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- Jan 28, 2011
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Tags: Serpent in the Staglands; Whalenought Studios
The Serpent in the Staglands beta was released to backers last night, a bit later than originally planned. The accompanying Kickstarter update is backers-only, though non-backers can view its contents on the game's officials forums. Here's what it says:
You will all be sent an email within the next half hour with a link to both the Windows and Mac versions of the beta, we have to do this manually so it might take a bit. You can download either from the dropbox folder in the link. For the initial beta we’re asking to just get your feedback on the general overview of all the systems. This would include anything concerning layout, combat, spells, dialogue, inventory use and equipment, to moving around and exploring.
We had some last minute issues with the Mac and Windows builds differing from one another, and while patching that up caused a few other problems to arise. Some of these will be addressed below, but this is part of the reason we’d like this to remain a general overview of all the beta systems. We’ll finish fixing things up and drop you a cleaner build to tackle the more detailed aspects of the gameplay in a smoother (less buggy) environment soon. This will include any of your suggestions as well. When we get that out for discussion and feedback proper, the more detailed gameplay fixes we can get from you can be used for the entirety of the game and all the maps outside the beta, which is going to make a tremendous difference in polish.
*This stage of the beta is missing a great deal of the final level of polish including conversations, item and skill tweaking, effects, and everything else you all will help improve. Consider the areas you’re playing through in an early enough stage to get a sense of the direction we’ve headed in, but not an example of what the final experience will entail. Much of this is in place just for testing while we continue to develop the rest of the maps outside the beta environment, like enemy spawning.
Bugs being fixed for the next build:
Thanks so much for testing through the treacherous ground that is the beta, we hope you enjoy the direction we’re taking the game. Please share any feedback, and the more tangible ideas you have for improvement the more we can put them to good use. As mentioned in the previous post, we’d like all the feedback at the forums hub so we can be sure to see everything.
Don't forget to vote Staglands up on Steam Greenlight, so it can be distributed in a less rudimentary fashion.
The Serpent in the Staglands beta was released to backers last night, a bit later than originally planned. The accompanying Kickstarter update is backers-only, though non-backers can view its contents on the game's officials forums. Here's what it says:
You will all be sent an email within the next half hour with a link to both the Windows and Mac versions of the beta, we have to do this manually so it might take a bit. You can download either from the dropbox folder in the link. For the initial beta we’re asking to just get your feedback on the general overview of all the systems. This would include anything concerning layout, combat, spells, dialogue, inventory use and equipment, to moving around and exploring.
We had some last minute issues with the Mac and Windows builds differing from one another, and while patching that up caused a few other problems to arise. Some of these will be addressed below, but this is part of the reason we’d like this to remain a general overview of all the beta systems. We’ll finish fixing things up and drop you a cleaner build to tackle the more detailed aspects of the gameplay in a smoother (less buggy) environment soon. This will include any of your suggestions as well. When we get that out for discussion and feedback proper, the more detailed gameplay fixes we can get from you can be used for the entirety of the game and all the maps outside the beta, which is going to make a tremendous difference in polish.
*This stage of the beta is missing a great deal of the final level of polish including conversations, item and skill tweaking, effects, and everything else you all will help improve. Consider the areas you’re playing through in an early enough stage to get a sense of the direction we’ve headed in, but not an example of what the final experience will entail. Much of this is in place just for testing while we continue to develop the rest of the maps outside the beta environment, like enemy spawning.
Bugs being fixed for the next build:
- Text garbled in Windows
- Fullscreening loses initial resolution chosen. Fullscreen not supported on this version
- Small graphic glitches on Mac and Windows (art stretching, lines appearing off)
- Quests not always saving correctly / spawning correctly. You can try initiating them, but you might not be able to finish in this version.
- Merchants have unlimited stocked items when sold something, or to buy something.
- Torch and world map are in flux currently, and will change in the next beta version to be much better. The World map is particularly finicky at the moment, and is a huge space to move around in currently. We’ve shrunk the map size considerably from what you’ll see in the current build, and it should be a much better solution.
- Conversations with common folk / settlers haven’t been implemented and Arbiters aren’t spawning in yet (town guards).
- Some existing conversations can loop
- Entry points on some maps are not accurate to the exit point of the previous map
- Hotkeys mapping menu isn’t synced up yet, though there are some existing ones to use.
- Currently the only way to pass day/night is walking around overworld map. You will be able to do this other ways (talking to an innkeeper). There are differences in all areas as to what spawns and happens at night. The 5 overworld map locations are located as the green icons on the map above. This system, like mentioned, is a little broken as we’ve been implementing the new one, so travel on the overworld at your own risk. We’d advise waiting until the new build is out for an optimized experience.
- Some backer portraits are being finished up on that were made for party-portraits.
Thanks so much for testing through the treacherous ground that is the beta, we hope you enjoy the direction we’re taking the game. Please share any feedback, and the more tangible ideas you have for improvement the more we can put them to good use. As mentioned in the previous post, we’d like all the feedback at the forums hub so we can be sure to see everything.
Don't forget to vote Staglands up on Steam Greenlight, so it can be distributed in a less rudimentary fashion.
This really is the year of 
again.
