Beta Testing Inquiry

I guess I've technically had this discussion in the past, but I want to bring it up again because it is relevant.  I was thinking of beginning work on my project(A FFVI mod) again. My biggest barrier here however is asking myself "Is what I have made so far going in the right direction?"

I have a lot of core concepts in place, but I'm the only one that has tested anything. The majority of what needs to be finished are the enemies and encounters(I have a lot of the WoB enemies laid out AI wise, but the numbers need tweaked or it won't be playable) which is why I have been playing through everything myself first.  

The main problem with asking people to test is that people want a finished product before they play. This is understandable but I'm going to ask everyone anyway if they would be interested in doing some beta testing. If you aren't interested, what would make you interested? I'm confident that I can have the game fully playable up to the end of the 3 scenarios by next weekend. This isn't a lot of the game to test but it is enough to start to paint the picture of what i'm trying to do.

I'm really just looking for feedback either way, so please let me know what you think

Sure. I wouldn't mind doing feedback if you need some. Just post it sometime, and I'll get around to it eventually. 

I'd definitely be on board with testing out. 

On 7/13/2017 at 2:21 PM, Xontract said:

The main problem with asking people to test is that people want a finished product before they play. This is understandable but I'm going to ask everyone anyway if they would be interested in doing some beta testing. If you aren't interested, what would make you interested? I'm confident that I can have the game fully playable up to the end of the 3 scenarios by next weekend. This isn't a lot of the game to test but it is enough to start to paint the picture of what i'm trying to do.

Unless you are doing changes to the battle engine, other moderate or heavy ASM changes or complex new event work, the thing left to test is balance. Anything else except things previously mentioned can be tested in a single occurrence or trigger. My two cents are for a beta test to be enjoyable you need: not a broken game and on your side things to improve.

I don't have the free time to test mods but I can give inputs if needed. A playable 3 scenarios is a good first demo / beta IMO. Just try finding people that will give constructive inputs and know FF6 a bit before playing your mod demo.

I'm with you there. I have a fair amount of custom content added that I believe works correctly because I've already thoroughly tested it.  In the WoR I'll probably have a couple areas to add some map and event edits but I've got some stuff done there already as well so that part shouldn't be too bad. I feel like I'm not that far off from being done, but the enemy part is just going to take some time.

Much of that is due to the fact that I've changed a lot of numbers to the point to where I have to individually edit and test each enemy and encounter to make sure it feels right. If I put my mind to it I could probably have WoB fully playable within 2-3 weeks but I tend to underestimate the time it will take or my motivation.  

In any case I plan on putting some documentation together as well for when I have a large enough chunk of the game(up to the FC) playable because that feels like the right time for a public beta. Anything before that will just be private to whoever is open to test. Thanks to all that have offered so far btw.

On 7/15/2017 at 5:08 PM, Xontract said:

Much of that is due to the fact that I've changed a lot of numbers to the point to where I have to individually edit and test each enemy and encounter to make sure it feels right. If I put my mind to it I could probably have WoB fully playable within 2-3 weeks but I tend to underestimate the time it will take or my motivation. 

Yeah adequate or good balance can take some time, in the case of FF6. It's often not a 1.0 thing. The perfect balance is one of those endless quests so don't even bother reaching the concept. I think a good balance would be satisfactory in any way, especially if you have a definition of "good" in a perfectionist way.

This made me thought about the damage calculator, there is at least 1 inaccuracy and I've never use it so I'm not sure if it really help for a complete mod. It may test some scenarios faster than triggering in-game or at least find a balance faster than 10 same changes in FF3usME and emulator ROM loading: http://mnrogar.slickproductions.org/calculator/index.htm

On 7/23/2017 at 2:02 AM, madsiur said:

This made me thought about the damage calculator, there is at least 1 inaccuracy and I've never use it so I'm not sure if it really help for a complete mod. It may test some scenarios faster than triggering in-game or at least find a balance faster than 10 same changes in FF3usME and emulator ROM loading: http://mnrogar.slickproductions.org/calculator/index.htm

How didn't I know this existed before?  This should generally work for me except that I may need to account for some custom effects I made for weapons that will change their damage.