M.U.L.E. 2 beta 0.26

[Peter]

Hello all MULE fans,

There will be another MULE 2 public beta test session at:

    Sunday 20 March 16.00 UTC
    Your local time: http://permatime.com/UTC/2011-03-20/16:00

We would be glad if you could join us and playtest the game.

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Start the game by going to this address:

    http://www.planetmule.com/mule2

The game requires Java to be installed. Click here to make sure it is:
http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

You must allow the security request that pops up when you enter the page.

Use your Planet Mule username/password to login.
There's a chat box you can login to and ask for help during the test session if you run into any problem.

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Feel free to try the game before the game session.
We'll be very grateful if you reply with your comments and feedback in this thread.

Best Regards,
The Planet MULE Team

[mikman]

So far it's pretty cool, here are my comments:

- Characters need to be bigger on the map screen, it's hard to tell which guy is yours.
- A pic of the character would be good to have in the status for each player across the bottom, maybe only when it's their turn.
- When your turn ends before the others it should switch back to the map screen so you can watch the action, or better yet have the ability to switch back and forth from map to store for the players who are not doing their turn.
- The land rush I found slightly confusing at first. The arrows indicate you are supposed to exit the store.  but I was like where is my guy? Then with the small characters was hard to tell which guy was mine :-) Why not just start the countdowns on each character in the store so you can see who is going to exit first etc... and each guy will leave when their timer runs out.  Maybe you could have the toggle 'M' for map before the race starts so you can see the map and get an idea which plot you want, or even allow toggle right until your timer hits zero then it will suck you back to the store automatically for you to start your race, maybe even let guys move to the side of the store that they want to exit on but no exit till their timer runs out show the timer above their head or something so it follows you around...
- The auctions seemed to function pretty well, I noticed the sounds for Ore didn't ever seem to work, and Crystite seemed to be hit or miss, but food and energy appeared to work all the time.
_ in the auctions it the messages "Production", "Spoilage" etc should stand out more... different brighter font or color or blink... so you know whats going on...

great game so far tho I like it!  changing characters every round is cool idea :-)

[Dave37]

GAMEPLAY:
I really liked the gameplay, especially the differences between the species and the fact that multiple players took their turns at the same time. However, I would like to see more interaction between the players (ie. perhaps the Packer can only eat food from plots that currently occupied by an opposing player's avatar). This would add more strategy to the game.

GRAPHICS:
Obviously, some of the graphics still need to be updated (outfitted MULEs, wampus, assay bot, events, etc.). I'm interested in how those will look when added. But, I have some opinions on the current graphics. The town view and planet view are too dead, they need some animations. It could just be subtle things like running water, dust blowing in the wind, flashing lights or opening/closing doors. This would make the game seem a lot more alive.

Also, the gollumer looks mean, like he's about to kill someone. It's all in the eyes (specificially the eyebrows). If you made them less slanted that would make him look a lot nicer I think.

[Dave37]

So far it's pretty cool, here are my comments:

- Characters need to be bigger on the map screen, it's hard to tell which guy is yours.
- A pic of the character would be good to have in the status for each player across the bottom, maybe only when it's their turn.
- When your turn ends before the others it should switch back to the map screen so you can watch the action, or better yet have the ability to switch back and forth from map to store for the players who are not doing their turn.
- The land rush I found slightly confusing at first. The arrows indicate you are supposed to exit the store.  but I was like where is my guy? Then with the small characters was hard to tell which guy was mine :-) Why not just start the countdowns on each character in the store so you can see who is going to exit first etc... and each guy will leave when their timer runs out.  Maybe you could have the toggle 'M' for map before the race starts so you can see the map and get an idea which plot you want, or even allow toggle right until your timer hits zero then it will suck you back to the store automatically for you to start your race, maybe even let guys move to the side of the store that they want to exit on but no exit till their timer runs out show the timer above their head or something so it follows you around...
- The auctions seemed to function pretty well, I noticed the sounds for Ore didn't ever seem to work, and Crystite seemed to be hit or miss, but food and energy appeared to work all the time.
_ in the auctions it the messages "Production", "Spoilage" etc should stand out more... different brighter font or color or blink... so you know whats going on...

great game so far tho I like it!  changing characters every round is cool idea :-)

I agree on all points.

[Keybounce]

I'd like to see the packer's "spend time at food plots to gain dev time" a little clearer. As a quick example: If I have no food at all, and a short time, why shouldn't I grab a packer, run to some food plot, spend time there, gain dev time, and then go and buy a mule?

From the description of the ability, that should work. Yet I tried it once (on my own food plot once when I had a big food surplus), and I did not see my time bar go up.

[data2008]

@Keybounce: Packer should work like that, actually...

[mikman]

I thought, or at least it appeared to me that the packer only grabbed one food from each land plot that you went to.  (excluding your own).  I never did spend any time on the plot to see if I would get another one tho...