Clubfloyd OPEN to Beta Testing [UPDATE: ONLY ONE SLOT LEFT FOR BARE BONES/ECTOCOMP]

General IF Community Resources
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Update (July 21st, 2023):
Club Floyd is again open for betatesting. Please email ( pinkunzzz@gmail.com ) or DM me if you’re interested in having your game betatested by Club Floyd. We already have someone lined up for this Sunday, July 23rd, but future Sundays are unspoken for at the time of this update. If last year is any indication, the availability of slots tends to dissappear the closer we get to deadlines, so keep that in mind.

Hello everyone. Competitions and Jams are starting to pile up and beta-testing requests are expected to increase soon as well. So, to help folks meet competition deadlines, ifMUD’s ClubFloyd is offering to play through your beta. You would receive a transcript of not only gameplay, but also contemporaneous discussion and reactions from the group during that gameplay. Obviously, those taking part would be excluded from judging your game.

For those who don’t already know, ClubFloyd is a group of people that meet online every week to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction. ClubFloyd has been around for nearly 15 years and has logged hundreds of gameplay transcripts.

ClubFloyd only meets on Sunday at 2pm Eastern (11am Pacific) in the ClubHouse on ifMUD, so if you’re interested, it would be best to respond soon before our availability dwindles.

Also, the games ClubFloyd plays absolutely must be programmed in ADRIFT, AGT, Choice Script, Glulx, Hugo, Inform, or TADS (2 or 3) because those are the only games that run on our bot, Floyd. With some additional work, we can make ‘Choice of Games’ games work. If your game runs on a different Engine, ClubFloyd will not be able to play your game. Sorry.

For anyone interested, please email pinkunzzz@gmail.com or DM me here. Please DO NOT reply here with an active link to your beta, as you may inadvertently disqualify yourself from whatever competition or jam you are currently participating in. Good luck, everyone!

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Additionally, if you join the “party” you can see online how players reaction real-time to your game and comment anything with us.
I think this can be a must have for any author becouse this is the perfect direct way in testing a game: looking players directly when they are playing, questioning them and getting answers and feelings.

  • Jade.
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Wow! Thanks for this offer. I’d meant to hang around ClubFloyd a lot more, and sometimes it can be tough to find testers, because my games are … a bit odd.

In keeping with the note not to post a public link, is there any way this would conflict with IFComp’s “no publicizing a binary before the release” rules? From what I understand, IFMud would technically be a place where people could check out binaries.

I suspect Jacqueline, who kept transcripts for ClubFloyd for a while, could weigh in on this or find a way to ease these concerns. (Maybe she already has?)

As I understand, you all would ask for the binary to be uploaded just before it was played, then delete it just after.

I don’t think this could trigger a disqualification rule, but I’d want to make sure we closed all possible loopholes.

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We have, of course, agree with not releasing a transcript untill… start/end of jam, whatever is pointed to by organizers. Jaqueline is in charge and knows this point, we have talked about.
We are totally all right with rules and organizers, so we are offering a “service” under competition rules.
If anyone is interested, ifmud plays sunday at night. All the rules would be discussed in advance, almost a week of time to take all clear.

  • Jade.
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Thanks, this sounds very good … the reminder to be prepared in advance is a good one, and I suspect it will help motivate people (like me) not to rush up against a final competition deadline!

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Also, the room ClubFloyd takes place in is separate and requires a security clearance to enter and the ClubFloyd channel can be muted. Your game would be loaded immediately before the session and then deleted after we finished to keep it private. In effect, this is no different to each individual member of ClubFloyd separately and privately beta-testing for you. You simply receive the benefit of the collaborative playthrough and discussion.

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Wow, thanks again for the quick reassurance. I know ClubFloyd stuff in the past helped me put out post-comp releases, and knowing all this is motivation not to put off certain things I want to do.

It seems that the author’s presence is a really good idea, as betas may get in no-win situations. I’d want to be there anyway, though it also seems reasonable there should be no backseating by the author.

Hope you don’t mind me rulesmongering! This seems like a great idea, and being able to explore possibilities in the big picture definitely helps me to get organized and also gives me a reason to show up and play at ClubFloyd.

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While the author’s presence isn’t required, it is recommended, assuming, as you said, they can refrain from backseat driving. Your input is welcome and any questions are reasonable given the effort and time invested in developing a game.

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I just logged in. It has been awhile. Need to learn/re-learn MUD ropes.

Thanks for the service!

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I have learned to enter CF a month ago. A very few commands are needed to enter an active session and play/see it. There isn’t neccesary learn all the stuff of ifmud.
If you are interested, I can explain it.

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Thank you for the offer. I will give a try a time or two and raise my hand if I need help.

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I want to attend my beta session:

Awesome! We’d love to have you! Just some friendly tips, first.

If you haven’t ever visited ifMUD, I’d recommend skimming this tutorial and visiting ifMUD for a bit at least a day in advance to get the format down. It’s a bit more convoluted than a simple chat room and you don’t want to be stumbling over the interface while we’re playing your game.

If you are already familiar with ifMUD, I’d still recommend familiarizing yourself with ClubFloyd ahead of time and perhaps consider skimming a transcript of a game you’ve already played (same link).

Also, consider showing up at least 10 minutes, maybe a little more, before the play session used to play your beta to allow time for setting up your clubhouse access and making introductions, etc.

Thank you and see you there! :grinning:

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Sunday, March 13th is already spoken for in terms of ClubFloyd beta-testing sessions, and another author is doing some last minute tweaks and will likely take March 20th, possibly leaving only one session open before the Spring Thing submission deadline, and four more after that before the Text Adventure Literature Jam submission deadline. In short, if you’re considering the ClubFloyd beta-test option, and your game is for either of those comps, you may want to move on that sooner rather than later.

You still have time for ParserComp, just a friendly reminder that once a week availability fills up quickly.

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HOW TO ENTER IFMUD EASILY

I tried to enter ClubFloyd for a while after studying IFMUD commands and structure.
It is only neccesary for you to read this links about ifmud.

http://allthingsjacq.com/intfic_cfrules.html

http://allthingsjacq.com/intfic_cfrules.html

Then enter Ifmud. I have tried some programs in Android but I prefer web based client with an external keyboard to avoid google keyboard splash the screen all the time.

To enter web client ifmud you must create a nick and password here.

http://ifmud.port4000.com:4001/apply

Now you can enter ifmud and log in here.

http://ifmud.port4000.com:4002/

Then type “connect” “your nick” and “the password received”.

Well, you are in.

Finally two commands into ifmud to ask for entering Clubhouse, the room where games are played:

“@joinc #clubfloyd”

“; Jacqueline, please can I get a CF pass?”
or
“; DavidW, can I get a CF pass?”

When confirmed you can go directly to the Clubhouse by typing “Clubhouse”.

When playing you must write a "; " right before the commentary.
There will be a driver for the game wich enters the commands, to avoid disorganization. The rest of us ask for actions with our commentaries "; "

Happy adventure.

  • Jade.
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Thanks Jade, that’s very helpful.

If for some reason I don’t manage to log on tomorrow, just contact me here if you have a question, and I’ll communicate through DMs. Seems like the game is mostly working though so I doubt you will all have any trouble.

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See you there!

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Reminder for anyone who is planning to attend on March 13: Daylight Savings Time begins on that day in the US.

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@pbparjeter ^^^^

Good save, @bg . Thank you.

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Hi all, I am trying to enter Jade’s commands and I am getting a not valid command error. Is it something to due with the quotes?

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If you are including quotation marks, don’t include those.

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