Altered Alterations

Development is going well, with a couple dozen improvements since I last posted. One of the senior developers from my work has joined testing, which is giving me yet another new perspective on the game. He and the other five testers are helping me refocus on the three weakest points in the game right now:

- Theme (wtf, that’s not very entertaining)
- Interface (wtf does this do?)
- Game balance (wtf, how’d he do that?)

It may seem odd that these are three of the most vital parts of a game, and yet are the weakest. While this was mostly planned, it makes for a fairly dull game. Annoyingly, these things need to be built around the game mechanics and features, so only now are they becoming the focus. One time I tried to balance a game that didn’t exist yet, but it didn’t work so well - wtf eh?

Testing is in the process of being ramped up, with a tester being added weekly instead of monthly. I’m almost done an invite system that will let me manage the addition of new testers. Invites are a common way to manage private betas, and I’m currently considering whether or not I’ll keep using the system indefinitely.

I mean, we could just crack Faith open at one point the way we did Asylum, and let a flood of users in (which caused chaos, confusion, and wtfing at Asylum public beta time when the player number tripled just like that.) It might just be better to slowly increase the number of invites I give out - from just 1 a week, to inviting everybody with moderate site Karma, to letting users invite even their grandmas and baby brothers. This would let the game ramp up smoothly, and make sure people like yourself (those noble souls waiting for Faith as opposed to those who stumble upon it later) get good spots in early games.

On a related note, I think at one point I’ll let people view the help files and in-progress games even if they don’t have an invite yet. That’d be nice and mean.

Anyway, I’ll let you think about that. I’ll also answer a couple questions I’ve been getting about Science. Science is not directed in Faith the way it is in, say, Civilization. People invent things, but they don’t necessarily help your religion! Also, the game ends around modern times right now, in some dazzling (or maybe mundane) way. And no, your can’t give your people four arms - wtf.

My vacation week and long weekend have given me enough free time to kick some Faith arse. I’ve made more improvements in the last week than I’ve made in most months. I know what you’re thinking - why on earth would you spend your first free time in ages doing “work”? Well, “working” on faith is sort of like “working” as a daring superhero fighting crime (preferably one that can shoot lasers in some form). If you survive, you realize it was pretty fun, and the world is a better place.

Holy Artifacts have gotten a big boost. Artifacts can now be put up for auction to other players, creating a market similar in some ways to the advisors system in Asylum - with more cool ways to get income and less messing around with hourly payrolls. I now have a control panel for updating and adding artifacts, which isn’t at all exciting to you, but sure tickles me pink. There’s currently two dozen, but I’d like there to be at least 50 when we get to Public Beta.

The Holy Laws page has also been redone, letting you sort laws depending on what kinds of benefits they have to your people. You wouldn’t have seen this, but the old page had about 4.5 arseloads of text on it and it was too hard to find what you’re looking for.

Regions have also seen a huge overhaul. Or should they be Holy Regions? Anyway, they now vary in number between games, meaning I could set up a massive 12-region game or a tiny 2-region one. (I’ve set up a 2-region one since it’s appropriate for the tiny number of alpha testers.) A number of other improvements have been made, including balance so that the faith who has settled the most regions isn’t always the faith that has the most followers. Now it’s possible (in thoery) to kick somebody’s arse so hard that their followers retreat somewhere else.

I’ve added user pages (like in Asylum) so you can see who’s that arse is controlling “Annoyism”. I’ve also written some wiki software for the help system and started filling it with golden knowledge, most of which will end up being wildly inaccurate and fixed by other arses. I’ve added administration tools, fixed bugs, and even slept some!

So now what? Well, I’m going to add one or two alpha testers, and focus on balance, interaction, help, and arses. While it’s too early to say for sure, I’m starting to feel like a winter public beta is likely (shock and awe abound). Yes, I actually do plan on finishing. Arse arse arse.