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Ahoy there landlubber! So you fancy shipping out with the crew here at Stickman Studios
for a spot of piracy eh? Excellent. But before we can take you on board, we first need
to establish your credentials as a potential crew member and make you fully aware of
the mission you are about to embark on.
Right... in case you missed it on the News Page, our second
round of testing is scheduled to begin on the evening of
Friday the 10th of October. This gives us
some time to iron out a few bugs as well as generate some interest in the testing
itself.
These first tests are not only to find any bugs we may have missed, but also to begin
balancing the multiplayer side of the game. As well as determining which faction, if
either, has any general advantage over the other, we also need to find out how many
players per side will give the most enjoyable playing experience. Unlike most other
team based multiplayer games, Buccaneer players require space to ply their piratical
trade and we need to establish just how much.
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The testing could take just a few hours to gather all the information we need, but we
will probably leave the game open for several days to allow interested players to continue
playing and providing feedback. Once this test is completed and we are satisfied with the
success and feedback, we will expand the test to include all multiplayer options and maps and
allow players more freedom to simply play the game and get a feel for it.
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IMPORTANT! -
What we need from you!
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OK, now for the important bit. While the prospect of having a first look
at a new game might sound like fun - and so it should be - we at Stickman
do need to gather information to aid us in completing the game. So for the
initial round of testing at least we will need as much feedback as we can
get. As a result we are looking for mature players who can provide us with
constructive information. Age isn't important, but an ability to communicate
clearly is. Unfortunately, as Harv and I are only fluent in English... we
also require all feedback to be in our native tongue. :-)
The first thing we require is that you register with our forum. All testing
communication will be done in the forum "behind closed doors", so only registered
members will be able to take part.
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Once you have registered with the forum, we will need certain information from you
to help us monitor the testing and also determine which players will be best suited
to function as game hosts and set up servers. Don't worry, we don't require dedicated
servers, so anyone serving as a host is also able to play.
The following is a list of information that we need from anyone interested in the
BETA Test:-
FORUM NAME.
Whatever name you chose to register with on our forum. This is simply to save us
the time of matching email addresses to Forum Names.
INTERNET SPEED.
Realistically your connection should at least be 1mb broadband or above. We may need
to make changes during testing and upload new versions of the game, so waiting for
Joe Slow with his 56k modem to get the latest update will only hamper things. Sorry Joe.
LOCATION.
As we will be involved in the initial testing ourselves, players able to play while
we are actually awake will be more useful. So anyone in Australia... you are more than
welcome, but as long as you realise that YOU will be playing at 5 in the morning, not us. ;-)
DXDIAG INFO.
The dxdiag information is very important. First and foremost we need to ensure that
anyone interested in testing has a pc that will run the game. Additionally if there
are any problems once testing we can analyse individual setups to attempt to identify
the cause. In case you're not sure how to generate this information, we've included
instructions below*.
Once you have gathered this information, send it to Old Greybeard, our BETA Testing overseer.
He can be contacted at this address:- greybeard@stickmanstudios.co.uk.
We will endeavour to get as many people as we can involved in the initial round of testing,
but be aware that, depending upon the level of interest and individual pc settings, not
everyone will be chosen to take part. Those that are will be contacted soon after submitting
their information and given access to the BETA Testing forum.
*Gathering dxdiag info.
As mentioned above, this information is vital to the testing and for those not sure on how to
generate this file, this is how you do it. Click on your Windows "START" button and select "Run..."
to open the Run dialogue box. In this box enter
dxdiag and click "OK".
This will open your DirectX Diagnostic Tool that will provide all vital information about your
pc. Once the dxdiag has run its test of your system, simply click on "Save All Information", which
will create a text file with your pcs info included. Save this file as dxdiag.txt and attach it to
your email request to join the BETA Testing.
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