There are five stages to releasing a Quest game.
- Before release testing
- Upload as an unlisted game
- Upload testing
- Public upload
- Announcement
Before release testing
Before you even think about releasing your game, you need to thoroughly check to make sure it works properly, and that it has sensible responses for things that a player might reasonably type while playing it. To create a good game is a lot of hard work, and while it might be tempting to release your first efforts after a minimal amount of testing, your players won’t thank you for it.
And no matter how tempting it might be, do not even think about releasing the game you’ve created while working your way through this tutorial!
Here are some things to think about before unleashing your game on an unsuspecting public:
- Think about all the objects a player might refer to – make sure everything you refer to in your descriptions is at least set up as a scenery object.
- Think about all the different things a player might reasonably try to do with an object – set up verbs, even if they just tell the player that they can’t do that.
- Think about all the different ways a player might type a command, and make sure you have enough verb alternatives set up.
- Think about the different ways a player might refer to the same thing, and set up alternative names.
- Make sure you test your game thoroughly.
- Spell check!
Upload as an unlisted game
This process is quite different, depending on whether you are using the web editor or the desktop version. By default your game will be unlisted; leave it like that for now.
Web version
In the on-line editor, click the Publish button at the top right, then just follow the instructions. If you later update your game, you can click Publish again, and it will be updated.
Desktop version
This is a little more complicated, but not much. In the editor, go to Tools - Publish, give it a name (the same as your main file by default, but with a .quest extension), and click okay. Quest will produce a file in a subfolder of your main game called “Output”.
On textadventures.co.uk, click on Create at the top, then Upload game below that. Then follow the instructions.
For more on the Publish tool, including size limitations and what gets included in the .quest file, see Publishing.
Upload testing
Now play the uploaded version of your game. I would recommend saving, and ensuring a saved game can be loaded and looks okay, as saving and loading tend to be especially sensitive to errors in scripts!
Now get some other people to test it – you’ll be surprised at all the things they pick up that you would never have thought of. This is called beta-testing, and while it can be a pain, especially as you are keen to get your game out there fast, it is well worth it in the long run. A couple of bugs in your game will quickly lead to bad reviews.
Public upload
Once all the bugs are sorted, upload your game again, just as before. Check the game listing text is fine, and set who can access the game to everyone. Congratulations, your game is now live!
Announcement
Now all you have to do is tell people about it! See Publishing for a list of places you can announce your game.