Writing-Testers

[Letalisvo]

Hello everyone!

 

This is a suggestion for the Staff team in particular.

 

As I am in no way aware of how you guys handle things within the team, this "suggestion" might very well be underway, or already set into practice, and if such is the case then I am unaware of it, and apologize for wasting your time. I hope you excuse me and lock the thread if such is the case, barring that however I'd like to share the following; Keep in mind, as I'm saying this, that I've only finished Kanto, as of now. In my experience of doing so, however, I've encountered some, not many, but some really odd spelling issues as well as NPC's that suffer from... Um... Poor writing, let's say. Ash during the Mankey quest is one, some of the Elite four is another and then a few random trainers here and there that I don't recall all too well.

 

This is a part of my "polish goes a long way"-philosophy and I am aware, to some degree, that "polish" isn't the part of development where you are, as of now. Which this suggestion addresses and works around. As you yourselves may not have the time to go trough all of the game story, battle every trainer and find all of the mistakes, I'd recommend (This being the suggestion) that you open up recruitment for a few Writing-Testers. You won't need many, two to three at most. These people then go on to make new accounts and play trough the game, if they detect any spelling errors or instances of either too simplistic or overly complicated writing that fits poorly within the game, or it's story, they then screenshot it and report it with a description of what is an issue with the writing, why and where it's located. These reports can then be addressed by you in whatever manner you see fit (Which hopefully results in improving the writing).

 

From what I've experienced so far, this seems to be a very loving community, and I have no doubt that many would be willing to do this sort of testing for you, seeing the improvement that it brings to the game as the reward for their efforts - this frees up your own time, involves the player base in the process of development a lot more, and overall adds further to the authentic feel of the game that a lot of times it captures perfectly. Spelling errors and poor writing are the serial killers of immersion - this provides a format within which you create a win-win solution.

 

Finally, to address the obvious question; Why testers and not just a thread where anyone who spots these things can report them? A lot of the time, the issue isn't as much in the spelling as it is in the wording and how befitting a certain phrase is to a situation. The Pokemon games have a sort of simplistic charm about them, their own style of writing - that style, if aiming for as an authentic of a experience as possible - needs to be maintained. A lot of the time I find myself reading an overly complicated, and seemingly "scientific" description, out of the blue - which procures the need to skip trough it as quickly as possible. This, I think, is a wasted opportunity. However, in order for a person to be able to judge the flow of the game, they need to be in the process of playing trough it in it's continuity, this enables our brain to spot things that don't fit a pattern, things that are out of place. Something that a person solely looking for spelling errors while rushing trough the game is paying little attention to and is thus unable to spot.

 

I hope you find this of use,

 

Let

[Higana]

342588 A lot of the time I find myself reading an overly complicated, and seemingly "scientific" description, out of the blue - which procures the need to skip trough it as quickly as possible.

Hmmm.... I know exactly who is responsible for this... :Crazy:

 

 

Thank you for your idea and suggestion, I will try and bring this into discussion. :Shy:

[Prehax]

342588 Hello everyone!

 

This is a suggestion for the Staff team in particular.

 

As I am in no way aware of how you guys handle things within the team, this "suggestion" might very well be underway, or already set into practice, and if such is the case then I am unaware of it, and apologize for wasting your time. I hope you excuse me and lock the thread if such is the case, barring that however I'd like to share the following; Keep in mind, as I'm saying this, that I've only finished Kanto, as of now. In my experience of doing so, however, I've encountered some, not many, but some really odd spelling issues as well as NPC's that suffer from... Um... Poor writing, let's say. Ash during the Mankey quest is one, some of the Elite four is another and then a few random trainers here and there that I don't recall all too well.

 

This is a part of my "polish goes a long way"-philosophy and I am aware, to some degree, that "polish" isn't the part of development where you are, as of now. Which this suggestion addresses and works around. As you yourselves may not have the time to go trough all of the game story, battle every trainer and find all of the mistakes, I'd recommend (This being the suggestion) that you open up recruitment for a few Writing-Testers. You won't need many, two to three at most. These people then go on to make new accounts and play trough the game, if they detect any spelling errors or instances of either too simplistic or overly complicated writing that fits poorly within the game, or it's story, they then screenshot it and report it with a description of what is an issue with the writing, why and where it's located. These reports can then be addressed by you in whatever manner you see fit (Which hopefully results in improving the writing).

 

From what I've experienced so far, this seems to be a very loving community, and I have no doubt that many would be willing to do this sort of testing for you, seeing the improvement that it brings to the game as the reward for their efforts - this frees up your own time, involves the player base in the process of development a lot more, and overall adds further to the authentic feel of the game that a lot of times it captures perfectly. Spelling errors and poor writing are the serial killers of immersion - this provides a format within which you create a win-win solution.

 

Finally, to address the obvious question; Why testers and not just a thread where anyone who spots these things can report them? A lot of the time, the issue isn't as much in the spelling as it is in the wording and how befitting a certain phrase is to a situation. The Pokemon games have a sort of simplistic charm about them, their own style of writing - that style, if aiming for as an authentic of a experience as possible - needs to be maintained. A lot of the time I find myself reading an overly complicated, and seemingly "scientific" description, out of the blue - which procures the need to skip trough it as quickly as possible. This, I think, is a wasted opportunity. However, in order for a person to be able to judge the flow of the game, they need to be in the process of playing trough it in it's continuity, this enables our brain to spot things that don't fit a pattern, things that are out of place. Something that a person solely looking for spelling errors while rushing trough the game is paying little attention to and is thus unable to spot.

 

I hope you find this of use,

 

Let

 

Hello LetalisVO again(!),

 

I really like this suggestion to be honest.

 

The Pokemon games have a sort of simplistic charm about them, their own style of writing - that style, if aiming for as an authentic of a experience as possible - needs to be maintained. A lot of the time I find myself reading an overly complicated, and seemingly "scientific" description, out of the blue - which procures the need to skip trough it as quickly as possible I feel yah!

 

Greetings

[Letalisvo]

I'm glad that you've found merit in this! Happy to be of help

 

Let

[Imrig]

I use prolight style (white background) in forum, reading your posts I am becoming blind :Crazy:

 

btw good suggestion

[Reikou]

342588 -snip-

 

 

There is this thread for reporting typos and such, (I just unlocked it since it autolocked from lack of use) but you can feel free to report any of them on there.

 

The different NPC will speak in different manners due to the people who wrote the speech for each one, as Higana said most people know who's wrote the convoluted ones and we know they're there but that's part of PRO, different staff will have a different personal mark on the game, staff themselves do go through and check spelling and bugs too but there's plenty that's easily missed, the fact there's typos months old after hundreds/thousands of individuals have spoken to the NPC

[Prehax]

342607 I'm glad that you've found merit in this! Happy to be of help

 

Let

 

Hello LetalisVO,

 

well well NPC Dialogue Errors [NOT NPC BUGS] got unlocked.

 

Greetings

342609 I use prolight style (white background) in forum, reading your posts I am becoming blind :Crazy:

 

btw good suggestion

 

Hello ImRig,

 

try to use the dark theme, is way more relaxing for your eyes.

 

Greetings

[Biaozila]

As Reikow said, scripters are constantly fixing any errors/typos that have been brought up, so just reply in this thread when you find such issues and they will be taken care of.

[Imrig]

Hello ImRig,

 

try to use the dark theme, is way more relaxing for your eyes.

 

Greetings

 

When I started prodark style was glitched, every time I went to the boss post I couldnt see anything except the background, I dont know if that problem has been solved.

btw I use this background also to understand when I am logged in the forum and when I am not :Shy:

[Prehax]

342617 When I started prodark style was glitched, every time I went to the boss post I couldnt see anything except the background, I dont know if that problem has been solved.

btw I use this background also to understand when I am logged in the forum and when I am not

 

Hello ImRig,

 

probably using the forum on your phone?

 

Greetings

342612 As Reikow said, scripters are constantly fixing any errors/typos that have been brought up, so just reply in this thread when you find such issues and they will be taken care of.

 

Hello "Biaozila,

 

I don't think that this was his actual suggestion.

 

A lot of the time I find myself reading an overly complicated, and seemingly "scientific" description, out of the blue - which procures the need to skip trough it as quickly as possible

 

This isn't exactly a typo or an error, rather something about the style, If I understand it correctly.

 

Greetings