Episode 84: (α1) The First Alpha Feedback

Sorry for the slight delay of this latest blog release, but I was tied up fixing code for my wife's first alpha play-through... well, I guess that gives you a slight heads up on how things went. However, the overall first testing was not as bad as this introduction may imply. Read on to learn how things went... I have tried to avoid giving away any spoilers, but keen-eyed readers may pick up on one or two titbits.

The First Feedback

My wife is the first person to play the second module as a player, albeit, as an alpha tester. Before she actually started, I gave her the heads up that she was likely to encounter a number of issues, as not everything was still fully "complete" with respect to all potential paths and final details. However, as it turned out, I had also not anticipated the path that she would end up taking ... interesting results, to say the least.

To help present this feedback in an unbiased way as possible, I asked my wife to give some feedback in her own words, which I then comment on. (Her comments are presented in italic and blue text.) I made slight alterations to their presentation below, so that they read more clearly in the current context of this blog. For neutrality, in my comments, I will refer to the comments as coming from the "Tester".

Tester Comments

First Impressions

"In contrast to the first module, this one feels more expansive with the various locations popping up on the overland map creating a sense of a larger scale."

"I have been to a series of locations already and you can take different paths and have different outcomes based on choices that you make, which allows player agency and a less linear approach to the game."

Having finally escaped New Edgeton and let free to explore, I was quite surprised to find the tester immediately going off the beaten track to explore regions of the overland map that I thought they would have left to later. As they had a cleric in the party that could provide food and water via a prayer, then long distance travel was no obstruction to them, and they took full advantage of it.

This was not strictly a problem, as I do anticipate some exploration like this, but it did start to open up paths that had had less logical testing right from the get-go. Thankfully, all overland encounters worked fine, and even the first areas to be reached all worked as expected. I accidentally managed to introduce one glitch when trying to fix something else, which prevented the encounters going hostile, but this was quickly remedied and the encounters provided their threatening hostilities once more.

"There is a nice mix of serious and more light-hearted tasks depending upon which NPCs you are dealing with. There has also been a lot of detail put into NPCs and the interaction that you have with them..."

The number of tasks I could write for each stage of the module was one of my biggest concerns to get right. Too few and the world would feel empty and without meaning. Too many, and it might start to feel like every man and his dog wanted help in some way. I was also trying to cut-down on Fed-Ex tasks (those go fetch and return with an item type), which, if overdone, can make a game lose impetus. To this end, my aim is to try to ensure that any such tasks which do fall into this category are simply small additional tasks that can be completed while carrying out a main or side mission.

As the tester points out, I also try to mix the style of quests, not only to work together, but differ in style, with respect to their nature of importance... from what may appear trivial or humorous, to the essential ones. No matter who the player ends up receiving a task from, I hope that character remains memorable in some way.

"The conversations are in the same style with lots of different options. This time, however, also with the addition of different responses based on a person's background i.e troublemaker, leader, flirt etc. This makes for more interesting conversations, which again, can affect alignment and/or whether you gain or lose influence with the person you are conversing with."

Role-playing conversations is one of the biggest differences that players will come across when playing Predestinated Days. The PC Background system I ended up developing for deeper conversations came out too late to be fully employed in the first module, but I have taken as much opportunity to include its usage as possible in this module... and hope to continue to do so moving forward. Therefore, be sure to choose different background types for your party of PCs to be ready to take advantage of this when the time comes. It is an area where I can introduce potential humorous responses based on PC background choice, as well as maintain the normal character behavioural responses.

Gaming Mechanics

"If you bring characters through from mod. 1 they retain all of their items, levels, abilities and feats which is good so you can benefit from this and continue to build and advance your party skills further."

If you have been following my blog, then you will know that I have gone to great pains to try to ensure the party you know and love can continue their adventures from where they left off at the end of the first module. This is the way the tester started their first run through, straight from an end game save of the first module, transitioning into the second. However, when released, the game will also support starting afresh at the start of the second module, and makes assumptions of the items you would have recovered and kept as if played the first module. In this second option, you can import any PCs that you have previously exported from any other play through.

"There has been a whole variety of different creatures that you can encounter with some new and some familiar creatures."

Indeed, I have tried to up the number of creature types the heroes can encounter, from standard Monster Manual types not yet encountered in the first module, to one or two more unusual. Where I believe improved AI code will help, I have added it. I won't go into details as that would be a spoiler... suffice to say, however, I try to make good use of any potential special attacks if I can.

One aspect regarding creatures that has come to light is the difficulty of a challenge. As the heroes are now around level ten, finding a worthy opponent can be difficult to balance, and this is one of those area that is undergoing some close inspection at this stage of testing. Currently, some encounters are easier than I would have liked, and one has turned out far more challenging than I thought it would be. I am learning quite a bit about what properties affect a party than I have previously.

"The overland map also has opportunities to find treasure and items for alchemy that are always useful."

I have tried to retain as much flavour as people will be used to with respect to the overland map. That said, I have also added many new features that offer greater feedback on the current travel, such as skill and time feedback. This tester has not yet experienced the overland map in the official campaign, and so would not be able to make any clear distinction on what is new or not.

Other Information

IN GAME FEEDBACK: I have also been trying to provide more feedback on various new systems along the way, so that players have a full understanding of what is happening in the game. This can be simple chat comments, notice texts, or even a full blown GUI update if required. During testing, I did note that one or two of these styles of feedback was not quite giving enough detail (like a specific PC name missing) and so have rectified this now.

WALKMESH: There were a couple of areas where where the walkmesh had broken. One was easier to fix than the other. What I discovered that was rather frustrating was that even a backup of the area in question did not retain the old walkmesh that had worked. i.e. Even though I replaced all five area files from a backup that had worked, when opened in the toolset, it still showed a broken walkmesh. I have no idea why this was the case. Bottom line, I had to redo the walkmesh, and it has finally been fixed. I also learned that you should not replace certain files (as a patch) or they break objects in the saved game area.

GAMEPLAY DURATION: The current first alpha testing is still being played, as I have been "patching" any difficulties encountered along the way. This has included such things as the bad walkmesh (as mentioned above), items with the wrong tag, etc. Simple, but important fixes that I knew may well come to light. So far, the gameplay recorded by the built-in timer records just over 15 hours gameplay. In this time, the tester has finished a couple of smaller side quests and is making headway into the main quest. There are still a number of quests that have been started and can still be finished.

WORSE CASE SCENARIOS: I am breaking tradition and saving the worse to last. Now, bear in mind that these were not all entirely unexpected, but the odd one or two was. (a) There was a conversation that was unfinished that the tester found. (I had not expected them to take that path at this stage.) (b) There was a complete quest path broken due to two missing NPCs. (I did not realise I had not finished this quest.)

Campaign Update

The campaign has recently been updated to v1.5 after I addressed a few conversation issues related to excessive skill checks. The function causing the problem has now been fixed and related conversations no longer suffer from its potentially bad results. The update also addressed one or two AI adjustments and overall core efficiency.

And here is a screenshot from the latest alpha testing ....

Nathan Helps Out The Heroes!

Episode 83: Alpha Testing (Stage One)

I have, at last, reached a position where proper alpha testing of stage one of the second module, Predestinated Days, can begin! This is a huge milestone for the development cycle, and one I feel great relief in reaching. This first stage (of three stages) for the second module is the largest in many aspects. As the module currently stands, it has the "lion share" of the number of overall areas that can be explored and the quests that can be done. It is comparable to an estimated 70% of the size of the first module. Read on for more information.

Alpha Testing

As this is only the first part of the module, as well as being the very first time that it is going to put to a proper gaming test, the testing is going to happen in-house only. This means at the hands of my wife, who probably knows my first module and what to expect in campaign play more than anyone else anyway. However, that is not where I want to end testing, as fresh eyes and unfamiliarity are also always a good thing to have to give feedback too. Therefore, once all three stages of this module have been alpha-tested, I hope to be able to find beta-testers who can brave the testing period for me when the time comes.

Hopefully, in the next blog, I will be able to give some feedback on how well (or not) the overall alpha testing is going. I will obviously try not to give away any spoilers, but, at the same time, give you some honest feedback on how my wife's experience of the testing is going, and if there were any major issues discovered during her experience. I can safely say now, she will not be able to test every path that is available, simply because there are too many potential ways for her to cover in the time. Furthermore, as this is only the first stage, any testing she does do, effectively ends and would require a restart by the time stage two becomes available for testing.

Cutscenes

One of the delays of the last month was taking time to cover a few cutscenes I wanted to put together for a section of the first stage. However, I believe the time spent on them has been worthwhile, as the outcome of the last one I tested was exciting for me to see the end result. I believe I have covered the majority of the cutscenes for this stage now, apart from maybe one or two minor party conversations.

One aspect I have been working on, and is part of the initial testing, are cutscenes around various party builds, and need to work subject to various party conditions and states. Accounting for the many options that the party can be in by the time the cutscene starts can require some thinking out to ensure logical flow works in every situation, especially for journal entries. As an example, I am dealing with variables that could have been set many gaming sessions earlier, and even then subject to backgrounds selected and race of PC played. I can often sit making notes and pathway diagrams to ensure I have all the logic correct. Again, I hope much of this will be part of the initial testing.

Puzzles

In the latest quest I was working on to have stage one ready, I found there was an ideal situation for a cutscene I had in mind, which, as mentioned above, played out well. However, due to the nature of this cutscene, I felt that as it was quite a dramatic moment, that it also required some build up before the player was rewarded with the scene. To this end, I designed a multi-stage puzzle with new GUIs, and items. The end result, I believe, will be a fun and rewarding exercise for all who play it. In this case, there is a possibility that a player could miss out on this section altogether if they make a different choice and end up on a different path. Hopefully, however, the adventurous spirit will win out and most, if not all, players will discover this section of the adventure and enjoy the fun of the puzzles and the end cutscene for it.

Campaign Update

As I continue working on the second module, I cannot help but discover occasional areas of code that require a minor alteration or fix due to new situations that coding module two brings. In the latest building, these issues have been relatively minor, and will be available for v1.2 of the campaign in the near future.

As most of these issues can be avoided by mindful play, or can simply be ignored for the time being, then I am holding back any newer patch until after I receive any further feedback from current play testers. In this case, I would rather only add a new patch after I believe the new code is stable. I am trying to reduce the number of patches with this newer system. Priority fixes, if required, will continue to be responded to with an immediate fix and updated as soon as possible.

At this time of writing, there are currently no further module build updates for the first module. The 30th March 2024 is still the latest module build. Neither, currently, do the TLK or UI need any newer files. If these are altered, the latest versions are always included in the latest campaign file download anyway.

Anyway, that's all the latest for now, and so I leave you with a couple of screenshots from the latest Stage One of Predestinated Days. If you have any questions, or would like to hear more about anything specific with the campaign, just add a comment and ask.

The heroes investigate a cavern...

...And discover a strange machine!

Episode 82: March Big Update!

If you have been following of late, you will have seen that The Scroll campaign has currently been withdrawn from downloading. Basically, I had to make some big decisions about where the campaign was heading with module two on the horizon, and how I was going to manage multiple modules moving forward. I concluded that I needed to make some big changes to some of the core files for the campaign and so rather than prolong the agony, I took the steps required. Hopefully, I will have the latest version of the campaign ready to download by the end of the month. It's still only the first module at this stage, but even that will come with a grand facelift with the changes made. Read on to hear about the big changes I have made ...

The Enhanced Is Dead! Long Live The New!

To mark these big changes, I made the decision to end the "Enhanced" version series of the campaign, and replace it with a new straightforward version system. (The enhancements will remain, of course, it's just the version tag that will be going.) Importantly, the new version system is now no longer limited to 100 iterations before having to move up its first digit. Now, it allows thousands of increments, allowing me to keep the primary digit to relate to the current module release. Therefore, I will start at v1.1, where the first digit before the period represents the modules currently available and supported, and the digit after the period is the campaign version release. When module two is released, for example, it may go to v2.162, if we are on the 162nd version of campaign updates by then.

This has also allowed me to start afresh with "backward compatibility" support, which the current version series had been covering games as far back as v1.50E (March 2022). A lot has changed in the last two years, alongside many fixes, and I believe the enhancements made are now in a far better place than when first released, and so I feel happy about starting the release version anew. This new series will only be guaranteed backward compatible with v1.41E and up to v2.60E, the last release number of the Enhanced edition. (Older versions will have varying results.) That said, this latest v1.1 does come with some module improvements too. They are minor and have less of an impact, but the cleanest experience would be starting afresh from v1.1.

Now, let me cover some of the major changes coming in v1.1, and how module two made an impact.

Even The Start Screens Have Been Updated!

DM Client Support Removed

When I first designed the campaign, I thought there would be a need for me (and others who played the campaign in a coop multiplayer style) to have to "do stuff" as the players made progress. The idea being that I could still play in the same fashion as we, as pen and paper players, had done in the past. However, the beauty of being able to script events meant that my role actually became less as a DM, whose only role was more about in-game fixing if need be. The monster AI was working well for our needs, and all I ended up doing was following the heroes around as an invisible side-kick. Put simply, the module design had no need for a DM. 

In fact, the campaign design has changed so much over the years since its first incarnation, that certain events, such as area transitions, are actually hampered by the presence of a DM. Trying to accommodate the presence of a DM, especially with the up and coming module two, that comes with more advanced events, became such a burden that I could not see any reason to continue to support the DM Client system. Instead, I decided to concentrate on making coop multiplayer a much more stable and protected way of playing. Once I pulled out the DM client code, I was able to improve the efficiency and stability of player clients joining the host's game. Furthermore, I added a number of "safety checks" to help players setup their game without running into connection issues due to joining timing errors.

Moving forward, I realised that I, (who once played as the DM), can now, instead, share their gaming experience by playing alongside them as a PC of the party too. I also recognised that it was easy enough to add a DM tool if I ever wanted to reacquire some of those gaming elements that the client once provided.

A final great benefit to this change was that it helped alleviate the multiplayer area transition times, which I appreciate, especially as module two comes with one or two slightly more involved areas than the first module. However, on the subject of loading times, it was the next update/fix that really helped here.

Database Handling Improved

I have had an "unknown" issue with the module sometimes crashing upon entering the second area after a module fresh start. This never happened on my computer, but always did on my wife's. I knew it had been related to the database somehow, but only recently did I figure out the problem. It seems that the game does not like to "destroy" a database and set one up shortly after, especially if using the same name. It turned out that somehow, this action upset the game, which then went on to cause the game to randomly crash on some computers. The solution was to, rather than destroy an existing database, to simply "reset" all the variables it contained by overwriting any existing. The end result amounts to the same as destroying and creating a new one, but the process does not cause the game to crash shortly afterwards. I was greatly relieved to have this issue (ever since first release) finally resolved.

On the back of solving this issue, I looked closer at the way the database was handling data, and concluded that some of its operations were not required for multiplayer gaming, and so switched their operations off for such. It turned out this helped improve area transitions by a significant amount; around 3-8% for multiplayer gaming. The bottom line, when module two is finally out, it will be working from a fixed database system.

Fast Travel System Overhaul

I'm not sure how many people are aware of this system I implemented, but it's one that can be put to good use when it comes to moving around the World of Althéa. Whether your PC is encumbered or not, if you have a valid waypoint available (and you can set your own too), you can use the system to move rapidly to the waypoint you choose. No more slowly dragging your party back to a location to do something, as it's as simple as left-clicking on the map and selecting the way point to move to. It's the closest thing I can achieve to the likes of clicking on a map and have the party to move rapidly to that location.

There were some teething issues with the initial system, as sometimes the PC could be left in an unusually fast speed even after the fast travel had finished. However, I am hoping they have all been sorted now. If any others are discovered, they should be reasonably straightforward to fix now too.

However, one of the things I have wanted to address with it for some time now, was to incorporate the Fast Travel GUI into the area map GUI itself. The system prior this latest would open a second GUI that opened somewhere else on the screen, from which the player made their selection. However, this latest version now keeps the Map Pin selection incorporated into the Area Map GUI itself, making the whole system feel more natural and intuitive. Take a look at the image below. A player need only left click on the area map to bring out (or close) the list of waypoints, and then select a waypoint to move rapidly to it. The player can leave the pop-in panel open if they wish to (in case they change the current waypoint in mind), of left click on the area map again to close this pop-in to watch their PC icons move rapidly across the map to the waypoint in question. To cancel any rapid movement, the player simply closes the area map, either by clicking on the area map exit cross, or pressing escape. The rapid movement has been designed to auto-stop if required, such as a conversation starting, or combat encountered. Basically, play is unaffected apart from the speed at which the party moves to the selected location.

Area Map With Fast Travel Pop-In Open

Persistent Skill Bonus Fix

For some time now, as long as the Adventure Skills system has been in place, a bug has been lurking in plain sight, basically going unnoticed. Thankfully, its impact has been relatively "minor", albeit frustratingly unfair when required by the PC. The problem is associated with Skill Bonuses gained by items that sit in a PCs inventory, which fail to reinitiate their bonuses on a game reload if they had been stowed away in a container the PC carried, such as a Bounty Bag. As PCs had the potential to gain campaign feats that awarded such Skill Bonuses, which were then stowed in their Adventuring Skills Book, then it meant any such benefits would have disappeared on a reload, and likely gone unnoticed.

Addressing this particular bug has been one of the issues that has contributed to the longer delay of the campaign's next release.I wanted to make sure this bug was also made backward compatible, alongside the other final list of bug fixes for the Enhanced version releases. The upside to this latest fix, is that some good has come from it, in that I have improved the operation of party feats that can be acquired in the campaign, as well as fix the Skill Bonus container issue.

First and foremost, new campaign feats now alter skills in a permanent manner. They no longer rely on Adventure Skill pages. I could have still done it this way, but now wanted to reserve the Adventure Skills book to bonuses from items carried by the PC only. So, campaign feats with skill bonuses are handled via script rather than items, and are permanent alterations either way. The new fun changes come with the skill bonuses that are benefitted from items that sit in a PCs inventory. For now, the Adventure Skills Book keeps an overview of all the benefits gained from such items, and is the item that ensures these benefits are not lost between reloads. Importantly, these skill bonus items can now be stowed away in containers and their benefits will no longer be lost between reloads!

Now, whenever a PC acquires a skill bonus item that sits in their inventory to gain the benefit (as opposed to an item that can be equipped for such), the Adventure Skill Book tracks the benefit by adding it to its own list of beneficial skill properties, as well as keeping a page copy of the real benefitting item within its contents. So, if a player wanted to see what benefits they were gaining from items in their inventory, they need only check the Adventure Skills Book properties for a full list. If they wanted a breakdown of which items were providing these benefits, then they need only open the Adventure Skills Book and examine each page therein to learn where the benefit is coming from. This new approach actually gives the Adventure Skills Book a more active role for feedback in the game than previously. Take a look at the image below for a quick overview of the kind of thing I am talking about here.

• 1 - 3: These are the three real items collected by the PC that are giving them skill bonuses.
• 4: The Adventure Skills Book (ASB), the current description is up and showing all benefits.
• 5: The ASB contents. Each page can be clicked to see its own description instead of the ASB.
  

The New Adventure Skills Book Information

There's A Lot More!

The above differences are just some of the bigger ones that impact the campaign and module two moving forward. However, there are also a lot of other fixes and updates coming to address some niggly problems and gameplay from previous versions. From logical flow issues, combat activation (including auto-pause), creature issues, launder bench usage to name just a few. Take a look at the full list here.

TLK & UI Updated!

With all these updates, and being a NEW version, starting from v1.1, there will also come new TLK and UI folders that will need to replace any existing Althéa versions that you have. If starting afresh, you will also need to grab the latest module folder, which now also starts to be noted by release date rather than version number release. This is done to help prevent players downloading a newer module than campaign in error, which can lead to a broken game. There is also additional file checks in the new code to help prevent this, and a "silent" version number will be kept with any module upload to help maintain this. As far as the player is concerned though, the release date for the module folder should be the governing guideline for them now as to whether there is anything significant about its changes that affects them.

I recognise that this month's blog is a lot to take in, but I wanted to let you all know that I have been busy preparing the campaign for the second module, and this is the result. My wife is currently play-testing all these changes, and still helping to find any remaining bugs that can be fixed prior release, and as soon as she is done, I'll upload for all to benefit from.

Episode 81: New Year Progress!

I took a hiatus in January, which means this is the first blog for the campaign this year. Prior to my break, I released v2.60E of the campaign, which has been relatively stable. That said, I have picked up on a couple of minor issues, which will be covered in the next release. Also, I have picked up building module two where I had left off at the beginning of January, and making progress once again. Read on for more details and the screenshot of the month.

More Area Work

At the beginning of this year, I am focussing on finishing off the final couple of areas that Stage One of module two requires to be ready for alpha testing. To this end, I have completed another section of an area that serves as multiple locations. That is, the area being worked on, actually serves three locations, with this section being the last (I believe) that I needed to add. I have some scripting left to do for events related to this area section, but I had managed to do the hardest parts just before I took the break.

The time-draining section for me is the tidying up of an area to make sure it looks good in-game. This potentially involves adding blocks and events that allow the area to "unfold" as the player explores it without having sections of the area showing due to existing VFX (visual effects). Unfortunately, some visual effects can show up in sections of an area that the player has not yet reached, which can spoil the immersion. Some are more easily hidden than others, but one or two have required extra work to help maintain the quality I am after.

Another Henchman

The latest module work also gave me the opportunity to introduce the possibility of another henchman. (NB: I am not talking about a companion that a player control, but an additional party member along the lines of Scraps or Sebastion in module one. Although, there will also be the possibility for a couple more companions in the second module as well.) However, this also means I have to examine the logistics of the total number of henchmen that a party may have in it. If a party is already quite large, or is a MP game, I need a fair way of handling how this new henchman is going to respond to such. However, as there are also plot implications involved with some henchmen, I am going to have to see how handling this goes in testing. Note, players can already bring the existing two henchmen from the first module along with them to the second.

Moving Forward

I am hoping that progress will continue as normal this year, although I am conscious that my health is not what it was, and I have to consider more appointments to deal with that alongside module building time. Module one has very few issues now, and any I find are usually as I am testing aspects of module two that I recognise also have an impact on the first module. Therefore, I am spending less time addressing fixes there, which is allowing me the time to focus on the second module. My wife is still testing various aspects of the campaign as a whole (both modules), but has not found anything major in the last few areas of testing. I also have another tester who is quite thorough, and has not yet had any other issues to report other than confirmation of old issues being fixed, which is encouraging.

As I allude to, I have already returned to the toolset and started to familiarise with where I was last at, and hope to be in a better position to be underway as normal next week. In the meantime, I will leave you will a screenshot from the latest area I am working on.