Compatibility Test
Feb 23, 2017
UPDATE: We are no longer taking compatibility testers.
Play Thimbleweed Park!
OK, not really, that was kind of a click-bait opening. But you can play a small section of the game to help us with compatibility testing. And by small piece, I mean just a few rooms you can walk around and see if the game runs on your hardware. There might be one puzzle. It's unlikely there will be any spoilers, but if seeing great art is a spoiler, you might want to steer clear.
We're going to start small, only sending out a few copies, then slowly open it up to around one hundred people over the next week unless something goes horribly wrong, in that case we'll just pretend like the whole thing never happened.
If you're interested in helping out, CLICK HERE and fill out this form.
Why don't you just release a demo? I can hear you saying that.
The reason is we don't have a demo that tells the right story. The only thing we have is the Ransome demo shown at PAX and the fan events. It doesn't really tell the story of Thimbleweed Park. A good public demo is like a good movie trailer, it should entice you and leave you with unanswered questions. The Ransome demo does none of that, it can also mislead people into thinking this is a game about a clown, which it is not.
- Ron
A couple of curiosity questions:
1) In your opinion, how does TP compare to say, MM, or MI/MI2 in terms of puzzle difficulty? I understand it's a much larger game, but does that translate into higher difficulty?
2) How would you compare creating a game like this indy-style vs. having the backing of a major corporation such as LucasFilm/Arts? Do you feel like you hurt for not having more resources?
Thanks in advance! Big fan here :-)
Also someone made this to improve the commenting expierence... https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/17661-thimbleweed-park-blog-fixes
That´s great
Edit button is still missing though...
I only don't know yet how to handle the pre-fill function.
e.g. when using Tampermonkey you left-click its icon and then there should be a menu entry called "Thimbleweed Park™ Blog fixes - Settings".
Using Greasemonkey you click on the arrow and then 'User Script Commands'.
I'm Beeping Hyped
At this stage it is too late to add (it would also require extensive testing) but maybe we can see it at a later point in time in a patch? (there will be mobile ports later; also IMHO it could be quite trivial to implement since it only affects sound resources and nothing else)
I'd like it to see it running on my Raspberries!
(And if you are playing in a language not being English it's easier to live without voices).
I really though this game is simple enough to not need unloading of resources, sorry :-)
So since we already have this memory management it won't be easy to trim it down a lot further :-(
Is the cache size based and can be set to zero (or very low) to force loading resources nearly every time?
We could live with C64 loading times if we can just get it to run without crashing on our beloved Raspberry Pis :-)
So maybe you could provide (sometime!) just an ARM build with the disclaimer that this version is not official supported ...
Let's see how the mobile ports will workout after PC/Xbox releases are done.
According to statistics from Unity (http://hwstats.unity3d.com/mobile/mem.html) the majority has >= 1 GiB and a third got 2 GiB system memory. Since the OS also needs a bit (or two) this sounds like there is some work ahead.
https://twitter.com/grumpygamer/status/833858677643759616
But yes, the Raspberry Pi isn't officially supported. And most readers of this blog are aware of it. But some of them would like to see TWP run on their RPI. These are no request, they just hope that TWP runs on the RPI.
*Hypothetically*
First occurrence I've found was on 2015-01-16: https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/linux
Reminder for the team on 2016-03-03: https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/thimbletrailer3
And someone (not Someone) asked on 2016-09-06 in FAQ section: https://blog.thimbleweedpark.com/faq
I found a comment on Twitter a few years ago about playing house with Maniac Mansion. Instead of solving puzzles, the author moved the three characters around and told a story about a mom, dad, and kid.
https://twitter.com/meowza/status/568328662744838144
You created The Sims a decade early! If chosen I will do the same with this demo.
(but it won't work with this demo unless it's a story about one lonely and imprisoned individual)
In those years I used to read adventure books like Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island with beautiful images, play with Lego pirate Galleon with monkeys and parrots included, spent my vacation in Ischia, (or Phitecusai, which in ancient greek means exactly Monkey Island, referring to an ancient population of monkeys now extinguished) a vulcanic island with some points in beaches literally burning like there were rivers of lava underneath and a lot of places inspired by pirates' figures, and that is the biggest of an archipelago of three isles in the Gulf of Naples. And Monkey Island apart its intrinsic quality for me resonates also of all of this.
If you're able to catch the spirit of those years with a creation where everything is simply wonderful, like Monkey Island did for me, and probably MM for those who played in their young age, then you'll simply walk and stare and read and enjoy.
Probably MM is great because is the very first point'n'click adventure and has also resonates of a vast popular imagination, has a lot of complexity in the mutual actions of the playable characters that probably made the limits of the preMM games just seem like they exploded. I wrote before here how much MM is in the first installment of RE, in its story, in managing characters, in the rooms that many times are the same!!!
So when you play those games, you really can enjoy them only just by walking (and inventing your own stories). Even if they're not intended as walking simulators (paradoxically)!
...and now that I know its etymology, I think it's time to spend at least one week on that wonderful island!
So in Italy we have a "Monkey Island" and didn't know??
Bizarre!
But please don't pretend to talk to people about SCUMM, because, due to the common indo-european ancestor word, in neapolitan "scumm" (yes exactly with two em!) literally means scum in ALL its meanings! If you say "sit 'a scumm d'a gente" (you are scum people) then prepare to run very fast!!! eheheh
http://www.ischiasky.it/img/articoli/antica-cartina-di-ischia.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bN1wonKsRfY/UYAys3m08kI/AAAAAAAADFU/x8DYA9gI99o/s1600/il+pirata.jpg
Ron, if you make another Monkey Island, and Disney complains about it, just pretend you got inspired by Pithekoussai! Could they complain with an ancient siracusan historian who lived centuries B.C.?
OK, when I'll go to Ischia, I'll let you know. I will stay silent, you will speak :-)
So please don't count me out :)
Having played this demo at the London event I'm so excited to play the final game!
If you have a little bit of Indiana Jones in your spirit (and you speak italian), there's the transcription of a recent summit (2012) where the archeologists say Senagora's hypothesis is still good and reliable (and you'll see probably a little monkey as a decoration of a vase).
So, despite what Pliny said, the name really means Monkey Island. I translate the ending: "It is now clear that the Monkeys of ancient Ischia are result of that imagination born with the euboic colonization in the West, an historical process that provided, during the occupation of a new land, also a geographical classification and an ethnographic perception of a cultural world different from their own, without laws, with nature wild and beautiful, where there were notable natural phenomena. Places that, according to this imagination were inhabitated by monster creatures, to the limit between men and beasts.Under this point of view could be explained the presence [...] of all those fantastic creatures that Ulysses encountered during his erring in Western world: the shadowy extreme of the world."
You'll know how deep and ancient is the imagination of a wild island touched by men who left their homelands in seek of fortune and their life travelling by the sea.
Pithekoussai and the greek imagination of the monkey in the arcaic period.
http://www.palazzotoledo.comune.pozzuoli.na.it/index.php/nuovo-archivio-territoriale/104-pithekoussai-e-l-immaginario-greco-della-scimmia-nel-periodo-arcaico
Sooooo hanging out for the game ;-)
Have filled in the form for the compatibility test.
Forgot to add that I work as an Apple service tech so I have access to a wide variety of Mac's and can easily test on multiple OS versions, both clean installs and established systems.
Maybe not on a game card but in Nintendo eshop.
So, testing Thimbleweed Park is appreciated.
Does this mean you are sure the game is running without any problems on lower versions like Windows Vista?
Or does it mean for playing the game Windows 7 is minimal recommended?
Thank you
I think that's because the tests have been done on Windows 7 machine. It's quite uncommon to find a PC with Windows Vista, nowadays.
You should fill out the form and subscribe to be a tester, filling the field "Unique - If there is anything, tell us something unique or different about your setup that we should test on", with your configuration (Windows Vista with the amount of RAM used).
Give it a try, so you could test by yourself if there are any problems.
SEE YA!
Cheers,
Herr Stirz
- to avoid memory problems in some hardware configurations, could be a solution to turn off voices (via option panel, for instance)?
In other words, if I don't want voices, they aren't loaded in the game, thus there is more available memory.
Have you tried running it with like 500 MB RAM and 2 GB swapping? These days the swapping is rather smart and can also be tuned.
You will likely even enjoy the term for it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swappiness
Thank you, Ron.
This game ISN'T about a clown?
I.e. if you are cursing alot while being cursed.
Or having a hang over while hanging over something.
or (more passively) when someone thinks of you while you are thinking.
You are then in a so-called Rondron.
A derived situation occurs when you are in need of a ship while being on a ship.
It's time to make a new word for Thimbleweed Park, too!
Wait, That's not My only question is it?
Oh, I get two, but that second one counted... grr... the devil and his accounting...
But depending on the mood of the team they could queue your both questions for this coming Friday Questions Podcast and the next Friday Questions Podcast :P
I wouldn't have registered otherwise :-)
of submitted platforms after the test is done?
I wish I had enough time to come to Munich oder Berlin.
I had asked Ron to sign them.
I have a working Amiga 500 too.
But the loading times...
That´s one of the the things you don´t remember when thinking back on playing these games on C64 or Amiga.
http://www.bilder-upload.eu/show.php?file=42bdb9-1487973477.jpg
By the way, the C64 emulator Vice pretends loading times, but, much as nostalgic it may be, in my opinion, they wouldn't need to be so long in an emulator.
You can of course use fastloaders/cartridge images in VICE just as you would to speed up the real c64 and theres also still warp-mode which accelerates the emulator to run at whatever speed your computer provides (not so useful for playing games or watching demos but good for skipping those loading times...).
I still talk to that person today. I am very forgiving :-)
I still have a machine with Win98 installed and it's horrible. If I really wanted to play a 3D game based on Windows 9x, I would prefer Wine. That's my recommendation, because it works more reliably.
Fortunately, Win 2000, XP and all later versions are based on NT. It has been advantageous for the health of many people all over the world!
I think that TWP would be a great game for the 3DS, but I doubt that the hardware would have a sufficient performance, seeing that it currently needs a device with at least 4 GB of RAM. But maybe the team can reduce the requirements of the game when they develop the ports for smart-phones, so that it would also run well on the 3DS - and maybe on the Raspberry Pi, too. For example they can slightly reduce the bit-rates of all audio files and the variety of visual effects (dynamic lighting, parallaxing, fireflies, ...).
10 copies of TWP
You take one down and pass it to Sierra
9 copies of TWP on the wall
This reminds me of that guy who wrote master pieces such as 'Leck mich im *beep*'...
As a Mac developer, let me advise you not to ... 10.7 was a terrible release and is full of random API bugs that are no fun to hunt down.
And by now its market share must be miniscule. Even 10.8 was only on 1% of Macs a year ago (according to our friends at Omni https://update.omnigroup.com).
Trust me, not worth it!
I hope you left some peanuts over or else...
We tried talking Ron into supporting Raspberry Pi but currently there seems to be no chance with 1 GiB. Maybe at a much later point in time when mobile ports are working.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/10/back-to-the-future-facts-about-trilogy-future-day-eric-stoltz-video-trivia-marty-mcfly-spielberg-zemeckis
or an option in the game to automatically set the system time to the "correct" date!
What shall I Test?
Take the time to do the builds and testing. Better waiting a month longer than getting "banana software" which has many problems / bugs.
But the silent readers want to participate. Look at the voicemails, Library book submissions, Occult bookstore... and now the testing session.
The premises for a new Masterpiece are concrete.
Zak Phoenix McKracken,
Mattias Cedervall,
Big Red Button,
Patrik Spacek
Bogdan Barbu,
Daniel Wolf,
Nor Treblig,
longuist,
Jammet,
mr. T,
Arto.
Architects nightmare that guy…
And thank you Zombocast :)
Inverted pyramids look impressive too! And you can't spit your neighbours on their head.
I wish this version gets released at some time for archeological reasons.
Actually I've been trying to avoid all spoilers to the max, so I would have to (with sadness in my heart) decline such an honor. Every time David starts to talk about some suspicious detail about the game, I immediately throw away my earphones with great impulse of force. They are still intact, which delights me.
Sure, it can be fun and interesting, but it can be demanding if your hard- / software combo has a strange problem and the devs need a couple of iterations of user <-> developer interactions and "blue screens on your side to figure out what is going wrong.
If another one has closely enough the same hard/software specs like me, they would get any problem report twice. Wasted time for the developers (release might be postponed) and wasted time for the tester. (ok he might be rewarded by the "sneak preview" for his time effort).
Just imagine there would be 10 million testers spamming the bug tracker / mailbox with zillions of reports. We might see the release in 2018.
Although choosing testers is some sort of advanced voodoo, I trust the devs to do a sensible choice. If I am not choosen, I will spent my time on own development projects. If I am chosen I will gladly help to make the stuff compatible to systems I have access to + in different RAM configurations.
You don't fix every bug but group them by frequency and severeness and fix only important ones and only so many until time runs out. BAM: release done!
And if you want millions of testers you don't even need a selection process at all :-)
Fantasy Violence
Language
Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Crude Humor
Drug Reference
Sexual Themes
... "Drug reference" and "sexual themes"??
And if there have been Ransome's curse words without beeping, the rating would have been different?
There is something I can't understand...
Maybe it's just a matter of background culture.
So frequency and (especially) type of curse word can make a difference (e.g. "bitch" is not a problem at all :-).
(I know, there are no subtitles, but I think you could catch the interesting words!)
It just seems to be about the beach, but what did they mean with beach on the beach?
The lyrics are a mix between english, italian, and Naples slang.
lyrics (in bold original english words, otherwise I have translated from other languages):
Beach on the Beach
under the sun the skin burns
under the moon even more...
when there is the reflex over the sea
without making love is impossible… oh baby
Beach on the Beach
men and women go hunting
for black eyes and blue eyes
how many girls very nice
they make crazy all the boys
summer is here… you know
to let us fall in love at every age… you konw
to stop a bit and the to let it go… you konw
at least you know that when you come back to your town
everything will end
damn, but… you know
for now we are still in summertime… you konw
so we don't have to worry about… you konw
Do you hear this music… you dance together with me?
If you say no, I'll kill myself.
Beach on the Beach
i'm burning like a fuse
if you look at me a little more
can you imagine if you kiss
or if by chance you say me yes… help!
... :-)
Common setups, like most testers and programmers work with, are tested al lot already..
Thanks!
We'll see... ;-)
Best regards
Chris
Please send me full game, I make special test for you.
back to Monkey Island 2 su Booty Island...
https://lparchive.org/Monkey-Island-2/Update%2012/10-mi_12_08.gif