{"author_name":"Doches","cat":"October Challenge 2010","comments":[{"author_name":"JaydenB","time":"October 25, 2010 4:55 am","epoch":1288000500,"text":"I really want to try this, but only problem is I don’t have an iPad, keep up the good work though!","spam":"N"}],"epoch":1287955920,"likes":0,"metadata":{"p_key":"69087","p_author":"Doches","p_authorkey":"562","p_urlkey":"104890","p_title":"Distant Star: in beta","p_cat":"October Challenge 2010","p_event":"LD18","p_time":"1287955920","p_likes":"0","p_comments":"1","p_status":"UPD5","us_key":"562","us_name":"Doches","us_username":"doches","event_start":"1282262400","event_key":"4","event_name":"LD18"},"text":"
\"I

I ♥ my testers<\/p><\/div>\n

Tonight, we celebrate — I’ve finished enough of Distant Star<\/a><\/strong> that I’m releasing a copy to my beta testers tonight. I spent most of the weekend putting the finishing touches on a *ton* of polish — the game now has attractive victory\/defeat screens and a framework for tracking and reporting gameplay stats, plus a really useful report that you can access after each combat showing you how well your ships fared in battle. <\/p>\n

“Beta test?” you ask.<\/p>\n

But of course — my posts to a couple forums generated a little buzz, where a dozen or so happy iPad gamers took me up on my offer. They beta test the game and let me know what’s good\/bad\/broken before I release it to Apple; I send them free copies of the final version once it’s ready. A pretty sweet deal all around.<\/p>\n

So, Ludum Dares (“Darers?”) — any iPad gamers among you care to lend me a hand with this thing? Information (plus more screenshots and updates) after the jump.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Another thing I’m super pleased with in Distant Star<\/strong> is the audio. I’ve put together a solid Creative Commons-licensed soundtrack; the title track is “Two Swords” by _ghost<\/a>. There’s some truly amazing stuff over on ccMixter<\/a> just begging<\/em> to be dropped into games. Free culture FTW.<\/p>\n

\"I

I think I won this one, wouldn't you say?<\/p><\/div>\n

Beta<\/h3>\n

If you want to help me out with the beta, here’s the plan:<\/p>\n