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From: erkyrath@netcom.com (Andrew Plotkin)
Subject: Re: The proper way to test a game
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Date: Mon, 23 Sep 1996 20:32:21 GMT
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Greg Falcon (professor.falken@pnx.com) wrote:
> I have waited a while to ask this question.  I have been working on
> Escape From Planet Thid for a good chunk of time now, and it is really
> starting to come together.  What I want to know is, what is the proper
> way to test it?

Post here and ask for beta-testers. Usually gets plenty of response.

> What I want to know is, where can I find good, knowledgable,
> trustworthy beta testers? 

Well, you can always ignore the comments from the stupid ones. :-) 

> How many will I need?  (The game has [will
> have] fifty rooms or so, and many puzzles.)

Take as many as you can, I guess...

>  (I am too involved in
> it to give any objective opinion.)

*That's* an objective opinion. Heh.

> Also, should I wait until the very last room and object is created?
> Or is it okay to have testers work on finished portions of the game
> while I build the next portion?  (I am finishing the rooms in an order
> which allows me to play through many of the puzzles right now.)

I think it's *much* better to wait until it's all built. If you add more, 
what if you accidentally introduce a bug at a point early in the game? 
(This will happen anyway, as you fix bugs, but there's nothing you can do 
about that.)

> Finally, if you are an author who has gone through the writing of a
> first game before, is there anything helpful you could tell me that
> immediately springs to mind?

You are not required to take every suggestion from every tester. If 
someone says that a particular piece of text is unclear, you might change 
it; but also consider the possibility that whatever you change it to will 
be unclear to someone else.

--Z

-- 

"And Aholibamah bare Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah: these were the
borogoves..."
