No reason to not have a private section in addition to a thread in the upcoming section for impressions, progress, etc.
Always welcome, Cat! You are my favorite kitty, after the one that just walked through the door, after all Nice to hear I could help out a bit. Well, maybe not a book. I have some more stuff swirling around in my head, though. And your comment made me seriously consider putting this up for everyone's criticism in a separate post. Thanks! Now, back to business. Public groups: We used one in the closed betatest (yes, you can do those here, too) for Tactics Maiden. And generally agreed that the downsides added up enough to not do it again. Namely: 1) 1000 character limit per post. We reached that all the time, and constantly had to split posts that fit in a regular thread with no headache into several posts, making it very hard to follow things neatly. 2) Reading them is made more difficult by a) lower post limit per page than threads, I think it was 5 or 10, and not changeable. b) reading order is newest on top of first page, also not changeable. This is opposite to threads that use the standard newest on bottom of last page approach. Our reading order is top to bottom. Threads follow the natural reading flow, while groups do not. In a group, you need to scroll down to read, then back up again until you reach the start of the next post. Very tedious with over 100 pages and 1000 posts. 3) One or two more small things I actually forgot. So I guess they weren't that important, compared to #1 and #2.
...cont. So, if you are ok with "going public", I definitely recommend using forum threads and not public groups. You could always create 2 separate ones: One for the betatest itself. And an "upcoming game" one, where you post progress notes and such: Artwork, screenshots, videos, announcements, update info, etc. Good examples are a) the already mentioned Demon's Rise pre-release thread (this one is quite messy, with beta and general mixed freely). b) Brightridge's thread, here http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=237171. Protopop, the developer makes excellent update posts, focused on the strengths of his game. And gives the readers extra candy by sharing his design documents and ideas behind those designs. Very nice touch, especially for a game that focuses on atmosphere. And one where people can comment and ask you questions. If you get attention, expect a lot. And the same ones repeatedly. Typical examples: "Will your game run on old device X (e.g. iPod Touch 3 with iOS7)?", "do you use Unity/Metal?". And most persistent and annoying "I can haz promocode?", "Are you free/99c?", "why are you NOT free/99c?", and "Do you have IAP?". Splitting general pre-release work/info and beta into two threads has the added advantage that it keeps things neater: Beta / Bug reports / requests and general comments/questions do not disrupt each other.
One more thing. My reference to Brightridge made me recall that I wanted to ask why you aren't switching to Unity and 3D? Quest already has a really elaborate and detailed landscape. It would look great in a similarly detailed style of environment.
My head is happily spinning. That delightful little girl might have a good idea. Can we somehow productively have both? Let me read through everything one more time. I think you should make a separate thread somewhere Nullzone for your comments on betatesting at Touch Arcade. I'm so glad I asked. I'll look at Demon's Rise. I actually bought that game so how it developed is interesting. I'll also look at Protopop's thread again. I'm glad he didn't get discouraged. Thanks.
Do you think having an item named after you in the expansion would be a good reward for betatesting? Like Ash's Amulet. But I know some people might not like Dan987654's Rapier. It's not very medieval. Still over the years, that's worked with a few complaints by players who didn't like the non medieval aspect of some testers' avatar names. Old Shaman for example always has his bow or belt etc. and he seems to love it. But then his name fits an rpg game.
Heh, I remember you doing that from Ratz/Cursed Chess Set Definitely a nice addition on top of mention in the credits, go for it. And if people have a name that doesn't fit the theme, just ask them to come up with something that does and that they like. In your example, I'd suggest to the user to replace the numbers with letters: "Danigh Fed's Rapier" sounds ok to me...
Thanks, Nullzone, that should work and hopefully make testers happy. . That and a clean file. Hope to have the first beta after Thanksgiving and start the thread(s).
Just noticed this, Nullzone, sorry-- reading through again--I saw your question--To make a Quest expansion we make it in the Quest editor and then give it to Redshift to wrap up for iOS so it can be embedded in the base game or played standalone. We could have made the story Cursed Stone outside the Quest with Unity 3D but wanted to make one more Quest expansion for iOS for the fans. We're also working on Nine Dragons, game unrelated to the Quest. That game is being made with Unity 3D and the environment is really detailed and elaborate. But totally independent of the Quest. We just started on that. Is that what you meant? I'm rereading all these posts now because it's wonderfully a lot.
Hey guys sorry for intruding After stumbling upon old rpg reload i found out about the quest I wanna give it a try but have some question How many expansions are available? Should i pickup the gold version or the standard one? Is the gold edition have all expansion or i can buy more expansion within the apps?but i don't see IAP listed in itunes store If i pickup the gold version will i still be able to buy future expansion if any?or i wil have to buy the standard 5$ version Thanks for the big help guys Hope i can enjoy it this weekend ##
Oops sorry guys just click on the redshift appa in appstore and realised that the expansion are sell as separate app. So how do you play the expansion?is it a totally separate app or it will integrate with the quest app if i bought the gold one? What are the expansion that included with the gold version Thank you
IIRC, to play an expansion, you could play it as a standalone game or there is an option to play it in the original Quest game (or the gold version). I think you open an expansion, choose the option "enable expansion in the Quest" and it should open the expansion in the original Quest (don't forget to make sure your character is properly equipped and leveled first!) In the gold version of the Quest, the expansions that are included are Island of Ice and Fire, Hero of Lukomorye I, and Hero of Lukomorye II.
Which ever way you decide to go you won't regret it. This is one of(if not) the best series of games on the store. I have them all on my iPad permanently. Can hardly wait for the new Quest to be released. Any update on release?
I need to redownload this one. Pretty sure I first played it on a pocket PC back in the day. And I bought the Gold version as soon as it was released on iOS. Need to get back into it!
Nekko pretty much answered your questions except I can add there are roughly 16 expansions and we (Zarista--who did 14 of them) are doing another one. The current expansions are: Islands of Ice and Fire by Redshift Cursed Archipelago by Civilstriker which is free. The Zarista Expansions: Hero of Lukomorye I Hero of Lukomorye II Hero of Lukomorye III Hero of Lukomorye IV Hero of Lukomorye V Mithril Horde I Mighril Horde II Cursed Chess Set Celtic Rift Celtic Queen Centic Doom Escape from Asteroids Attack from Asteroids Elemental Asteroids And we're now working on Cursed Stone. : ) Hope that helps. You should buy the Quest Gold--as you did--it has three expansions in addition to the base game as Nekko explained. You won't have to rebuy the base Quest game for 4.99. BUT, when the new Hi-Res remake of the Quest comes out--it appears from discussions with Redshift that the expansions will not work in the Hi-Res version--because the graphic textures are beyond what the editor can currently handle. But it will be graphically lovely and it's good to support them. I don't know the exact release date. I think it's going to Steam and then for iPad on ios. The expansions will of course continue to work in the Quest and the Quest Gold and from my understanding the old games and expansions will still be available in the app store. They are working on the Quest 2 but wanted to do the Hi Res version. They can answer you better than I can about the Hi-Res version and the Quest 2. I had to ask a lot of questions to see what would happen to our expansions so I know some things but not all. It's very easy to become a Quest addict and a HOLic--our Hero of Luko expansions are also lovingly referred to as HOLI, HOLII etc. I'm waiting now for you to ask me about the Fibonacci Code in Argimon's dungeon--and wonder if you'll actually kill Norbert or not. : ) But it will be a little while before you get there. That's in HOLI. I'm also waiting for you to save me in HOLI. I'm locked up in Argimon's dungeon in a tiny cell, no catnip, nothing but the stray rat, basically starving. Why? That's an evolving story. Like the romance of the Deathless with Silvergirl. The betatesters had a lot of influence on our expansions..they're a weaving of us all--a really good, international community experience in a game. @Nullzone--I wrote to Elendil about using Testflight--let's see what he says--but whether we go that route or not--I see no reason not to have the betatesting here--thanks so much for all your help and helpful explanations of things.
Wow your post really sells the game haha Is the high res version will be a separate app? I'm okay with that like having a classic/hi res version of the app is cool ## When it's out i'll definitely buy it Hoping i got the time to play tonight or tomorrow cat Cheers
I think everything has been answered, just a little addition: When The Quest was first released on iOS, there was no IAP. So, to make expansions work, they had to be released as standalone games, for Apple to accept them. All expansions are included in The Quest (and The Quest Gold), the expansion apps just "enable" them, when you select the appropriate menu option in them. And when IAP appeared we kept the old system to remain consistent.
