7 replies to this topic

[olazaboll]

Hello

If I beta test someones course I like to be somewhat guided to make the test as efficiant as possible.

What are you designers look for in particular ? Any tips on strategy how to lay up the beta session ?

For the moment I can only gove you advice on gameplay and the course. I don´t have acess to CF atm.

 

Thank You

Ola ( ...at you service  )

[Kablammo11]

The really, really, really serious beta testers will test the course from each available tee and putting at each available pin from every available angle until mental exhaustion sets in. I'm not one of those, but they are true heroes worthy of admiration.

 

Not having any CF experience will limit your feedback options, Ola. Knowing how things are made and should be made would enable you to spot wonky spots much more reliably.

 

Try and report back about:

 

• General performance and fps issues throughout a round. There are fps hotspots.
• Things that look odd or wrong or strange to you and strike you as a mistake.
• Gameplay issues that impacted your round: Fairways too narrow, greens too slopy, shot point misleading etc
• Your very personal impressions about the atmosphere and and the design of the course.
• When reporting any issue, providing a screen capture is very helpful. Report the hole where you found it.

 

And try not to design other people's courses by proxy - by rating your personal tastes higher than theirs. Respect the design, but feel free make suggestions if you think that they could make the course better. Be frank, but respectful. And never use politics to promote your own work at  the expense of others or join designers cliques who are doing that. We currently have none of these, but they are bound to emerge with time.

[olazaboll]

Thx K11 that was helpful ...regarding Pins ... How do I spot the various pins ,,, In Links you can choose a pin number if I like , I can have them all shown in pracitce mode ...even though only one is playable ... I havent seen feature like this in PG .

[Kablammo11]

Yep. In PG you would have to restart a round with a different set of pins. And then restart. And once more, etc. Testing also requires you to test the pins under soft, normal and hard ground settings and at different stimps. I don't do that, btw. I usually test my own courses by playing test rounds from different tees at different pins with different ground and stimp settings. For the rest, I have guys like you doing the leg work...

 

The next update of PG will contain a new practice mode, btw, that will let you place your ball wherever you want, teleport to a certain hole and also change its weather, wind directions and ground conditions. Not sure if that also includes changing the pins, though. But it sounds like it should and if it doesn't, that would be a really powerful "feature request" right there!

Anyway, that new practice mode will certainly make life a bit easier for the testers. 

[AwYea]

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[AwYea]

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[clubcaptain]

I can do testing. I've got the time. I've done course testing in other games and when working, usertesting was  part of my job.

[Ian]

I've retired now, so would be very happy to test any course. I play with 3 friends every day and because we play alt shot, we seem to find lots of bugs quite quickly. If anyone requires a course to be tested just let me know.