Looking for playtesters for new DOS game!

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:32 pm

Greetings fellow DOS gamers!

Over the past year I've programmed a sequel to my previous game (WormWars 2, which you can find in the dosgamesonline.com archive and elsewhere on these boards). The game is called WormWars 3 and is based on the classic Snake game with a whole bunch of extra stuff, including 20 different weapons and devices, three levels of difficulty, 11 default levels, built-in level editor, two game modes (score match and death match), and a fairly sophisticated AI for challenging games against the computer. The game is textmode, so all 'graphics' are ASCII characters, but this shouldn't detract from the gameplay value.

I've currently finished the first beta version of the game (which is pretty much a completely finished version) and am looking for a bunch of people to test it for me (hopefully around 15-20 people). If you would like to test it for me, please drop your email address in this thread, send it to me in a personal message, or email it to me at: webmaster[at]wormwars.net. I will then send you an email that contains both the DOS and the Windows version of the game, as well as further instructions on how to test the game (i.e. what to do if you find a bug, what kind of feedback I'm interested in, and so on...).

As the game is freeware and I've made it in my spare time, I can't offer any form of payment for your playtesting services. But since you're all DOS game fans anyway, I guess playing a DOS game doesn't exactly qualify as "work"... ;o)

Thanks for your time!

Kind regards,
Christian Knudsen

Thunderdog · Post by **Thunderdog** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:39 pm

I'd be willing to try it out.

delthryn_ares (at) hotmail.com

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:52 am

I guess most people are a bit uneasy about handing out their email address, which I can completely understand, so here's what I'll do: if you're interested in playtesting my game, just PM me or post in this thread and I'll PM you the link to the game.

Vangar · Post by **Vangar** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 7:56 am

What did you program it in?

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 8:07 am

Vangar wrote:What did you program it in?

Borland Pascal 7.0 for the DOS version and Visual Pascal 2.1 for the Win32 version.

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:12 am

I've got a bit of a discussion going on over at Abandonia Reloaded with some other playtesters. The thread is:

http://www.reloaded.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=1859

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 6:11 am

IMPORTANT:

I've just discovered that I by accident have been handing out a DOS version of the game with an error -- when you play this version of the game, you always start out with 10 of each upgrade if you're player 1.

I've fixed this, so for those of you playing the DOS version, please re-download the file. The links are:

www.wormwars.net/ww3dos.zip
www.wormwars.net/ww3win.zip

Anybody else interested in playtesting can just download these files as well...

Thunderdog · Post by **Thunderdog** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 3:48 pm

I was using the windows version.

It's pretty solid. Good concept, although the AI can be a bit annoying at times. Couldn't find any bugs.

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:54 am

Thunderdog wrote:I was using the windows version.

It's pretty solid. Good concept, although the AI can be a bit annoying at times. Couldn't find any bugs.

Thanks for the feedback. In which way is the AI annoying?

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:04 am

1. Add page number to manual (current/total in each section.)
2. There's 'subfolder' in editor, should be .subdirectory'.
3. Weapon should be more efeective.
4. Return sounds to DOS version.
5. Add mouse support to the editor.

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 10:17 am

486 player wrote:1. Add page number to manual (current/total in each section.)
2. There's 'subfolder' in editor, should be .subdirectory'.
3. Weapon should be more efeective.
4. Return sounds to DOS version.
5. Add mouse support to the editor.

Those are all good ideas, except for #3 -- I don't want overkill weapons, I want weapons that you need to use strategically for maximum effect.

#1 and #2 I'll add to the game as soon as possible.

#4 and #5 I know how to do in DOS, but will be too complicated (impossible) for me to do in the Windows version. This has actually got me thinking about just doing a DOS version with sounds and mouse support and all that stuff, and just supply the game with DOSBox included for the Windows users... How does that idea sound?

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 2:18 am

1. How's 'computer wins' Fixed? I don't see any difference?
2. In hard skill comp. doesn't go to bonus the traightest route.
3. -=- autopilot is stupid, just wriggles
4. Computer buyes more thanuses, even in hard.
5. In singleplay mode, following items shouldn't be buyable: weapons, defrost, immuity or crosshair.

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:42 am

486 player wrote:1. How's 'computer wins' Fixed? I don't see any difference?
2. In hard skill comp. doesn't go to bonus the traightest route.
3. -=- autopilot is stupid, just wriggles
4. Computer buyes more thanuses, even in hard.
5. In singleplay mode, following items shouldn't be buyable: weapons, defrost, immuity or crosshair.

1: The "computer wins" problem was that if you crash head-on with the computer, the computer would win, because the computer would manage to change its worm's direction right before the crash. However, as the computer's worm wasn't moved after the crash, the player couldn't tell that the computer had actually changed directions, and thus it seemed unfair that the computer should win a head-on collision. Now the computer will be moved an extra time after such a crash, so that the player can see that the computer's worm changed directions right before the crash.

2: This is a problem with the way that I've programmed for the computer worm to find its way to the bonus. Right now I can't fix this without a big rewrite, so I'll save that fix for a future version 2.0.

3: I think that what happens when the autopilot just wriggles is that your worm is under attack from the computer worm (or the computer worm has selected a weapon that can kill you, i.e. your worm's length is 4 and the computer's worm has 4 or more Stingers currently selected). The autopilot will then perform "evasive action" to avoid being shot.

4: Right now the computer doesn't have a "plan" with what it buys. It just stocks up on weapons and devices that might come in handy. However, the computer will always try to buy enough weapons to be able to kill the other worm. I might make the computer a bit more intelligent with what it buys in future versions of the game.

5: I've made it possible to buy these weapons and devices in single player mode so that new players can try out the different upgrades and get to know them without the risk of being killed by a computer controlled worm.

Thanks for all the feedback! I really appreciate it!

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 10:43 am

I've now released the game to the public. The public version 1.0 can be downloaded at WormWars.Net. I'm still interested in feedback, though, for the future versions of the game.

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 4:39 pm

New DOS version (1.1) now available for download at WormWars.Net.

"Runtime error 200" bug on fast machines fixed.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:14 am

Any other fixes?

chrknudsen · Post by **chrknudsen** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 6:09 am

Not at the moment -- I have a lot planned, but I'm a bit stretched for time right now.