(update 7th Sept - second round of testing) Parser-based IFComp entry "Vampire Ltd"

Would anybody be willing to beta-test a 90-minute-ish parser game written in Inform 7 for IFComp?

The game’s working title is Vampire Ltd. The player plays as a vampire infiltrating a rival vampire’s tech business to sabotage it from the inside, overcoming classic vampire weaknesses like exposure to sunlight and having to be invited into places. It is dialogue-heavy, using a LucasArts-style menu-based conversation system. It features a few puzzles, and includes a full hint menu for these.

This is a first draft of a first-ever parser game, so it may have a lot of problems. I would be interested in all kinds of feedback, including comments about glitches and bugs, typos, design flaws, accessibility and sensitivity.

A little bit more about my sensitivity concerns if you're curious:

Content warnings: Vampire Ltd features a little blood, and a character who is arguably abusive to his employees. I don’t know if either of these is strong enough to need a content warning, and would appreciate opinions on this.

Religion: The game uses the vampire trope of hatred of religion. (Specifically, there is a multifaith prayer room in the game which the vampiric player character must interact with.) I have been cautious about how religion is presented here, and I am keen to avoid presenting any and all religions as invalid, but the vampire PC will obviously have a low opinion. I am also aware that Western vampire fiction often centres Christianity as righteousness (that is, it’s usually a Christian cross being used to defeat the vampire); in response, I have tried to avoid presenting Christianity as more (or less!) valid than other religions. I am not a religious person myself, and therefore am not a good judge of success here. I welcome critical feedback from religious testers (of all persuasions) on this point.

No rush yet, but I’d love to have testing done within a month or so, to give me lots of time to get ready for IFComp.

Please let me know if you’d like to test. I’ll send you a zip file containing the .gblorb file, a website so you can play in browser, and the source code. Thanks so much for your interest!

Sure, happy to! Sounds like a fun premise, and I’m also working on my first Inform 7 game so hopefully all the various mistakes and things I’ve learned along the way might be helpful :slight_smile: Feel free to message me to pass along the game.

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It could be interesting, and I have some time, so… sure.

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I think I have enough beta testers for now. Big thanks to everyone who got in touch! :smiley:

I’d like a couple more testers, please! I’ve tweaked a lot of things since the first round of testing, and I’d like some fresh eyes to see how the game is doing now.

The big thing I want to test now is how well my game communicates what you should be doing. One major issue that emerged from the first round of testing is that puzzles weren’t clear, well-hinted and well-implemented enough, so that testers struggled a lot. I want to check whether the game is less frustrating now. So if you just want to play the game and not worry about looking for bugs, that would be great!

Of course, people who want to look for bugs would also be helpful! I don’t think there’s anything likely to be game-breaking left, but I implemented a bunch of extra scenery objects since the first round of testing (especially background NPCs like the workers in the office), so some objects may give buggy or stupid responses.

As before, hints are built into the game and the solution and source code will be provided with the release. Although I say it’s 90 minutes long, testers have suggested that 60 minutes is more accurate.

I’d like feedback within a week if you can manage it. (Sorry for the tight turnaround - I’m running behind schedule because of a stressful few weeks.)

Thanks so much for your interest! And once again, big thanks to the first round of testers, who have already made Vampire Ltd a much better game. :slight_smile:

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Still need a couple of testers! The game is just about done (i.e. I’m tired of working on it), so it should only be proof-reading and testing for playability.

Keep forgetting to say this, but I’m happy to test your game in return as long as it runs on a Windows machine.

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