Looking for beta testers for my zombie game.

I have been working on my zombie game, The Dead Miles, for around 15 months now. My first round of beta testing was done through friends and family. 7 out of 40 people responded. It looks like I need new friends. This time around, I'm opening up the testing to people who might have an interest in amateur game design. Here is a copy of the e-mail that I sent to my first testing group. It contains instructions for participating in the 2nd beta test.

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DOWNLOAD INFO (For Windows Operating Systems Only)

-I have scanned the following for viruses, but it never hurts to do it again with ANY file. If you're not already doing so, then you should!

To download the ZIP file, which needs to be extracted, use the link below:

Please login to see this link.

To play the game:

Download the file.

Double click the zipped file.

Drag the file within to the desktop, or another location.

Double click the round DeadMilesBeta2.exe icon to play.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Please fill out the questionnaire. Depending on how much you have to contribute, it will take you approximately 5-10 minutes to complete. If you did it before, please do it again so that I can measure my progress.

Please click on the link below to go to the questionnaire:

Please login to see this link.

Thanks!


Fixes & Enhancements

Reduced the frequency of "zombie stagger" when dying zombies collide with the player.

Scores are now centered on the screen.

Modified the graphics for a few zombie corpses. Some are still rough.

There is a chance that the general direction of distant, sighted zombies show up as question marks on the edge of the screen.

Key command summary pops up with the escape key.

The chain saw now turns off.

Game starts in original, clearer, 640x480 resolution. Full screen option from first beta version added (Alt+Enter).

Menu bar added.

Increased max speed of zombies, heavily randomized their speeds, and increased player speed.

There is a more marked difference between walk, jog and run options.

Re-wrote the intro to make the goal of the game clear.

Re-wrote the full instructions to include more info on goals, crouching in corn, or behind boulders, and cars.

Added to hints about goals, crouching in corn, crouching behind boulders/cars, and the affect of inventory weight.

Got rid of the insulting tone for the "stay" option at safe havens.

Weapons, especially the shotgun, are completely reloaded when combat starts, if there is enough ammunition.

Disabled weapons during combat load screen.

Safe havens hint at future safe havens along the way.

The possible number of zombies that can be spawned at one time have been modified based on player score and environment.

Gave more starting endurance.

Thanks for giving it a try. You have already helped me out.

This is either going to be a very simple problem, or a very difficult one. I'll need your help either way:

Does the screen always look black? Does it look black in the title screen, instructions and end? There is nightfall in the game after 7 PM. A dark filter goes over the planning screen and the combat screen. The combat screen filter is REALLY dark in some environments because I wanted to discourage night time travel. Did you try the flashlight with the F key? It helps a little bit, but not much since I wanted the darkness to be terrifying.

If the above scenario is the case, and you were using the flashlight, then maybe I need to brighten it up a little. I did consider making the darkness variable based on the phase of the moon. In reality, when there is no moon, and there is no artificial light, it's really dark. However, the full moon makes everything very bright. Let's see how many people feel that the darkness is too crippling.

I also have to consider that this is some sort of hardware problem. If the problem isn't scenario one, could you tell me about the hardware that you're using; especially the graphic card?

Thanks for your help. I owe you one.

Grim

Quote from King_Cool

Look, i really want to play and enjoy the game but... I CANT SEE ANYTHING!
The screen filter is almost completely black, and i have to tilt my monitor to at all be able to percieve whats going on in the screen ( even then its very hard to see anything ).

I really want to test/ play this game but i cant... untill this is fixed...

Thanks, Klik-it, but I need more information.

From an earlier post:

Does the screen always look black? Does it look black in the title screen, instructions and end? There is nightfall in the game after 7 PM. A dark filter goes over the planning screen and the combat screen. The combat screen filter is REALLY dark in some environments because I wanted to discourage night time travel. Did you try the flashlight with the F key? It helps a little bit, but not much since I wanted the darkness to be terrifying.

If the above scenario is the case, and you were using the flashlight, then maybe I need to brighten it up a little. I did consider making the darkness variable based on the phase of the moon. In reality, when there is no moon, and there is no artificial light, it's really dark. However, the full moon makes everything very bright. Let's see how many people feel that the darkness is too crippling.

I also have to consider that this is some sort of hardware problem. If the problem isn't scenario one, could you tell me about the hardware that you're using; especially the graphic card?