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Author Topic: Schwarzwald beta test (Mac, Windows, Linux) - turn-based medieval survival game  (Read 10256 times)

..Tom..

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Hey everyone. I'm the guy behind BattleMaster and Might & Fealty, which has been discussed in this forum before.

Now I've made a new game, much different but I think interesting for many people on this forum. It's called Schwarzwald, which is german for Black Forest and is basically the theme.

Schwarzwald is a turn-based multiplayer online game about cooperation, betrayl and survival.

You and every other player guides a family of peasants living in the Black Forest in medieval Germany. You are isolated from the outside world, and every night wolves, bears and worse come out of the forest. During the day, you need to plant and harvest, and build defenses.


Beta test is now open, simply go to the website and download the client:
http://schwarzwald.lemuria.org/

The gameplay overview is here:
http://schwarzwald.lemuria.org/h/overview

I also have a Facebook page where you can see a lot of screenshots, development news and a kind of diary from an internal game I'm running.


I would be very happy to have more testers, especially from a cool crowd like this one here that gets really deep into a game. The core gameplay is all done and working and we've already played a dozen games in the alpha test, but balancing needs to be completed and a couple small things finished.



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Shadowlord

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I attempted to sign up in the (windows) client, and it appears to think that it has made an account, but no email showed up in my inbox. Several hours later, I checked my spam folder and found it there, with this message from gmail:

Quote from: gmail
Why is this message in Spam? It is in violation of Google's recommended email sender guidelines.  Learn more
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<Dakkan> There are human laws, and then there are laws of physics. I don't bike in the city because of the second.
Dwarf Fortress Map Archive

Hanzoku

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I had the same problem as Shadowlord, also using gmail. That said, I'm registered and signed up for a game.
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Shadowlord

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Yeah, the link worked, once I found the email. (I haven't tried to actually log in yet.)
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<Dakkan> There are human laws, and then there are laws of physics. I don't bike in the city because of the second.
Dwarf Fortress Map Archive

..Tom..

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Thanks for that notice. I'll try to figure out what's wrong with gmail.
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Shadowlord

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So since I expect other people will do the same thing, I'm going to say what I did (my account is apparently unusable, and theoretically it's my fault, but there doesn't appear to be any functioning way to recover from it):

1. When I saw that spam email (at like 4 in the morning, although I am unsure if that even mattered), I clicked the activation link without reading the email, and then closed the page it opened without reading that either. (I never read either; this would be the first I've ever run into which required doing so)
2. Today when I started the client, I still got the red screen. I did not know why, and thought that was strange because I had activated.
3. I clicked through that and clicked login and I got the red screen again. It did not ask for anything, it just errored. Very confusing.
4. I click 'use different account' and realize I don't have a username or password to enter, and it isn't asking for either one besides. It wants an "id" and "key."
5. I glance at the email and paste in the id and key I see there.
6. It doesn't work. I read further in the email and see "This activation key is a one-time key and is not the player key you need to play the game. You will get the player key when you activate your account (e.g. click on the link above)."
7. I realize my account is unusable.
8. I click forgot id or key. Nothing appears to happen.
9. I check my email. No new emails.
10. I check my spam folder. No new emails there either.
11. I say "welp" and start typing up this post.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not saying "help my account is unusable" (I could make another and just read the page this time*). I'm saying "perhaps you might want to re-think how you're doing this, because I bet this will happen a lot when you have a general audience trying to sign up this way."

* assuming it lets me, since I already used my email once (apparently I get a server error if I try, although perhaps that really is a server error - who knows)
« Last Edit: June 22, 2016, 03:24:06 pm by Shadowlord »
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<Dakkan> There are human laws, and then there are laws of physics. I don't bike in the city because of the second.
Dwarf Fortress Map Archive

..Tom..

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You are right that the signup process needs work. I just didn't have time to rework it before the start of the beta. I will update it soon.

And also yes, the "I forgot my key" button doesn't work yet. Sorry, it's a beta.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2016, 12:26:22 am by ..Tom.. »
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..Tom..

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Just a quick update, the Beta 4 client has been released, bringing a new monster type, henhouses as an alternative to planting fields, and a whole lot of visual and balance updates. Two games are running, two more are open and waiting for more players.
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..Tom..

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For those interested in Dev Blogs, here are some articles on Medium that I'm writing about the game:

https://medium.com/@Lemuria

The latest one is showing features that will come in Beta 5:
https://medium.com/@Lemuria/game-design-decisions-35b52aea556b#.6r9zifunk
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Asgarus

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So, how long does it usually take for the registration email to arrive?
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Datgum

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I look forward to checking this out. I didn't end up sticking with Might and Fealty for too long but it was an interesting game and I was impressed with this developer when he shared his thoughts and data about the game on the forums.
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..Tom..

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Registration mails should arrive within a minute or two. Check your spam folder, too. If it's still not there, send me a mail at tom@lemuria.org and I'll set you up manually.
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Neonivek

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Quote
In the end, you cannot win against the forest

OOF, never was a fan of long path to death games.
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Hanzoku

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One major annoyance I'm facing at the moment: It should be possible to clear/rebuild ruins. As it is, once a fence is broken, you (currently) can't clear it and build fresh, or (better, given the VERY limited number of actions available), repair it.
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Shadowlord

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I signed up for a game something like 5 days ago, but never received an email saying that it was ready or anything, and when I ran the client the other day it didn't appear to exist anymore? There were two games running, as before, but only one game waiting for players, and it wasn't the one I signed up for.

I dunno. I'm very confused by the whole thing. Also with the selecting a family, when you can't see who is in that family.
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<Dakkan> There are human laws, and then there are laws of physics. I don't bike in the city because of the second.
Dwarf Fortress Map Archive
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