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dr_venture
September 9th, 2012, 04:48
I will have to check with the Mr. Davidson on exactly what I'm allowed to do here, but I imagine that we can work something out. So the following is pending approval from Those In Power...

Since I'm starting the long, slow haul towards finishing up what Sorcerer started oh so long ago (pending formalities with Smiteworks), I'm going to be needing 1 or 2 beta testers. There is a *lot* of functionality to be looking at both obvious and "under the hood", and if I do it by myself, I'm sure to miss something. Also, since there are many new screens for interacting with the ruleset, I think it's important to have a few sets of eyes really use the rules to play and work out the bugs.

The good news is that once I put together all of the latest components, both rulesets and modules, the whole thing seems more sturdy and free of script errors than I remember it. There are still some obvious things to fix (like you should probably *not* have the option to close the chat window for all... especially since there's no way to bring it back without relaunching :), but it's not as dire as I thought.

So what I'm going to need is a GM or two who are willing to really pay attention to details, roll up some characters, stage some combats, and really play with the ruleset. I'll need you to write down clear instructions so I can recreate the bugs you find. And finally, when I get a new build to you, I'll need you to check that I fixed what I said I did, make some notes on what I didn't, then start start over playing with the rules. I wouldn't imagine that this would normally occur more frequently than once a week, tops.

I'm especially anxious to have somebody take a look at both the correctness of the underlying rule automation as it relates to the source rules, and look at the "import" process where existing campaigns are brought into the new ruleset (since some race and class issues are automated, and the inventory text list is changed to a list of draggable items, there are some conversions that automatically take place). Last time I looked at it, it seemed to work well, but that was more than a year ago, and only on my small campaign file. A larger sapling would be great.

Eventually, we can maybe stage a few game sessions together to try a more thorough and 'real world' test... which should be fun :)

It's kind-of a pain, but it's kind of fun, too. Perhaps, if the Smite Guys are cool with it, we can put a credit in somewhere to acknowledge the help of the play testers? Also, by ensuring the quality of the ruleset, you also get an opportunity to make feature requests. There are a few I intend to make already, but I could use help making sure that the ruleset is as flexible as possible, and that we address as many optional rules in teh CK's Guide as is practical and possible.

Go ahead and leave a note here if you're interested. Let me know your FG experience and your C&C experience in a sentence or two, and I'll see what I'm able to do on the confidentiality front. Hopefully we can get this knocked out sooner rather than later.

dr_venture
September 9th, 2012, 04:58
BTW, new releases will likely be less often than once per week... so I hope that's not too daunting.

damned
September 9th, 2012, 09:00
i can handle some testing once a week - but no more frequently!

EDIT: been running 2 C&C / FG campaigns for maybe 2 years - probably about 40 sessions. i doubt very much that im using anywhere near all the current capabilities but i can follow instructions :) I have print copies of all C&C books produced (except phb 1e and phb 5e is still in transit) however im not that much of a stickler for rules - i only really want to know enough to keep the game moving and to prevent the players taking advantage of my ignorance...

dr_venture
September 9th, 2012, 17:44
Heh - you sound like me as a GM. I don't think I'd ever be likely to put out a ton of builds in succession. You sound like a good match... and I was kinda hoping you'd volunteer ;)

I'm not sure what I was seeing before that led me to believe it was in such bad shape, cuz I got all the latest components loaded up last night and opened a copy of an existing campaign. It converted most of the characters pretty well (though some inventory items looked wrong), and I was able to run them through a 5 or 6 round combat with no serious errors.

There are *lots* of minor bugs, though - fields that don't accept mouse wheel updates right, calculations that look a little funny... stuff that definitely has to get fixed, but not the script errors I was seeing before. There are a couple little features I'd like to add, like making the 'vote' box tri-state: empty, a green check mark, and a red 'X' so you can tell when everyone has voted. So each of those little bugs should be a little adventure in FG dev, but nothing looks too horrible at this point.

The upshot is that I don't think I need to roll out a new build to you every time I fix a single bug, whether that bug takes a day or a week. We'll keep the workload down to something that you can live with.

One more person would be nice, especially more of a rules stickler than damned & I. Anyone else able to help out?