[WIP] Isle of Shalindra [ALPHA TEST 20%]

[marten_1992]

I d like to help you with beta testing too
pm me !

[Slayer82]

Argh! I would like to help you, but this looks like a magnificent mod. If I play-test it then I'll miss out on the full experience... Hmm, well if you are in need of several testers then I'll help out. If Azel and Marten are enough then I'll simply be forced to enjoy the full experience.

Seriously, message me if you need help, champ! That's what the community is for.

[Jhaelen]

Hi everybody !

Thanks for the support, once again, it makes me feel that I must put my wife in a closet and schedule some vacations in order to finish my mod faster !

I'm trying right now to put on the (numeric) paper a planning leading me from now to the release, and I will share it with you when it's done (edit : done !). Azel, marten_1992 and Slayer82, I keep your names for when the beta-testing will start. I my opinion, two or three commited testers is enought, but if new supporters arrived and sign on I will not threw them away !

Honestly, right now I have 14 levels left on the line to put the mod in a "finished" state. When this will be done, I will review all levels to increase the overall "decoration" (improving lights, putting more grass, and some actions like that). Then, I will start a full playthrough to fully test the whole thing (I tested all puzzle continuously during the creation, but I need to test them in global context to fully validate them).

After this playthrough (or during it, depending of the amount of bugs found), I will put one or two people on it with me (family mostly) because as the creator of the mod some issues will not be seen by me. Think of it as an alpha-test.

When these people had finished their playthrough, and only at this time, I will use the community to beta-test the mod. It's only at this time that I will need you !

The con of this approach is that you will not be able to test this mod until this summer (probably), but the pro is that its overall status should be mostly OK when you will put your hands on it.

I planned to use a shared Excel file to centralize all the bugs report and the fixes done, but I will tell you more in due time !

Once again, thank you for your kind words ! Now I feel a lot under pressure, I (sincerelly) hope that my creation will give you as much fun that I had designing it and creating it.

PS : english errors will be part of the bugs report, because I'm aware of my (bad) level in english and I don't want to give players a full-of-mistakes mod !

By the way,

UPDATE
- New level finished (29/43)

[Azel]

Fantastic plan. Sounds like this is going to be a finely polished product. Putting the wifey in the closet and 2-3 days of true vacation time are invaluable for Mod completion; a similar plan is in my future as well

[Jhaelen]

Yes I really don't want to release a mod full of bugs. Obviously I'm aware of the number one rule in development: it's impossible to release a "software" product without any bug, but I want to narrow their number as much as I can.

[Azel]

Exactly. As long as software development exist, so will bugs; however, we can drastically limit "critical bugs" - or in this case, game breaking bugs. By the time I released the Mystrock Demo there was only a single game breaking bug: I was sending Fireballs out in to the ocean without destroying them, which caused a memory leak. This was fixed and deployed in 10 minutes. Aside from that, I was lucky to have people like Duncan1246, Jaberwoke, RMariano, and Eburt invest their time and provide the feedback necessary to bring the Mod up to a higher quality product.

I consider myself fortunate to be in a position where that was the only major drawback; I feel that as Mod Developers we owe a high degree of up-front Quality to those willing to give our creations a moment in the sun. I try to pay it forward by offering my time to others.

[marten_1992]

seems I got a place in the beta program
Yabadabadoo

[Jhaelen]

I hope to finish at least two other levels this week-end, in France it's a very long week-end of 4 days so plenty of time to dive in the editor !

Moreover, if someone who is level 4 or 5 in Photoshop wants to help me, I'd like to create a map of the Isle, not very accurate, only to show the areas and the main locations, in this style more or less : http://stockfresh.com/thumbs/patrimonio ... ntagne.jpg

This map will be added in-game as an item the party may find, and as well in the Player's Guide that I will release in the same time than the mod.

[Jhaelen]

Long week-end goal reached !

UPDATE
- Five new levels finished (34/43)

[Jhaelen]

UPDATE
- New level finished (35/43)