Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting

From: "Kerry Harrison" <madhouse-usa@play-by-mail.com>

Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000

David desJardins wrote in message ...

>Why is it a *good* thing that the game is still being playtested?  I
>think most people who pay to play games expect to get a finished game
>for their money.  To me, a playtest implies that the rules or game world
>might change without notice, that the game might be discontinued and
>restarted, or that other steps might have to be taken to address those
>problems identified in the playtesting process.  (If you know there
>aren't any such problems, then what does it test?)  I wouldn't think a
>player would be very happy to be paying $4 a turn to play a game, and
>then find out after several turns that his or her character has to be
>restarted from scratch (for example) in order to fix a problem
>discovered in the game.

Because it means new players can still have quite a bit of input into the
finished version of the game.  The core of the adventuring module is
complete (it's a fully playable and complete game as is, but we believe it
can be made better with more player input), most of the real playtesting at
the moment involves the monster tribe positions (in a separate location from
where the adventurers are).

What we consider a playtest is bit different than what you consider a
playtest.  Based your comments above the game would be considered a
commercial release game as there's no chance of any of that happening.  But
to us, the game isn't complete yet (we've still got monster tribe positions
to add, villages & castle positions to add, nation positions to add,  not to
mention an overland area outside of the various dungeons to finish fleshing
out), so we're still classifying it as a playtest.  The game in the state
it's in at the moment plays as a very fun dungeoncrawl adventure, but we
want it to eventually be a living, breathing fantasy world.  Guess we're
just a little touched in the head.

Kerry
Madhouse USA

References

[AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
"Kerry Harrison" <madhouse-usa@play-by-mail.com>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

[AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
"Kerry Harrison" <madhouse-usa@play-by-mail.com>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000