A new month, a new update, folks….

Below I’ve removed the stuff scratched in my previous update. Now I shall scratch the stuff I’ve done up until now:

1. Before setting up the final boss, I will first set up the last optional dungeon “The Mines of Airom”. This dungeon only becomes available to the player if Crystal found all her ARMS, and here in these mines you can find her final ARM.

2. Then I will set up the “Black Hole Dweller”. The Ultimate Boss. It’s an optional boss and the strongest boss in the game. Can only be defeated if you really worked things out. It’s a boss for the real no-life-guys out there.

3. Not noted in my previous list is the “Sisters in all but blood” ability. A special move for Wendicka, which she can only use if Crystal is on the front line (and not knocked out or otherwise disabled). (*)

4. Then the final boss will be developed. I said it before, this will be the hardest challenge I’ve ever faced in game development, and I hope my (ambitious) plans will work out in the game. We’ll see. (**)

5. After that I’ll have to set up the chains for the New Game+.

6. When that is all done, I need to make sure that all issues with the milestone “Beta” are fixed or resolved.

7. And then the game can be open for beta testing. If you are interested in beta testing, lemme know, and I’ll give you access to the early beta releases of the game. It should go without saying, but a little secrecy is desired if you beta test. We don’t want too many spoilers leaked before the game is even out.

8. During the beta period I must make sure that all issues marked “Full Launch in the issue tracker (and that includes the ones beta-testers give me in this process, so that list may get longer over time), are fixed.

9. And once all that is done, the first full stable release can be prepared.

* “Sisters in all but blood” has been delayed. It’s pretty complex to script out, so it will be added during the beta period. Until then this move will not be available no matter if you fill the requirements or not.
** I am working on the Final Boss, at the moment I was typing this. The base script has all been setup now, but I don’t know if it works already (knowing me, it probably won’t), since I need to run the first test. Once this is done, I only need to write the post-boss scenario and to make the chain to the New Game + and then the game is finished content-wise. Of course (yeah, not too fast, guys) I will need to get some other stuff done before I can throw the game into the beta. Read on…..

How will the beta proceed?

As soon as the Final Boss and the New Game+ work, the game will basically enter the “closed beta”. This will very likely also be announced on the forums in the “jobs” channel that I will be wanting beta testers for the game.

The requirements are:

• A GitHub account and knowledge how to use the Github Issue Tracker (https://github.com/PhantasarProductions/Star-Story/issues)

• You don’t need to know how to make a pull request. My repository is only a copy of the actual project, so changes in the repository will NOT affect the game in any way.

• Knowledge of BlitzMax or Lua is also not required. As long as you can describe a bug in detail, you’re good to go.

• The ability to keep things secret. In particular anything storyline related. We don’t want spoilers being leaked before the first official open release is even “out”, do we? (If you really cannot avoid a spoiler when reporting a bug, please contact me in private. Once the beta has started a special e-mail address where you can contact me privately will be opened for the occasion).

The closed beta will remain closed until all issues milestoned as “[Beta]” are closed, and no new issues come up in 7 days after the last issue is closed. Then the game will enter the “Open beta”. During this time, the demo (which will then no longer be updated) and the “Full beta” will both be living on this very site. The issues milestoned as “[Full Launch]” may then not all be fixed. Once these are all fixed, we will be getting close to the first official “stable release” of the full version of Star Story. That will also be the time the game will appear on itch.io and IndieDB as well, and very likely on a few other sites as well.

Things are going very fast now. The start of the “closed beta”, is hard to predict, but it being in September or even before September, is getting more and more realistic now (unless some unforeseen major setbacks arise).

So hang on, folks….
I’m working as hard as I can, and because some of my outdoor activities are now on hold due to the summer holidays, I have the time to speed things up, so basically this couldn’t have come at a better time for me. ;)

Cheers

Jeroen