Edge of Reality a 9 Year RON project entering final BETA

[bspeers]

Hey all you evil monsters that devour children in their sleep!

Remember me?  No?  Good.

I'm bspeers, and about 9 years ago I came up with the name "Reality" for a town others had developed on these boards.  Yahtzee thought he would add "on-the-norm" and create the first in a series of community games featuring his own character, Davy Jones.  Since then, dozens of writers, scripters and artists have created their own twist on the Reality-on-the-Norm series, adding many new characters and ideas.

I made one of the first elongated demos for an ugly but bizarre game called "Edge of Reality"  Bugs and life issues, and just creating the huge amount of content this game required kept me busy since mid 2000, but I'm back, and though buggy, the game is now 99.9% complete.  It's on an old engine of AGS, meaning bugs (save early and save often) and it's about 70% ugly, and it also may not run on some newer computers, but it's done, and just needs a few polishing touches.

Only thing is, I need beta testers.  This will be a very quick process.  If you can't solve the puzzles, email me and I'll give you the best answer I can.  You won't have to actually finish the game, just tell me if it works on your system, and any major crashes.  I WILL NOT fix all the bugs, since they are largely harmless, and after 9 years of development, I haven't been able to fix them.  I will not add new content, new quests etc, but I may be convinced to add a new clue or two.  BETA wlll be short though as I have already thoroughly tested the game, and just want some impressions.  It will also be very limited, so post your email below (in any format you like) or PM me, and I'll put you on a shortlist.  The game should enter BETA in about one week's time.

The basic info is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpQU76sUGdY

STORY:



When Mika Huy (the underused character, at least, 9 years ago) has trouble dealing with Davy Jone's recent death, she seeks a fortune teller to develop direction for her life.  At her consultation, however, Mika learns of a much greater disembodied threat to all of Reality.  As Mika searches for Thakbor the Great, the only person who can stop this terrible power, she realizes more and more about the universe in which she lives, and crosses over into the very edge of her reality.  But what is real, and what is not?  And why did somebody glue the silo shut?



Along the way, Mika will meet celebrities, the undead mayor, a mime with a death wish, a man who loves hotdogs, a hovering sombrero, and many other bizarre characters from my mind and from the minds of the RON community.

GAMEPLAY

A traditional point-and-click, but with numerous buggy mini-games, four playable characters, and two endings that represent anywhere from ten minutes to an hour of optional content.  Also, special bonuses for completing with different numbers of points.  If you ever complete it.

This game has more rooms and more puzzles than any AGS game of its time.  Almost every feature I put in the game strained the very limits of the AGS version I used, from the number of Global Integers, to dialogue trees, to screens, to characters and items.  A lot of tricky coding allowed me to by-pass some limits, and others I had to rub up against.  Trust me when I say this was an ambitious project.

Are you ready for it?



BETA tests begin in ONE DAY!  Release is planned for January 24th, barring total harddrive meltdown.

[Gilbert]

OMG! Hooray!


Now, we wait for Run Hot, LV3, Time Out and more.

[Layabout]

Whoa and hooray.

Expression of beta-testery interest. Please let me break your game.

[bspeers]

I'll be happy to get you the first steaming hot slightly disquieting copy for your purusal, oldbie.

However, please don't worry about breaking it.  It is currently held together with bits of re-used gaffer tape.  You know the kind that's been on the floor for a really long time and has all the dusty bits clinging to it and therefore doesn't stick to anything?

Basically what I'm saying is that breaking my game would be about as difficult as kicking a lost baby in the groin.  The only thing stopping you would be your sense of good will.

Stay tuned next week when I shoot it into your hands with an expensive potato and/or airgun.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Congratulations on having more or less finished this.  It will be an interesting time capsule experience to play a game that began back when RoN was just a bunch of loose ideas!

[m0ds]

B-last from the b-speers past! Great stuff! 2430+ ROMS!!!!!?!?/1!! I CAN WAIT TO PLER!

Sorry, your youtube video sent me a little mad... :p

[DeviantGent]

SO MUCH WIN

[Layabout]

Btw you got your dates wrong, unless you are, in fact, a time traveller. How have you been working on this since 1999 if RON wasn't created until late 2000-early 2001?

[bspeers]

I don't know.

Must be 2000 then.

I put those dates in there probably a few years into the development, so it's not surprising I got them wrong.

I'll change them in the game, thanks!

[bspeers]

Okay, except for a date issue, the "final" version is done, and all the bugs I could fix are out!

Just the final beta is left.

Beta testers, expect a link in your PM boxes to the beta version.

I'm aiming for a quick Beta test, so please, testers, don't be afraid to ask how to solve particular puzzles.  I'm aiming to hit my deadline!

[bspeers]

You can lock this as the game is out now.