Hold on! Still working! Didn't really expect to have to rebuild the beta. Will squeeze in a little extra work tonight so I can hopefully relaunch tomorrow.

Side note: It pains me that I still have not seen Dark Knight Rises. So little time so much to do.

BAH. Apparently It fixed nothing. OK new approach. I'll strip out even more of the stat tracking and optimizing functions. Basically, this is like taking apart a car and building a motorcycle out of the parts... sigh... Anyway, let's Occam's razor this sh*t. I'll update as I progress.

-- Original Post --
I think I've fixed the loading bug. Post here if you're still having problems. I'll check the board again tomorrow night, Sunday 7/29 (GMT+8)

Sorry for the late update. I've identified the Loading Problem. It's a bit more complicated than expected and I'm still working on it. For those who are experiencing it, the Loading won't be fixed until Friday, July 27, night my time (GMT+8).

For the ones who can use it, happy testing.

Peace!

Right from the get go we have errors. Ugh.

Looking at the feedback I see that some of testers have an issue where the game doesn't start at all. It just shows the "DON'T PANIC" screen and doesn't move forward. If it had worked, you would see the body parts animate and complete the character, then the screen would load into gameplay. I'll be looking into the problem and it will be addressed in the Wednesday update.

Thanks to all the people congratulating me on my employment. In a way this will help move MR2 along since now I won't have to worry about generating income. Trust me, monthly bills are a pain in the arse.

See you on Monday folks! Stay awesome!

First of all, sorry again for the delays. Last week Monday I finally ended 6 years of freelancing and became an official company employee. It was a bit more than I expected and I've been kept busy with meetings, training, and just getting up to speed with company operations. Also been avoiding the temptation to log onto NG using company internet. It's been a loooong and tiring week.

But enough about me, lets talked about this perpetually delayed game and this mess of a beta. Firstly...

------------------------------------------------

#1 APOLOGIES
Sorry to all the beta testers who've been patiently (or not) waiting. I've got a ton of PMs and comments to sift through and will be answering them as the week progresses. Hopefully you stick around and help me out with this project. Secondly...

------------------------------------------------

#2 REVISED SCHEDULE
- Updates Wednesdays and Fridays
- Instructions will be posted here on my news board.
- I've still got to figure out a way to send feedback in-game. For now, you can submit feedback through NG PM with the title "FEEDBACK".

NOTE: I've blocked off 2 hours a night to work on the game which will give me time to create 3-5 scenarios for testing. This should prevent any further delays.

------------------------------------------------

#3 FEEDBACK GUIDE
- The following are a few guide questions for providing feedback. Aside from bug reports, these are the things I am most interested in knowing. Of course, if you think of something that you feel is important, you can send that as feedback as well

=== start of guide ===
COMBAT SYSTEM
- Intuitiveness: How hard is it to figure out the combat system
- Control: Are the controls easy to understand? Do the controls do what you expect them yo do?
- Graphics: Do the animations & effects slow down the framerate? What quality (High, Medium, Low) can you best play it in.

GAMEPLAY
- Difficulty: Are the scenarios challenging?
- Variety: Are the skills useful? Interesting? Is there enough variety between classes that they feel different from each other?
- Strategy: What is your favored strategy? Aggressive? Defensive? Do you pick which enemies to attack first or do you just attack the ones closest to you?
- Enemy Variety: Do you feel a difference between enemies? Can you tell what type an enemy is by sight?

EXPLORATION
- Incentive: Do you feel the need to explore? Do you feel the rewards of exploring are worth the effort?
- Pacing: Do you notice the difficulty increasing? Is it increasing too fast or too slow?
- Interest: Do you notice the backgrounds? Do you have an idea of what place you're in?
- Effects: Do the effects add to the game or do are they distracting?
=== end of guide ===

Too tired to think of a clever or funny sign off, so I'll use my default work email sign.

Thanks,
- Bruce

= = = = UPDATE = = = =
Sorry for the delay. Getting my paperwork in order so I can start my IRL job on Monday. I should get the MR2 Update up by Sunday evening. Gomen!

= = = = ORIGINAL MESSAGE = = = =
Good job to all the people who confirmed! We got about 2/3 confirmed.

I'll be working on the update over the next few hours. If you see any weirdness that's because it's not done yet.

When it's ready, I'll update this page.

Trouble already. Ah well. Beta is Beta. More than half of the testers haven't confirmed yet. We're also getting a few invite errors. Let's get a few more people in before we roll into Phase 2. So again...

= = = = INSTRUCTIONS = = = =
To JOIN send me a PM through Newgrounds with the title JOIN MR2 BETA. I will reply by sending you an INVITE within the next 24 hours.

Here's how the beta INVITE will look from your end!

1) Go to your Inbox. You will have a "Pending Request" with Madness Retaliation 2 in the title. Clicking on it will take you to the project. DON'T DO THAT! Instead...
2) Look to the right, it will have buttons [Approve] [Deny]. Click [Approve]... Unfortunately, the request (and its link to the project) will disappear. So last step is...
3) Go to http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/games/582064/
preview

If you got through those steps then you're in the Beta!!

= = = = END OF INSTRUCTIONS = = = =

For those who've confirmed by sending the "secret message" no need to resend. I have your names neatly tabulated in a spreadsheet. Hopefully we get at least 50% of the testers confirmed tomorrow. But even if we don't, we'll still proceed to Phase 2.

= = = = UPDATE! = = = =

OK! Here's how the beta invite will look from your end!

1) Go to your Inbox. You will have a "Pending Request" with Madness Retaliation 2 in the title. Clicking on it will take you to the project. DON'T DO THAT! Instead...
2) Look to the right, it will have buttons [Approve] [Deny]. Click [Approve]... Unfortunately, the request (and its link to the project) will disappear. So last step is...
3) Go to http://www.newgrounds.com/projects/games/582064/
preview
4) ??????
5) PROFIT! (no, not really)

If you got through those steps then you're in the Beta!!

= = = = original message = = = =

Not gonna lie. I've never used NG's beta-testing feature before. Heck, I've never used the project management system before. These awesome new features were not around when I made MR1.

So our first phase, ROLL CALL!! I've added over 30 people to the beta tester list. i don't know what the limit is. As long as there's space, I will add people. Again...

If you want to JOIN the beta, SEND ME A PM through Newgrounds. Why am I doing it this way? Cuz you need to be an NG member to beta-test. This is a rule of the system. RULES! OBEY!

Now to discuss. Dear Testers, there will be no gameplay in this phase. I know it's disappointing but hear me out. I had to insert this ROLL CALL phase because I don't yet know how to check if people are able to view/play a test project. I don't even know what a beta invite will look like. So for now, if you got your invite and see the current beta, respond in the way it tells you to. Good luck!

So this week I'll be putting the game on beta mode. I have to study the NG project system a bit so expect the beta to release tomorrow evening (July 3). I've got a list of people who want to beta test. Send me a PM if you want to join up. I'll check every evening so please don't spam if I don't reply immediately.

What to expect in the Beta
- LIMITED GAMEPLAY. The priority of this beta is to catch bugs. The beta will have specific chunks from the game and the goal of the testers is to BREAK IT. Limiting the beta allows me to find the bugs more easily.
- MULTIPLE UPDATES. As the beta progresses I will put changes, additional scenarios for testing, and probably remove old ones too. Again, limiting the scenarios is to help my bug fixing. These updates will come every other day (T, TH, S)
- NO SPOILERS (MOSTLY). Obviously I want to keep some elements as a surprise for the final launch of the game so I'll try my best to keep the beta spoiler free. However, I will have to reveal some mechanics because obviously I want them to be tested.
- OLD ART ASSETS. Most of the art/graphics will be from MR1 and is not representative of the final game. I'm doing this on purpose to, again, minimize spoilers. Besides, the beta focus will be on GAMEPLAY.
- FEEDBACK. Can't fix something if I don't know it's broken. The beta client will generate reports which users can copy-paste, then email to me. Not the most elegant solution, but it's simple.

This'll be the first time I'll run a public beta so I expect hitches along the way. Recommendations are appreciated. We'll figure it out as we go!

Updates! Good news! Spending the rest of this week finishing work projects and then I'll be taking a 2 week break. And by "2 week break" I mean that I'll be working on MR2 for 2 weeks with no work to distract me. Glorious!

Actually I've been planning to do this for some time. Working on MR on weekends has been slow and frustrating so I decided to save up some cash so that I can afford to skip a few projects. Big thanks to the people who've donated, you know who you are :D This lil' cash buffer will let me finally get this project out the door.

Anyway, the plan is as follows.

- Week 1 - June 25-30 : Production
- Week 2 - July 2-7: Open Beta
- Post - July 9+: Adjustment

And yes, I take Sundays off. Gotta sleep sometime.

Current status is that most of the art assets and sound effects are done. I'll have to take a day or two to sit down and pick out BGMs from the audio portal. I've got a definite direction for the music and hope that I can find some NG-made music that matches.

STILL can't promise a release date since I'm sure after Beta I'll have to do difficulty and equipment balance changes. By that time I will also be back at work (hopefully I'll still have a job) so development will slow down again. On the bright side those will just stat changes that I can finish in a weekend or two.

Now I shall leave you with a picture that reflects how pumped I am to go back to game production. WRYYYYYY!