User blog:C0var1ant/BETA Testing (PHASE I)

It's time for some real beta testing. Some of you out there mentioned to me that you would be willing to help me in any way possible. Well, now is the time to eat your words. I need YOUR help to do more extensive testing on the engine. The engine is nearing completion, I'd say it's 70% done. But be warned, being a USEFUL beta tester takes ACTUAL effort. Your going to have to put up with constant patching of the game folder, adding/removing media assets, testing EVERY side story I make for certain flaws, downloading GIGANTIC files, etc... The benefits of putting up with this, is that you get to be the first to try out the new engine and give feedback, which may end up being part of the final engine (but only if I deem you an earnest beta tester). Also, I'm going to try and make the debugin of side stories as fun as possible to test/play.

At any rate, It's still going to be a while before I can resume work on War of the Goddesses. I'd rather not bore you guys with all this waiting, so I'm going to get you all more involved in the development process of the engine. To make up for lack of releases, I'm going to be churning out a lot of side stories frequently during this first phase of beta testing.

BETA Testing Instructions (PART 1)

 * 1) Download the base engine from the c0var1ant RPG Engine page. (Version 0.1.0)
 * 2) Then follow the instructions below on that page to extract the multi-part ZIP file.
 * 3) Run the game to see if it works.
 * 4) You will note the game has no side stories, you will be adding these later yourself.
 * 5) Find the folder called "Mods" inside the "game" folder. This is the location where side stories will be copied to.
 * 6) Report back to this blog post and let me know that everything works. When enough of you report back, I will begin the next part of beta testing.

BETA Testing Instructions (PART 2)
PLEASE NOTE: Nothing you see in this demo is indicative of what the final engine will look and play like. I still need to make MAJOR changes to how the battle system and Skills work.
 * 1) Righ off the bat you need to patch the game folder by droping THIS file into the "game/game_engine/system/" folder. Other wise switching party members will crash the game.
 * 2) Next you have to download the side story I need you guys to test HERE.
 * 3) Drop the the "CECIL1" folder into the "game/Mods/" folder.
 * 4) Run the game. You should now see a new side story available.
 * 5) Play it and make sure nothing is broken.
 * 6) The only shops that are implemented at the moment are "Witches Emporium", "Magi Shaq", and "Kraigen's Dojo."
 * 7) Go buy some potions first before visiting Kraigen's Dojo.
 * 8) Next visit Kraigen's Dojo.
 * 9) Fight all the soldiers, make sure you test the party system and items during battle.
 * 10) Report back to me your results.

BETA Testing Instructions (PART 3)
Welcome to part three of beta testing. Get your torrenting software ready and let's begin.

STEP 0:  STEP 1A: STEP 1B: STEP 2: STEP 3:
 * If you are a NEW BETA TESTER please move on to STEP 1A.
 * If you are a CURRENT BETA TESTER please move on to STEP 1B.
 * You will need to aquire the base engine from the following link: BASE ENGINE (c0vRGP ver. 0.2.0) [1GB]
 * This contains the base engine (version 0.2.0) + beta testing side story.
 * Move on to STEP 2.
 * Current beta testers will need to patch their existing base engine to be up to date.
 * You will need to download the patch file which contains everything you will need to update your base engine. You can download it from here: Patch 0 [50MB]
 * After downloading, you will notice a RAR file called patch0.rar. Inside is all the necessary files needed to patch.
 * WARNING!!! FOLLOW THE NEXT SET OF INSTRUCTIONS IN THE ORDER I GIVE THEM!!!!
 * Go to your current base engine folder and look inside for the folder called "game."
 * DELETE the folder called "system"
 * DELETE the folder called "character_sheets"
 * DELETE the folder called "bg"
 * DELETE the folder called "game_engine"
 * DELETE the folder called "Mods"
 * Now look inside your "patch0" folder you downloaded.
 * Inside you will find the folders called: "bg", "bg_o", "game_engine", "Mods", and "system"
 * DUMP all of those folders into your "game" folder found inside your base engine folder.
 * Next, find a folder called "saves" inside of your "game" folder and DELETE everything inside that folder, but not the folder itself.
 * Now your base engine should be up to date and you can avoid having to download the whole thing all over again.
 * Move on to STEP 2.
 * Start the side story engine and make sure it everything works.
 * When you first start the game make sure the main menu says at the lower right corner "c0var1ant RPG Engine: Version (0.2.0)"
 * We should all be on the same page at this point. NOTE: I'll only be seeding the base engine for about a day so if you want to be a beta tester, then now is your change to get in on the action. Of course, I would greatly appreciate anyone who is willing to help me seed that MONSTER of a file.

BETA TESTING:

The patch addresses most of the bugs you reported in the previous part of beta testing. The only thing that still needs to be fixed is the bugs reported in battle. I'll fix those in the next round of beta testing.

WHAT YOU NEED TO TEST FOR: WHAT YOU SHOULD IGNORE FOR NOW: PATCH NOTES FOR VERSION 0.2.0:
 * Try and use items outside of battle, they should work now.
 * Make sure all the menus in the game behave correctly.
 * Spelling/Grammar errors.
 * Bugs in battles.

[1.] Moved the pause menu from the right mouse button to a button in-game.



[2.] Dissabled, scrolling foward & backward with the mouse wheel/trackpad now.

Please report back to me your results.

BETA Testing Instructions (PART 4)
The next round round of beta testing will begin after you all report back to me your results from PART 3.....(TO BE CONTINUED)

Intermission (Feb 9/2014)
Well......it's been like a year since my last post here. Damn. Sorry to those who have been waiting for this project pick up again, for so long. Busy with RL stuff; but I'm back and I am interested in completing this sub-project which has three goals. ONE: port all side stories on the wiki to this engine so people don't have to patch the actual MGQ game anymore. TWO: Make writing side stories more flexible, so you can do things like have more than one fight per side story; this is part of the reason the Cecil side stories require you to patch the nscript file. THREE: One finished, this engine will also serve as a base for a spin-off MGQ game I'm working on. The engine will be open sourced once finished so that other may use it as a base for their own side stories games. You can receive download instructions for the engine on the c0var1ant Enginec0var1ant Engine page.