May 31st to June 14th 2025

I’m more than a few days late in writing this latest 15 Days. I have good reasons though; I have been busy!

This time I cover:

• The latest on the UrbX Warriors Kickstarter as we head towards the finish line;
• Some significant INVISIBLE BUG!!!! squishing;
• A ‘confidential’ testing update I’ve been keeping quiet about…until now;
• Some wonderful feedback;
• Life before testing;
• Destiny 2 dungeon updates;
• Fitness update;
• A new camera means…another podcast…maybe…;
• And a copycat tester!

So, let’s get to it.

Sunday 29th June 2025. That’s how long you’ve got until the Kickstarter for UrbX Warriors ends, which means that is the time left for us to hit the next stretch goal(s), for you to grab some exclusive loot, and for us to reach as many people as we possibly can!

Kickstarter link: UrbX Warriors

Demo link: UrbX Warriors Demo

At the time of writing, the campaign has crushed the first stretch goal and is swiftly heading towards the 30K marker, which would mean extra and new zombie types added to the game. Plus, there’s still time to hit those additional stretch goals.

While all of this excitement has been going on, I’ve been testing UrbX in the background, hunting bugs, and I have to say I am quite proud of one bug that had been very difficult to find and replicate…because it was invisible!

Now, one of my particular set of skills is being able to find errant double spaces in sentences. I’ve previously had a little fun on social media with this: “…50 yards.”

So I have keen eyesight, and it went next level with this one.

Very difficult to pin down, and highlighted repeatedly during a recent demo at RetCon, it kept appearing in one particularly tiny area of the game when collecting a coin, trapping the player and then ending the run. I suspect the sudden repeated reappearance of this bug was because of a difference in controls. I test UrbX using a keyboard and it works well, but the demo was set-up using one of the fantastic joysticks currently on offer via the Kickstarter. What this means is that by using the keyboard, the movement of the characters is slightly less fluid due to how I play. It’s still smooth and fluid on a keyboard, it’s just that if you’ve played a game using both a joystick and then a keyboard, you’ll likely understand what I mean. And this ‘invisible block’ bug, as I took to calling it, needed some fluidity to track down, especially as no-one had any idea how to make it appear. Worst of all though, it meant the player couldn’t continue because they were trapped. Not a good impression!

I tried all kinds of various ideas, including collecting items quickly, shooting chests, hitting items, only collecting coins, and many other combinations of play, and it wasn’t giving me anything. I really needed a starting point; something that would at least make the block appear and then narrow it down by systematically ticking off possibilities with the aim of leaving just the repeated action to replicate it.

I spent many hours doing whatever I could think of, and I’m talking hours of repetition. This is the ‘not glamourous’ comment I made in that podcast a few months ago. It’s. Not. Glamourous. At. All. You have to keep going. You have to repeat, try different theories, rule them out, look closely, look carefully and everything else, and sometimes (and no-one tells you this), actually drift off into a meditation-like state and just play the game. Occasionally, if you don’t try too hard, that bug you’ve spent hours looking for will just appear. It reminds me of when I was much younger, very naive and pining after an ex but they constantly ignored me, and then once I’d forgotten about them, they somehow feel a change in the force and are suddenly interested… Yeah, a bit like that, but with bugs!

So time ticked along and then, as has often happened in my life, it’s the ‘just one more go’ approach that finally gave me a glimpse. It was assumed that this bug was related to just that one area but part of my approach is to see if it’s repeatable elsewhere. A coin is an item. Maybe it would happen on another item. So I found one in a bigger area. Key to all of this is that I also record my playthroughs and bug hunting so I can rewatch and spot anything that goes awry.

I focused on a food item; a watermelon. I picked it up and when I tried to go past the area where it had been, above that spot was the elusive invisible block! There was something about picking up the watermelon but I didn’t know what! What I did know though, most importantly, is that it wasn’t just that original coin.

It was late so I went to bed, thinking about what else I could do. I actually couldn’t sleep. I was genuinely excited to know that I was on the right path. When I woke up the next morning, I replayed the video and spotted that by quickly grabbing an item whilst moving past it, it triggers the block. A few repeated tests of this on the watermelon and then another coin led me confidently back to the original area…and what do you know? I can now summon invisible blocks like some kind of magical architect!

Not long after, that bug was squished and is no more; some old code needing an adjustment and so this particular battle is over. But I will always remember you, invisible block; you were a worthy adversary.

Moving on from UrbX, I realised over the last 15 Days that even though it’s only June, I have already exceeded the number of projects I tested and contributed to in 2024. And the one that broke my previous record? Confidential Killings by BRANE and Lorenzo B. I admit that as soon as I played the demo, I was in love with it, and the art style is something I never tire of. Plus, the two minds behind it are incredibly clever, funny, and creative. Although I suspect Lorenzo would probably disagree with me.

They are two of the nicest people I have ever met, and with a game I’m following closely, I do recommend having a go at the free demo. It was recently featured on itch.io’s home page and is getting a lot of positive feedback. Lovely and deserved! ❤️

Demo link itch: Confidential Killings

Demo link Steam: Confidential Killings

All-in-all, between UrbX Warriors and Confidential Killings, life has been pretty good. And if you don’t believe me, just ask Tony, Stoo and Lorenzo!

Yeah, OK, I’m showing off a bit here but I work hard for this so I’m allowed to brag sometimes. 😎

Next up, before I got into testing properly, I also backed several Kickstarters; one of which was Elementallis. A Zelda-like is not an unfair description and having backed it at beta level, I got a key sent to me recently. And what is interesting to me is that because I have done so much testing, it has changed the way I look at and enjoy games now. Testing gives me the chance to influence, feedback, suggest, learn, and much more at a development level, and that means the days of looking at a game with innocent eyes when it releases are long behind me. There have been a number of occasions where I’ve replayed old favourites and can see something not quite right, or done in a way that I, personally, wouldn’t have done. They’re not my games though, they’re someone else’s, and their direction is to be respected. After all, I could always make a game as I want to, right? But what has happened is that for games I am looking forward to simply playing, I have to make the decision to avoid any version other than the release. And Elementallis is one. Because it really does look fantastic, and I want to play it as a gamer; as I have done for nearly forty years. I have to keep the tester and the gamer separate, otherwise I risk losing the enjoyment and only looking at games as projects, and that’s not something I am willing to do. There is some crossover, especially when playing a game being tested for the first time but it’s never quite the same as playing it only for my enjoyment.

Destiny 2 dungeon updates: After Spire of the Watcher, I did run through Ghosts of the Deep and then Prophecy. I’ve said this before but I really wish this easier feature had been around a while ago. Knowing what to do, having gone through these in my own time at a less intense level, makes such a difference. In order of difficulty (easiest to hardest), I’ll go:

• Prophecy
• Spire of the Watcher
• Ghosts of the Deep

There’s not much between Spire and Ghosts, to be honest. I do prefer the armour in Ghosts though, and very rarely change my Guardian’s look from that set. There’s more Destiny 2 stuff coming in future, mostly covering my experiences of the game but that’s for a bigger piece of writing where I’ll offer snippets here. These days I play it to keep my gaming skills at a decent level. Destiny 2 for the skills, Solitaire for the focus. It all helps me with testing. And I never thought that would be a combination I’d put together for such a thing.

Fitness: Where I was getting up at 5:30am for cardio and weights, now I sleep in and then work in the garden. We’ve had a wall rebuilt and new fences installed and this means an opportunity to also do some DIY landscaping. Cue digging up weeds and dead roots, shovelling soil and rocks, getting the sledgehammer out and breaking up solid rock and concrete…it’s all a workout. It’s actually good fun, and I get to mix exercise with something useful. The only thing I have to remember is to stay hydrated; the weather’s been a bit hotter here than normal. The fitness continues in its own way; not as I expected but on it goes, which is good enough for me.

I’ve also bought a new PC camera, which can only mean another podcast. After the one in March (see Part 6), the video looked blurred to me as I was using the in-built laptop camera so I said I’d buy a new one if another opportunity arises. I’m in talks with a good friend of mine to get something together soon as a one-off and I think it’ll be good fun. There’s not too much to share right now but, hopefully, in the not-too-distant future, there’ll be something else to give you as far as testing is concerned, with my hope that I can offer a greater insight into how this whole journey has unfolded over the last four years or so.

And finally, shocking news! A copycat tester! I got a message from Lorenzo saying there’s a copycat pretending to be me! I will admit to a few seconds of panic which quickly turned into laughter and genuine delight when I saw his artwork below.

See? I told you he is clever and creative! 😊

That’s enough from me for now.