That’s great Jade!
Version 5:
-Players default to entering rifts if present
-Fixed the ‘getting started’ file above to say TEST ALLINTRO instead of just ALLINTRO.
-Players now know that they broke into a castle
-Several grammar fixes in castle region
-Fixed typo: officer’s quarters->officers’ quarters
-Several other typos in opening area
-People notice if you shout during a presentation
I have been playing beta4 this morning for almost three hours… Now I see that current version is number five. I can’t barely keep on this race. This is happening too fast for me.
None of the versions have any game changing changes so far. Feel free to use any version!
I have started playing today - a lot of fun!! I’ve played through the intro and almost all of the Wax museum. I’ll send you the transcript, which includes several comments made with *
I am stuck in the cabin area: I seem to have several materials for paint, but no recipe. I guess I am missing some pages. Also, I know how to make plaster, but I seem to have no suitable container to get the mud. Even though the difficulty is indicated as much less than the wax museum, I have more difficulty with this one 
Hmm, have you tried going round west of the house? Have you got the climbing shoes from the World Monuments section, maybe? It’s been a long time since I played that section.
ETA: This thread might be of help.
Ah sorry, I meant to place this post in that thread instead. Will copy it in there.
Thanks to a diligent tester, the game has now been played in its entirety, taking us all the way to 52.5% complete testing!
That’s awesome! I have, er almost started about four times (my son and I both got sick as soon as the Comp voting period closed, oddly, so no IF time the past few days. Hopefully soon!)
Just wanted to add that the first person to complete the game was a newcomer to the forum, Robert Eggleston (@AERobert), who took around 20 hours to play.
In his honor, as an easter egg, the formerly unnamed Captain will now have the name ‘Eggleston’ on his jacket. Thanks for your help!
And congrats to the IFComp winners!
I got a ton of transcripts over the weekend (including the 10,000 move full playthrough!) and finally worked through them. Version 6 is now up, and it contains a ton of bugfixes. Full list below (collapsed for brevity):
-The polar bear has a description
-Animals become unlured when riding the goat
-You can’t get softlocked by putting a box of seeds on the gorilla nest anymore
-An infinite spell scroll glitch is now patched
-fixed a deeply misleading message associated to the amnesia spell
-The rusty robot’s position is now more clear
-fixed some issues with third person perspective
-Added in some filing cabinets that were described but did not exist
-All buttons on the nuclear reactor control panel now have descriptions
-It’s more clear now when you’ve gotten on the plank.
-If your clone takes an iron bar out of a hole, the game no longer gets Schroedinger’s barred
-The game correctly reports changes in speed and direction when firing cannonballs out of the circling ships
-The room exits no longer rotate if the part the player is in stands still
-Players can now ‘get all’ from containers they are holding like the envelope or pizza box
-Fixed bug with implicit take keeping player from applying plaster to the wall
-Gave an explanation for the bizarre strength of a poster and a plastic table
-Fixed a bug preventing the player from displaying their ID card
-Fixed a beta tester’s preferred name
-Fixed a locker that could be open and locked
-Fixed a bug where you couldn’t lock any unlocked thing
-You can now see what’s on the other side of the glass floor
-You can no longer take your own statement and travel into a false flashback
-You can no longer drop a mission-critical item when it is in a satchel
-Clarified on what is electrified and what is not
-added disambiguation between walls
-The captain’s bookshelf no longer appears empty
-The revolving door you can unlock is now unlockable
-You can now touch things in the northern section of the revolving door
-You can’t cut out infinitely maany glass circles anymore
Small update today, version 7.
-‘unleash’ and synonyms can now take an object.
-You can look behind the waterfall
-You don’t have to jump out of hiding when taking an object you already have
-Changed the name of a quip to fix disambiguation
-Removed ‘torture’ as a verb to fix disambiguation
-Got rid of the ability to smell a departed odor
-The owl notices mice
-You can’t smuggle the meat of the cold zone any more
-You can eat snowflakes
-Fixed numerous typos and small responses
I was wondering about that but forgot to ask, it didn’t really make sense for that owl to ignore a tasty treat 
I’ve put out version 8, which has some quality of life fixes but nothing major.
-the limestone rocks can be climbed (with proper gear)
-Hamburger buns are now transparent
-The FINISH command works when Max is in the Kitchen.
-You can fly for one turn longer, now
-You can’t command the robots to leave the room anymore
-When the game says you are taking an unheld grenade before you arm it, it is no longer lying
-Examining a robot’s memory slot no longer lists its recorded actions due to an issue with printed action names
-Changed The parser error internal rule response (W), which I did not know existed.
-Clarified that stunned bosses are only incapable of shooting, not other actions
-The knights of the round table explicitly leave once defeated
-You can survive ripping a giant door out with your magnetic powers now
-The player can no longer smuggle things out of the horror caves
-Added several missing synonyms
-A flashback involving a man with a briefcase now actually has a briefcase
-The prop/disguise room now has an exit.
-Several random typos
-Added more description to socket
-Added ‘world’ as a synonym for the earth below
-Fixed a draft appearing when it shouldn’t be
-Fixed a bug where ‘insert 20 into coin slot’ would try inserting 20 random things
-Fixed a bug where ‘enter 2’ when holding the calculator would result in the player entering random things
-Added a temporary error message for when players try to take multiple copies of things they’re already holding.
Version 9
-clarified why you can’t take mud without the tub
-clarified why forest was out of bounds
-fixed bad response when tying the stick to the fishing line
-added more synonyms for attaching fishing line to stick
-added ‘fishing rod’ as synonym for completed fishing rod
-legalese updated
-bad things threatened for trying to open the sulfur pack
-The cable ladder shows up as an exit going down
-There’s now a response for trying to show the police badge to people you know on your own ship
-Fixed an edge case where you could get stuck recording more than 5 commands
-Added some merciful options when trying to set the vault door to a combination or trying to open the combination lock
-added code from @otistdog making it easier to take pizza slices out of a pizza box and money out of an envelope
Version 10:
-Fridge no longer hard-codes what is in it
-Fixed some stray lines that didn’t make sense
-Removed the keeper’s power button when their body is present
-added more synonyms for money
-eliminated mold once the mold is eliminated
-simplified yang field meter instructions
-Optimized burning down the Sydney Opera House from around 3 seconds to < 1 second per turn
-fixed a bug introduced last version that made ‘insert all’ apply even to conversational topics
-fixed typo preventing scientific equipement from appearing
-added little bits of reaction to some areas
-you are less likely to put cattail fluff into the wrong mud
-fixed some improper time of day references
-added some flavor text to the beginning of several levels
-Fixed searching paint cans
Give us a break! We only just refurbished the concert hall and sold off the 1973 donuts:
-Wade
We’ve reached my original targets! That means that the game will definitely launch this year.
I plan on sticking to the original release date, although I might make it slightly earlier to coincide with more people’s winter breaks. More testing reports are still coming in with excellent feedback, and there are still a few things I’d like to tinker with, but I’d be happy with the product if I released today.
Thanks so much to all the testers! These are the credits so far; if anyone has contributed to this game and doesn’t see themself listed, please contact me! Same if anyone wants a name change:
Beta testers include Amanda Walker, the Xenographer, John Ziegler, Jade, Christopher Merriner, Patrick Mooney, Brett Witty, Rovarsson, E. Joyce, Max Fog, Dee Cooke, Ian Greener, Chandler Groover, Lance Cirone, Zed Lopez, Cody Gaisser, Alex Proudfoot, Radioactive Crow, Doug Egan, Mike Spivey, Larry Horsfield, Dirk Spivey, Arthur DiBianca, Hal Rushton, Hidnook, Charm Cochran, Grueslayer, Lynnea Glasser, Wade Clarke, Onno Brouwer, Mel Jason, Alyshkalia, Daniel Worm, and Robert Eggleston, who was also the first to beat the full game.
Hanon Ondricek gave helpful advice about the concept and title. Phil Riley and Peter Bates made suggestions about coding. Mike Russo and Garry Francis gave poetry tips. Wade Clarke and Mike Russo (again) gave some prose tips. otistdog provided helpful Inform 6 code.
Matt Weiner, N. Comier, Mike Sousa, Austin Auclair, Doug Egan, Pinkunz, and Charm Cochran served as inspiration for some puzzle content. Many of the standard Inform examples were used, but a lot of code was directly lifted from Under Contract, Example 205; Lethal Concentration 1 and 2, examples 255 and 257; Nickel and Dimed, example 262; Robo1 and Robo 2, examples 426 and 429; Entropy, example 182; The Cow Exonerated, example 401; In Fire or in Flood, example 401; Otranto, example 228.
Cover art was made from photographs by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and by Sandra Rushton, my mother.
A new release version will be coming out today or tomorrow, so if you’re thinking of starting this soon, I’d wait until that is out (version 11). Thanks so much to everyone!
Version 11:
-fixed duplicate listing of food on table
-bad logic rings can only die once
-clarify that the rope is tied to things
-added a shortcut out to the end of the haunted house section
-clarified that the control panel has NEXT and BACK buttons
-fixed an issue with painting the rocking chair
-Your speech props can be referred to as ‘item’ or ‘items’
-fixed description of benches not appearing
-drew more attention to a pile of burnt stuff
-worked on disambiguation with the two supports
-removed a double ceiling from the lonely house
-fixed many messages related to the effects of spells in unusual circumstances
-gave up on keeping robots from shooting their own blasters and made it default to either shooting some random useful target or, if none are available, the roof.
-several typos fixed
-Corrected some grammar when performing some actions on yourself
-added some content to Sanya and Arawn
Awesome progress, Brian!