post has been edited by Geek : 15 February 2008 - 01:37 AM

Thanks, Geek. You can PM me any more notes, though. I'll reply via PM.

Belthazar: I'll send you the download link.

Okies, here we go.

First thoughts: collate resources of the same type into the same data file, because that makes it a bit easier to search for things, if someone was going to make a plugin (for example). You've got dësc resources, for example, scattered through all three files. The exception to this, of course, is if collecting all the images together made it unwieldy.

As for the pause when you enter a system with a skybridge, that's possibly because that one image is seven megabytes in size. What file format are you using? I plan to check what formats can be used for picts in Windows - I remember that .jpg files used to make PC Nova crash, but it's been updated since then, and it'd be nice to use a more compressed format. In .png, your skybridge image comes down to only three and a half megs, but the question is whether Nova will like that. I'll get back to you.

Lastly, while I like the way you've named your files, the word "Two" comes alphabetically after the word "Three", so they appear in the wrong order.

Spelling and grammar corrections:
A couple of initial thoughts. Firstly, where are you from? There appears to be a bit of confusion in places as to whether you're using US English or UK English. I saw one occurrence of the word "armour" - there could be more, but I didn't spot them, since my Word's dictionary is set to UK English by default. Secondly, remember that "it's" means "it is" - the apostrophe means you're leaving out a letter. To indicate that an it owns something, the word is "its". You made that mistake a lot of times. Lastly, the word "jump" in the phrase "Archangel Jump" should be captialised wherever it appears, since it's a proper name. And I'm not too sure about "powercore" being one word.

From Data One:
dëscs:
128 - suspendor -> suspensor or suspender
129 - bird watching is two words
136 - tempurature -> temp e rature (tempura on the brain, hey? :p)
144 - the sentence starting with "Warmer valleys" appears to be missing a word or two. Maybe insert "There are" at the start of the sentence, though you could probably do better.
145 - unihabitable -> uni n habitable
153 - managlable -> manag e able. Also insert the word "it" before "has many of its own laws" - or delete the "it" from the previous clause. Either both clauses need an "it", or neither do.
3000 - it's -> its
10006 and 10009 need to start with "This is" or "You enter" or something like that, otherwise they're not full sentences
14001 - probably a nitpick, but the "and is" has two spaces in the middle
14002 - it's -> its

As an amusing side note, a lot of the resource headings added by EVNEW have misspellings in them. Also one of the str resources held over from the default scenario (2002) has "possession" misspelt as "posession".

I notice, though, that you're using the acknowledgement text from the Mac version, which lacks any mention of the PC Nova beta testers. Oh well...

From Data Two:
dëscs
3009 - target t ing -> targeting and it's -> its
3011 - Arcangel -> Arc h angel
3014 - reclose -> re - close (also, this is where I spotted the word "armour")
3020 - recurcuit -> re - c i rcuit (though I'm not certain if this is the right word anyway)
3022 - noticably -> notic e ably
4006 to 4014 all have it's -> its
9000 - dropoff -> drop - off
13004 and 13005 - it's -> its and perfoms -> perfo r ms
13006 to 13007 - it's -> its (twice in 06)
13009 to 13010 - it's -> its
14004 to 14007 - it's -> its (twice in 06)
14009 - it's -> its and calcul at able -> calculable

oütfs
134 - Exraction -> Ex t raction (in one of the fields)

In Data Three:
dëscs
156 - purpose ... do -> purpose ... does (since the "does" refers to the "purpose", which is singular)
157 and 164 - Traing -> Tra d ing
160 - archipelago e s -> archipelagos
163 - unihabited -> uni n habited
165 - an -> an d
10033 - circ l ular -> circular

Whew, that was an hour's work, and I haven't even opened Nova yet.

Is it too late to sign up for testing?