Q&A - Ask a question, Get an answer

[Saxon1974]

Yes I agree with making the testing take as long as it takes.

I wanna play this game as much as anyone, but take all the time you need to get it right.

Games that are released with too many bugs are almost always doomed to failure....where some games that were released relatively stable are still classics and are played to this day with some being over 20 years old.

[farley2k]

Okay, okay... two weeks is perhaps a foolishly optimistic estimate and we probably shouldn't have thrown a time frame out there. When developing a game, missing release dates or overestimating development time is the ultimate sin.

The point is we won't shorten the test to fit that schedule...if testing and fixing takes six months, so be it. We are just hoping the beta test process goes much quicker than that.

Bah, stay optimistic! Yeah it will probably take longer but the fact that you are so optimistic shows a lot of faith and care about your work.

[Siemova]

I guess I'll post this here instead of creating a new topic.

Regarding Mac OS X 10.5, I was just reminded to ask: have you guys done any testing on Leopard? As I understand it, most 10.4 programs should continue to work fine on 10.5; I have no idea whether it'd be an issue for you. Just wondering whether you've had opportunity to check. Also, in case you didn't know, Leopard will support application icons up to 512x512px. I bet some games like yours could have a very pretty presence in the Dock or Cover Flow. Look forward to seeing it!

Say... we haven't even seen an app icon yet, have we? Is one complete, or is that among the final bits of polish you'll add at the end?

[BasiliskWrangler]

No, no testing has been done on 10.5 but I anticipate no problems.

As far as the Mac is concerned, we have the game running just peachy right now on 10.4 with no issues. When the Windows version is complete, we will then start looking into extended Mac testing and installer options. I have not looked into designing any special MacOS app icon yet; we are still using the universally compatible 32x32 version we have on Windows right now.

The Mac platform will get some much needed attention when we finish with the Windows version, I promise!

[tormy]

How long will it take to complete the game? I assume there will be lot of side quests also, and I always enjoy completing those, not just the main storyline related quests.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Everyone's play style differs, so it's hard to tell how many hours it will take you. Based on beta testing, I feel the overall play time is a bit lower than we were hoping for. However, we still have some difficulty balancing to do and a few side quests that were not working in the first beta are being activated for the next beta.

I'm guessing fast players can do everything in less than 30 hours. Slower or more methodical players will get more play time out of it.

[focus]

How is beta testing coming on? Do you feel an October release is viable, or is November looking more likely?

[BasiliskWrangler]

Beta testing is going well, thank you for asking! No major obsticals encountered and the testers are genuinely enjoying the game. Our biggest issues seem to be typos, missing dialogue, a few broken quest, and some balance concerns.

We'll get these corrected and then allow a few of you outside people to give the game a run through. October is probably unlikely, but early November is certainly possible.

[tormy]

Everyone's play style differs, so it's hard to tell how many hours it will take you. Based on beta testing, I feel the overall play time is a bit lower than we were hoping for. However, we still have some difficulty balancing to do and a few side quests that were not working in the first beta are being activated for the next beta.

I'm guessing fast players can do everything in less than 30 hours. Slower or more methodical players will get more play time out of it.

Sounds good.

[Rollor]

early November is certainly possible.

getting desparet here

[Supernaut]

Hello All - been lurking for a while, just registered.

How will games be saved? We have 2 Macs in the house (one portable, one not so much ;-) and I'd like to be able to play on either one. Will I be able to save my games to a network drive or USB stick or something? Also, will the games be saved into our user accounts and *not* into (say) /Applications/Eschalon/etc?

Just curious, and looking forward to the game.

Thanks!

JB

[BasiliskWrangler]

Welcome Supernaut,

Saved games are placed in:
My Documents on Windows
Documents on MacOS
Home on Linux

Inside each directory will be a folder called Eschalon Book 1 Saved Games which you should be able to copy to a USB drive.

[Siemova]

Have you considered ~/Library/Application Support rather than ~/Documents ? I know it's a minor detail in the grand scheme, but I for one have always disliked having my Documents folder cluttered up when the occasional game puts save files there. In my experience, most other programs use the former directory instead, unless they use an enclosing folder in /Applications. Either of those methods would seem preferable to me, since they're more conventional and less obtrusive.

Naturally, you're welcome to do what you like with your own game, and I hope you don't mind if I give suggestions like this - I just like to help where I can!

[BasiliskWrangler]

We love suggestions...it only helps us make a better product.

I don't see any reason why we couldn't do that, unless we have some unforeseen problem with writing to that directory from within our development package.

We may have lots of questions for you Linux gurus when we start that port process.

[edit] Siemova: I just realized you were talking about a MacOS directory, not a Linux directory. My mind was elsewhere because I had been doing some Linux work earlier. I'm not sure about our ability to write to other Mac directories either, but I'm sure we'll need to talk to you MacOS gurus as well when that time comes.

[Supernaut]

"We may have lots of questions for you Linux gurus when we start that port process."

Fire away. Feel free to email me off-list.

JB