Seeking alpha testers for Hand Me Down

Game: Hand Me Down
Concept: A game about creativity, family and the passage of time.
Type: TADS 3 Parser, text-only, some puzzles
Content warning: No sex, violence, or explicit language
Alpha period: 28 April to 12 May 2023
Tester Investment: Maybe an hour total to play around and provide some feedback
Feedback wanted: Writing style and impact, player orientation, general game/puzzle feel/fairness, world structure
Feedback not required: Proof-editing, bug-finding, or spotting places that need polish/implementation.
Form of feedback: Questionnaire or just free-form discussion.


I’ve been working on a TADS 3 game, called Hand Me Down, hopefully for IF Comp 2023. Although I’ve been talking about it on my Substack for nearly a year, no-one’s really had a chance to poke at the game.

I was looking for some intrepid alpha testers to poke around what I have so far and give some preliminary feedback. It is open world with puzzles, with story woven throughout. It is far from finished, but has some meat on some bones.

I intend to tidy up the current state of the game by 28 April and get a version out to alpha testers. The first two weeks of May I’m taking time off to focus on the game, so it’d be useful to get a little bit of feedback before/during that.

The game has two parts, and we’ll only focus on the first.

  • All rooms are connected, described and accessible. Some even have a bit of polish.
  • The path through Part 1 of the game requires three types of puzzles to be solved, but each type of puzzle has a number of different options. Not all the options are implemented, but I’m hoping to have at least one of each so that you can nominally finish Part 1 as part of the alpha.
  • Some NPCs are in place and functioning, but are nowhere near complete.

I hope to give testers:

  • A t3 file with directions on how to play it via Parchment
  • A walkthrough
  • An overview of the project
  • An overview of feedback I’m looking for (probably via email, DM or a Google form).

If you’re interested, send me a DM here.

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I’ve managed to organise myself so that you won’t need anything except a web browser to play and give feedback. Just in case getting a TADS 3 player was an impediment.

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Tads game?! Count me in! I’d rather play on QTads if you have a t3 file…

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