Here's why you should let me test your RomHack...

2009-06-24 02:02:53 am

...just playing through, as I naturally do, I've managed to fatally SB the last two I've played (Limit and now Pantheon) in ways the designer didn't intend (And which don't seem to have occurred to the others playing, either... I came along long after the release of each hack; nobody had posted about my Limit SB, and only Kejardon pulled the same stuck sequence I did for Pantheon), which have resulted in the games ending up in stuck states. I think I have some weird mental tic that causes me to see the 'natural' routes very differently than most people.

Anyhow!

Nothing makes me sadder than a final, released hack that allows me to get myself completely stuck simply by playing and going where I naturally do. I usually can't summon up the will to restart.

But I'd be glad to be involved in the testing, bug-catching process for any of you budding ROMHackers out there. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. I really don't want to see any more hacks released as final without these sort of obvious problems fixed.

Thread title:

...just playing through, as I naturally do, I've managed to fatally SB the last two I've played (Limit and now Pantheon) in ways the designer didn't intend (And which don't seem to have occurred to the others playing, either... I came along long after the release of each hack; nobody had posted about my Limit SB, and only Kejardon pulled the same stuck sequence I did for Pantheon), which have resulted in the games ending up in stuck states.  I think I have some weird mental tic that causes me to see the 'natural' routes very differently than most people.

Anyhow!

Nothing makes me sadder than a final, released hack that allows me to get myself completely stuck simply by playing and going where I naturally do.  I usually can't summon up the will to restart.

But I'd be glad to be involved in the testing, bug-catching process for any of you budding ROMHackers out there.  Shoot me a PM if you're interested.  I really don't want to see any more hacks released as final without these sort of obvious problems fixed.

Quietus

2009-06-24 04:58:28 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Were you deliberately looking for alternate routes? In which case part of the problem may be yours for doing so.

If not, you've been very unlucky to do so twice!

Crys

2009-06-24 05:48:55 am

Green-Kirby, ROAR!

People who TRY to find placed in games to get stuck will eventually find some.

Anyhow, a beta testers job is not only to find game error. A beta tester should also be able to provide good feedback, on what should/should not be done.
And I have to say, I don't know who the **** you are. No offence but I would not hand out my beta testing to people I know can't give me good feedback.

Lastly, my hack is not close to beta testing ATM so this is not really relevant to me at this point. :<

tbolt76

2009-06-24 05:57:08 am

Your'e hired!! Very Happy

Opium

2009-06-24 06:01:30 am

I should test your rom-hack because I really really want to play it.

SleepingSeaweed

2009-06-24 06:03:42 am

Quote from Quietus:

Were you deliberately looking for alternate routes? In which case part of the problem may be yours for doing so.

Quote from Crys:

People who TRY to find placed in games to get stuck will eventually find some.

Eh... did you even read the post? The first thing he says is that he was he wasn't trying to find errors, but just playing normally.

I'll keep you in mind TC, in case I ever manage to get any of my SM hacking projects off the ground >.>

Quietus

2009-06-24 06:32:28 am

Super Secret Area - Dead Ahead!

Quote from SleepingSeaweed:

Eh... did you even read the post? The first thing he says is that he was he wasn't trying to find errors, but just playing normally.

Yeah, I did, but he said:

Quote from Televangelist:

...just playing through, as I naturally do, I've managed to fatally SB the last two I've played (Limit and now Pantheon) in ways the designer didn't intend (And which don't seem to have occurred to the others playing, either... I came along long after the release of each hack; nobody had posted about my Limit SB, and only Kejardon pulled the same stuck sequence I did for Pantheon), which have resulted in the games ending up in stuck states. I think I have some weird mental tic that causes me to see the 'natural' routes very differently than most people.

Anyhow!

Nothing makes me sadder than a final, released hack that allows me to get myself completely stuck simply by playing and going where I naturally do. I usually can't summon up the will to restart.

But I'd be glad to be involved in the testing, bug-catching process for any of you budding ROMHackers out there. Shoot me a PM if you're interested. I really don't want to see any more hacks released as final without these sort of obvious problems fixed.

Which led me to understand that his normal play style may have included attempting SB's, so I asked him to clarify.

[quote="SleepingSeaweed"]Eh... did you even read the post? The first thing he says is that he was he wasn't [b]trying[/b] to find errors, but just playing normally.[/quote]

Yeah, I did, but he said:

[quote="Televangelist"]...just playing through, [u][b]as I naturally do[/b][/u], I've managed to fatally SB the last two I've played (Limit and now Pantheon) in ways the designer didn't intend (And which don't seem to have occurred to the others playing, either... I came along long after the release of each hack; nobody had posted about my Limit SB, and only Kejardon pulled the same stuck sequence I did for Pantheon), which have resulted in the games ending up in stuck states.  [u][b]I think I have some weird mental tic that causes me to see the 'natural' routes very differently than most people.[/b][/u]

Anyhow!

Nothing makes me sadder than a final, released hack that allows me to get myself completely stuck simply by [u][b]playing and going where I naturally do[/b][/u].  I usually can't summon up the will to restart.

But I'd be glad to be involved in the testing, bug-catching process for any of you budding ROMHackers out there.  Shoot me a PM if you're interested.  I really don't want to see any more hacks released as final without these sort of obvious problems fixed.
[/quote]

Which led me to understand that his normal play style may have included attempting SB's, so I asked him to clarify.

DMantra

(user is banned)

2009-06-24 07:54:18 am

Breathe in the Future, Breathe out the Past

I must say I find this rather enticing. You're exactly what I'm looking for in a beta tester. However I don't know you well enough to hand Eris over just yet, and I already have numerous beta testers waiting on completion. We'll see when the time comes..

Opium

2009-06-24 08:58:25 am

Quote from Opium:

I should test your rom-hack because I really really want to play it.

Quote from DMantra:

I must say I find this rather enticing. You're exactly what I'm looking for in a beta tester. However I don't know you well enough to hand Eris over just yet, and I already have numerous beta testers waiting on completion. We'll see when the time comes..

Cool! And don't worry, you can trust me with Eris. I promise to enjoy it very much !

DonnyDonovan

2009-06-24 09:06:08 am

Having played through Limit multiple times, and having completed a Limit Varia skip, I'd be very curious to know what you did.

P.JMan

2009-06-24 11:18:48 am

I like Big Butts and I can not lie

Sometimes it's better to let oversights be though. Like in Cliffhanger where you can get bombs before morph ball (remember that DMan?)

DMantra

(user is banned)

2009-06-24 01:31:31 pm

Breathe in the Future, Breathe out the Past

Quote from Opium:

I should test your rom-hack because I really really want to play it.

Quote from DMantra:

I must say I find this rather enticing. You're exactly what I'm looking for in a beta tester. However I don't know you well enough to hand Eris over just yet, and I already have numerous beta testers waiting on completion. We'll see when the time comes..

Cool! And don't worry, you can trust me with Eris. I promise to enjoy it very much !

Televangelist

2009-06-25 12:49:11 am

Quote from DMantra:

I must say I find this rather enticing. You're exactly what I'm looking for in a beta tester. However I don't know you well enough to hand Eris over just yet, and I already have numerous beta testers waiting on completion. We'll see when the time comes..

Fair enough. :) I'm not too worried about major projects like yours, though, where you've got a whole team together and you seem to be a very meticulous person. It's the hacks that are more on the periphery of the scene, I think -- like Limit and Golden Dawn were -- that I worry more about, as the testing seems more hit-or-miss there.

For what it's worth, I'm a mod over at SSRG, one of the major RomHacking forums.

squishy_ichigo

Edit history:

squishy_ichigo: 2009-06-25 01:06:44 am

2009-06-25 12:55:59 am

. . .

Quote from Televangelist:

and only Kejardon pulled the same stuck sequence I did for Pantheon), which have resulted in the games ending up in stuck states.

~~And... how did you get stuck exactly? Not that its relivant to the topic, I just want to know! :P~~
* squishy_ichigo reads the Pantheon topic...

nevermind...

Televangelist

2009-06-25 01:08:03 am

Quote from DonnyDonovan:

Having played through Limit multiple times, and having completed a Limit Varia skip, I'd be very curious to know what you did.

If I remember correctly, the first boss I fought was Phantoon, and I had missiles, morph, bombs, and ice. As soon as I got ice beam, my natural reaction was to head back to the path from Wrecked Ship that leads to Phantoon.

Turns out that killing Phantoon without the grapple beam is game over.

In hindsight, on the path to Phantoon, when I saw grapple blocks, I went, "Ah! This is probably the path to the grapple beam -- he wants me to take this path using the more interesting method the first time around, and then I'll swing back to the wrecked ship afterward." When I'd first found that room, I'd jumped down onto the spikes to look around, and it just seemed obvious, "Come back here as soon as you have the ice beam". So I did.

Whereas the developer, apparently, had thought "Grapple blocks mean you need grapple beam to go here" and left it at that, assuming his room was otherwise impossible to traverse.

Reading the message boards later, I found out I was indeed supposed to kill Spore Spawn first and get the grapple beam -- what I just saw as an obvious, but interesting path through that wrecked ship water-grapple room, the developer hadn't even thought of.

Ironically, I'd found spore spawn before ice beam but hadn't killed him, since I wasn't sure whether I'd sequence broken or not (In the narrow shaft with all the rippers gliding back and forth, jump up slightly, let the bottom ripper damage you downward so you can jump again quickly, and single-wall walljump upward through them before your invulnerability wears off. Seemed easy enough to pull off without needing slowdown or anything, and it seemed like the platform heights were specifically arranged to make it just doable, so I really wasn't sure whether the designer intended me to have ice beam already.) and I wanted to avoid ending up on a path that'd break my game. Oh well.

[quote="DonnyDonovan"]
Having played through Limit multiple times, and having completed a Limit Varia skip, I'd be very curious to know what you did.  
[/quote]

If I remember correctly, the first boss I fought was Phantoon, and I had missiles, morph, bombs, and ice.  As soon as I got ice beam, my natural reaction was to head back to the path from Wrecked Ship that leads to Phantoon.

Turns out that killing Phantoon without the grapple beam is game over.

In hindsight, on the path to Phantoon, when I saw grapple blocks, I went, "Ah!  This is probably the path to the grapple beam -- he wants me to take this path using the more interesting method the first time around, and then I'll swing back to the wrecked ship afterward."  When I'd first found that room, I'd jumped down onto the spikes to look around, and it just seemed obvious, "Come back here as soon as you have the ice beam".  So I did.

Whereas the developer, apparently, had thought "Grapple blocks mean you need grapple beam to go here" and left it at that, assuming his room was otherwise impossible to traverse.

Reading the message boards later, I found out I was indeed supposed to kill Spore Spawn first and get the grapple beam -- what I just saw as an obvious, but interesting path through that wrecked ship water-grapple room, the developer hadn't even thought of.

Ironically, I'd found spore spawn before ice beam but hadn't killed him, since I wasn't sure whether I'd sequence broken or not (In the narrow shaft with all the rippers gliding back and forth, jump up slightly, let the bottom ripper damage you downward so you can jump again quickly, and single-wall walljump upward through them before your invulnerability wears off.  Seemed easy enough to pull off without needing slowdown or anything, and it seemed like the platform heights were specifically arranged to make it just doable, so I really wasn't sure whether the designer intended me to have ice beam already.) and I wanted to avoid ending up on a path that'd break my game.  Oh well.

Sadiztik Fish

2009-06-25 01:17:24 am

OMG FLAN!!!!!!!

I could get stuck several places in Pantheon, like PBing the torizo, but I already showed you them XD.

I might get back to you on Beta testing for Impulsion, but it'll be a while. I was planning on asking MM and DSO, since they can help each other, but MM seems to love my hack so much, so I don't want to let him see a possible glitch infested disaster-piece laugh new

DonnyDonovan

2009-06-25 09:28:26 am

Interesting. Thanks. Getting to Phantoon without Grapple has to be a major pain. It's a pain with grapple.

Televangelist

2009-06-26 07:42:18 am

It's not really a pain, just requires patience. :) I figured that was why the author picked the Bouncy Molecules for that particular room -- no luck manipulation or anything else required, just 5 minutes or so of freeze-jump-refreeze-jump-refreeze. It was about the right amount of time to give me a sense of accomplishment for having 'figured it out' without making me too bored.

The cool "Aha! This *actually works*!" moment it gave me made that room, in my mind, the stand-out best room of the hack thus far. And then I realized a few rooms later that I had gone completely against the author's intentions, and it was really just supposed to be a grapple-beam check with some annoying precision requirements.

Realizing that any cleverness I'd found in the hack -- Spore Spawn before ice beam, Phantoon before grapple -- were completely unintentional, and that any cleverness I found in the future ran the risk of irretrievably breaking the game because the author hadn't thought through the possibilities, robbed me of any desire to go back and replay the hack.

It's not really a pain, just requires patience. :)  I figured that was why the author picked the Bouncy Molecules for that particular room -- no luck manipulation or anything else required, just 5 minutes or so of freeze-jump-refreeze-jump-refreeze.  It was about the right amount of time to give me a sense of accomplishment for having 'figured it out' without making me too bored.

The cool "Aha!  This *actually works*!" moment it gave me made that room, in my mind, the stand-out best room of the hack thus far.  And then I realized a few rooms later that I had gone completely against the author's intentions, and it was really just supposed to be a grapple-beam check with some annoying precision requirements.

Realizing that any cleverness I'd found in the hack -- Spore Spawn before ice beam, Phantoon before grapple -- were completely unintentional, and that any cleverness I found in the future ran the risk of irretrievably breaking the game because the author hadn't thought through the possibilities, robbed me of any desire to go back and replay the hack.

tbolt76

2009-06-27 11:50:17 pm

I am looking for some beta testers for my game and judging from the responses to my game im going to have a prety good selection!