Voidspire Tactics - need playtesters (RELEASED!)

[Eldiran]

Hey all, I just recently announced my FFT-inspired Tactics RPG, Voidspire Tactics, to be released this October.

EDIT: Now out on Steam

That means it's time for me to buckle down and get bugfixing, and I need testers! I can't think of a better community to get testers from than technically-minded FFT fans.

If anyone is interested, please PM me or send me an email at radcodex [at] gmail.com, with basic info about your computer setup, and any qualifications you might have (prior playtesting, modding, beat Weigraf without using Yell, etc).

I also welcome feedback and discussion here regardless of playtesting : ) I'll answer questions about the game if you have any.

The game's website is:
www.voidspire.com

[Kaijyuu]

Ah, looks quite nice! Can't say much else from just the video, but it does look like you've got some good content and some decent visual flair.

[Xifanie]

What I'm looking at is very impressive, minus the graphics which could definitely use quite a bit of improvement (everything looks so flat).

But, the most important thing here that I don't see is controller support. Is there any?
I am not willing to click in dialogue boxes for any video games. I've done it in Flash games, and it is so unbelievably obnoxious. Plus, I would need to play with a touchpad right now, which is completely out of the question.

If there really isn't controller support, considering the type of game, I think you failed at an extremely important key aspect of the genre, and I hope that even if controller support doesn't make it into the initial release, it will be included into future updates.

[Eldiran]

@Kaijyuu: thanks! Glad you like it!

@Xifanie: yeah, the art isn't too great. Such are the hazards of having to do my own art : P

I see your point about controller support. Unfortunately, there are some mechanics in the game that can't be readily converted to a controller scheme -- for example, item management and crafting is mouse-driven drag-and-drop from any tile to any tile.

For what it's worth, I went out of the way to add as many keyboard shortcuts as possible. There are only a few edge cases where you can't do something using the keyboard. But because of those edge cases, I haven't implemented controllers : (

I do think that, in spite of the best Tactics games being controller-based, Tactics games in general play better with mouse control. That said, if there's a demand for it, I'll try to implement controller support.

[Kaijyuu]

For perfect ideal interfaces, I'd probably agree that mouse support is superior to a controller for this type of game. Probably for less than ideal, too; one mouse gesture + click > 8 button presses. Bad interfaces are bad interfaces no matter what control scheme is used.

The big pitfall with dialog box choices is having multiple layers of them. Never have more than 2. I didn't see anything like that in your trailer so that's probably okay.

Oh and if one is worried about having to move the moues all over the friggin' screen all the time, many of these types of games automatically move your mouse to a newly opened dialog box. Personally I hate this, but if you're used to it, it could save your wrist some movement.

[Angel]

In regards to controller support, I honestly don't play any game I can't play with a controller. I don't have a desk, my desktop is hooked up to a TV, I am stuck playing in bed, and a mouse doesn't work terribly well on a bed. For great examples of making menus designed for a mouse work swimmingly with a controller, look to Final Fantasy XI and XIV, console ports of Sim City 2000, the Grand Theft Auto series, etc.

I have games I've gotten a refund on just because they didn't support so much as the 360 controller, much less directinput. It's as necessary to me as audio and video.

[Reks]

I hope this is the right place for this! Mods, please move or delete as necessary.

Hey all, I just recently announced my FFT-inspired Tactics RPG, Voidspire Tactics, to be released this October.

That means it's time for me to buckle down and get bugfixing, and I need testers! I can't think of a better community to get testers from than technically-minded FFT fans.

If anyone is interested, please PM me or send me an email at radcodex [at] gmail.com, with basic info about your computer setup, and any qualifications you might have (prior playtesting, modding, beat Weigraf without using Yell, etc).

I also welcome feedback and discussion here regardless of playtesting : ) I'll answer questions about the game if you have any.

The game's website is:
www.voidspire.com

Okay, this looks pretty darn cool :O

If you'd like, I can playtest and record a bit for you, like I'm doing with a FFT patch and Tactics Ogre at present.

[Corosar]

this looks rather interesting indeed... and how it is looks also like it would run on my potatoe of a computer too... can't wait for this indeed!~

[Eldiran]

@Kaijyuu: agreed on all of that. It bothers me too when games reposition my cursor, so I didn't opt for that kind of thing.

@Toshiko: makes sense. That actually makes me realize, I bet the Steam Controller would be perfect with Voidspire Tactics. Now I really want to get one to try it out : )

@Reks: Sure, I'd love that! Recorded playtesting is super useful. Send an email over to radcodex [at] gmail.com and I'll hook you up.

@Corosar: it should run pretty well even on potatoes, thankfully : )

[Kaijyuu]

Recent versions of windows have support for the xbox controller, so I've been considering getting one solely to test/use it for my game creations. I do like controllers for some games (playing a fighting game on a keyboard is less than ideal), and more input options are almost always a good thing.

[Eldiran]

Just a little update: the game's coming along decently and will be released in the next 2 and a half weeks. Almost got all the bugs fixed...! Haven't had time to look into controller support yet unfortunately : ( That'll have to be something I experiment with post-release.

I also put out a gameplay vid that I forgot to show here:

I can still use playtesters this week if anyone is up for it.
Other than that, I could really use votes on Greenlight if you think the game's worth it : P
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=518621211

[Reks]

Just a little update: the game's coming along decently and will be released in the next 2 and a half weeks. Almost got all the bugs fixed...! Haven't had time to look into controller support yet unfortunately : ( That'll have to be something I experiment with post-release.

I also put out a gameplay vid that I forgot to show here:

I can still use playtesters this week if anyone is up for it.
Other than that, I could really use votes on Greenlight if you think the game's worth it : P
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=518621211

Can comfirm. I playtested for a while and had an absolute blast.

No controller support yet isn't too bad- the game IS entirely functional.

So yeah it has both of my thumbs up.

[Eldiran]

The game is out! : D

And it has a release trailer:

I certainly got some great playtesting posting it here, and I think it turned out pretty well. Hope some of you guys like it : )

It's available here.

[3lric]

It seems pretty cool, but is there a reason the price is so high? I've never paid that much for an indie game.

[Kaijyuu]

Much respect for getting something done! Looks reasonably polished (except maybe the sprite work; the more procedural graphics are great).

[Eldiran]

It seems pretty cool, but is there a reason the price is so high? I've never paid that much for an indie game.

Yeah, unfortunately it's $14.99 because it's kind of a niche game. If I thought I could get a lot of people interested I'd go lower, but I don't expect many people who aren't Tactics diehards to find it very appealing.

It is also a decently thick game - anywhere between 10 to 18 hours depending on how thorough you are.

Much respect for getting something done! Looks reasonably polished (except maybe the sprite work; the more procedural graphics are great).

Thanks! Yeah, I'm not much of an artist, so I relied heavily on particle effects : )

[KingUrameshi]

The game seems pretty cool. It reminds me of Arc the Lad which is good and bad. Good because the gameplay was fun but bad because the game took a long time to play due to the way battles were. I thumbs up on steam for it but the price is too much for a game that is only 10-20 hours long for me. I will keep an eye out for it on steam in case it goes on sale for maybe half that.

[Eldiran]

I made the big-time! : P

It's on Steam!

http://store.steampowered.com/app/415920

I got Greenlit earlier than I expected - I hadn't broken the top 100 yet. But man does it feel satisfying to get this up there! I added some achievements too.

[Jumza]

Congratulations! Hopefully this becomes even more successful, it looks like a great game

[KingUrameshi]

Congratulations on your success on steam. Good luck