beta testers needed: Genesis of The Gods (Hesiod's Theogony)

[EnterTheStory (aka tolworthy)]

I think my game is ready to sell (it's been through seven beta test versions), but both of my regular testers have suddenly got other commitments (school!). Is anyone willing to give it a run through from start to finish? In the next few days if possible? I'd be very grateful!

PM me for a link.

About the game: http://enterthestory.com/




The stories are point and click adventures closely based on the classics:
Les Miserables
Dante's Divine Comedy (including Dante's Inferno)
Genesis of the Gods (based on Hesiod's Theogony)

About the download:
This includes all three stories - they form a trilogy that introduces Peri, a character who appears in all future games. The third story (Genesis of..) still needs final testing. The first two have been tested and sold in the past, but I've added more interaction between the stories so if anyone is willing to go finish all three games that would be fantastic.

How long will it take?
It shouldn't take too long - there is an extensive help system, so if you keep hitting F1 you get easier and easier clues, and if you're really in a hurry there's an 'emergency help' system (press Ctrl+H then Ctrl+P) that will tell you exactly what to click on.

About previous threads:
A few month ago in response to another thread I started implementing antialiased fonts and more left clicking, but I've gone back to the previous method for various reasons that would take too long to explain but are explored in the blog. But I do listen to all suggestions and implement the vast majority of them.

Thanks in advance!

Image based on 'old bookcase' by 'mararie', Flickr, CC 2.0

Edit: I just read the rules more carefully and apparently I have to give an outline of the story. This might take a while, because the three stories in the game (so far) all connect to form one big story. And it's a little bit complex, as it forms the basis for all the future stories that will also connect together. This particular thread is mostly about Genesis of the Gods, but anyone who buys one gets all three, as they need to be seen in context.

I'll outline the first two stories in more detail, as they're more relevant to the project as a whole: the first one is typical of the kind of story you should expect after the initial trilogy, and the second illustrates my unusual approach (treating the stories as if they're real.)

OK, here goes. The game (so far) is a trilogy of stories, linked by a character called Peri. Peri plays one of the children for whom Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread, then later she plays the role of Beatrice, and finally she's an angel sent to defend mankind against Ouranos. More detail:

Victor Hugo's Les Misérables is one of the world's great classics, a story of love and death and passion and sacrifice. It stars Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving children. In this game one of those children was Peri.

The story summary here is adapted from Wikipedia:
Les Misérables (translated variously from French as The Miserable Ones, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, The Victims) is a novel by French author Victor Hugo and is widely considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. It follows the lives and interactions of several French characters over a twenty-year period in the early 19th century, starting in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo.

The novel focuses on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption. It examines the nature of law and grace, and expounds upon the history of France, architecture of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. The story is historical fiction because it contains factual, historic events, including the Paris Uprising of 1832 (often mistaken for the much earlier French Revolution).

Les Misérables contains many plots, but the main thread is the story of ex-convict, Jean Valjean (known by his prison number, 24601), who becomes a force for good in the world, but cannot escape his dark past. Hugo fills many pages with his thoughts on religion, politics, and society.

Major characters:

   * Jean Valjean (a.k.a. Monsieur Madeleine, a.k.a. Ultimus Fauchelevent, a.k.a. Monsieur Leblanc, a.k.a. Urbain Fabre, a.k.a. 24601 a.k.a. 9430) â€" Convicted for stealing a loaf of bread, he is paroled from prison nineteen years later. Rejected by society for being a former convict, Bishop Myriel turns his life around. He assumes a new identity to pursue an honest life, becoming a factory owner and a mayor. He adopts and raises Fantine's daughter Cosette, saves Marius from the barricade, and more.
   * Javert â€" An obsessive police inspector who continuously hunts, tracks down, and loses Valjean. He goes undercover behind the barricade, but is discovered and unmasked. Valjean has the chance to kill Javert, but lets him go. Later Javert allows Valjean to escape. For the first time, Javert is in a situation in which he knows that the lawful course is immoral.
   * Bishop Myriel, the bishop of Digne â€" A kindly old priest who is promoted to bishop by a chance encounter with Napoleon. He convinces Valjean to change his ways after Valjean steals some silver from him and saves Valjean from being arrested.
   * Fantine â€" A Parisian girl abandoned with a small child by her lover Félix Tholomyès. Fantine leaves her daughter Cosette in the care of the Thénardiers, innkeepers in a village called Montfermeil. Unfortunately, Mme. Thénardier spoils her own daughters and abuses Cosette. Fantine finds work at Monsieur Madeleine's factory, but is fired by a female supervisor who discovers that she is an unwed mother. The Thénardiers constantly demand money, and Fantine sells everything she has to save her child, eventually including her own body.
   * Cosette (a.k.a. Euphrasie, a.k.a. The Lark, a.k.a Ursule) - after Fantine dies, Valjean ransoms her from the Thénardiers and she becomes his adopted daughter. She later grows up to become very beautiful. She falls in love with Marius Pontmercy.
   * Marius Pontmercy â€" A second-generation aristocrat (not recognized as such because it was Napoleon who made Marius' father a noble) who fell out with his royalist grandfather after discovering the truth about his father.
   * Enjolras â€" A charming and intimidating man with angelic beauty, he is passionately devoted to democracy, equality and justice. Enjolras is a man of principle that believes in a cause â€" creating a republic, liberating the poor â€" without any doubts.
   * Éponine â€" The Thénardiers' elder daughter. As a child, she is pampered and spoiled by her parents, but ends up a street urchin when she reaches adolescence. She is blindly in love with Marius.
   * Gavroche â€" The unloved eldest son of the Thénardiers, he lives on th street and longs for adventure.
   * Monsieur Gillenormand â€" Marius' grandfather. A Monarchist, he sharply disagrees with his grandson and throws him out - but hates himself for doing it.
   * Mabeuf â€" An elderly churchwarden. He was friends with Colonel Pontmercy, and then befriends Marius after Colonel Pontmercy's death. He helps Marius realize the true identity and intentions of his father.  He feels his life has been a failure.

The story has been adapted into at least fifty movies and six different stage plays, including a successful musical. This is the first time the story has been presented as a game, and the first time that you, the reader, can enter and become part of it.

The Divine Comedy, written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative and allegorical vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church. It is divided into three parts, the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

The poem tells of Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead, lasting from the night before Good Friday to the Wednesday after Easter in the spring of 1300. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through Hell and Purgatory; Beatrice, Dante's ideal woman, guides him through Heaven.

In Northern Italy's political struggle between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Florence's Guelphs split into factions around 1300, the White Guelphs, and the Black Guelphs. Dante was among the White Guelphs who were exiled in 1302. This exile, which lasted the rest of Dante's life, shows its influence in many parts of the Comedy, from prophecies of Dante's exile to Dante's views of politics to the eternal damnation of some of his opponents.

The story begins with Dante lost in a dark wood, assailed by beasts (a lion, a leopard, and a she-wolf) and unable to find his way home. Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of them realize that their only way home is through Hell. The Inferno follows the two through the ten circles of Hell, down to the center of the Earth. The second part, Purgatory, follows them through the seven terraces of that mountain, up to the garden of Eden. The third part, Paradise, follows them through the seven heavens, the stars, and ultimately the throne of God.

Enter The Story always follows the original story, chapter by chapter, but is more concerned with the ideas behind the story. And so, just as Dante reflected the cosmological beliefs that had evolved up to the year 1300, so the game keeps these but also brings them in harmony with a more modern understanding, and speculates even further. And just as Dante included many historical and contemporary figures, the game keeps these characters and also adds a few others from later centuries and our own day.

Enter The Story treats the poem as real history. Which means that some parts need to be reinterpreted in the light of modern understanding. Not changed - every story in Enter The Story is strictly faithful tot he original, event by event - but reinterpreted in the way that a believe in the Bible might interpret the sacred text in the light of modern discoveries. For example, Dante describes Hell in the form of a vast funnel shaped cave, thousands of miles around. Clearly the roof of such a cave would collapse, and besides, no such cavity has been found through sonar readings. No doubt Dante merely vast caves and only speculated on their size. Similarly, Dante travels to the center of the Earth, and later to the surface of the sun, without being consumed by heat. Clearly advanced technology is at work. On a more important note, Dante describes souls being tortured for eternity - a point that other games have accepted at face value - yet this contradicts Dante's belief in a merciful God. Also, Dante states that these beings are spirits - how can spirits feel physical pain? How  can decapitation (for example) be a problem to someone is already dead? How can noble pagans be condemned to purgatory, yet far less deserving popes end up in heaven? Clearly Dante is reporting these events from his Medieval perspective, and others may see them differently.

Genesis of The Gods is a loose translation of the word "theogony:" the game is based on Hesiod's poem. Hesiod's 'theogony' is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos. It begins with the muses singing, then we take part in the creation of the universe, the rise of Ouranos, creation of the Titans, his battles with them, the creation of the gods, how the gods are all related, gods versus Titans, the creation of Mankind, Prometheus stealing fire from heaven, the final battle with Typhon, the end of the world, a lot of philosophy (strictly optional) all built around the structure of a  romance.

Together the three stories form an introduction to Enter The Story, a project to combine at least thirty (more likely eighty or so) classic stories into one huge game world.

Now the forum rules also say I should add "Screenshots, promotional material, designer diaries, demo downloads, music samples" etc. That could make this thread extremely long - it is not a short game! I'd rather take the chance of skipping all that. Please let me know if you think I should add that too.

[Darth Mandarb]

Please read the forum rules and update your post (2 IN-GAME screen-shots) or this will have to be locked!

I did say please   As stated in the rules, the "in game" screen shots don't include cut-scenes or menu screens.  So, technically, you still haven't met the rules ... but since you have three shots, and we're so welcoming around here, I'll let it slide.

Good luck with the beta test!

[EnterTheStory (aka tolworthy)]

Nice to see you too. I'd forgotten how welcoming this board is. The first image is an in-game shot BTW, but I've added another two just to make sure.

[Secret Fawful]

I notice you're going to do Crime and Punishment. If I may suggest, Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov is probably his best work, and much greater than Crime and Punishment EVER was. It explores much deeper themes, and would make a great story, as it has some very deep villains.

Good luck with the project.

[EnterTheStory (aka tolworthy)]

Thanks. My goal is to streamline the process enough that I can produce a new story every two months. I figure that five stories a year over twenty years should let me do all my favorites and a lot more.

I'm really grateful for AGS being here - it makes the programming part of it a lot easier, and it's nice to be around people who 'get' that a story does not always need the latest technology to be good.