Hanako Games

Would you want to preorder Magical Diary?

#1 by hanako - Dec 17 2010

Okay, so, as many of you know I'm deep into working on a magical school sim/rpg. A lot has been done, but there's still a lot left to go. (Of what's written so far, the school year only reaches mid-november! But there's over 50K words of plot involved in getting that far...)

Would anyone be interested in a preorder option that let you buy into the game now for a cheap price and get access to ongoing development? You'd get to play each new version as it came out, so you'd slowly build up the whole plot - but it's going to be a long time before you can reach an ending. In the meantime, you'd be able to provide feedback and bug reports and request things that might make it into the full game.

I don't normally do this kind of thing as I prefer to make the game available When It's Done. But since this is a big project and it's taking a while, I thought I'd ask.

#2 by Margerita - Dec 18 2010

I have to say no thank you to the offer since I personally prefer to wait until the game is done.

#3 by sayuri - Dec 18 2010

Totally yes, I actually like to beta test so this is awesome for me.

#4 by Nada - Dec 19 2010

Yes! I love to get in on the ground floor of games.=)

#5 by Spazzbunny - Dec 19 2010

I'd be interested, but I'd like more information first. I'm not the most tech savvy person there is. ^^;; For example, would we install the games like we have your other ones in the past, or would we have to manuever around our files to use it? Just simple things like that would be nice to know before making a decision.

#6 by hanako - Dec 19 2010

Most likely it would be in zips rather than installers, but as I haven't done this before I don't entirely know how it would work yet!

What I'm thinking is that when you bought in, you'd get access to a secret web directory where you could download the latest build and unzip it wherever you wanted, then run the exe inside the unzipped folder - then when there was a new one, just delete that whole folder so you could make a new one. I don't want to work with any fancy auto-updaters or the like.

#7 by Spazzbunny - Dec 20 2010

Haha, well I can't blame you. Those things seem awfully complex. The process you explained doesn't sound like it's out of my range of abilities when it comes to a computer, so, unless something else that would be problematic comes up, I'm definitely interested. ^^

#8 by sayuri - Dec 22 2010

Hmm, since I run on OSX I'd only be able to play the beta if I could download the game folder and put that in ren'py. As long as that is doable I'm up for it.

#9 by Muse - Dec 23 2010

sayuri:

Hmm, since I run on OSX I'd only be able to play the beta if I could download the game folder and put that in ren'py. As long as that is doable I'm up for it.

Assuming that the game itself works on OSX, you can use a program like Cyber Duck to access private servers to download from (it's what I used during the Shira Oka beta testing); it worked great for me personally, so it might work for this situation? (Assuming I understood Hana's idea of how this would work.)

#10 by hanako - Dec 23 2010

Of course, now Spiky *does* want to do an updater. Although possibly not right away. We're still figuring this out.

Even though it's obviously in-progress, I want to get things up to a good stopping point before I let anyone loose in my little world, so it won't be just yet. More info soon. (And yes, this is cross-platform.)

#11 by jack_norton - Dec 26 2010

I think the updater I posted and that he modified works 90%. The problem is for macs/PC with restricted access. But I think if you dont' create new files it should work. The problem was that the updater tried to create new files for the various versions 0008.zip,0009.zip etc.
Instead I believe a system like pytom is using for Renpy updater would work, just overwrite already existing files...

#12 by earringfan - Dec 28 2010

I would love to beta test the game! Less time to wait for Hanako's newest project and I could actually contribute to helping it come out...

#13 by TrubbleBubble - Dec 29 2010

Beta testing? Spoilers for something that isn't officially out yet? A cheaper price? Updates as it get worked on it more?

I'd be MORE than willing! Where do I sign up?! 8DD

#14 by hanako - Jan 8 2011

We're just about ready to let the first people into this. Possibly sometime tomorrow.

Basically, what will happen is that you'll buy your preorder copy (at the reduced price) and you'll get a download/installer for your OS like you would normally. When you run it, go to the options menu and you'll find an Updater. Click on that, and you can check for updates and download all new patches. You will need a license key to download patches - your license key will be included in the email you get.

The updater may not work. Like the rest of the game, it's in progress! If it doesn't work on your computer, please tell us, and tell us what kind of computer you have! You'll still have plenty of game available to test even if you can't update, and we'll release new fullbuilds later on, as well as manual patches to try and sort out any updater problems.

As you play the game, if you run into errors, you should end up on a traceback screen with several buttons. If you click 'upload traceback' then as long as you're connected to the internet, it will send us the error report so we can investigate it (and also offer you a patch, in case we've already fixed it!) You will also have the option of rolling back - backing up to before the error happened, so that you can possibly make a different choice and keep playing.

I'll repeat all this information in a special testing thread when we're ready to go, I'm just giving you a headsup now.