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[Jason Rohrer]

I've got a small website up for it here:

http://insideastarfilledsky.net/

It's nearing release.... been through 9 revisions, and I'm about to post number 10.  I've had about 40 people playtest this beast so far, but I need a few fresh eyes in the mix.

Playtesting is easy, because it has a built-in game recorder that even lets you type thoughts right on the PAUSE screen.  So I can watch your game remotely---all you have to do is email me the recording file.  If it crashes or glitches for you, it will likely crash/glitch for me when I watch your game on my end.

Anyone interested?  If so, email me, and I'll get you set up:

jasonrohrer AT fastmail DOT fm

[Virtanen]

I just want to say that judging from the screenshots, this thing looks SWEET!

[salade]

Wow, did Scalia really say that?

Anyway, quite intrigued by the blending effects. Count me in if there's still room!

[kidchameleon]

Looks very interesting

[Zaphos]

Wow, did Scalia really say that?

Not exactly ... http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/04-1034.ZO.html#14

[aDFP]

An invitation to playtest Jason 'Sleep is Death' Rohrer's new game?

Count me in.

Those screenshots are intriguing as hell, btw.

[Aloshi]

I wanna play too! Email sent.

[Squiggly_P]

I've sent you an e-mail as well.

Those screenshots are intriguing as hell

This.

[William Broom]

I got to play this, and it's really good. More traditionally game-y than some of his previous work, and quite a bit bigger as well. Definitely worth playing.

Anybody want to compare high scores? My best is 25, I think.

[deathtotheweird]

25?? that's small time. I got up to....uhh 75 a few versions ago, when it was 10x as difficult as it is now.

ortoslon sent me his save file with level 126. which I found to be quite incredible, although I'm sure by now he's already beaten that score.

[William Broom]

Fuuuck, you guys are so much better than me 

[Dustin Smith]

Hey Jason, I'm currently strapped for time but I can't wait to play the final release. Sorry I can't help =(

[ortoslon]

25?? that's small time. I got up to....uhh 75 a few versions ago, when it was 10x as difficult as it is now.

ortoslon sent me his save file with level 126. which I found to be quite incredible, although I'm sure by now he's already beaten that score.

v9 is much more difficult than v8, my best in v9/v10 (what william has played, i suppose) is level 40. i haven't played those versions much though so 40 is nowhere near my true capability

[deathtotheweird]

I'm talking about like version 6. I think? Around versions 4-6 the game was quite brutal. All power ups on the floor were level 1, so you had to recurse to power them up, no matter what. You didn't maintain your powers when going into power ups and you didn't get to keep them either. it was...painful..to say the least. Now the game is still hard, but not as laborious as it once was.

[Gainsworthy]

Fascinating! My email's sent. Always nice to see something new from you.

[Christian Knudsen]

Email sent as well!

Judging from the series of screenshots, when you kill a boss, the game zooms into the boss and reveals the next stage? Great idea!

[deathtotheweird]

no, there are no bosses in the game. in the later levels the enemies are hard enough as it is.

there are markers that indicate the exit of the level. when you're in a level, you're actually in someone else. it could be you or an enemy, or a power-up. when you choose to enter an enemy to power him down, the level is generated off his sprite..or something along those lines. the level won't be a 100% representation of the enemy or you but a general representation. Enough to get the point across, and it works quite well.

[Christian Knudsen]

Ahh, I see. Sounds pretty cool as well.

[Jason Rohrer]

Just a heads-up for some of you who emailed me later than others:

I sent v10 of the game out to the first batch of people who responded.  I'll be releasing v11 with some more balancing stuff tomorrow.  So I'm holding off on giving the game out to the second batch of people until v11 is ready, so you all can test it fresh.

So, if you haven't heard back from me yet, don't worry!  I've got your emails waiting in my inbox, and you'll hear from me soon.

[Jason Rohrer]

Okay, v11 is out and second batch of testers have been added.

For those of you who played v10, here's the v11 changelog.



Version 11   2011-February-16

--Powers are sorted with strongest to the right whenever they are passed
  upwards to encourage additional pick-ups (which will replace weakest powers
  on left).

--Fixed delay and excess cpu/memory usage when entering high-level power-up
  tokens (thanks Jimmy Andrews).

--Changed to only decay the weakest two powers in the set (encourages picking
  up new powers to protect a big power that you have built up).

--Changed to only replace weakest power (or any empty slots) with hearts on
  knock-down, to make knock-down even less brutal and frustrating.  Also sort
  powers strongest-right on knock-down to encourage pickups before rising.

--Knock-down hearts that are added depend on difficulty of level you are being
  knocked down into (more help when knocked down into a harder level).

--Fixed drawing glitch in power-set majority shading when a new token is pushed
  in.

--Fixed potential level-0 difficulty-free power-up-building exploit.

--Changed so that hearts are knocked off higher self when hit to thwart the
  heart rush exploit.

--Changed to never decay hearts.

--Next-higher-self's hearts are always trimmed to match lower self's hearts to
  thwart heart-bootstrapping exploit.

--Changed behavior of Burst power so that it does not act effectively as a
  range boost, and increased its basic explosion pattern on L1 to compensate.

--Eliminated bounce distance boost for bullets that already have extended
  range to deal with the overpowered beekeeper combo (thanks Jimmy Andrews).

--Changed to decay high-level powers more dramatically than weaker powers.

--Fixed heatSeek + bounce combo that was tunneling through walls.

--Version number is now included in recorded game files.

--Checks against read-only game folder at startup.

--Added a tip about ESC to end playback.

--Added Cornering bullet power-up.

--Added Sticky bullet power-up.

--Added a safe time during zoom-in when enemies do not shoot (thanks Alexey
  Zubkov).