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TIGSource ForumsDeveloperPlaytestingLexVenture, second Beta
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Author Topic: LexVenture, second Beta  (Read 9031 times)
Tex Pine
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« on: October 03, 2007, 02:12:10 PM »

Hi there,

We are proud to announce that the first commercial project of ours, the LexVenture game, now on its second Beta version. It is a game that mixes board crossword games with puzzle games. You can download it at:

http://www.interama.net
 

Any feedback is appreciated, including misspellings and typos in English that we could not get. Smiley Besides replies on this forum, you can also send your message about the game using the contact form that pops when you quit the game, using our blog, using our contact page, or sending to beta-at-interama.net

Thanks very much for your help! Smiley
« Last Edit: October 03, 2007, 04:31:23 PM by Derek » Logged
Derek
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« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2007, 04:31:37 PM »

I attached a screenshot to your post!
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Tex Pine
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« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2007, 05:35:22 PM »

Sorry, I forgot screenshots and a direct link for download. I'm editing the topic now. My bad!
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Tex Pine
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« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2007, 05:47:22 PM »

I could not edit the topic, I'm getting a MySQL error... anyway, here goes the direct link and more screenshots:

http://www.interama.net/lex/LexVenture_Beta_0.88.1_English.exe
 


« Last Edit: October 07, 2007, 06:15:28 AM by Tex Pine » Logged
Derek
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« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2007, 06:51:37 AM »

Cool!  I'll take a crack at this one.  I like word games. Smiley
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Alex May
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« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2007, 09:14:17 AM »

Yeah, inability to edit posts with attachments is a known bug. Sad
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Melly
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« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2007, 10:07:56 AM »

Word game fans are all a bunch of hopeless nerds.

*goes to play bookworm*

*love*
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Xander
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« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2007, 04:31:46 PM »

Heh, I'll give it a try soon enough. Suprising that word games keep showing up that genuinely suprise with their gameplay.

And Melly, is that Bookworm Adventures or the regular kind? I've been fighting the temptation to get that for some time now... (£20 seems much too much)
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Melly
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« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2007, 04:36:48 PM »

I just tried the first that come before me a while ago. I didn't pay much attention to the name, but I had fun.
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« Reply #9 on: October 05, 2007, 05:38:43 PM »

Oky dok, I've downloaded the game and I must say I'm impressed. Very click and friendly.
I really like the asthetics and overall gameplay even though I'm not a big fan of word games... There's alot of levels, the game is easy to play and understand plus you learn something along the way. It's the kind of game anyone in the family can enjoy. The music reminded me of Charlie Brown cartoons... Not a bad thing!

But... Yes there's is always a but with me, sorry...

Although very fun, I feel like the characters could be more expressive when not doing anything. I'm not talking about their idle animations, such as stretching or touching their knee, but teh overall designes. Perhaps making them smile a bit more and look more happy could really push the family theme forward. And I've been truly wandering why the bald kid  keeps holding his knees when waiting.

Also, in the tutorials, instead of simply removing the "next" button in the last step, I would simply label it "Ok" or "Play" so that people will still move the mouse at the same spot (if they'ved moved it). I'd also remove the "Skip tutorial" button becasue you can't really skip anything when you are at the end...

The game is very friendly instead of certain un-famly stuff such as this:

I mean, put in any way you want it, you don't necessarily want your game to allow 6 year olds to learn dirty penis that easily. They'll have plenty of opportunities elsewhere. A dirty word filter would be a VERY good idea. In-game and in the name entry. Oh and hum, you need an extra space between the name of the deleted player and the will in the Erase confirmation window.

One thing that may be interesting to try is putting the shuffle and cancel buttons under the letters rather than n top. It's a suggestions and I dunno if you've tried it.

Anyway, the game is pretty nice, it's well done, very ergonomical and seems to have lots of levels too.. It's also good to have a little story along the way. It would be nice if the player could play a quick game or play with a frined in a multiplayer game.

Well, talk to you later! Good and fun stuff!
Guert

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« Reply #10 on: October 05, 2007, 05:56:18 PM »

Hey, just for the record... It seems that the game has some sort of filter after all but it still allows player to place the letters to form dirty or risqué words, such as shit or Hitler. You can't submit them but they are there... I think it would be better if you simply couldn't form them...
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« Reply #11 on: October 05, 2007, 05:58:16 PM »

Quote
You can't submit them but they are there... I think it would be better if you simply couldn't form them...

doubleplusungood! Shocked
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« Reply #12 on: October 05, 2007, 07:36:39 PM »

I don't get the dirty word problem. Kids know the words already when laying them, so what good would such a block do?
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Melly
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« Reply #13 on: October 05, 2007, 11:09:47 PM »

Besides, why should you censor Hitler? Kids can't learn history now?
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« Reply #14 on: October 06, 2007, 03:26:09 AM »

I had a bug where you couldn't make any word at all with the 'Qu' block. Sad
I tried 'Qu'IT LI'Qu'ID 'Qu'IM. None of which worked...
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Guert
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« Reply #15 on: October 06, 2007, 04:43:16 AM »

I'm not sure if you guys are being sarcastic or not Wink

Personaly, I don't mind if a word game allows me to use these words. Technicaly, they ARE words and they need to be featured. Well, Except Hitler cuz it's a name and if you include one name you gotta include them all which leads to other troubles. The problem here is the context. This game is clearly aimed at kids and their parents. This game is educational. It forces the player to learn new words or remember the one he already knows. If you allow a kid to write down one one these words, well, the game will switch from "trying to find the best word for points" to "let's find dirty words". A parent that asks its child: "So, what words did you learn today?" and receives "dirty penis nig*** bit** shit bastard" as an answer, the parent will not be very pleased. As a matter a fact, it may simply complain or get a refund. As a developer, you don't want to deal with this Wink

Anyway, perhaps I'm simply talkin' for nothin' but now that there are two childs in my life (not mine but I'm related), it's the kind of things I really watch out for when buying a product. Not to censor but evaluate if the product's got class. Life's got more than one way to depraved a child, I try not to be part of the problem.

Well, later!
« Last Edit: October 06, 2007, 06:46:21 AM by Guert » Logged

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« Reply #16 on: October 06, 2007, 09:22:24 AM »

I wasn't being sarcastic.
I admittedly did not play this game but kids don't really learn new words with this game, but apply words that they already know, right? So it's not like the game is teaching kids how to swear.

Besides I acually see a problem with the blocking mechanism you described. If someone tried to form the word 'COCKTAIL' for example, they could only form 'COC' and could not add a K. Kids could learn this way new 'forbidden' words and later apply those without knowing their actual meaning. Now this would make parents really angry, more so than the possibility of formig certain words I imagine.
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Guert
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« Reply #17 on: October 06, 2007, 10:04:25 AM »

Sorry about me not knowing if you were sarcastic or not, there's been a wave of sarcastic person around me for the last weeks and I just don't know what to believe anymore Wink Sorry again.

True, blocking isn't the right way to go... Perhaps a filter that would not allow certain letters to be there at all at the same time. You know something like, when handing the letters at the beginning, if you have an f a u an c and a k, remove the k. Perhaps the way it's done right now it's okay too. You can form the word but cannot submit it. I'm simply not 100% convinced about this method but it's not as bad as blocking letters, as I mentionned earlier.

The game allows the player to learn new words. Sure, the player applies what the already knows but the only way to get better is by searching and trying to form words with the letters he has in hand. Want it or not, the player will find new words along the way. He'll search and test combinations and once in a while he'll find one. And since he worked for it, the word is alot easier to learn because it has a context. He might not know what it means but he'll know it exists and he'll probably ask others what is the definition. For example, I didn't now titi was an actual word. I asked my girld friend first, she didn't know, so I looked it up. Now, I truly know what it means and I'll remember it for a while.

Another thing I should've mentionned is that I don't believe the game should remove all words that may have a possible vulgar or offensive conotation. A cock is a male bird before anything else. Pussy or beaver are acceptable but cunt ain't. Any racist words shouldn't be in a kid game.     

Bookworm is quite clean for a word game. We've played it for hours and never been able to create one dirty word. Not a single swear!

Also, with organisation like the esrb, these kinds of details must be thought through carefuly. You never know how a game can become popular and if a publisher will approach you to distribute the game. Life is full of surprises! Wink

Later!
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Tex Pine
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« Reply #18 on: October 07, 2007, 06:05:11 AM »

Hi people,

This debate is very important for any word game. We do have removed many of the words that are offensive for almost anyone (like "fuck", "cocksucker", "motherfucker", and so on). The problem arises when you have words that are offensive for some people, but not for all of them.

For example, the people at Indygamer found the word "lesbo" in the game (http://indygamer.blogspot.com/2007/10/lexventure.html#comments). The point is, "lesbo" was an offensive way to call lesbian women in the past, but now the word is used by some of those lesbian women themselves. So, is it a swear or now? (Ubisoft even ran into a problem on Scrabble DS mecause of that.)

The same could be said about "penis". You see, it is the correct way to name the male sexual organ, but the single mention of any sexual organs might be offensive for some people. So, should it be blocked, as well as "vagina", or not?

The point is, where should we draw the line?

We have released a new version today, fixing the "QU" bug and other fixes. We removed the words users are pointing as offensive, but this is a topic open to debate. We welcome this debate, as we feel only the users can tell us what is right or wrong.

As for never even allow swear words to be formed in the rack, it is quite difficult to optimize, if not impossible for a crossword game. Consider the "bastard" word. There are many words that could be formed with its letters. The search and anagram algorithmics need for this feature are very CPU intensive, and we must use it to a minimum, or else lower-end machines are going to have a hard time running the game.

In the present build, it doesn't validate the swear word, pretty much the way Bookworm Adventure does. Other word games, like Word Krispies, doesn't have a word block at all.

By the way, I have two kids in my life as well, and this is a concern I share with Guert. Smiley
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Tex Pine
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« Reply #19 on: October 07, 2007, 06:06:55 AM »

Oh yes, the update patch can be download here:

http://www.interama.net/lex/LexVenture_Patch_Beta_0.88.1_English.exe

The full file of the new version is here:

http://www.interama.net/lex/LexVenture_Beta_0.88.1_English.exe

I'll try to edit the original post with the link, since it is broken now.
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