Long story short: The "tutorial" that is available on the add-on files bade does not work.

I have followed the directions TO THE LETTER. Yet, when I get to step 2 (yes- the tutorial flops on step 2- more on that later,) and launch the game, instead of the promised "blank screen", I get the following error message in a popup:

"Execution failed. Event 'StartGame.cet' can't be found. This event is the first thing executed by your game and must either open a splash screen or start a new game right away with an engine call."

This enigmatic message is not addressed by anything in the "tutorial."

Now, ladies and gentlemen, let's get down to brass tacks...

When I first downloaded the Coldstone demo, I followed the enclosed tutorial, again- word for word, and met with no success. The new character did not appear, and even after appealing to several people more versed in such things, I met with no success, and eventually gave up in hopes that the promimised upcoming release of the full Coldstone tutorial would address the troubles I was having, or at least point me in a new direction with this software.

Needless to say, my hopes have been proven to have been in vain.

I address the following to the creators of Coldstone:

Ladies and Gentlemen, either the software you are attempting to sell is riddled with bugs, or the documentation you are posting publicly- and providing with the demo- is equally shoddy.

After many repeated and comprehensive attempts to learn to use the Coldstone software with the documentation provided on your site, I have met with no success.

My company is very interested in your product, but as long as such problems exist, we cannot even begin contemplating any purchase of Coldstone.

I have worked in the media/software industry for 13 years- and have seen companies and products come and go. Many a promising product such as coldstone has floundered before even getting off the ground simply because the company could not be bothered to address elementary technical and documentation issues.

Unless Ambrosia Software can find it within itself to address such concerns, Coldstone will very much likely become such a "could have/would have/should have" product- and I doubt any of us want to see that happen.

Thanks for your time.

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Sorry about that- the first line in the above message should say:

Long story short: The "tutorial" that is available on the add-on files page does not work.

A minor error on my part, but the sentiment of the message remins the same- I hope that my concerns will be addressed...

-thank you.

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Quote

Originally posted by Lustmord:
**Sorry about that- the first line in the above message should say:

Long story short: The "tutorial" that is available on the add-on files page does not work.

A minor error on my part, but the sentiment of the message remins the same- I hope that my concerns will be addressed...

-thank you.
**

uhmm, did you continue reading past page two? Page four begins the process of building/creating a startup screen to replace the black screen that draws your error message. I agree that the tutorial does not give a warning that this error message will appear but I think it is one of the built in error messages provided by Beenox to warn a user of the program they have made an error. I have not worked in the software/games business at all and yet I managed to work my way through the entire tutorial and got everything to work as it should.....eventually

I also have had some problems getting some things to work as the manual and other tutorials provided by the company (and even some third party contributions) indicate they should. But, I have also received some answers from posted questions on the web board from other users and from the company itself that have helped get me back on track.

I am also finding it somewhat interesting that alot of the complaints I have been reading on the webboard from people trying out Coldstone turn out later to have been things that have been brought up during the Beta process and it turns out that rather than being an error/bug of the engine, it instead is the way that Beenox decided to go with the engine. In otherwords, it is working as intended. The fact that some may not like this does not mean the program is filled with bugs. It simply means that the engine may not meet every single want and standard of those trying it out. Yes, there are some bugs in the program, but then again, show me any other program of this complexity that upon first release was without any. I guess what I am saying, is that you have the same choice with this program as you have with any other: try it out and if it meets your standards, buy it. If not, go look for something else that meets your needs better.

As a newbie to game programming, I must admit I found wading through the large manual and tutorials provided somewhat bewildering. But after a number of trial and error steps, I managed to get the tutorial game working and also worked my way through the plug-in creation tutorial. I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I did so. And you know something? I have had the same sense of being lost in the woods when trying to work my way through the manuals that come with other pieces of software such as photoshop, microsoft office, pagemaker, etc. I suppose it is possible that my perspective, coming as it does from a novice to programming, differs considerably from yours as someone who has worked for a number of years in the business. I also suspect that my rather kneejerk sense of need to respond is due primarily to your terminology/phraseology in using such words as 'shoddy'.
I would even agree that improvements could be made in the way the manual and tutorials are written and put together, but hey, lets remember, Beenox is a small company making a game engine, not a company that specializes in writing/producing manuals for software.

The above is not intended to say that one should not provide feedback to the company concerning how you a potential user/buyer of the product feels about the product. You should. Any reputable company not only wants but encourages such feedback from its customers. It helps them build better products. But at the same time, I am of the opinion that if you have legitimate complaints, you stand a better chance of having then listened to/addressed if you voice them in a calm straightforward manner rather than posting what same may take as rather inflamatory remarks on a public webboard.

I'll stop now and give Beenox/Ambrosia reps a chance to respond to you if they feel like it.

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CRH

I'd definately give it four stars for ease of use and five for lack of bugs. Most of the software I've bought and unboxed has crashed repeatadly and provided a steep learning curve. Photoshop was a rare exception. (Amapi, on the other hand, drives strong men to drink).

I do gig Coldstone on the documentation. If the functional game (Wizards) had not been available to deconstruct I would still be stuck. If Wizards was shipped and the tutorial and the rest dumped, I would have spent only a little longer learning. But to each his own learning method, I suppose. I've certainly experienced worse documentation.

I am not talking of a more hand-holding, "press button A then press button B" tutorial being needed. I am talking of a slight expansion of the manual with such things as; table of all required files (without which the game crashes). Table of the startup sequence including events, locations, and engine calls. Table giving accurate_and_detailed file formats cross-referenced by game resource. (The .pdf manual with it's blithe "You can often use JPEGs..." is not useful.)

I have spent two weeks now trying things and watching the game crash or behave erratically. I should have been able to spend two hours checking the documentation.

In truth, though, the only real annoyance is the clam-like attitude of Ambrosia and the beta-testing group both on certain questions that have been raised frequently. I don't need to hear the weasel-like "...it was discussed during beta-testing..." I need to hear; "No, that feature was never implemented." It would save much time and hair-pulling, for all of us, if a bug page were to be established.

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everywhere else, it's --
"Nomuse"

Quote

Originally posted by Commander Arashi:
**I'd definately give it four stars for ease of use and five for lack of bugs. Most of the software I've bought and unboxed has crashed repeatadly and provided a steep learning curve. Photoshop was a rare exception. (Amapi, on the other hand, drives strong men to drink).

snip...

In truth, though, the only real annoyance is the clam-like attitude of Ambrosia and the beta-testing group both on certain questions that have been raised frequently. I don't need to hear the weasel-like "...it was discussed during beta-testing..." I need to hear; "No, that feature was never implemented." It would save much time and hair-pulling, for all of us, if a bug page were to be established.

**

In reference to your 'small, furry animal' that participated in the beta testing...

Many were initially involved and few survived. I was not one of the survivors so I was not aware of what made the final release and what didn't. Perhaps I should have posted nothing but I did in the hopes that what I said might give direction.

There was a long lapse (of months) in beta releases while POG was in beta. After POG's release, Coldstone beta versions came fast and furious... there were about 4 new versions in a period of a few weeks. Some of us with unreliable and slow connections just were unable to keep up with the releases. I personally didn't see or play with the last 3 beta releases and I still haven't been able to successfully download the public release (Amprosia's site has been very slow lately) version.

I emphatically stated in a post that a 'game clock' and its' attendant time triggered events aren't in Coldstone.

Other beta testers for the most part are still unsure of the 'feature set' contained in Coldstone. We were not given sufficient time to explore the later beta's (after POG's release) to fully test it.

I must say, however, that some did an admirable job in so short a time, Glenn being the prime mover (so to speak).

I wasn't. I apologize if I can't help further.

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...it wasn't me...

Quote

Originally posted by SkipMeier:
**
In reference to your 'small, furry animal' that participated in the beta testing...

Many were initially involved and few survived. I was not one of the survivors so I was not aware of what made the final release and what didn't. Perhaps I should have posted nothing but I did in the hopes that what I said might give direction.

There was a long lapse (of months) in beta releases while POG was in beta. After POG's release, Coldstone beta versions came fast and furious... there were about 4 new versions in a period of a few weeks. Some of us with unreliable and slow connections just were unable to keep up with the releases. I personally didn't see or play with the last 3 beta releases and I still haven't been able to successfully download the public release (Amprosia's site has been very slow lately) version.

I emphatically stated in a post that a 'game clock' and its' attendant time triggered events aren't in Coldstone.

Other beta testers for the most part are still unsure of the 'feature set' contained in Coldstone. We were not given sufficient time to explore the later beta's (after POG's release) to fully test it.

I must say, however, that some did an admirable job in so short a time, Glenn being the prime mover (so to speak).

I wasn't. I apologize if I can't help further.

**

Consider me abashed. (Teach me to post while recovering from metal plume fever! )

I guess it is no surprise the beta-testers have no firm answers, and I laud their efforts (however incomplete) to pass on what they know. The ball is in Ambrosia's court, now. Once they get done with the rush of the CD, and whatever is happening with Nova (and the rest of their incredible schedule) perhaps they will answer some of these questions properly.

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everywhere else, it's --
"Nomuse"

I know people who would be interested in a Windows version if it came out, is that still not being considered? It would also make more sence to the people who own the Windows version of PoG and wanted to edit it on the computer that they had the game on.

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Quote

I am quoting myself here

Quote

Originally posted by SuperNova:
**I know people who would be interested in a Windows version if it came out, is that still not being considered? It would also make more sence to the people who own the Windows version of PoG and wanted to edit it on the computer that they had the game on.

**

SuperNova - The collective wisdom is that there may be a Windows version in the future,
but it will a while if it indeed happens.

This thread has a slightly fuller response: (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/webboard/Forum48/HTML/001021.html#")http://www.ambrosias...ML/001021.html#(/url)

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Quote

Originally posted by Stark Bledfast:
**SuperNova - The collective wisdom is that there may be a Windows version in the future,
but it will a while if it indeed happens.
**

Well, there are programs out there that can make Mac programs work on a Windows, and those
programs that do that cost about $100 at least, but it's worth it if you want to make
Coldstone games or play Ev or some great Mac game, but you should have got a Mac in the first place, Hyuck Hyuck.

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"I am the master of this
universe now, and you
will bow down before
me!"-Yugi, Tenchi In

I agree with the deficiencies in the tutorial. One in particular has me stumped,
because it is not specified in the manual either.

The tutorial tells you how to add a short sword to your inventory, but you aren't
going to kill anything with it unless you can equipt it. Presumably equipting is
conditional on whether or not you have an item in inventory, but all I have been
able to come up with equipts hard items, but uses up everything else in my
inventory. How do you tell when an item has been selected? And is this main
sequence or linking action in the inventory?

As far as I can tell, equipting isn't automatic by double-clicking on an item,
although that is how it works in PoG.

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