Black Closet - Alpha Testing

hanako

Black Closet - Alpha Testing

#1 by hanako - Dec 7 2014

The first discount alpha-test versions of this game are now available!

What is in the game?

* You play the Student Council President and direct your minions to solve randomly-generated mysteries. As you solve mysteries, you'll level up the skills of your minions, collect items to boost your stats, and socialise with people to learn more about them (and whether they're plotting against you).
* Everything your character says is a choice. It's RPG-style dialog.
* The game is 'complete' in terms of plot - you can get to the endings, you can have friendships and romances and so on with all applicable characters. Stuff might get added, but there's no gaping holes in the story.
* Bugs! Expect to run into them. When you do, there should be buttons for you to upload the error messages you encounter, but feel free to post about them anyway. And if you can't upload for whatever reason, then please do post the error messages in this thread.
* Updates! You will need the license key from your purchase email to download new patches as they are released. You can generally safely apply anything labeled 'beta' (and you might want to do that right away when you get your build, because already the builds are out of date). Spiky's announcing new patches as they're released. Don't download patches labeled 'alpha' unless we specifically tell you to - that means *I* haven't tested it yet, so it's more likely to go kaboom.

The first build is slightly touchy about inputting license codes - hover your mouse over the input area before typing things in. (this is fixed in a patch, but that's not much help if you need to patch up to it first! later builds will be different)
* I'll post some more general information later but if you're somehow not familiar with this game despite the (how many years has it been?) that we've been working on it, you can get an overview and some screenshots at on IndieDB.

What is not (yet) in the game?

Many of the CGs are not done. You will see black screens at times where graphics are expected to show up later.
Extras like the gallery and jukebox don't exist yet.
Achievements aren't in yet.
"Make your own character" mode is not currently included. It's a feature I still want to add eventually.

What does Alpha mean here?

For my purposes, it means the game is playable but not finished. At this point in time, please don't make videos without explicit permission or post screenshots outside of this forum, because stuff may still change. (Like the missing graphics!)
But DO post all your questions and concerns and 'help what do I do' and 'AAAH THE SHARKS ARE EATING ME' comments in this thread! Post post post! Post screenshots of anything that looks weird, we don't know what you see unless you tell us!

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#2 by Franka - Dec 7 2014

I can't save the game? Nothing happens when I click on the file folders. The game doesn't auto save either.

EDIT: Never mind, it didn't occur to me that saves were only allowed at certain points.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#3 by hanako - Dec 7 2014

Yeah, saving's only allowed at the start of a week. It should autosave then as well.

Originally I wanted to stop people from being able to reach the load/save screen at all during the week but Spiky said that'd cause problems because people need to be able to reach Options and Quit all the time, and that even if they can't save they should still be able to load. Would greyed-out Save tabs during the week be clearer or more confusing than no Save tabs at all?

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#4 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 7 2014

And the first round of bugfixes are up (in a downloadable patch):

* '1.MariaEleni' no longer in random names list.
* Debug messages trimmed.
* No longer append (no extra info) to every HTTP error.
* Use an Input() widget instead of a SmartInput() widget for key entry. This means you no longer have to hover over the license key field to enter it, and it no longer reacts oddly when clicked.
* DespairGirl.nerd_persuaded now saved properly.
* Load now accepts more values for result.
* Visible keyboard button added to license key entry field (but it doesn't work yet!)

If you're getting error messages containing "(0, 'Could not resolve case', 0)", please upload the offending save to http://spikycaterpillar.com/savegame-upload.html so I can try to figure out where the unresolvable posts are coming from.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#5 by Franka - Dec 7 2014

hanako:
Yeah, saving's only allowed at the start of a week. It should autosave then as well.

Originally I wanted to stop people from being able to reach the load/save screen at all during the week but Spiky said that'd cause problems because people need to be able to reach Options and Quit all the time, and that even if they can't save they should still be able to load. Would greyed-out Save tabs during the week be clearer or more confusing than no Save tabs at all?

I would have to say that it was mostly confusing because the very first time the save/load button shows up at the start of the first week, you can't save the game. I started looking for read only file folders because I thought that might be the problem...

It's also a little bit problematic that we can't save during the week in the alpha, because it makes it extremely hard to reproduce bugs related to specific cases, since they'll be newly randomly generated if you load a save.

Those "unresolvable posts" went away when I restarted the game, so I don't think a save would have helped. I think they started happening after this (but not sure):

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#6 by wendymarlowe - Dec 7 2014

It doesn't seem to want to let me upload this automatically, but

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.3
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 0 10 7

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#7 by hanako - Dec 7 2014

What were you doing when that happened?

(I'm guessing you were trying to upload a different traceback, using encryption, and then it broke and threw an 'encryption is not working' error, but I'm not sure.)

As for the saves - not being able to save on the first week is a bug, we'll look at it.

We may add some hacky way to manually save by debug code for use in tests, dunno, have to ask Spiky about that.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#8 by Franka - Dec 7 2014

Althea is "not available" on the week following spring break. She even comes to me and asks to be assigned to a certain case, but she can't be chosen. She remains "not available" from then on, pretty much ending my game.

Naiomi666

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#9 by Naiomi666 - Dec 8 2014

For some reason I can't save. I hover my mouse over the empty files and click a lot but nothing happens.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#10 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

Naiomi666:
For some reason I can't save. I hover my mouse over the empty files and click a lot but nothing happens.

There seems to be a bug at the moment preventing the Save tabs from appearing in week 1.

Saving is only available at the beginning of each week, and there will be separate things to click on for Load and Save, rather than clicking on the file folders.

Other than that weird thing where you can't save in the first week, would you find it less confusing if there were a greyed-out save tab, rather than no save tab when saving isn't available?

Miakoda

Updating Bug

#11 by Miakoda - Dec 8 2014

I got the Windows version of Black Closet and went to update (I'm using Windows 7) but got this bug/text:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 285, in bootstrap
os.makedirs(renpy.config.logdir, 0777)
File "c:\Python27\lib\os.py", line 157, in makedirs
WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Naiomi666

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#12 by Naiomi666 - Dec 8 2014

Having it greyed out would be a great idea. Because in a lot of games if I press the right mouse key I can go to the save/load and save it. If it's grey I know I will not be able to save it. And maybe a mention of it in the beginning would be good.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#13 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.3
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 0 10 24

(Wouldn't let me automatically upload it again)

I had just accused Mallory of being the traitor (which may or may not have been correct) and named Althea as my sidekick for the harvest festival, she started a dialogue with me, then it crashed.

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#14 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 8 2014

Franka:
Althea is "not available" on the week following spring break. She even comes to me and asks to be assigned to a certain case, but she can't be chosen. She remains "not available" from then on, pretty much ending my game.

I can't reproduce it - can you upload a save/autosave that shows the bug?

wendymarlowe:
It doesn't seem to want to let me upload this automatically, but
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

This is probably caused by your computer not having GPG installed where the game can find it. I'm actually considering disabling encryption entirely on Windows, since most Windows players won't have GPG installed and I'm pretty sure the interface code will need a significant rewrite to work on non-unix systems at all. Thoughts? Do Windows players want encryption enough to install GnuPG, or will you be happier uploading in plaintext and having the interface be simpler?

For now, you can turn off encryption from the 'Privacy Options' page on the preferences.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#15 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

Spiky Caterpillar:
Franka:
Althea is "not available" on the week following spring break. She even comes to me and asks to be assigned to a certain case, but she can't be chosen. She remains "not available" from then on, pretty much ending my game.
I can't reproduce it - can you upload a save/autosave that shows the bug?

Yep, done so.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#16 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

Preliminary report on Miakoda's updater problem - On test machines this seems to only happen when the game is installed to "C:\\Program Files (x86)\" - I didn't notice it earlier because I *always* install games to a different location. So it's probably some kind of permissions issue. We'll be doing more work on fixing that soon but for the moment you can probably make it work by installing to a custom directory like C:\games\ instead.

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#17 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 8 2014

Patch 0.8.5 is up. This includes the following changes:

Fixed crashes when hugging Mallory, when using the visible keyboard to enter license keys, and when saving a game with a blank name.
Load/save interface should be a little clearer. Manual saving works on the first week.
%(slacker)s now correctly interpolated on failed harassment in struggling student cases.
Rowan's special case should now save all fields. Loading the pot of honey case should no longer give warnings.
A couple typo fixes.
The end of Spring Break now sets all minions available. That fixes Franka's bug where Althea was unavailable. (If you have a save that's glitched, you can manually make Althea available by hitting shift-O and entering

althea_.available=True

The updater interface has been cleaned up a bit.
Now uploads the whole save game when you get an error on load. (This will make bug reports take a lot longer to upload, but it'll be a lot easier to fix the bugs.)

Not fixed yet, but we're working on them: Miakoda's updater bug (took us a while to figure out where to start poking), Wendy's crash in the pre-festival scene.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#18 by Oki - Dec 8 2014

Can I just say I'm addicted to this game? Addicted and TERRIBLE at it! I can't stop until I do well fdghlfhjgdlk

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#19 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

With the latest patch, I was at least able to reach the end.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#20 by Oki - Dec 8 2014

THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO DO AT ONCE HOW DO I DO THEM ALL?!?!234/3YNJTLKGHBEIR

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#21 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

I think this epilogue was supposed to be in a different frame.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#22 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

Yep, thanks!

(For those who manage to play, please do tell tales of interesting, silly, or embarrassing things that happen! Who do you meet, who do you hang out with, how does your love life go, if you crashed and burned what did you in? You can spoiler stuff to hide it although playthroughs will tend to be different anyway - It's useful for us to know what caught your eye as you went along.)

Miakoda

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#23 by Miakoda - Dec 8 2014

Miakoda:
hanako:
Preliminary report on Miakoda's updater problem - On test machines this seems to only happen when the game is installed to "C:\\Program Files (x86)\" - I didn't notice it earlier because I *always* install games to a different location. So it's probably some kind of permissions issue. We'll be doing more work on fixing that soon but for the moment you can probably make it work by installing to a custom directory like C:\games\ instead.

Not fixed yet, but we're working on them: Miakoda's updater bug (took us a while to figure out where to start poking), Wendy's crash in the pre-festival scene.

Just a minor note, if you change it to just C:\\Program Files\ it generated a bug report as well (instead of including the (x86)).

However, installing outside of those two worked, and updated just fine.

If you're able to, I do recommend fixing that little bug since some people just let games install automatically, and may run into that problem in the future ;)

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#24 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

We are still working on it! Just wanted to let you be able to keep playing.

(For that matter I can change the installer to default to a directory outside of program files, which would stop most people from seeing it, but I'd rather solve the actual problem. Also running the game as administrator seems to make the updater work even in program files but Spiky really really hates that so we're not proposing it as an official solution.)

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#25 by Oki - Dec 8 2014

The difficulty can be really insane. I tend to reload weeks several times just to make it through! And then I'll still get caught off guard. Love the lemonade thing! Wondering, is the 'traitor' always the same person?

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#26 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

There is an option to lower the difficulty if you're having a really hard time.

The traitor is randomly selected at the start of each game - you need to pay attention to their actions to figure out who's against you.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#27 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

Well, I managed two endings now.

It took a while to figure out proper responses to various situations, decode the different tells, to sometimes just charge ahead and harass people off the bat. Never mind the occasional karma loss, I've never been in danger of losing due to lack of karma. Karma is easily restocked, reputation is not.

First game was just testing the waters and ended miserably when I failed to convince the traitor to change her evil ways in time.

Second game I was overwhelmed by drugs, alcohol and gambling rings. Those can seriously mess you up, especially that spreading drug ring that just kept growing and eating my reputation till it was all gone.

Third game I banished the traitor, then struggled through with four girls, beat the "final boss" with 9 reputation left, but was unable to complete a romance.

Fourth game I was on top of things throughout most of the game, save scummed my way out of a few drug rings (I hate those), attempted to romance the traitor, but ended up in the friend zone, again. I tried ending both by beating the "boss" and not doing so, but that just changed epilogue stuff.

I'm very confused by how to reach a romance ending, and there're too many weeks and conversations, and too little feedback to just go at it again. I'll have to wait for spoilers. And motivational CGs.

There's a certain point, not all that far into the game, where you will break under the load or struggle through. After that, if your reputation is holding up, it gets a lot easier, as the case load lightens a bit. The second time you get some pressure, you just need a buffer to take the losses.

Rowan has been my most trained and used minion, with at least 60/60 Observation/Stealth. Everybody else can cover for each other, but she'd be hard to replace.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#28 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

Minor comments on romances:

There are CGs available for three routes, none of which are the ones you've done so far.

One girl has two completely separate routes.
One girl is straight, sorry. (Yes, even in a yuri game. Consider what I do to my players in supposedly otome games...)
Two girls are very easy to romance. They're... not the ones you've been going after.
At least one romance option is super-secret and is only going to be stumbled across by accident.

(But yes, more people playing and discussing what they've seen and done will hopefully make it easier to crack the more difficult scenes.)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#29 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

Ok, so I was going for the minors, not that I knew until it was too late. They would have been legal here anyway.

Considering the feedback I got from some of the girls, I can probably tell who'd be easy.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#30 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

I've spent several hours on this game now, but have yet to get past November. In part, I think I'm still floundering with what's an appropriate punishment when a girl is caught having done something - when do I expel her, when do I suspend her, and when is detention (or just intimidation) enough? I keep suspending someone, hoping they'll apologize, but then they come back and steal (or whatever) again and I keep taking reputation hits for it.

Also - does the traitor just flub die rolls, or is there more to it? I had one playthrough where it was really obvious, because one minion kept rolling low all the time, but my last playthrough they were all rolling 15+ the majority of the time and I wasn't doubling them up on missions, either.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#31 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

Okay, stupid question - where do I find my license key? The "product registration key" doesn't fit in the box and when I tried to update to the new patch without anything there, it told me

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 285, in bootstrap
os.makedirs(renpy.config.logdir, 0777)
File "c:\Python27\lib\os.py", line 157, in makedirs
WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Would this have been in an email somewhere?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#32 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

The current build will not update correctly if installed to Program Files on recent versions of windows. We're working on the problem - for the moment you can get it to work if you install the game somewhere else, like in C:\Games instead.

I think I may have mixed up what went in what file so it's possible you didn't receive a license key email. I'm going to re-send emails now so hopefully that'll be clearer.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#33 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

wendymarlowe:
I've spent several hours on this game now, but have yet to get past November. In part, I think I'm still floundering with what's an appropriate punishment when a girl is caught having done something - when do I expel her, when do I suspend her, and when is detention (or just intimidation) enough? I keep suspending someone, hoping they'll apologize, but then they come back and steal (or whatever) again and I keep taking reputation hits for it.

I don't want to go into detail on this but I can say that it should be obvious right away if something had an effect. If you suspend someone and she returns and you don't get an update with an apology and case closed, then suspending her didn't fix her. Similarly, detention will usually be clear right away if it worked or if you need to do something else.

Also - does the traitor just flub die rolls, or is there more to it? I had one playthrough where it was really obvious, because one minion kept rolling low all the time, but my last playthrough they were all rolling 15+ the majority of the time and I wasn't doubling them up on missions, either.

When failure is possible, the traitor tends to fail. But that doesn't mean she'll always be super obvious about it. If it's possible to roll high and still fail, or get an ambiguous result and secretly fail, isn't that a much better way to sabotage you?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#34 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

wendymarlowe:
I've spent several hours on this game now, but have yet to get past November. In part, I think I'm still floundering with what's an appropriate punishment when a girl is caught having done something - when do I expel her, when do I suspend her, and when is detention (or just intimidation) enough? I keep suspending someone, hoping they'll apologize, but then they come back and steal (or whatever) again and I keep taking reputation hits for it.

November is the first serious hurdle, in my experience.

Here's what I generally do after having identified a troublemaker, assuming successes on each check: Harass the culprit -> Detention -> Suspension / Expel the beast. Sometimes it's better just to expel them and be done with it, in certain cases they can do a lot more damage than what you take for expelling them, if the case is left unchecked. There's a tell for when suspension will work, or at least that's my observation, and I don't think it has ever done any good without that tell. It's also a stalling tactic though.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#35 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

Another potentially stupid question: is "*" supposed to be a valid "grade" when finishing some cases?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#36 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

*sheepish look* It was meant to be like a star, like when you get S-ranks in games, above A-ranks.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#37 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

Okay, cool

It seemed to always be when I did well, but I wasn't sure whether it was an "insert any number of characters here" placeholder or not!

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#38 by Oki - Dec 8 2014

hanako:
There is an option to lower the difficulty if you're having a really hard time.

The traitor is randomly selected at the start of each game - you need to pay attention to their actions to figure out who's against you.

Sobs deeply, I refuse!!!! I am so terrible at this game Hanako. I can't do anything right!!!

I'm on my fifth try, though I've never officially died, I knew usually when to call it quits (17 reputation and three cases I was about to fail)

BTW if you figure out the traitor and they confess, if you keep them will they still flub it?

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#39 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

Oki:

BTW if you figure out the traitor and they confess, if you keep them will they still flub it?

It depends.

(What, you expect a simple answer?)

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#40 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

"A Delicate Blossom" - what's the intended outcome? Twice now I've had someone get to "I think I can" and persuading them says it does almost nothing, questioning doesn't help, and interrogating them makes them break down in tears. Then they flub their big event and the school takes a hit. I'm not sure what else I can do?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#41 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

wendymarlowe:
persuading them says it does almost nothing, questioning doesn't help, and interrogating them makes them break down in tears. Then they flub their big event and the school takes a hit. I'm not sure what else I can do?

It depends on which exact case variant, since sometimes persuasion will work. (Every case type has multiple variations.)

However, there should be one other action available in delicate blossom cases. It may not be obvious why that action would do any good, but if you succeed in it, you may pick up some key information and a new target.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#42 by Oki - Dec 8 2014

hanako:
Oki:

BTW if you figure out the traitor and they confess, if you keep them will they still flub it?
It depends.

(What, you expect a simple answer?)

No, at this point dear I pretty much expect you to hand wave me and tell me I'm pretty. (That last part is wishful thinking, notice me senpai)

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#43 by hanako - Dec 8 2014

*rappels down from the ceiling and hands Oki an orchid, then disappears in a shower of sparkles*

True answer, though, it depends on who the traitor was, why they betrayed you, whether or not you choose to make them your Queen, whether or not you try to pin their actions on someone else, whether you insult them... I am addicted to alternate outcomes and variations so there isn't a simple answer.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#44 by Franka - Dec 8 2014

Yay, I completed a game with a romance AND no bugs/errors!

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#45 by wendymarlowe - Dec 8 2014

Well I made it to February this time, at least

Is there a way to gain reputation on purpose? I only seem to lose it, and the only ways I've found to gain it are 25 points from winter finals and on rare occasions when someone don't screw up their performance.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#46 by Oki - Dec 9 2014

I am so frustrated. I've sunk hours into this game and i seem to get nowhere. I can never solve anything, I always end up overwhelmed, and I have to restart. FML

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#47 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

Maybe... describe some of what you're doing, and how/why it goes wrong? (Because without knowing what the problem is, I don't know if I need to add more hints or adjust something or what)

Do you have a strategy for identifying traitors, and minimising the damage they do?

Are you always running out of reputation rather than karma? Are you being too 'nice'?

Are there certain kinds of cases you find harder than others?

Oki

Re: General Hints / Tips / Strategy

#48 by Oki - Dec 9 2014

Posting your requested feedback here,

Basically my problem is the same thing. So many new cases come up with URGENTS that the ones I'm already doing make me freak out. So I try to do all of them at once and it fails, my problem usually ends up that even if I send the girls I'm specialized at they can't do the job. Getting everything done requires skills I don't have. But if I reload, I'm on a new case entirely and I cant just keep going from the night before.

What usually happens is I'm working on a huge case, I finally get somewhere, and the very next day I run out of time. I never know when I'll run out of time, and I always fall short. When I dont? There is suddenly a new very important case that loses me 10 reputation if I don't do it. I feel like there is no forgiveness in the game, all the cases are worth about the same (sans the drug dealing / large scale ones which give greater decreases over time). I never know what I can give up or not do because there is no real 'scale'. Some give you dates but those are few (like the art exhbits). Which is a fair thing to do because I guess you'd never really know, but even worse is there is a traitor and say you want to give bonus points, well what if you give them to the traitor?

And what if you dont? I lost a character for dating another character so I wasted all those points and the only really good intimidator on my team. And because I cant save day by day, I never feel in control and always seem to lose my cool. I don't want to cheat, I just want to feel like my trial and error gets me somewhere but it really doesn't- I've stumbled into romances, fallen into plots, and basically have no idea where I'm going. I wish there was a calendar system where I could see all of my stuff instead of just at the end of the week

Even worse I never feel like I can get something done. . .and maybe with the patch you guys took out the detection or likelihood system because I can't see it anymore? And it made the go completely impossible for me. I enjoy when I am challenged so I keep playing, but the more and more I play with the less ability growth I just feel stupid.

I tend to do the following, every week I examine my cases. I nervously try and push the remaining ones and usually, I'll get caught up with nothing happening. By the time its november I need at least 2 girls to successfully accomplish things so guess what? Nothing gets done. If I fail one day then two girls are wasted and tired. Like in LLTQ I felt challenged and died a ton but I learned and I still have a ton to do...now I'm just. . .I'm lost! When do I search for items? When's a good time to conserve my people? Why is it if I send a whole squad I cant get anything done? Shouldnt an entire team of girls be able to search a room so I dont lose my precious research?

In short, I love this game, but I fucking suck. I'm going to cry now

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#49 by Oki - Dec 9 2014

hanako:
*rappels down from the ceiling and hands Oki an orchid, then disappears in a shower of sparkles*

True answer, though, it depends on who the traitor was, why they betrayed you, whether or not you choose to make them your Queen, whether or not you try to pin their actions on someone else, whether you insult them... I am addicted to alternate outcomes and variations so there isn't a simple answer.

ps this answer is acceptable

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: General Hints / Tips / Strategy

#50 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

(If any of this sounds like I'm picking on you PLEASE know that I don't mean it that way at all. I'm trying to work out whether there's anything I can do to help without outright telling you what to do, because if I tell you what to do that will not fix the game.)

Oki:
Basically my problem is the same thing. So many new cases come up with URGENTS that the ones I'm already doing make me freak out. So I try to do all of them at once and it fails, my problem usually ends up that even if I send the girls I'm specialized at they can't do the job. Getting everything done requires skills I don't have.

I'm guessing here, but - are you trying to do too much all at once?

Especially in the beginning of the game, there's a lot going on. It may not be possible or practical to solve everything. It may be better to focus on one case at a time in order to be sure you do a good job on it rather than trying all of them and failing all of them?

(Others, feel free to chime in. This advice may not be best!)

I never know what I can give up or not do because there is no real 'scale'.

That's fair. You could try focusing on the cases that look most likely to be solvable with the skills you have, maybe? If you have to triage, focusing on where it might make the most difference could help.

Which is a fair thing to do because I guess you'd never really know, but even worse is there is a traitor and say you want to give bonus points, well what if you give them to the traitor? And what if you dont? I lost a character for dating another character so I wasted all those points and the only really good intimidator on my team.

So - it might be more useful to focus harder on being really sure you know who the traitor is and how to deal with them, maybe?

I don't want to cheat, I just want to feel like my trial and error gets me somewhere but it really doesn't

Lowering the difficulty is not cheating. Really. We promise. (We don't even HAVE a way to cheat at the moment!) It's a game and it's meant to be fun, not to give you ulcers. Part of the point of playtesting is helping us to figure out where the balance should be. The lower difficulty setting just makes the dice rolls more reliable. You can still lose!

- I've stumbled into romances, fallen into plots, and basically have no idea where I'm going. I wish there was a calendar system where I could see all of my stuff instead of just at the end of the week

I'm not sure what you mean here. What stuff do you want to see?

Even worse I never feel like I can get something done. . .and maybe with the patch you guys took out the detection or likelihood system because I can't see it anymore? And it made the go completely impossible for me.

I don't think it should have stopped showing them... See, if so, that's a bug, we should fix that

By the time its november I need at least 2 girls to successfully accomplish things so guess what? Nothing gets done. If I fail one day then two girls are wasted and tired. Like in LLTQ I felt challenged and died a ton but I learned and I still have a ton to do...now I'm just. . .I'm lost! When do I search for items? When's a good time to conserve my people? Why is it if I send a whole squad I cant get anything done? Shouldnt an entire team of girls be able to search a room so I dont lose my precious research?

Okay, this shows one area where there might be a possible misunderstanding and I might need to make it more clear. Do you know how it works when you send multiple people to do a task?

If you're trying to do, say, a Harass roll, which uses Social + Intimidate, then it would pick the highest Social stat that any assigned girl has and the highest Intimidate stat that any assigned girl has.

Girl1: Social 20 Intim 30
Girl2: Social 40 Intim 10
Girl3: Social 35 Intim 25

The best social score is added to the best intimidation score to get the final result.

So if you sent three girls to do that job, one's skills would not get used at all. It would be a waste of time having three people there. You don't get any bonus for having three. And if one girl had the highest values in both stats, then both of the other girls would be wasted.

You should not be needing to send two girls all the time in November, unless you're having really, really bad luck with the random number gods. Most assignments should be doable by just one minion.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#51 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

Odds not showing - Have you checked in the options to be sure that 'Show the Odds' is selected? And then even when you have both action and minion selected, it's not showing any information? If so, Spiky would like to look at your savegame to see what's going on there.

(But first, be sure that you didn't accidentally set Chance of Success to 'Hide the Details')

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#52 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 9 2014

hanako:
Odds not showing - Have you checked in the options to be sure that 'Show the Odds' is selected? And then even when you have both action and minion selected, it's not showing any information? If so, Spiky would like to look at your savegame to see what's going on there.

(But first, be sure that you didn't accidentally set Chance of Success to 'Hide the Details')

On the missing odds: Are you getting 'Odds Unknown' or just nothing at all? If the odds are hiding and Chance of Success is set to 'Show the Odds', I'll want to look at your persistent.dat file as well (it's in the save directory) and see if there's anything weird there.

A few actions don't give out odds by design - Guard, Stake Out, and a few rare actions don't reveal them because doing so would tell you whether or not there is an opponent on any given day.

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#53 by FantasyFan - Dec 9 2014

Got a traceback error when attempting to save. I attempted to upload the save, but I'm not sure if I did it right.

My game reviewing blog.

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#54 by FantasyFan - Dec 9 2014

Got another traceback error when I reached the Game Over screen at the harvest festival. The game isn't allowing me to take screenshots.

My game reviewing blog.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#55 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

Thing I'm considering trying to implement - moving case generation so that the next upcoming cases are already set when you save/autosave at the beginning of the week. THis would prevent savescumming (Sorry Franka!) but it would also make saves more consistent for finding problems - right now if you find a case with a bug in it, it's kind of hard to upload a save with it - and would also make it possible to back up and try different approaches to the same case, which may help with learning curve.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#56 by Franka - Dec 9 2014

Well, I'd say that would either cause a lot more game overs due to some of the way-too-time-consuming cases popping up at the wrong moment, or it would give way to a different kind of save scumming if all the parameters of the case are set before you save (actually making the game a lot easier, since you'd simply reload and go straight to the best solution once found). In the best case, I'd say this would lead to wasting more time save scumming since you have to back up a week, in the worst case, it will lock you into forced game overs since not every case can be handled successfully by every team.

I will say I'd hate to play the game with just four minions and no save scumming.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#57 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

.... when achievements are in and you see the entry for 'win the game with only THREE minions', will you cry?

it would give way to a different kind of save scumming if all the parameters of the case are set before you save (actually making the game a lot easier, since you'd simply reload and go straight to the best solution once found).

Except in cases where they failed the case horribly, would people really be likely to restart a week over just to improve the outcome of a case? Most cases require more than one successful action to close (not to mention dice rolls) so if you did solve a case, restarting the week wouldn't necessarily mean you'd solve it faster.

It would let you take a second crack at a case you'd failed, yes, but I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#58 by Franka - Dec 9 2014

hanako:
.... when achievements are in and you see the entry for 'win the game with only THREE minions', will you cry?

Nah, I almost already did this. With better planning, I have no doubt it could be done, though it would be hard, especially if you make this change to the game.

Except in cases where they failed the case horribly, would people really be likely to restart a week over just to improve the outcome of a case? Most cases require more than one successful action to close (not to mention dice rolls) so if you did solve a case, restarting the week wouldn't necessarily mean you'd solve it faster.

It would be really simple if you knew who to target right off the bat on some of the extensive cases. Those are the ones that usually screw you over since they're time consuming and new ones will pop up alongside them. So, you haven't actually developed a strategy, you've just taken a shortcut. Something you can't do right now, except if the case goes over several weeks.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#59 by wendymarlowe - Dec 9 2014

Generalized honest feedback here: I'd really like to see more of a guideline for what the school rules are, exactly. I'll frequently get to a point where I know someone did X, but I have no idea how bad X is. Occasionally I figure it's nothing ("Oh, they're just learning about witchcraft - hooray for tolerance and religious freedom, I guess?") and BAM I get penalized for not throwing them out of school. Or I suspend someone, assuming that will fix the problem, but then it doesn't and suddenly time has run out and I get a "mission failed" when if I had known their actions were bad enough to expel them for it, I could have done that in the first place. Or there's one main culprit and multiple girls who enabled her - do the enablers get punished, or are they done with just an interrogation? There's no "school rules" to reference, so I end up having to guess a lot.

ETA: the little tips on the weekly calendar screens are helpful, but they're doled out awfully slowly - could they be accessible in a "hints and tips" file or something? This game feels like it has a heckuva learning curve, and if I weren't already invested in you as a game developer (i.e. I know I've liked your other games) I'd probably have flamed out in October once or twice and then given up on the whole thing as too confusing.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#60 by Oki - Dec 9 2014

That makes sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much sense. I'm going to try it, but yes, after the dance I stop being able to see the likelihood of success.

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#61 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

The dance?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#62 by Franka - Dec 9 2014

wendymarlowe:
Or I suspend someone, assuming that will fix the problem, but then it doesn't and suddenly time has run out and I get a "mission failed" when if I had known their actions were bad enough to expel them for it, I could have done that in the first place.

Let me tell you about my experience with suspension: It only works when done to the girls who come out and say "That's right, punish me!" when given detention. Otherwise, you're just postponing the problem.

Cases won't stay open if you've taken the correct action, so if somebody returns from suspension, and the case is still open, you need to act immediately.

Other than that, you're thinking the wrong way. You want there to be rules and guidelines, there isn't. There's only, what's bad for the school's image and what's not. Who'll snap and cause a scene, who won't. It doesn't matter what they did, it only matters if it comes to light or results in more problems.

You need to identify who's too defiant to stop causing trouble. Those are the ones to expel. If they don't respond to harassment or detention, and you don't lose karma(!), expel them. Remember that sometimes they were made to look bad by the real culprit, often the supposed victim, and you were just played. That's usually the case if you succeeded in your Harass/Detention roll, but lost karma.

Witchcraft is tricky. If there's also a diary talking about how everybody should die and go to hell, the problem is not so much the witchcraft.

Detention is the ultimate punishment (except for that special case above) that will be effective. IF you've got the right culprit! If that doesn't close the case, it's either you've got the wrong person, or you'll need to expel them. It may also simply remove them from the suspect list. That means you still haven't found the mastermind. Of course, sometimes punishment is not the answer, we can all just get along is.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#63 by hanako - Dec 9 2014

wendymarlowe:
Generalized honest feedback here: I'd really like to see more of a guideline for what the school rules are, exactly. I'll frequently get to a point where I know someone did X, but I have no idea how bad X is. Occasionally I figure it's nothing ("Oh, they're just learning about witchcraft - hooray for tolerance and religious freedom, I guess?") and BAM I get penalized for not throwing them out of school. Or I suspend someone, assuming that will fix the problem, but then it doesn't and suddenly time has run out and I get a "mission failed" when if I had known their actions were bad enough to expel them for it, I could have done that in the first place. Or there's one main culprit and multiple girls who enabled her - do the enablers get punished, or are they done with just an interrogation? There's no "school rules" to reference, so I end up having to guess a lot.

Hmm. I see what you're saying, but I'm not sure how best to address that. The problem is that it's not really 'school rules' that are an issue, because your job in the student council is not to enforce the school rules, but to avoid scandal, by whatever means necessary.

So it's not that witchcraft is against school rules, it's that it's scandalous. Your job is not to punish the girls, but to prevent them from doing things that might make the school look bad. (It is a horrible fascist regime, yes it is!)

In most situations, if the case folder is still there, the problem is not resolved. So, like, if you investigate a secret society and discover that it's harmless, which is a possible option, the case immediately closes. Problem solved, no scandal there.

If a case is still open, then either

a) It's a red herring - it looks scandalous but isn't
b) It's waiting for a specific date (like with the performances and special events)
c) There is still a potential scandal

So if the case is still open, unless you're certain that A or B apply, you need to do something more. But it doesn't matter how much you 'should' punish people, only whether it works to close the case. In cases where lots of people are a bit guilty, quite often you CAN punish the lot of them if you feel like it, but the only important part is finding the source of a potential scandal and stomping that out.

Does this make sense? Is there a better way I can explain it in-game?

ETA: the little tips on the weekly calendar screens are helpful, but they're doled out awfully slowly - could they be accessible in a "hints and tips" file or something?

I'd be happy to put them in a hints and tips file, and by release the game will probably ship with something like that, but the problem is that 90% of players will never read it. Players these days hate reading directions. You give them directions to read, they'll skim it fast, say "Blah blah blah", click through it, go on, and remember exactly nothing of what they've just seen. (I watch LPs. I see this a lot.) So I need to prioritise feedback in ways that are more likely to sink in. With the regular calendar hints, I'm borrowing a trick off Bioware (sticking tips in loading screens).

Are there any particular hints on the calendar screens that are -so- important that you think they need to be absolutely prioritised and given out for certain at the beginning, instead of randomly? Or hints that should be delivered in character dialog instead?

I can't exactly see it from the player side, that's why we have test periods!

Also, a semi-spoilery note on suspension - Along with the case Franka noted, suspension should also work in cases where a successful detention would close the case. People who will break in detention will usually also break if suspended. Detention is usually a better choice because you can often get karma from it, whereas suspension is a 1-point rep loss. The good side to using suspension is that it doesn't require a minion and doesn't require a skill roll, so if you really need to crack someone who has too high an Intimidation score to Detain them, it's a possibility.Darned if I know how to explain all that in an easy-to-understand manner in-game though.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#64 by wendymarlowe - Dec 10 2014

Speaking as a writer ;) I think the best way to explain the scandal/rules thing would be a conversation with Mallory. Maybe when she comes to you being angsty about her role on the student council? It would give her a chance to ask something in the "Aren't we supposed to be enforcing the rulebook?" vein and Elsa can say the rulebook doesn't matter. Alternatively, what's-her-name the administrator could lay down the law with Elsa near the beginning, specifically calling her naive for thinking her job is to enforce a code of conduct (as compared to just keeping girls in line).

I don't know, I guess . . . I definitely wouldn't take the "totalitarian regime" tack unless specifically told I was supposed to. It's a bit too far out from the way I remember student council :-P

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#65 by hanako - Dec 10 2014

Another question - should I make the game default to the lower difficulty level and make people choose to move it up to the more hardcore setting for a challenge? Have people tried playing with both settings and seeing the difference?

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#66 by wendymarlowe - Dec 10 2014

hanako:
Another question - should I make the game default to the lower difficulty level and make people choose to move it up to the more hardcore setting for a challenge? Have people tried playing with both settings and seeing the difference?

That would be my preference, honestly. I've been playing it on the lower difficulty so I can actually see the latter half of the game :-P

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#67 by Franka - Dec 10 2014

There's quite a difference. The first time I succeeded (with 9 reputation left), I played on normal. After that, I went to loaded dice, and it shows. I'd have to say the lower difficulty is better to start out with, because the game is hard enough when you're learning as it is. On the other hand, finding the traitor seems a lot simpler on normal difficulty, but that's just my experience (how do you roll a 1 five times in a row anyway? Yeah, ok, happened too during my D&D days).

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#68 by wendymarlowe - Dec 10 2014

hanako:
Are there any particular hints on the calendar screens that are -so- important that you think they need to be absolutely prioritised and given out for certain at the beginning, instead of randomly? Or hints that should be delivered in character dialog instead?

The one about "too close to call" displaying either success or failure results was helpful - I had assumed that whatever results I got weren't quite accurate, but there are definitely times it's clear I did get the "success" result and thus don't have to expend more energy.

That the traitor will get more lemons from the supply closet

That the stress bar also affects how many missions they can take

That the left side of the action icons are for what I need and the right side is for what the opponent rolls

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#69 by FantasyFan - Dec 10 2014

Question - in my last playthrough I uncovered the traitor. Is the traitor the same person every time, or is she randomly generated?

My game reviewing blog.

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#70 by wendymarlowe - Dec 10 2014

FantasyFan:
Question - in my last playthrough I uncovered the traitor. Is the traitor the same person every time, or is she randomly generated?

Random. Although sometimes she seems way more obvious than others!

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#71 by FantasyFan - Dec 10 2014

Ah good, that makes it more interesting.

My game reviewing blog.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#72 by Franka - Dec 10 2014

wendymarlowe:
That the left side of the action icons are for what I need and the right side is for what the opponent rolls

This, very much. Also, sometimes it's left vs right, sometimes it's top left vs top right, then bottom left vs bottom right, and SOMETIMES it's both lefts added vs both rights added together. Confusing.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#73 by hanako - Dec 10 2014

(That actually -is- mentioned in the tutorial already!

But nobody can take in all the information up front...)

I want to get critical information to players but there's a lot of useful tips and I'm not sure whether any of them is THE ONE that needs to be set to come first, really.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#74 by Franka - Dec 10 2014

I'm assuming this is something you're aware of.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#75 by Franka - Dec 10 2014

hanako:
(That actually -is- mentioned in the tutorial already! But nobody can take in all the information up front...)

I want to get critical information to players but there's a lot of useful tips and I'm not sure whether any of them is THE ONE that needs to be set to come first, really.

I like useful information to be something discovered along the way. I don't necessarily need that compiled anywhere, or to be fed that right away.

Things like loyalty increases stress limits, item tips, possible benefits and consequences of different actions aren't essential for me to be prioritized info.

Finding the traitor is important, but is given plenty of attention in the game. It's good to be strongly reminded how to spot the traitor though.

Needing to complete plot cases to avoid game overs in general is good to be told clearly, but it's pretty well hinted at, even after the traitor is found.

Stacking minions and how that works can be a little unclear (I know it's covered in the intro), and you might think that you'll need more than one minion when there's more than one stat in the test.

For myself, the only really confusing thing was exactly how actions worked when there was more than one stat involved, what stats were compared to what, and when they were added together and checked for separately. Maybe I failed my Observation check, but that took me a few cases to understand.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#76 by hanako - Dec 10 2014

Would it make any difference to comprehension if some sort of slight visual difference were put into the side-icons on the Search action, like a line between them or something? I obviously can't fit in a whole lot of stuff there so I suspect that anything might be too small to see.

If you have chance-of-success set, the Search action shows two separate results, so there's already some indication that it's two rolls, although yes it will take a while to be clear.

(In really early versions, both Search and Inspect were named 'Search' and the only difference was the icons to show whether Stealth was involved or not, but our internal tests showed that wasn't working, people weren't seeing the difference. Our nerdy design documents refer to 'covert Search' and 'overt Search'.)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#77 by Franka - Dec 10 2014

I'll think about it, I'm off to work.

Just one quick thing, in The Secret Society case, slave ring variant, I convinced all slaves to leave, and now the case just stays open indefinitely.

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#78 by Oki - Dec 10 2014

hanako:
The dance?

Harvest festival / right around the time the Traitor is revealed. I will try again later today since my friends aren't bugging me to play league of legends right now

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

wendymarlowe

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#79 by wendymarlowe - Dec 10 2014

"You quietly search Peggy's room. You find Peggy's diary, where she talks about how she's plotting to destroy her classmates by giving them just enough rope to hang themselves...You may now detain Peggy's room.

(I'll admit, this one made me giggle a bit

"Bad room! Bad room! Go to your . . . uh, never mind?")

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#80 by hanako - Dec 10 2014

FantasyFan:
Got another traceback error when I reached the Game Over screen at the harvest festival. The game isn't allowing me to take screenshots.

Sorry, I missed this slightly because I was waiting for Spiky to comment on it, but he's sick at the moment.

What do you mean about screenshots? Just that the regular screenshot shortcut key doesn't work in a traceback, or is it doing something weird to printscreen, or what?

Did the traceback you got upload successfully?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#81 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

I gave it some thought at work, and the best I could come up with is to extend the tutorial a bit.

I'd like for there to be at least two more guided examples, one where you combine two people, and one where one person does a Detention action and the other rests to get rid of stress. From there we can naturally be told about suspension and expulsion, not necessarily with examples, but at least learn a bit about them.

While it might not be the most helpful example to have two people combine for an action that requires two different skills (since that might give the impression that you'll ALWAYS need two people for that), I'd love for there to be an example of a Search action, and a note on how it's different from an action with added skills.

While this will make the tutorial run a little longer, I think it would be highly beneficial to practice a couple of different actions (Question and Harass are not very different from each other) before getting thrown to the wolves, so to speak. It would give a lot more confidence in the system. Besides, after the first tutorial, it's simple to skip it in the future.

This does leave us with the issue of who to use for the second character. I'd suggest the helpful assistant Franka... nah, just kidding. How about having Elsa step in? That way we would also see a physical representation of our character, and if it happens to make you reuse skilled Elsa for something interesting elsewhere in the game, BONUS! Just what are Elsa's skills, I wonder?

Maybe there could also be an option to run the tutorial again from the main screen, or an extended tutorial?

Anyway, I know there's already a lot of information to take in, and learning by doing is fine, I just think a little more learning by guided doing would have prepared me better for the game.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#82 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

I'm getting an error every time I start the game now, it's missing a _reload-2.bcs file. Did I make too many save files or something?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#83 by hanako - Dec 11 2014

I don't know what's up with the error - hopefully Spiky can figure it out when he's feeling a little better.

I really don't want to put Elsa on a card for a number of reasons (for one it would raise the question of why she doesn't do things herself later, especially when the council is short-handed) but I can look at ideas to extend the tutorial a little more.

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#84 by FantasyFan - Dec 11 2014

I can't open the game either. It was running fine yesterday, but now I get this error every time I try opening it.

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in script
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 170, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 54, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 26, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.3
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5, GenuineIntel

And it doesn't go away no matter what I do.

My game reviewing blog.

nightjay

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#85 by nightjay - Dec 11 2014

Oh man, this is probably such a dumb question, but I'm wondering how to save the game??? I downloaded the Mac Alpha version just now, and I'm having a lot of fun already but predictably experiencing some anxiety over whether I've made the right choices, etc. I'm clicking around on the Load/Save files screen, but nothing appears to be saving? What am I doing wrong?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#86 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

hanako:
I really don't want to put Elsa on a card for a number of reasons (for one it would raise the question of why she doesn't do things herself later, especially when the council is short-handed) but I can look at ideas to extend the tutorial a little more.

I understand. I could see a running joke with Elsa excusing herself... or you could give her 1/1/1/1.

Extending the tutorial a bit would be good no matter how you do it.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#87 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

hanako:
I don't know what's up with the error - hopefully Spiky can figure it out when he's feeling a little better.

I copied _reload-1.bcs and renamed it to 2, it's trying to recreate a previous game state, probably because the game shut down improperly.
***
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\.\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "C:\Games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\Games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\.\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5

Original version: BlackCloset-0.8.3
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 x86 x86 Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#88 by hanako - Dec 11 2014

nightjay:
Oh man, this is probably such a dumb question, but I'm wondering how to save the game??? I downloaded the Mac Alpha version just now, and I'm having a lot of fun already but predictably experiencing some anxiety over whether I've made the right choices, etc. I'm clicking around on the Load/Save files screen, but nothing appears to be saving? What am I doing wrong?

The game can only be saved at the start of each week - if you upgrade to the latest patch (0.8.5) there is better notification for this. The very first version uploaded wasn't as clear about making sure this was known. It should still be autosaving for you each week though.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#89 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

Oh Rowan, why you no CG? There seemed to be a few unfinished things in her path, but I'm sure you're aware of this. I kind of lost patience near the end, so failed a lot of cases... but that's what I built a reputation buffer for, I guess.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#90 by hanako - Dec 11 2014

Rowan has a CG... in her other path. I know there are still a few XXXs lurking in the code (although I don't know where they all are, many are things Spiky put in) - anything else particular that hopped out as unfinished?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#91 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

No, I think they were marked with XXX and CG go here.

Other path will need hints, somebody else find it NAO!

Silly thing I did: Stalking a girl with 5 minions. She didn't notice a thing. I think Rowan made the others wear cardboard boxes for disguise.

I'll be off over the weekend for a wedding anniversary (not my own), so no more testing till Monday. Sorry Vonne, you'll have to wait.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#92 by hanako - Dec 11 2014

I'm going to be away a bit this weekend myself (though not yet).

Poor Vonne. Always a bridesmaid...

Rowan's other path: Think how different any attempt to romance her would be if she were not the mole and therefore had not had that giant outburst at you... The main path kissy graphic will be coming eventually though!

Silly thing I did: Stalking a girl with 5 minions. She didn't notice a thing. I think Rowan made the others wear cardboard boxes for disguise.

hehehe

Or else she was so stealthy she snuck off following the target and left the rest behind!

Oki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#93 by Oki - Dec 11 2014

Can't update the game???

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "C:\Program Files\Black Closet\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 285, in bootstrap
os.makedirs(renpy.config.logdir, 0777)
File "c:\Python27\lib\os.py", line 157, in makedirs
WindowsError: [Error 267] The directory name is invalid: u'C:\\Program Files\\Black Closet\\veeesta.rpy:6'

Windows-post2008Server-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

I've been here so long even Hanako is sick of me

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#94 by hanako - Dec 11 2014

There is a problem at the moment with updating if you install the game into Program Files on windows. It's a permissions thing, which is why it only affects that location. We are trying to figure out a way to fix it - at the moment the workaround is to install the game somewhere else, like C:/games or something. (I uploaded a temporary new installer that defaults to c:/games but people who downloaded earlier than that will be having this problem at first)

If you uninstall and reinstall in a new location your savegames will still be there, so you won't lose anything.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#95 by Franka - Dec 11 2014

I actually thought of that Rowan alternate path at work, so yeah, poor Vonne, she might not even get chosen when I get back from my weekend.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#96 by hanako - Dec 12 2014

(... Apparently my school's actual Christmas Tableaux, which they still do, was yesterday. One of my classmates posted a picture from her scene from all those years ago. Wasn't the scene that I was in, though. Not sure whether I should post it or the one from last year that my school sent around in their email newsletter... it's not particularly important. But true!)

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#97 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 12 2014

FantasyFan:
I can't open the game either. It was running fine yesterday, but now I get this error every time I try opening it.

And it doesn't go away no matter what I do.

Check your saves folder to see if you have any files named _reload-(number).bcs. If you do, delete them. (There's a workaround for the crashing-on-reload bug in 0.8.7.1, as well)

If you don't have a _reload-(number).bcs, try renaming persistent.dat? (If that works, then I'll want the old persistent.dat uploaded.)

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#98 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 12 2014

New version: 0.8.7.2. Changes since 0.8.5: mostly, fixing the Win7 updater, then fixing the bugs in the fixes, then fixing... you get the idea.

Other changes: Fixed crashes on successful detention in one of the secret society variants, and a crash suspending in one of the special event cases. Error messages loading some Thais-path saves fixed. _reload-(number) saves should no longer crash the game. Now defaults to disabling encryption on Windows, since most people won't have GPG installed. (If your prefs are currently set to encrypt, you can turn encryption off by going to Options: Privacy Options.)

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#99 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 12 2014

New new version: 0.8.9.1. Changes:

Thaïs's Angry Crowd Member role should be in the same dialog style as the other epilogue pages.
If you expel someone as a scapegoat, she no longer shows up in school in the epilogues.
Loading a manual save should now always create the same cases on Monday. (Autosaves are still nondeterministic though) You can no longer detain people's rooms for containing cheat sheets. A stray XXX has been trimmed. The default difficulty is now loaded dice, you'll want to explicitly switch to hard mode if you want to go back to it. Some text has been nudged. Some Rowan flags now load correctly. I've tried to make crypto errors more verbose. Crashes introduced in alphas 0.8.8 and 0.8.9 are fixed.

nightjay

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#100 by nightjay - Dec 13 2014

hanako:
nightjay:
Oh man, this is probably such a dumb question, but I'm wondering how to save the game??? I downloaded the Mac Alpha version just now, and I'm having a lot of fun already but predictably experiencing some anxiety over whether I've made the right choices, etc. I'm clicking around on the Load/Save files screen, but nothing appears to be saving? What am I doing wrong?
The game can only be saved at the start of each week - if you upgrade to the latest patch (0.8.5) there is better notification for this. The very first version uploaded wasn't as clear about making sure this was known. It should still be autosaving for you each week though.

Gotcha, thanks! Another dumb question, but where can I find the links to the patches?

BloomingLilac

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#101 by BloomingLilac - Dec 13 2014

Are there any male characters in Black Closet, or is this school for girls only? Sorry if I missed the answer to this question somewhere. I didn't see any in the screenshots. I'll probably buy the game for the mystery solving, but I was just wondering what to expect as far as relationships go. The game looks really fun!

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#102 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 13 2014

nightjay:
Gotcha, thanks! Another dumb question, but where can I find the links to the patches?

You can get the patches by going to the Options screen and clicking 'Updates'. At the moment you'll need to turn on 'Show beta versions' if you want to install the patches, since the game's not stable yet.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#103 by hanako - Dec 13 2014

BloomingLilac:
Are there any male characters in Black Closet, or is this school for girls only? Sorry if I missed the answer to this question somewhere. I didn't see any in the screenshots. I'll probably buy the game for the mystery solving, but I was just wondering what to expect as far as relationships go. The game looks really fun!

It's an all-girls school, there are no male characters anywhere. Friendship routes are possible though.

BloomingLilac

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#104 by BloomingLilac - Dec 13 2014

Thank you. I feel a bit dumb now because I hadn't read the locked thread about the game when I posted earlier.

Tomo-chan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#105 by Tomo-chan - Dec 13 2014

So, something weird happened... I was on the case where students all get the same grade on their test, and when I visited one of the girl room, it said that in her diary she talked about destroying her classmates by giving them enough rope to hang themselves, and I don't see what this has to do with cheating, but okay. But right after that it said "You can know detain Nora's room". And actually I could give her room detention, but when I tried to, the game gave me an error, and when I clicked ignore it told me that I had finished a case called "Suspicous Similarities", which I am 90% sure I didn't have before. But it is not the first time I get a bug after giving detention and it makes me skip a day... Although that was the first time I gave detention to a ROOM.

seangmz

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#106 by seangmz - Dec 13 2014

I finally got into the second semester and while investigating a "High Rollers" I persuaded one of them and at end of the week the following error popped:

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.9.1
....
Discarded field <class 'store.PartySlacker'>.nerd_persuaded

Edit: It has continued to pop up at the end of the week since then. Also when I go to load a game it shows Rowan on the save icon.
Also, this is just something I want to mention because I loved it in Magical Diary and LLtQ: Will there be an 'endings/trophys' page? I found that so helpful when I first got LLtQ to help me explore.

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#107 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 13 2014

Tomo-chan:
So, something weird happened... I was on the case where students all get the same grade on their test, and when I visited one of the girl room, it said that in her diary she talked about destroying her classmates by giving them enough rope to hang themselves, and I don't see what this has to do with cheating, but okay. But right after that it said "You can know detain Nora's room". And actually I could give her room detention, but when I tried to, the game gave me an error, and when I clicked ignore it told me that I had finished a case called "Suspicous Similarities", which I am 90% sure I didn't have before. But it is not the first time I get a bug after giving detention and it makes me skip a day... Although that was the first time I gave detention to a ROOM.

What version of the game do you have? I thought I'd fixed the ability to detain rooms in Suspicious Similarity cases in 0.8.9.1. (You can check to see what version you have in Options: Updates.). Ignoring an error will generally lead to buggy (though hopefully usually minor bugs) behaviour, since the original error was itself a bug.

seangmz:
I finally got into the second semester and while investigating a "High Rollers" I persuaded one of them and at end of the week the following error popped:

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.9.1
....
Discarded field <class 'store.PartySlacker'>.nerd_persuaded

Edit: It has continued to pop up at the end of the week since then. Also when I go to load a game it shows Rowan on the save icon.
Also, this is just something I want to mention because I loved it in Magical Diary and LLtQ: Will there be an 'endings/trophys' page? I found that so helpful when I first got LLtQ to help me explore.

The discarded field should be fixed in the next version (not uploaded yet). Once you pick a Queen, her picture goes on the save - if Rowan's not your Queen, that's a bug and I'll want the save uploaded.

Some sort of trophies/achievements page is planned, but Hanako hasn't told me the details yet.

seangmz

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#108 by seangmz - Dec 14 2014

Spiky Caterpillar:
The discarded field should be fixed in the next version (not uploaded yet). Once you pick a Queen, her picture goes on the save - if Rowan's not your Queen, that's a bug and I'll want the save uploaded.

Some sort of trophies/achievements page is planned, but Hanako hasn't told me the details yet.

y'all are the best.

Tomo-chan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#109 by Tomo-chan - Dec 14 2014

Spiky Caterpillar:
Tomo-chan:
So, something weird happened... I was on the case where students all get the same grade on their test, and when I visited one of the girl room, it said that in her diary she talked about destroying her classmates by giving them enough rope to hang themselves, and I don't see what this has to do with cheating, but okay. But right after that it said "You can know detain Nora's room". And actually I could give her room detention, but when I tried to, the game gave me an error, and when I clicked ignore it told me that I had finished a case called "Suspicous Similarities", which I am 90% sure I didn't have before. But it is not the first time I get a bug after giving detention and it makes me skip a day... Although that was the first time I gave detention to a ROOM.
What version of the game do you have? I thought I'd fixed the ability to detain rooms in Suspicious Similarity cases in 0.8.9.1. (You can check to see what version you have in Options: Updates.). Ignoring an error will generally lead to buggy (though hopefully usually minor bugs) behaviour, since the original error was itself a bug.

My version is BlackCloset-0.8.5 which I have just now realised is not the most up to date version. Sorry for the trouble!
The fact is, I never know what to do when I get an error: when I click "Upload Traceback", the screen shows "Uploading..." for a split second before going back to the error screen so I don't know if it uploaded or not. I can't quit because I rarely save the game (I decided to play on easy) so I would lose several weeks. So I click Ignore.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#110 by hanako - Dec 14 2014

The game auto-saves at the start of each week, so you should generally be able to quit without losing too much. There's an 'autosaves' page before page 1 of saves that should have the last six weeks or so that you started on them.

And yes, there will be an achievements list eventually! I'm currently thinking it will cover:

reached your high school graduation?
been fully initiated into the Red Mask Society?
exposed the Red Mask Society to the media?
lost your Queen to the Red Mask's revenge?
won the traitor's loyalty?
won the game with less than five minions?
won the game with less than four minions?
driven a minion mad with jealousy?
used a minion as your own personal slave?
lost your mind to mysterious visions?
run a lemonade stand?
groped around in the dark?
been kissed by a freshman?
tempted a straight girl?

Other suggestions welcome, no promises on including them though. Some things are too random to be fair.

locus

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#111 by locus - Dec 14 2014

Is the lack of periods at the end of dialog choices intentional? It looks really off to me, especially since other end punctuation is present.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#112 by hanako - Dec 14 2014

Most of the time it looks awkward to me to put periods at the end of those choices because what she's saying is so short and doesn't feel like a full sentence. (Question marks are included because it makes a difference if something is being asked or stated)

So yes, it is intentional, but I can be talked out of it if it's bothering a lot of people.

Tomo-chan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#113 by Tomo-chan - Dec 15 2014

I can't update the game (and I didn't install in in Program Files)
Here is what it says:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/updater.rpy", line 932, in script
File "game/updater.rpy", line 932, in <module>
File "game/updater.rpy", line 836, in do_upgrade
File "game/updater.rpy", line 558, in step
File "game/updater.rpy", line 512, in get_catalog_yielding
File "game/updater.rpy", line 149, in retrieve_yielding
File "game/network.rpy", line 39, in encode_for_post
File "game/network.rpy", line 17, in encrypt_for_spiky
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/updater.rpy", line 932, in script
File "C:\Users\Pauline\Documents\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\Users\Pauline\Documents\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/updater.rpy", line 932, in <module>
File "game/updater.rpy", line 836, in do_upgrade
File "game/updater.rpy", line 558, in step
File "game/updater.rpy", line 512, in get_catalog_yielding
File "game/updater.rpy", line 149, in retrieve_yielding
File "game/network.rpy", line 39, in encode_for_post
File "game/network.rpy", line 17, in encrypt_for_spiky
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-post2008Server-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows post2008Server 6.2.9200 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel

aurora13

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#114 by aurora13 - Dec 16 2014

I have the same error as Tomo-chan. Can't update, and the game is installed in c/games.

I also can't automatically send errors when I find them, I believe this is this particular version of code. This is on Thais' path, when you succeed in stopping Zoe and her friends from spreading scandalous rumours, only to have her say she doesn't want to see you anymore. I'm not sure if this contains that error but it does contain the error that the game can't update.

Code:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 164, in script
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 164, in <module>
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 149, in upload_nopickles_serialize_warnings
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 164, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 164, in <module>
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 149, in upload_nopickles_serialize_warnings
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-post2008Server-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows post2008Server 6.2.9200 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 1 3 5

****
Second error:
Earlier in the same game. Thais is the traitor, and I've assigned her to interrogate someone with an object, and it gives me this error:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/script.rpy", line 439, in script
File "game/script.rpy", line 440, in <module>
File "game/scheduler.rpy", line 308, in execute_assignments
File "game/cases.rpy", line 307, in Action
File "game/cases.rpy", line 2525, in Harass
File "game/cases.rpy", line 478, in UnlockTargetsAndOptions
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'AssignToCase'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/script.rpy", line 439, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/script.rpy", line 440, in <module>
File "game/scheduler.rpy", line 308, in execute_assignments
File "game/cases.rpy", line 307, in Action
File "game/cases.rpy", line 2525, in Harass
File "game/cases.rpy", line 478, in UnlockTargetsAndOptions
AttributeError: 'tuple' object has no attribute 'AssignToCase'

Windows-post2008Server-6.2.9200
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows post2008Server 6.2.9200 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 0 10 17

~~~~~~

Hope this is of some help!

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#115 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 16 2014

Tomo-chan, Aurora13: The encryption errors (tracebacks that say 'Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.') are caused if your privacy settings are set to use encryption *and* you don't have GPG installed. You can work around the error by turning encryption off in the privacy settings, or fix it by installing GPG on your computer (you should be able to get it from https://www.gnupg.org/ ). If you're installing GPG, make sure gpg.exe is in your path (that is, running 'gpg' from a cmd window should actually bring the command-line app up). Since that might be a bit fiddly, I'm working on hooks to let you install GPG from within the game preferences - (they're in alpha, but they're Not Done Yet - hopefully I'll be able to take 'em live tomorrow.)

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#116 by FantasyFan - Dec 16 2014

Downloaded the latest version and got this error when starting the game.

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\Liesel\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\Liesel\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5, GenuineIntel

However, the game ran after I clicked "Ignore."

My game reviewing blog.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#117 by Franka - Dec 16 2014

That one I know you can solve by deleting _reload-2.bcs (but you probably shouldn't take my word for it

)

Spiky Caterpillar:
Check your saves folder to see if you have any files named _reload-(number).bcs. If you do, delete them. (There's a workaround for the crashing-on-reload bug in 0.8.7.1, as well)

Spiky Caterpillar

Version 0.8.12.12 changelog

#118 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 17 2014

New beta. Changes:

A bug in date calculation when the end of a month falls on a weekend has been fixed. This will fix stray references to the 33th of March and the like. Hard mode is now 'High Stakes' instead of 'Fair Play'. An error saving fields in one struggling student variant has been fixed. The game no longer gives you a 'save' button on the autosave page. Suspended students can no longer be found leading seances when they're not actually at the school. A typo in the Vonne coffee date fixed. A crash unsuccessfully harassing a student who destroyed school supplies fixed. A crash choosing the epilogue for some Rowan path variants fixed. And there have been several changes to the updater and encryption code.

If you cannot update the game, and you are running on Windows: Install it to a location that is not in C:\Program Files\ or C:\Program Files (x86). Go to Options: Misc Options: Privacy Options, and select 'Never Encrypt Anything'. Then try to update the game.

If you cannot upload tracebacks on Windows: Go to Options: Misc Options: Privacy Options. If the game is set to 'Encrypt license keys and tracebacks', then you have three* options:
1) If you're using 0.8.12.12, click the 'Install GPG' button. This is experimental. It will download GPG, then check the signature (which currently takes several minutes!) I've gotten some odd error reports from Hanako that I'm still trying to figure out. If you get any errors when you click 'Install GPG', I want to know!
2) Tell the game 'Never encrypt anything'. This is more reliable, and is the default on new installs again.
3) Get GPG from https://www.gnupg.org/ and install it somewhere in your path, or copy gpg.exe into the same directory as Black Closet.
4) Download http://updates.spikycaterpillar.com/black_closet/windows/gpg.exe by hand and drop it in the directory with BlackCloset.exe.
(*Improved 3, now 33% larger!)

If you're using Windows and want to experiment with crypto, you can un-hide the crypto options by going to the Ren'Py console (shift-O) and entering 'unroller.debug_crypto=True' without the quotes.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#119 by Franka - Dec 18 2014

That was the last of them. Is there something specific you'd like to be tried out? Otherwise I'll wait for achievements and CGs.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#120 by hanako - Dec 18 2014

Yeah, you should probably wait for the things to collect. (I see your detective skills are improving!)

I'm curious about whether the time-counting is actually working, though. Does 1:30 seem like a reasonable reporting of the time you spent? (obviously, any time save-scumming was lost but...)

Also, if you have any specific wishes for things that you think really should be in the game, this might be a good time to describe them...

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#121 by Franka - Dec 18 2014

Practically no save scumming this time around, only when doing something really dumb (being hasty and all).

I skipped pretty much everything skippable, and there were a couple of weeks where all I did was solve a case in two days, then pass time. Since I've learned exactly what stats I need, there's little wasted time collecting items and the like either, and I triggered the end of the game as soon as was at all possible. Shaving off half an hour from my previous game does seem like a lot though. Looking at the save times for each week, I spend 1-5 minutes on a week, over 30 weeks, so it seems probable. Started the game for real at 12:46, last save from 14:22, which would include breaks and any save scumming done.

Well, you know the things people want, more CGs, character customization...

One thing I could occasionally have used throughout my games is easy access to the minion stat screen with loyalty and all that. Another would be a browsable calendar that also showed any relevant info you've gained, such as case dates you've learned. But those are kind of luxury additions.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#122 by Franka - Dec 19 2014

Oh, while I remember, I think I mentioned this before, but since it happened again during my last game:

In The Secret Society case, slave ring variant, I Staked Out the meeting place, identified the slaves and mistresses, then Persuaded each slave to leave their mistress. The case doesn't close, but nothing more ever happens with it. I can still act on mistresses and their rooms, but they never break, and the rooms only contain the clue to the original meeting.

Now, nothing bad happens due to this, but I'm pretty positive it's not supposed to stay open forever. Besides, it annoyingly takes up a lot of space.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#123 by hanako - Dec 19 2014

Yeah, we're working on that. There's changes in the current alpha patch but there are some other bugs and tweaks still being hammered on, so it's not ready for wide release yet. (Which means no, don't download it!

)

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.13 changelog

#124 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 20 2014

0.8.13 is now bumped to beta. Changes:

Setting your prefs to disable network access entirely should now be saved. Trying to update with network access disabled should fail properly. A crash when gossipping has been fixed. More custom gossip responses are in. Girls who set off bombs now expelled (so you won't wind up gossipping with them). Some save-related errors fixed. Guarding a seance site will no longer report suspended students as if they're present. Secret society slave ring variant no longer goes on forever. More hints.

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.15.1 changelog

#125 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 21 2014

No longer starts a ghost case on Dec 19th.
A handful of flags that didn't load properly now load.
The controller settings screen no longer has a crashy debugger button on it.
Tweaked one of the solutions to the slave-ring secret society case.
A couple more student names added.
The title screen and the quit yes/no screen now accept hotkeys.
README.html updated; (if you're getting stuck a lot, click the help button to bring it up!)
A potential gossip crash fixed. Gossip strings for secret society cases in.
No longer crashes when you stalk the leader of the political secret society variant.
Successfully detaining a certain gambler no longer loses karma.
Aaaaaaaaand: some new CGs!

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#126 by hanako - Dec 21 2014

In particular, these scenes should now have CGs as of 0.8.15.1:

Rowan's kissy scene
Thais's kiss scene (yes, she does have one, but it's very hard to find)
Thais's dress-up scene
Mallory's room party scene

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#127 by Franka - Dec 21 2014

So, there's still one Mallory CG missing, right?

Any hints on Thaïs kissing? Is it in her regular romance path at least? Is it even Elsa she's kissing?

I don't suppose I can use the same license key on my laptop, and bring this with me for the holidays?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#128 by hanako - Dec 21 2014

There's one Mallory-path CG missing, and all the Harvest Queen pictures, and the graduation image, and the Super Secret Pinup Picture.

As for Thais - it is on her path, and it is Elsa. It has to do with the possible resolutions to the special Thais-path case.

Using the same key on your laptop should be fine

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#129 by hanako - Dec 21 2014

Also, if you're on Windows and you have an early version of the game and you're completely unable to update despite the suggestions made, email/PM me and I can generate a fresh download link for you of a later installer version, since the later versions generally update better.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#130 by Franka - Dec 21 2014

Thanks. I'll have to replay Thaïs and Mallory anyway, my oldest saves gave strange errors. I have an idea for Thaïs, so I'll try that out.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#131 by Franka - Dec 21 2014

Hmm, that didn't work out, but I'm getting better at speed runs. And considering I only had four minions, I'm satisfied with my case solving.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#132 by Franka - Dec 22 2014

Ah, sleep, the great mystery solver.

Also, this. She was absent, but the dialogue immediately following this didn't seem to fit that specific situation very well.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#133 by zeru57 - Dec 22 2014

I'm on a Mac, 10.10.1. Latest Beta, 0.8.15.1. The first time I open the Options Screen for a user, I get a CrashReporter process pegging the CPU, and preventing all UI input. If I wait for 5 minutes, it goes away and then is no longer a problem upon startup.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#134 by Franka - Dec 22 2014

Just wanted to say thanks for this game, because anything else would be rude. I've been busy playing, which of course is the greatest compliment of all.

I was already a great fan of LLtQ, and a lesser fan of Magical Diary, and I'm ranking Black Closet second on that list. Not only do I enjoy the girls' stories, I find the gameplay very compelling, but then I'm a sucker for solving puzzles. The random nature, while completely different from LLtQ, is very engaging, and juggling everything successfully feels like a true accomplishment. Meanwhile, having it all fall to the floor in pieces is absolutely horrifying (in a strangely good way)!

If I could choose, I would have more romance. I applaud the slightly naughty turns the actual romances take, even if they sometimes come out of left field (ok Vonne, today we're going to...

). Fan sketches in that vein might pop up some day, who knows?

So thank you, all of you involved in this, from plotting and gameplay to graphics. It's a lovely game, and I hope it will be successful.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#135 by zeru57 - Dec 22 2014

zeru57:
I'm on a Mac, 10.10.1. Latest Beta, 0.8.15.1. The first time I open the Options Screen for a user, I get a CrashReporter process pegging the CPU, and preventing all UI input. If I wait for 5 minutes, it goes away and then is no longer a problem upon startup.

Actually I take that back, it reappears upon reboot at least.

seangmz

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#136 by seangmz - Dec 23 2014

Franka:
So thank you, all of you involved in this, from plotting and gameplay to graphics. It's a lovely game, and I hope it will be successful.

Seconded. While I am terrible at it (I've yet to make it through the year) this is a wonderful game that I keep coming back to.
I just need to find a way for someone other than Vonne to be the traitor!

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.18 changelog

#137 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 23 2014

Changes:
* New case type in.
* Graduation CG in.
* The fix for the reload-2.bcs crash is now actually included in the patch properly. (It had been included as an rpyc, so the game would overwrite it with an older version at the first opportunity - oops!)
* A bug in save/load should be fixed.
* Naming your save no longer discards the part of the name after the cursor.
* Crash stalking a girl when her dealer is suspended fixed.
* Various bugs in the new case fixed.

Not yet fixed:
The looping on OS X, a crash starting the mole case in certain circumstances, a weird save that I need to poke.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#138 by zeru57 - Dec 23 2014

0.8.18 MacOS 10.10.1, there's a crash on the start of second semester on one of the Rowan paths where the underground tunnels case never shows up.

Also on the weekend following that, after the discussion with Rowan there's a message that says "XXX fade on to activities, mark ****** absent for the day." Probably can be taken out as the character is absent for that day.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#139 by Franka - Dec 23 2014

That thing where you realize all the CGs are easily accessible. And here I thought they were encoded.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#140 by hanako - Dec 23 2014

It's difficult to package them while things are still being added because redownloading 100MB through the updater would... not work well for most people.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#141 by Franka - Dec 23 2014

Ah, ok, so it's a perk of testing.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#142 by zeru57 - Dec 23 2014

0.8.18, there seems to be a bug in the phone call ring case where the behavior will be discouraged but the case won't get closed out. If you ignore the bug, the day advances, but no other character behavior will. Traceback uploaded.

Cerberusia

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#143 by Cerberusia - Dec 23 2014

There's a little typo in the cinema weekend event (I got it with Thais, but I think the text is the same for everyone): there is apparently a marquis of showtimes outside the cinema. Made me giggle

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#144 by hanako - Dec 23 2014

whoops brain

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.19 changelog

#145 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 24 2014

* A crash when the cards of girls whose names are ácčèntèd finish moving on some systems has been fixed.
* A crash starting the steam tunnels case after a graffiti artist case fixed.
* A crash after you've successfully neutralized girls forwarding an embarrassing picture fixed.
* A crash when apparently trying to target a Councillor has been improved. (I'm not sure what's causing the crash; the improved version should give more information.)

I've tracked down the OS X lockup, should have a fix for it in 0.8.20.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#146 by zeru57 - Dec 24 2014

Thanks! For what it's worth, today I had a bug on Rowan as traitor. After I picked her as my queen and mislead the organizer on e-mail, the case promptly disappeared. No crash log, I'll see if I can get it to happen again.

Edit: Just verified it still happens (and that the steam tunnels bug is fixed as noted). Without a crash report, how can I get a stack trace to post?

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#147 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 24 2014

The case is supposed to disappear and then reappear after the festival, if you successfully misled the organizer. If it's not reappearing, the best thing to do is upload a savegame affected by the bug (and, if you have one a week or two before the bug, that as well) to http://spikycaterpillar.com/savegame-upload.html - mention what bug(s) the save is supposed to demonstrate in the comments field when uploading.

Stack traces aren't usually that helpful for plot bugs - in the event you want to generate one, something like

renpy.show('crash',what=ui.textbutton('Crash',action=1))

can be used, though.

Elze

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#148 by Elze - Dec 24 2014

Ran into an error and couldn't upload the tracback so here you go:
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 182, in script
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 182, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 66, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 182, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 182, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 66, in upload_traceback
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 1 1 31

Elze

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#149 by Elze - Dec 24 2014

Erm.. And then at some point I attempted to load from my last save, but a prompter said that there was unknown or new data in my save. So I chose the option to upload my save and traceback and boomz- My game closed on its own and this popped up as a txt file:
I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "game/script.rpy", line 23, in script call
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 134, in script
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 137, in <module>
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 187, in script
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 187, in <module>
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 214, in script
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 214, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\bootstrap.py", line 290, in bootstrap
renpy.main.main()
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\main.py", line 350, in main
run(restart)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\main.py", line 77, in run
renpy.execution.run_context(True)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\execution.py", line 515, in run_context
context.run()
File "game/script.rpy", line 23, in script call
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 134, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 137, in <module>
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\game.py", line 283, in call_in_new_context
return renpy.execution.run_context(False)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\execution.py", line 515, in run_context
context.run()
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 187, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 187, in <module>
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\game.py", line 283, in call_in_new_context
return renpy.execution.run_context(False)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\execution.py", line 515, in run_context
context.run()
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 214, in script
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 214, in <module>
File "game/tracebacks.rpy", line 38, in upload_blob
File "game/network.rpy", line 62, in post_data
Exception: An unhandled error occurred trying to encrypt your message.

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 1 1 30

Yuki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#150 by Yuki - Dec 24 2014

Hi there. I've just downloaded and tried to update the game and I'm getting this:

[Could not load http://s14.postimg.org/8b33w0ou5/error.jpg]

I couldn't get anywhere with it, so I just reported it to SC and pressed ignore.

Not a bad game, but I've encountered another problem while playing (it might be related to the update failure):
One of my minions has been locked in a closet during a failed mission. And she's still unavailable after two weeks, but I've still been able to go out with her on weekends. When it's a weekday, she's back in the closet.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#151 by hanako - Dec 24 2014

Elze:
Erm.. And then at some point I attempted to load from my last save, but a prompter said that there was unknown or new data in my save. So I chose the option to upload my save and traceback and boomz- My game closed on its own and this popped up as a txt file:

Your version doesn't have any working encryption, so trying to turn encryption on causes just about everything related to the network to crash. Try going into Privacy Options and telling it not to encrypt anything, then try to upgrade to the most recent build. Until you can update none of your tracebacks are going to be useful, they're all going to end up being encryption errors.

If you still can't upgrade even with encryption switched off, email me so I can send you a more recent installer.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#152 by hanako - Dec 24 2014

Yuki:
Hi there. I've just downloaded and tried to update the game and I'm getting this:

[Could not load http://s14.postimg.org/8b33w0ou5/error.jpg]

I couldn't get anywhere with it, so I just reported it to SC and pressed ignore.

Not a bad game, but I've encountered another problem while playing (it might be related to the update failure):
One of my minions has been locked in a closet during a failed mission. And she's still unavailable after two weeks, but I've still been able to go out with her on weekends. When it's a weekday, she's back in the closet.

Looks like the same issue - encryption isn't actually working in the build you have.

I thought I'd updated the installer that was being given out, but I guess I've been scatterbrained enough to get a bit behind, oops!

Anyway, try disabling encryption and see if you can patch up.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#153 by zeru57 - Dec 24 2014

Spiky Caterpillar:
The case is supposed to disappear and then reappear after the festival, if you successfully misled the organizer.

Sorry, you are right. I think I was a little too tired last night!

Cerberusia

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#154 by Cerberusia - Dec 24 2014

The game threw an error just after the scene where Talmage asks whether Elsa wants to sign a piece of paper to lighten her caseload; I had her refuse, on the grounds that I don't trust Talmage as far as I could throw her. I uploaded the traceback, and have reproduced it here:

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 331, in script call
    
  File "game/jan_plot.rpy", line 2342, in script
    hide rowan
  File "game/jan_plot.rpy", line 2342, in <module>
    hide rowan
NameError: name 'underground_case' is not defined

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
  File "game/script.rpy", line 331, in script call
    
  File "game/jan_plot.rpy", line 2342, in script
    hide rowan
  File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 1545, in execute
    if renpy.python.py_eval(condition):
  File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1419, in py_eval
    return eval(py_compile(source, 'eval'), globals, locals)
  File "game/jan_plot.rpy", line 2342, in <module>
    hide rowan
NameError: name 'underground_case' is not defined

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521
 
Game: BlackCloset-0.8.18

Original version: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 42 Stepping 7, GenuineIntel
Game Time: 1 1 19

Yuki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#155 by Yuki - Dec 24 2014

hanako:
Anyway, try disabling encryption and see if you can patch up.

Still not updating, unfortunately. I've tried disabling the network access, too and I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling, but the same thing happens.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#156 by hanako - Dec 24 2014

Well, if you disable network access then you obviously can't upgrade, since it wouldn't be able to download patches from the network anymore.

The privacy option should be set to 'Never encrypt anything' which will stop encryption errors from occurring - you still might get totally different errors, but not the same one that you screenshotted about the encryption, if you see what I mean.

Otherwise, see if your original download email still works and lets you get the latest installer, since I just changed it this morning. I'm not sure if they'd expire your download for that or not (if it's expired, forward it to me and I can generate a fresh download)

Spiky Caterpillar

#157 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 24 2014

Cerberusia:
The game threw an error just after the scene where Talmage asks whether Elsa wants to sign a piece of paper to lighten her caseload; I had her refuse, on the grounds that I don't trust Talmage as far as I could throw her. I uploaded the traceback, and have reproduced it here:

Did you have any previous ignored errors? (Note to self: need to make sure it actually NOTES ignored errors in tracebacks)

Yuki:
One of my minions has been locked in a closet during a failed mission. And she's still unavailable after two weeks, but I've still been able to go out with her on weekends. When it's a weekday, she's back in the closet.

Interesting. I'll poke at it, can you upload a save with her stuck in the closet to http://spikycaterpillar.com/savegame-upload.html?

Cerberusia

Re:

#158 by Cerberusia - Dec 24 2014

Spiky Caterpillar:
Cerberusia:
The game threw an error just after the scene where Talmage asks whether Elsa wants to sign a piece of paper to lighten her caseload; I had her refuse, on the grounds that I don't trust Talmage as far as I could throw her. I uploaded the traceback, and have reproduced it here:
Did you have any previous ignored errors? (Note to self: need to make sure it actually NOTES ignored errors in tracebacks)

Yes, I did - there was one just after the scene Talmage informs Elsa of the tunnels at the start of term, and the error itself was the same. I uploaded it, if that helps?

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.21 changelog

#159 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 25 2014

* Marquis of showtimes deposed, now we get them from a marquee.
* Bug where you could invite Althea to the planetarium twice on your first playthrough fixed.
* Lockup when you go to the preferences screen on a Mac fixed.
* Debug messages adjusted.
( 0.8.20.1 was here)
* A crash starting the underground case fixed.
* crash_ignored flag will be included in tracebacks and saves (assuming the crash was ignored in 0.8.21 or later)
(There's also a debugger-use flag, but that's not fully hooked up)

Cerberusia:
Spiky Caterpillar:
Cerberusia:
The game threw an error just after the scene where Talmage asks whether Elsa wants to sign a piece of paper to lighten her caseload; I had her refuse, on the grounds that I don't trust Talmage as far as I could throw her. I uploaded the traceback, and have reproduced it here:
Did you have any previous ignored errors? (Note to self: need to make sure it actually NOTES ignored errors in tracebacks)
Yes, I did - there was one just after the scene Talmage informs Elsa of the tunnels at the start of term, and the error itself was the same. I uploaded it, if that helps?

Ah, what's happening is a bunch of semester 2 scenes check the status of the steam tunnels case, and since it crashed starting semester 2 the case isn't there to check. You'll need to play through the beginning of semester 2 again to properly create the case.

Yuki

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#160 by Yuki - Dec 26 2014

I reloaded your latest installer. It's updating okay now and seems to be working fine.

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.23 changelog

#161 by Spiky Caterpillar - Dec 29 2014

Removed the 'Reload' button from the traceback screen, since it generally causes weird behavior.
Should now tell me if cheat codes were used in tracebacks.
Loadsave tweaks. Saves started in versions >= 0.8.23 will no longer leak 'could not resolve case' errors (they were caused by the tutorial target not having a real case attached.)
Some bugs where you could get an extra gossip response appended to the page fixed.
Can only tell Rowan about Vonne's opinion of her if Vonne's actually given you her opinion.
More crashes gossipping with girls from the hazing case fixed.
Unicode crash in finish_card_movement fixed.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#162 by Franka - Jan 2 2015

Time for me to wait for achievements.

I've... played too much to do it again without a goal.

Spiky Caterpillar

0.8.28 changelog

#163 by Spiky Caterpillar - Jan 6 2015

A crash in one conversation option after picking Althea as your queen is fixed.
Debug messages trimmed.
Checkerboard removed from UAC updater.
The City no longer stays active in a certain case when there are no longer actions you can do on it.
Stray pixels on the folders in load cleaned up.
Bug that could turn Thaïs invisible on her second line in the harvest queen selection scene fixed.
Minions now actually escape from the closet if they get trapped in it.
A crash starting the special case in January if you had previously had a failed political protest case has been fixed.
Another CG added. Content warning: legs.
A couple of Althea's scenes that were showing up even when you'd failed her path no longer show.
Achievements are mostly in. (Except the CG-unlocking achievement, since we don't have all the CGs in yet.)
Transition out of a certain Vonne scene slightly smoother.
Controller screen cleaned up.
Low-level controller interface reworked - it will now treat any unassigned joysticks on a controller as left-right-up-down (note that the default binds use the second joystick for rollback, so it's not unassigned.), and all unassigned buttons as click (buttons 0, 2, 4, etc) or menu (buttons 1, 3, 5...). That should make it harder for controller-only players to wind up configuring the game to be unplayable on their controller.
An extra picture is available on one epilogue option.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#164 by hanako - Jan 6 2015

I see he's trying not to give too much away.

I'll just say, there's a checklist item that unlocks a special epilogue photo... which will have a full image once we have a CG gallery. For the moment there's just that teaser.

I'm planning to hide the current checklist-unlocked popups when they've been thoroughly tested, but they're useful at the moment so you can be sure stuff works.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#165 by Franka - Jan 6 2015

I see some achievements that leave me clueless, but I'll get on some of them at least. You had to go and do two minions, didn't you? That's gotta require some serious save scumming.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#166 by hanako - Jan 6 2015

Have you figured out how to get down to two minions?

I honestly have not achieved that one yet myself (I got to the boss battle and lost, but it was my own fault for having started the attempt from an old save where I didn't have loyalty points correctly distributed for the final.)

But with enough planning, it shouldn't be too bad, since you won't drop down to two minions until quite late in the game and you can coast to the end on your existing karma/rep even if you start losing cases. (This is also a time where 'Suspend' can be handy, since it doesn't need a minion.)

(edit: Actually, I went back, continued that save game til the last possible week, boosted my stats, had an extremely tense boss battle, and claimed a two-minion victory (which was really only ONE minion throughout the second half of the boss battle!). So now I can say I've done it)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#167 by Franka - Jan 6 2015

hanako:
Have you figured out how to get down to two minions?

Not quite, I have an idea, but it needs testing.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#168 by Franka - Jan 7 2015

Ok, I don't know how to do 2 minion. On the other hand, 3 minion? No problem. (The time for this one reflects that I left the game open while doing other things.)

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#169 by hanako - Jan 7 2015

Not-too-spoilery hint: The route to get down to two minions is related to one of the other checklist items, drive a minion insane with jealousy

It can only be done if Althea or Thais is the mole to start with.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#170 by Franka - Jan 7 2015

Amusingly, that's the only minion achievement I haven't unlocked.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#171 by hanako - Jan 7 2015

Well, that should give you some idea of which minion it relates to, then?

Play hot and cold with her, pull her close and then push her away, but never quite hard enough to make her leave you completely... eventually she'll snap.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#172 by Franka - Jan 7 2015

I haven't tried for it yet, but yes, I can guess who it relates to.

There was another one that took a lot more work than I figured (meaning starting a new game and playing all the way through rather than just loading up an old one), so haven't had time to go for it. Probably won't be till the weekend.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#173 by zeru57 - Jan 8 2015

In a recent play through where Vonne was the traitor, after her reveal and the harvest festival, she kept finding lemons in the storage closet. It was as though she never got her act together. IDK if it was just dumb luck, or the failure to reorient the behind the scenes dice roll, but it happened enough that I wanted to report it.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#174 by Franka - Jan 10 2015

Wow, did I ever put my loyalty on the wrong people. Yeah, that's gonna require a fresh start.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#175 by hanako - Jan 10 2015

Hehehe.

In original design, Vonne started out totally sympathetic (more of her story is true to my life than most of the others) and Mallory was the creepiest one, because on her mole path it would have been revealed that she was much older than she looked and entered the school JUST to sabotage it from the inside. However, as design continued and I started making the characters more consistent between paths instead of them having totally different personalities if they were the mole, Mallory's motivations changed and Vonne's overall personality started sounding a little more... obsessive.

She also gets different epilogue text if she goes full yandere, but fear not, this is not School Days!

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#176 by Franka - Jan 10 2015

And then I couldn't get her to break. Weird, I thought I made the same choices. Well, it'll have to wait then.

There aren't loyalty requirements or something sneaky like that?

EDIT: Never mind, I could do it with Althea.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#177 by hanako - Jan 10 2015

Althea or Thais has to be the mole that you expel early, because you want Mallory and Rowan on your team for Vonne to feel threatened by. Vonne really doesn't care what you do with Thais.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#178 by Franka - Jan 10 2015

I tried with Althea as the mole, but then I couldn't trigger the flake out. It worked fine with Thaïs as the mole, but then Althea didn't have enough loyalty, and the fight was pretty intense. That was extra hard of course, since Althea was absent all the time.

Anyway, only one left now. For this one, I am clueless.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#179 by zeru57 - Jan 10 2015

hanako:
Hehehe.

In original design, Vonne started out totally sympathetic (more of her story is true to my life than most of the others) and Mallory was the creepiest one, because on her mole path it would have been revealed that she was much older than she looked and entered the school JUST to sabotage it from the inside. However, as design continued and I started making the characters more consistent between paths instead of them having totally different personalities if they were the mole, Mallory's motivations changed and Vonne's overall personality started sounding a little more... obsessive.

She also gets different epilogue text if she goes full yandere, but fear not, this is not School Days!

Regarding Mallory, I assume this is partly why Thais still refers to her as "faker than zirconia" in one of her dialogs.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#180 by hanako - Jan 10 2015

zeru57:
Regarding Mallory, I assume this is partly why Thais still refers to her as "faker than zirconia" in one of her dialogs.

A little maybe, but mostly she just hates overly polite and friendly people. Bundle of spikes and bundle of sunshine don't get along well. (Mallory/Thais crackshipping? I can't imagine how that would work.)

Franka:
Anyway, only one left now. For this one, I am clueless.

It's practically an easter egg, and the whole CG isn't there yet. Should I hint or wait until later?

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#181 by Franka - Jan 10 2015

You can wait, let more people have a go at it. Once the CG is in, you gotta hint me though.

Even if it's through PM.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#182 by zeru57 - Jan 11 2015

I'm impressed at Franka's thoroughness! I'm about halfway through the checklist - I've got 6 checks, plus, I've lost a queen to the red mask and used a minion as a slave in earlier versions. Honestly, the most delightful and unexpected was running the lemonade stand!

I haven't yet played through Thais's paths, and that should take off a couple more.

Other than Vonne's propensity for lemons above, I don't think I've found anymore bugs/issues except the obvious unfinished business of the credits. Anything to focus on in my next playthroughs as far as testing goes?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#183 by hanako - Jan 11 2015

Not really anything specific - we're mostly concerned with bugs and unexpected behaviors in things we HAVEN'T remembered to intentionally test recently.

Since there are so many conversation options, and so many things you can do during cases (some of which are stupid), and so many combinations with all the randomness... So just playing around, trying different things, and keeping an eye out for tracebacks or errors in the log files. Sometimes the code forgets to sub in names, for instance, so you might find a log referring to %student or something.

(The lemons were probably just bad luck.)

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#184 by zeru57 - Jan 11 2015

hanako:
Not really anything specific - we're mostly concerned with bugs and unexpected behaviors in things we HAVEN'T remembered to intentionally test recently.

Probably as I get better, I'm getting closer to the "relentlessly tested parts." I'll try to start playing like a newbie/get some members of my household to pick up the game. ;)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#185 by Franka - Jan 11 2015

Indeed. My main issue as a "tester" is that I've learned the ropes now, so I don't do the unexpected when it comes to cases. I know what works, even if I might not always know the most efficient way to do it. On the other hand, I've been _fairly_ thorough in exploring various conversation trees and shaking those up in each new playthrough.

Fresh eyes will be much better at messing with the cases.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#186 by hanako - Jan 11 2015

Fear not, there are more players out there than those who post a lot in this thread.

Anyway, we've got a while to wait for the artist to finish doing the harvest queen pictures, so feedback will trickle in.

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#187 by FantasyFan - Jan 11 2015

I'm getting the error message when I try to start the game again. Also, I can't download the newest version because the link from my alpha testing email says the password's expired.

My game reviewing blog.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#188 by hanako - Jan 11 2015

Which error message?

I can send fresh downloads if you forward me your receipt but I can't always remember whose account is whose off the top of my head.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#189 by Franka - Jan 12 2015

hanako:
Fear not, there are more players out there than those who post a lot in this thread.

I should hope so! Of course they're more than welcome to come here and tell me why my Rowan obsession is wrong.

One thing I thought of. The 2, 3 and 4 minion achievements are slightly misleading, since you can finish ("win") the game without the final fight, but that won't count.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#190 by Franka - Jan 12 2015

Silly thing I did: Sedate somebody 5 times. It didn't have the effect I was hoping for. On the other hand, I started my own drug ring afterwards.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#191 by Franka - Jan 12 2015

Another silly thing I did:

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#192 by hanako - Jan 12 2015

How did that happen?

FantasyFan

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#193 by FantasyFan - Jan 12 2015

hanako:
Which error message?

I can send fresh downloads if you forward me your receipt but I can't always remember whose account is whose off the top of my head.

This one. Not sure if it's the same message I got before or not.

I'm sorry, but an uncaught exception occurred.

While running game code:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\Liesel\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

-- Full Traceback ------------------------------------------------------------

Full traceback:
File "renpy/common/00start.rpy", line 138, in script call
call _load_reload_game from _call__load_reload_game_1
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 309, in script
python hide:
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\ast.py", line 756, in execute
renpy.python.py_exec_bytecode(self.code.bytecode, self.hide, store=self.store)
File "C:\games\Black Closet\renpy\python.py", line 1385, in py_exec_bytecode
exec bytecode in globals, locals
File "renpy/common/00keymap.rpy", line 319, in <module>
renpy.load("_reload-2")
File "game/nopickles.rpy", line 36, in renpy_loadsave_load
File "game/students.rpy", line 1228, in open
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\Liesel\\AppData\\Roaming/RenPy/BlackCloset\\_reload-2.bcs'

Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1
Ren'Py 6.17.7.521

Game: BlackCloset-0.8.5
Renderer: gl 1366x768
OS: Windows 7 6.1.7601 AMD64 Intel64 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 5, GenuineIntel

I'll send you my receipt for a new copy.

My game reviewing blog.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#194 by Franka - Jan 12 2015

hanako:
How did that happen?

Lemons, darling. Plenty of lemons. Very fashionable to show off your lemon eating skills before Miss Talmage.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#195 by hanako - Jan 12 2015

mmmmm, lemons.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#196 by Franka - Jan 13 2015

I was trying to think outside the box. 5 sedatives didn't have much of an effect (consider that a suggestion though), but made me curious what would happen if I brought an offering of lemons.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#197 by hanako - Jan 13 2015

special ending: kill someone by an overdose of sedatives?

That might go slightly over the line for how dark I want to get.

(Right now I think the worst thing that can happen is failing the underground case on the cultist variant.)

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#198 by zeru57 - Jan 13 2015

Franka:
I was trying to think outside the box. 5 sedatives didn't have much of an effect (consider that a suggestion though), but made me curious what would happen if I brought an offering of lemons.

That's an awful broad definition of "seduce" you have there!

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#199 by Franka - Jan 13 2015

hanako:
special ending: kill someone by an overdose of sedatives?

That sounds cooler than -15 x4.

Well, it didn't have to go that far, but just something interesting could happen.

zeru57:
That's an awful broad definition of "seduce" you have there!

Hey, seduce/sedate, it's just a couple of letters.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#200 by zeru57 - Jan 14 2015

So, I've posted about the minions and Elsa in other threads, and I just want to leave some general feedback here.

I found Hanako games through Summer Session last year, because I was looking for dating sims at the time. I really liked Hanako's writing through that game, and it made me want to play more from her. So I picked up Long Live the Queen, and was pleasantly surprised. Black Closet is the third game of Hanako's that I've really given time and attention to.

In progressing through the games, at each interval the quality improves. None are bad, but Black Closet is the most polished, expansive feeling game. It has the highest replay value IMHO. LLTQ feels much more rigid in comparison. BC feels like a Summer Session sequel in that you get an entire school year with your love interests, and you get to know them better.

Obviously SS wasn't a Hanako/Spiky collaboration, but you get my point. The quality keeps going up.

From a game play perspective, BC holds my interest through multiple play throughs. I find the characters to be compelling. I like the writing. I like the setting. I like the story. I like the way it makes me think about lots of aspects to the story. It makes me think about myself and the decisions I make in life. It poses questions of ambition, authoritarianism, kindness, and socialization, and asks them in a way that it gets the player involved beyond just, what do I need to do to solve this case. The player has to create their own moral code and act on it. And that makes the game interesting. The player can get to graduation in any number of ways, it's a lot like life in that way.

So overall, I enjoy Black Closet very much. I like where this game is going, and I enjoy playing it. I give everyone involved a big hand in creating something so enjoyable.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#201 by zeru57 - Jan 14 2015

Franka:
Just wanted to say thanks for this game, because anything else would be rude. I've been busy playing, which of course is the greatest compliment of all.
...
If I could choose, I would have more romance. I applaud the slightly naughty turns the actual romances take, even if they sometimes come out of left field (ok Vonne, today we're going to... ). Fan sketches in that vein might pop up some day, who knows?

So thank you, all of you involved in this, from plotting and gameplay to graphics. It's a lovely game, and I hope it will be successful.

And I want to second all of this, even if it does reiterate some of my other feedback.

Cherie0

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#202 by Cherie0 - Jan 14 2015

I wonder if this is an appropriate question to ask. Pardon me, if it isn't.

How many updates have been pushed out so far since the very first release build?

Can you just play it as it is, or are players who are much more suited for alpha-testing preferred at this point?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#203 by hanako - Jan 14 2015

I really don't remember how many patches have been pushed so far. None for a few days because I'm writing LLTQ content and waiting on the artist to finish more CGs, but this game is still incomplete and there will be many more updates.

If you buy the game you need to immediately patch up to fix bugs since the last installer, and along with any bugs there are still obvious things missing (all the harvest queen CGs, the gallery, the jukebox....) It's certainly possible to play it to the end, but it's clearly not done.

If you're not interested in messing with patches and playing things multiple times to see changes you probably want to wait for beta at least. I will change the thread name to beta when I think the game is content-complete.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#204 by Franka - Jan 14 2015

On my last game I had only one actual error throughout. It was a fatal error though, and I had to go back to an earlier save. So, it's not full of bugs in its current state, it's absolutely playable, and multiple saves are always a good idea in any game. The gameplay is fully functional, existing story lines can be completed, but not all the "rewards" are in yet, and you never know if more gameplay content will be added. Please?

Regarding jukebox. Sorry if I've never commented on the music, but I've played with no sound for 99.9% of my play time. Approximately.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#205 by hanako - Jan 14 2015

Which is sad considering how many tracks there are

but they're also mostly designed to be unobtrusive and with two or three exceptions I can't imagine why anyone would want to play them separately. But people complain if I don't give them the option!

Storywise I still have "make vonne deliver valentines if you're not on any other path at that point" on my list of scenes to write eventually.

I feel sort of bad that there isn't more information in about the different colleges Elsa might be going to, but I'm not quite sure how best to work with that given the format, at the moment. I'm trying to keep actions and judgments forced upon the player to an absolute minimum, which makes it hard to sit down and do a "You would like this because" speech.

Artifacts of game design again - in the very earliest iterations of this concept, it wasn't going through the whole year, so the idea of college applications got spliced in later. My sister actually works in the admissions office for a university, and when the game length began to extend it was obvious that applying for schools is too major a part of a high school senior's life to leave out. But it wasn't worked in as a key element early on. In-character Elsa would already have a lot of research into schools done before we get to where the game begins.

Also, every college name I've listed is a reference to a specific US school, but in an obscure my-brain way to avoid their legal departments getting mad at me.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#206 by zeru57 - Jan 14 2015

Franka:
Regarding jukebox. Sorry if I've never commented on the music, but I've played with no sound for 99.9% of my play time. Approximately.

Love the music for this game. Perfect.

Also uncovered another small bug. For most cases if you undertake an action that solves the case, all other pending actions for that case are canceled and the case is immediately closed out and solved. However, For the Secret Society case, if you question a girl and find out it's a poetry club, but you've assigned another minion to harass the second girl, that minion will still harass the girl, you'll take the karma hit, and the case doesn't get closed out until the next day.

Also, in situations where you solve a case, and it gets closed out, the training points aren't available until the next day. I notice this because I often schedule minions to train immediately after a case gets wrapped up since they don't have anything else to do. IDK if it's possible, but if those training points are available immediately when the case closes, then the player wouldn't have to schedule the minion to train again if they wanted to max out all points on her.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#207 by hanako - Jan 14 2015

zeru57:
Also, in situations where you solve a case, and it gets closed out, the training points aren't available until the next day. I notice this because I often schedule minions to train immediately after a case gets wrapped up since they don't have anything else to do. IDK if it's possible, but if those training points are available immediately when the case closes, then the player wouldn't have to schedule the minion to train again if they wanted to max out all points on her.

Are you certain? I'm sure I've had situations where a case closing during the day immediately made the extra training points available in a previously-scheduled training session.

There are a number of cases that won't close until the next day - it usually has to do with slightly different storylines and (in my headspace) an off-screen action taking place. Like, when you get the good student to agree to study with the bad student, the case doesn't close until the next morning because her agreement doesn't mean it's actually happened yet.... after your action, those characters would go and meet up, and you'd get the final results the next day.

And in those cases the training points wouldn't be available yet.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#208 by Franka - Jan 14 2015

I'm pretty sure it's working as intended. Some cases just need that day to end before they're considered resolved. Others resolve immediately, and if they do, you get the training points immediately as well.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#209 by zeru57 - Jan 14 2015

Franka:
I'm pretty sure it's working as intended. Some cases just need that day to end before they're considered resolved. Others resolve immediately, and if they do, you get the training points immediately as well.

Yep, you're correct. Sorry about that.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#210 by zeru57 - Jan 20 2015

I've recently started playing on "High Stakes", and I'm wondering if in addition to the lack of altered die rolls, do the stats of the targets get higher? I've started out a few games and wound up with rooms at 50 visibility and 50 cover in the first week or two. Some characters seem to have noticeably higher stats as well. Maybe it's just my imagination?

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#211 by zeru57 - Jan 20 2015

hanako:
There are a number of cases that won't close until the next day - it usually has to do with slightly different storylines and (in my headspace) an off-screen action taking place. Like, when you get the good student to agree to study with the bad student, the case doesn't close until the next morning because her agreement doesn't mean it's actually happened yet.... after your action, those characters would go and meet up, and you'd get the final results the next day.

And in those cases the training points wouldn't be available yet.

I agree with this logic. However, I still think the Secret Society should close out immediately once they find out it's a Poetry Club. To me it's the same thing as when they see the painting and it's fine in "But is it Art?"

I just did another play through. First time I've beaten the game on the "High Stakes" setting. I barely solved the steam tunnels case in time.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#212 by hanako - Jan 20 2015

IIRC my headlogic for that was that if someone claims that their secret club is a poetry club, they might be lying, so you need to go confirm that offscreen. (There's always the possibility of a case being added where they really ARE lying about it!)

But if you find the secret club meeting and see with your own eyes that it's really just a poetry club, then it does close instantly instead of waiting for the next day. (At least, it's supposed to, but I'm not sure how many people actually manage to find the club's location and spy on the meeting, especially since just asking closes the case faster than waiting for a meeting does.)

I can possibly be talked out of it, I'm just explaining how/why it currently works

And congratulations for winning on the higher difficulty! We don't currently have an achievement for that because the difficulty can be swapped in mid-game. There may at some point be a "start in hard mode" option to set the game to hard when you begin and keep a variable to keep track of whether you stayed that way all the way through.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#213 by zeru57 - Jan 20 2015

hanako:
IIRC my headlogic for that was that if someone claims that their secret club is a poetry club, they might be lying, so you need to go confirm that offscreen. (There's always the possibility of a case being added where they really ARE lying about it!)

But if you find the secret club meeting and see with your own eyes that it's really just a poetry club, then it does close instantly instead of waiting for the next day. (At least, it's supposed to, but I'm not sure how many people actually manage to find the club's location and spy on the meeting, especially since just asking closes the case faster than waiting for a meeting does.)

I can possibly be talked out of it, I'm just explaining how/why it currently works

I can see that. I don't remember the dialog when the case closes - I'll look for it.

And congratulations for winning on the higher difficulty! We don't currently have an achievement for that because the difficulty can be swapped in mid-game. There may at some point be a "start in hard mode" option to set the game to hard when you begin and keep a variable to keep track of whether you stayed that way all the way through.

Thanks!

Lots of points at the game were just about surviving. Rowan was the mole which made the first two months extremely difficult to get through from a karma standpoint. Fortunately, I didn't get many girls/rooms with unwindable stats to start out. I didn't have any observation items so I kept failing the steam tunnel test after I found the unlocked door and had to push Rowan's stats into the stratosphere.

Somehow, I ended up solving 94% of the cases, although i was at something like 68 Karma and 60 Reputation at the end. That wasn't what I expected at the beginning!

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#214 by Franka - Jan 20 2015

hanako:
But if you find the secret club meeting and see with your own eyes that it's really just a poetry club, then it does close instantly instead of waiting for the next day. (At least, it's supposed to, but I'm not sure how many people actually manage to find the club's location and spy on the meeting, especially since just asking closes the case faster than waiting for a meeting does.)

I've found the meeting, because I usually go straight to Stalk on Secret Society, but then I Search the location instead of Stake Out, and that doesn't close the case outright.

zeru57:
Somehow, I ended up solving 94% of the cases, although i was at something like 68 Karma and 60 Reputation at the end. That wasn't what I expected at the beginning!

You did much better than me, I had 9 reputation left the first time I played High Stakes. Of course, that was also the first time I completed the game...

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#215 by hanako - Jan 20 2015

Search doesn't see the actual meeting either iirc, you just find a clue. Guard and Stake Out, on the night when the meeting actually takes place, will close it.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#216 by Franka - Jan 20 2015

hanako:
Search doesn't see the actual meeting either iirc, you just find a clue. Guard and Stake Out, on the night when the meeting actually takes place, will close it.

Yep, it was one of the things I wanted to try out in my "Try things in cases you don't usually try" playthrough. Then I got sidetracked.

Cherie0

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#217 by Cherie0 - Jan 21 2015

I've gotten around to the finish of one storyline route. Fun game overall, with only one major crash during the latter part of the game. Which caused me to have to reload a save from a previous week, as the current week's save was corrupted.

My only wish, is the ability to take your romance beyond graduation. Granted I've only played Althea's romance route. But it seems like the romance came to a halt prematurely after you finished your time at school. I know the aftermath CGs are not in yet, but I don't see any text mention about you and your love interest together. Perhaps it's a dose of realism in a sense.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#218 by hanako - Jan 21 2015

Hopefully you uploaded whatever your crash was?

Althea's path has multiple possible epilogues - I'm not sure which one you got, but how much you see each other after graduation can change.

The absolute top score romantic epilogue suggests that she and Elsa are still meeting up over the summers, but no matter what you are going to different universities and you're not going to be seeing each other that much. Graduation is the impending doom that cannot be avoided, alas.

I'm not currently planning aftermath CGs except for the special easter egg one, though - the missing graphics at this point are the Harvest Queen pictures, so every pairing gets to look dramatic together in pretty costumes.

Cherie0

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#219 by Cherie0 - Jan 21 2015

I got the one where Althea had a new girlfriend who was into voodoo. Looks like mine wasn't the version with a good romance score.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#220 by zeru57 - Jan 27 2015

I don't know if this is a bug or not, but using the "software" video driver turns everything blue on my Mac. If I use auto it is fine.

I accidentally switched and was quite puzzled for a while.

Spiky Caterpillar

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#221 by Spiky Caterpillar - Jan 27 2015

zeru57:
I don't know if this is a bug or not, but using the "software" video driver turns everything blue on my Mac. If I use auto it is fine.

I accidentally switched and was quite puzzled for a while.

Known bug in the engine, but it's a little too deep for me to fix and the hardware driver works on all Macs I've seen. If anyone ever finds a Mac where auto picks the software renderer I want to know, though.

Spiky Caterpillar

0.9.4 changelog

#222 by Spiky Caterpillar - Feb 1 2015

User-visible changes between 0.8.28 and 0.9.4:

* Crash in the epilogue (when you unlock that last CG in the gallery) fixed.
* 'Win with X minions' checklist items only unlock if you win with exactly X.
* Fix for crash loading a save that contained a checklist notification.
* Fix for a load warning.
* Should no longer crash loading a save that contains a standard Ren'Py notify screen.
* Festival queen CGs added.
* CG album added. You'll need to play through the parts where CGs are unlocked to actually unlock them in the album.
* Extras screen.
* Soundtrack screen.
* Credits should be complete (with the addition of the credit for our CG artist, sarana)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#223 by Franka - Feb 1 2015

Sooo..... about that final CG/achievement.... any hints?

Thaïs queen CG is definitely my favorite btw.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#224 by hanako - Feb 1 2015

Hint 1 - To hit on Talmage, you need to have first completely muffed up any relationship with your Queen.

Hint 2 - The key moment is very late in the game.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#225 by Franka - Feb 1 2015

I take it losing your Queen to the Red Masks is not a way to go?

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#226 by hanako - Feb 1 2015

I think in most cases the girls will forgive you for that one, since it could have been an honest mistake instead of you outright being a jerk.

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#227 by Franka - Feb 1 2015

All right, then I have to hunt for a good save to start from. I should have named them better.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#228 by hanako - Feb 1 2015

(It may not help to know that when I say late... I mean the very last choice you'll make in the game.)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#229 by Franka - Feb 1 2015

Them is a lot of hints, but I failed awfully at making anybody hate me today. Will have to try later.

I really wish for some way to check loyalty later on, my saves are SO confusing.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#230 by hanako - Feb 2 2015

They don't necessarily have to have terrible loyalty scores. They can be loyal minions who just are definitely not having a relationship with you. (A non-traitorous Rowan that you DON'T enslave and therefore don't get any events with after the carnival should count. Any queen who refuses to go to the carnival with you at all should count. And various paths where you can give them the brush-off hard enough that they stop turning up to talk to you, since not everyone is obsessive. I haven't tested with every possible failure state though, so weird outcomes could be lurking somewhere!)

Sorry, this one really is extremely hard to get (partly because some people will squick at any implication of teacher/student so it's buried away where you REALLY have to be trying to find it)

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#231 by Franka - Feb 2 2015

Yah, I understand, I just screwed up, first loading a save where it probably would have worked fine, but I thought it hadn't, then loading an old save where I simply couldn't sabotage the relationship, but overwriting the saves from the first attempt.

I don't know if it's that hard to get, I'm making it harder myself by fiddling around with old saves where I really don't have any idea what I've been doing or how far I am in any given relationship. That's what I get for trying to use shortcuts.

zeru57

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#232 by zeru57 - Feb 2 2015

Those new CG's are gorgeous!

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#233 by Franka - Feb 2 2015

Right, thanks for all the help.

One of your hints was misleading, this was the very last choice I made in my game:

And a bug occurred in the epilogue:

Even though this one stumped me, I'd have to say that the one thing I would never, ever have figured out on my own was "Drive Minion Mad with Jealousy", and consequently "Win with Two Council Minions" - even knowing what to do, I feel like it only worked by complete accident.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#234 by hanako - Feb 2 2015

Okay, misremembering, but it was at least PRETTY late in the game

Franka

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#235 by Franka - Feb 2 2015

If I had stalled, it probably would have been the last choice.

hanako

Re: Black Closet - Alpha Testing / Discount Copies

#236 by hanako - Feb 3 2015

We are getting close to beta-state now, although a few new cases are still slowly leaking in.

Helpful things to do testing-wise: suspend and expel people, even if it doesn't make sense. Guard rooms even if it doesn't make sense. These are less-common actions where bugs are more likely to slip through. (I just discovered that expelling the nude model had no result assigned! Oops.)

Spiky Caterpillar

Beta 0.9.13.1!

#237 by Spiky Caterpillar - Feb 4 2015

New beta patch!

Changes between 0.9.4 and 0.9.13.1:

The biggest technical change is that encryption should now actually work reliably on Windows. To enable it, go to Options: Privacy Options and select 'Encrypt license keys and tracebacks', then click the 'Install GPG' button. (Encryption on Mac is also planned; encryption on Linux has been there from the beginning). If you're interested in testing the crypto, feedback on the 'more info' segment would also be helpful - are there questions that should be explained inside the game?

Two new vandalism case variants have been added. The code that checks to see if a case can be started is less likely to be confused by those cases that have a handful of rare locations attached as well as the common ones.

The tutorial should now explain multi-councillor actions better.

Some persistent and save warnings have been cleaned up.

Jukebox buttons no longer hop all over the place like mad, and the CG album's back button now has an opaque background.

Should now give an error message instead of a new traceback if a traceback upload fails because it couldn't find the server (... which happens when Spiky forgets a router is off.)

Not shown: several bugs fixed in the new features, approximately 32768 lines saying something like 'Fixed stupid bug X, encryption should now work', 'Fixed stupid bug Y in fix for X, encryption should REALLY work.'

Hanako Games