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Caravel Forum : DROD Boards : Architecture : Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (Testers Required!)
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agaricus5
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icon Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (+1)  
Okay: methinks it is time to necro this thread!

So, basically, I am building a hold called Golbar's Caves. It is an intended sequel to Bavato's Dungeon, continuing the journey of Tolbus to discover the Architect's secret (you'll know what I mean if you've completed level 13 of Bavato's Dungeon).

I will be holding private testing for the hold, since I am not sure if I want to submit it for Smitemaster's Selections. To do this, I will use the private beta board feature for testing. If you want to join my testing team, send me a PM and I can invite you to the board if you have a Caravel.net account. You will need to make sure the "Make me available for beta testing holds" option is checked in the "Caravel.net" part of your profile. If you don't have Caravel.net, we could coordinate testing by email.

Some of GC's features currently include:

- High difficulty: This is deliberately a difficult hold and I don't think it's good for optimising, either (Most rooms have >300 move solutions). I'd say you need to be of a reasonable standard at DROD if you want to make much progress (L6-8 of Bavato's Dungeon sounds about right, I think).

- Manipulation: Most rooms are currently manipulation rooms of some form. I have tried to reduce the emphasis on horde rooms compared to BD, but I don't think you could describe this hold as containing many lynchpin puzzles.

- Three levels: Yup. Three! With 20 puzzle rooms. Yeah, I'm a slow builder. Oh, well. ;)

- Guaranteed solvability: I've learnt my lesson. I have recorded victory demos for each room in the hold. As a bonus, you get to watch my amusingly embarrassing demos in which I get stumped and confused by my own puzzles.

- JtRH focus: This was intended to be a JtRH hold, so although it's been upgraded to TCB, I am currently trying to avoid using TCB elements (partially because I don't have enough experience with them)

As mentioned above, the hold may be a Smitemaster's Selection hold at some time in future. This means that I place a lot of trust in testers not to release it early anywhere, or to copy anything inside it directly and then release it in a hold before it's finished. If you've got a good forum track record, however, I don't think I'm likely to turn you down.

Okay, so who's up for testing? I need three experienced smiters!

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[Last edited by agaricus5 at 02-19-2009 09:57 PM]
04-16-2005 at 01:01 AM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
I have several testers already, but I believe I've still got enough resourses to cope with organising a few more, so if you're interested, then send me an e-mail or PM about it.

I think I'm also going to use this thread for general announcements too (so I don't need to be sending hundreds of e-mails to everyone if that can be avoided).

If you're testing for me, then don't post comments here, but send them to me via e-mail or PM, as before. I'll use this thread to make any announcements I need to (such as bugs or trivial solutions, so you know I've already found them, and don't need to waste your time researching them (although hopefully it might be possible in the future to set up some sort of private thread/board just for testing this hold).

If you're about to send me something, try checking here to see if I've already mentioned what you've found, and if you want to post anything here for whatever reason, don't disclose any solutions, storylines or contents of the hold.

In version 1.1,

L1 1S 1W is impossible again, due to some misplaced walls.

The storyline is also not in place yet, there are no level descriptions, and and most of the proto-scripts are intentionally not working, so don't worry about these. I'll be including the story and fixing them later.

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04-16-2005 at 11:50 PM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
Announcement:

No new testers are required. Since tester demand is low, and hold testing is not part of the critical path at present, I have decided I have enough testers for now. At present, I have 8 people who have volunteered to help, and that is also probably about the largest group of people I can coordinate via e-mail. I may, however, ask for more testers if people drop out, or other people also start releasing private holds, so if you want to test, you may get another chance later.

Thanks for your help, anyone who volunteered. I'm grateful for your help.

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04-17-2005 at 02:09 AM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
With all the transferring of testing from emails to private beta boards along with a two-month delay and lots of disorganisation, I appear to have lost most of my testing team (I'm now down to four testers).

Edit: See below for the current version of the guidelines.

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[Last edited by agaricus5 at 01-08-2006 12:46 AM]
08-11-2005 at 12:37 AM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
...(I have a very slow building rate)...

When I said "slow", I guess I really meant that. In about three months, I built a grand total of six rooms (with about the same number of half-rooms, but they don't really count yet), which is pretty slow. In the lengthy process, I believe I lost all or most of my testers due to there being nothing happening, so I would like to call again for new people to have a go at testing the hold (and I'll PM all current testers tomorrow as well).

As I'm in a bit of a hurry, I'll just quote and edit slightly the guidelines I wrote earlier for you to note if you're interested.

1. I am using the private beta board feature for testing, so you need to have a Caravel.net account, and the "Make me available for beta testing holds" option needs to be checked in the "Caravel.net" part of your profile, or I cannot invite you. Send me a PM, and I'll invite you.

2. I don't require you to test intensively (I have a very slow building rate), but I would prefer it if you are able to play at least a few rooms (you don't need to comment if you don't want to; I can just see your demos online).

3. The hold is quite difficult, so you do need to be of a reasonable standard at DROD (i.e. you've almost finished KDD or JtRH) if you want to make much actual progress in the hold itself. However, I do need one or two newer players just to see what their reactions to such a hard hold are, so even if you aren't a particularly good player, that's not too much of a problem.

4. As mentioned above, the hold is probably going to be a Smitemaster's Selection hold at some time in future. This means that I place a lot of trust in testers not to release it early anywhere, or to copy anything inside it directly and then release it in a hold before it's finished. I am unlikely to turn down any offers for help,however, as long as you have a reasonable Forum record and have some DRODistic experience.

So, thanks in advance if you'd like to test, and apologies to those people who are awaiting testing from me themselves (I will get round to it - I promise).

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01-08-2006 at 12:45 AM
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Chaco
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Darn. I would have liked the opportunity to test something from such a great hold builder as you, especially when it's a sequel to the legendary Bavato's Dungeon, but sadly the CaravelNet requirement leaves me in the dust :(

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01-08-2006 at 02:17 AM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
Okay guys, I need three experienced smiters for testing Golbar's Caves. See the first post for details.

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02-19-2009 at 09:31 PM
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Someone Else
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (+1)  
Okay, I'm open. I'm pretty sure that I'm experienced enough to do this well.
02-19-2009 at 11:46 PM
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CuriousShyRabbit
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (+1)  
If this hold needs a Rabbit's help, you are welcome to invite me.

(I'm a HA, so giving me a preview will expedite my vote once the hold is submitted.)
02-20-2009 at 12:20 AM
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Neather2
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
Argh, i don't have CNM so i can't help i think. But i'm here.

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Conspiracy, my new hold, has just been released.
02-20-2009 at 05:33 PM
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13th Slayer
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
Neather2 wrote:
Argh, i don't have CNM so i can't help i think. But i'm here.
Uh... :thumbsdown . I think it will be publically avilable for testing. Not via CN.
02-20-2009 at 05:39 PM
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Kwakstur
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
13th Slayer wrote: Uh... . I think it will be publically avilable for testing. Not via CN.
For a hold on beta board, yeah, you do need CN. Although 12th Archivist found a way to circumvent this and allow non-CN people to test a hold on Beta; my guess is he PMed a link to the attatchment.
agaricus5 wrote:
I will use the private beta board feature for testing. If you want to join my testing team, send me a PM and I can invite you to the board if you have a Caravel.net account.

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02-20-2009 at 08:19 PM
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NiroZ
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
I'm experienced, but not all that good. Does that count?
02-21-2009 at 11:58 PM
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agaricus5
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NiroZ wrote:
I'm experienced, but not all that good. Does that count?
As testing appears to be going slowly at present (I guess it's probably a combination of SMS preparation + DROD RPG + general busy-ness + other behind-the-scenes factors), I can invite you too if you want. If you do find the hold very hard, please let me know; I need some help gauging its difficulty!

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02-22-2009 at 12:08 AM
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martz
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
I'd like to volunteer my services if still required

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03-06-2009 at 09:39 AM
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agaricus5
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icon Re: Call For Golbar's Caves Testing (0)  
Okay then. I'll invite you.

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03-06-2009 at 08:10 PM
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