Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting

From: madcentral@aol.com (MadCentral)

Date: Mon, 02 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000

David Desjardins and Kerry Harrison have been chatting about the US Dungeon
playest...

Steve Tierney adds:-

There are lots of different ideas about what 'playtests' are and aren't.  The
term is applied in different ways by different people.  I won't try and tell
you that your way is wrong, I'll just tell you what *we* mean.

In an open-ended game that is constantly growing and is designed to grow
forever you *could* call it a playtest forever if you wanted to.  We don't plan
to do that, but we have (and have always had) a system for playtesting.

First, we run an in-house Alpha test in which we clear out all the code bugs
and dangerous errors that could cause the sort of problems you are worried
about, ie ''the game having to suddenly restart or the characters being
permanently damaged''.

Once we are sure nothing like that can happen we start the 'Beta Test' at which
point we sell the game to players interested in taking part.  We always charge
for playtests, although normally some sort ofminor offer accompanies them.  We
never have any problem filling our playtests, because they are run well and
efficiently and they are exciting to take part in.  The UK playtest has about
two turns to go, with over 300 active players all quite happy with it.

Because of our strong and effective playtest system, our games run smoothly and
virtually bug-free (hell, nothing is ever entirely bug-free) for a long time.

As far as your comment about ''what if the company were to disappear
overnight'', this is Madhouse, David.  We've been around a *long* time.  People
know we aren't going anywhere.

We have a full-team working on Dungeon full-time.  We have added absolute
*piles* of stuff already based on player suggestion.  Not bug-fixes, but whole
new things.  W';ve already doubled the size of the rulebook.  Many players very
much enjoy being part of a growing game like this which they can have so much
influence in.  but if you're the sort of person who likes your games 'finished'
and nothing new being added and nothing changing, then don't play.  You won't
like it.

No changes we have added in Dungeon have ever affected anybodies characters or
position.  No turn has ever had to be rerun and no turns recalled.  Everybody
seems, by their comments, to love the game.  Check out our mailing list for
Dungeon and see for yourself!  We can run games this way because (a) it works,
(b) people like it and are happy to play, and (c) we make good games and run
them smoothly.  We've proved this time and again with games over the lat few
years and, if the signs pan out the way they are alreay looking, Dungeon will
be the biggest success we've ever had when it goes commercial.

Steve Tierney
-Madhouse UK

References

Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: [AD] US Playtest of Dungeon Now Starting
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Sun, 01 Nov 1998 00:00:00 +0000