Off Topic Productions

I donno, we should probably compile it before the *last* minute, just so we can be sure it has everything. ANd we can always just edit the script it we change the lines any.

If we sic the Beta testers on the game within the next two weeks we should have a fair amount of feedback before recording starts.

I don't have a link, but I think it's in the Beta thread. If not, I believe it's either in the teamftp/temp or trestkon folders.

Yeah, it should be: http://thenamelessmod.com/teamftp/temp/ ... 20Test.exe

Oh yeah I guess we can just change the script. Still, let's not do it until around August 1.

I'd really like to put the first beta out next weekend. Nick seems to be making really good progress on the item replacement, and Chris is almost done with the DXI remake. That leaves the PDX sniping bug and the last issue with the platform game, and Shane is nicely active these days, so I think we can do it.

So how are our actresses coming along? We got two now, right? In fact what is the general recording status atm? Did we give Mike Myers a new part to record yet?

Hehe, forum chatter is basically the only thing keeping me awake this morning. Stupid Mondays :-p

Beta this weekend would be optimal, I think. We have to be sure to build in at least a day of lag from when I compile it to when we want the testers to have it, though. Just so a couple team members can verify that I haven't screwed something up :-p We should double check with Nick and Chris to make sure we can have it done, and then mail the testers. I'll be home right after work today at the usual time (4:45 pm) my time so we can talk about it if you're around. How's your friend going with the manual layout?

Let me see what I can sum up in the VA department from memory. Myers was interested in the Kashue part, but a bit weary of the line count. I sent him the lines this morning to review and I'm 99% sure he'll end up doing it, I think he was just afraid we might want them done in a week, or something.

I've asked Chris (the Beefman guy) to submit one more small sample with the changes we wanted, and then he'll be off and running with those. He also said he pointed a female our way, but I haven't heard from her so I'll have to ask him about that.

We actually seem to only have one female. I can't remember what happened to the other one off the top of my head, but I think I just haven't heard back from her. The girl doing the DTFemale resumes recording today and should have the last couple of lines done shortly, and then I'll ship her the GoatFemale lines. Speaking of those, have you had a chance to revamp those barks?

There are also a couple of peole doing random small parts (Slicer is supposed to be voicing a couple aliens) who I poke randomly. And Daniel just has one Yardbomb line to turn in before they're all done. As well, I've recorded the Despot datacube lines and Spaic should be taking care of them shortly.

Shane says he can have his stuff (platform death bug, PDX sniping bug) fixed by Saturday, but he won't be available all of Saturday. Nick says he can "maybe" have the item replacement done by Saturday. That leaves the outro crash. I'm not sure what we want to do about that one, but I think I'll sic Nick on it for a start. Hopefully it won't distract too much from the item replacement.

My friend Kenneth is still formatting our 40 pages of content, but I'm pretty sure he can have it done before the weekend.

Haven't touched the goat female barks yet, but I guess I'll do it today. Speaking of female VA's, when are you gonna get Winter to record some lines?


EDIT: Oh actually, for the outro thing: If Nick can't replicate it, we might as well leave it and see if any (and if so: which) of our testers get it, since I will be the only team member to experience it then. If Nick does manage to replicate the bug but can't fix it on time, we should probably disable the outro for Beta 1, so our testers won't get stuck on it.

Sounds good on the outro.

So, assuming everything gets done for Saturday (and we might as well do that), why don't we plan to have the testers start into things on Wednesday? Since we sort of had a week long lead-in planned, we can initiate that this Wednesday and everything works out nicely. That'll also give us a couple of days of slack in case one or two things don't actually get done on Saturday.

The Winter VA will get done, I can't really say when, though. She stays out of the city at my cabin for work all week, and then we generally go out of the city somewhere on weekends, which makes it rather hard to fit in. She does have a laptop, but I'll have to be there to oversee the recording. Anyway, we don't have anything planned this weekend, so it could get done then.

Okay your schedule sounds good.

Nick couldn't replicate the outro crash, so it must be a problem with my build. We'll just leave it and see if any of the beta testers run into it. I guess I'll have to wipe my DX install and overwrite with B100 when it's done, I keep getting bugs that nobody else can replicate :S

Sounds good on Winter.

Well then, let the Beta prep begin!

How do you recon we should choose the first group? Actually, why don't we email *all* of them and request confirmation that they're still interested, as well as informing them of our two group testing system. That way we'll get everyone hyped up about it AND make sure we know exactly who's interested. We should probably send that email out ASAP and tell them that we'll send a second email telling them which group they are in on the weekend. That'll give the first group time to get signed up on the forum, read the manual (which I think we should provide prior to the actual Beta build, probably just post a link in the forum, actually).

Sure. Will you write the mail and then send me a draft to read over?

Yep yep. I'll write the mail this afternoon (almost everyone's out of the office so I have very little work to do) and then I'll send it over to you. Does our tester list have all the actual emails in it or do we need to track those down?

Oh, what was that thing that you wrote last week in a conversation with Gelo and I? Was that related to the Beta email? Or was it the forward to the Beta Manual?

Uh could you be a little less vague?

Do you mean this?
thenamelessmod.com/BETA/Beta 1 Testing Manual.doc

That is the beta manual.

Also you'll note I've inserted a link into the actual manual, so we should make damn sure that's the right link before we send it out

How do you wanna go about locking it down, btw? Do you reckon it's best to lock the BETA folder same way we've locked TeamFTP and give each tester their own login and password?

Yeah, that's what I meant

I'll think about the locking thing over lunch.

Note to self:

Marc works Monday to Friday, records at 9pm.

Last two Gwog lines from Trent, plus the ABI Guard barks and all of the new lines for ManInBlack are in the ProcessReady folder. He sliced them himself, so yay for that. He still has to record 3 lines for ABI Guard 05, plus re-record one of them where he missed a word the first time around. He says he'll do it first thing tomorrow. I am grateful.

C'mon Brian...