Beta Testing Questions/Next Project

[ComboNo1]

Hi everyone.

I have questions about "beta testing" my next Cock Hero project.

I have been a member here since about Oct/Nov of 2015, and I lurked around the forums for about 6 months before that. Does anyone remember any threads or discussions about how you actually conduct beta testing? Has anyone done it for another video? If so, can you guys talk what you ended up doing?

The main things I am looking at for the "beta testing" are:

1. I'd like to have people look at what I have for my first two rounds, to make sure I'm on the right track. The editing is about 80% done for round one, and 100% round two. I'd like to offer those up in PMV style to get some feedback.

I'm planning on six rounds total, so I could preview every round as it either gets mostly done or 100% completed. I could also hold some of it back to keep a little suprise for the final product (like maybe not having any preview for the final two rounds).

2. I would like to beta test the beats. I'm worried about getting the beats to be A) fun, B) intense enough, C) challenging enough; the music is fast enough this time - it's my skill at making a beat track that I'm concenred with.

I want to make sure that overall beats build across the video from being easy enough in round one to where you're really sweating it at the end of round six.

And another thought I've had is to make two sets of beats. I don't even know if that is really a possible or practical thing to do, but I would like to create the "regular" or "normal beats" and then make another beat track of faster beats based on those original beats. A second beat track of faster beats in the spirit of Fail, where a lot of the beats are fast 123-123 or 1234567, tons of doulbe time, etc. It would be two of the same video, but video #1 and video #2 would each have a different beat track and beat meter.

I don't know if this is a good idea or a really dumb idea.

3. Catching any minor errors, mistakes, screw ups that I might make as I work on this. It's nice to have more than one set of eyes for that.

I'd also really like to be able to fine tune my project (within reason) and get the best result that I can out of it with the communities help.

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The video itself is big boobs content, but it will be all girls (no dicks). I'm calling it "Cock Hero - Busty Daydreams".

It's all 1280x720 content this time around. There's six rounds at about 45 minutes (not counting short maybe 15 second breaks between rounds, opening/ending credits, etc.). It will be all trance music (about 140 bpm but lots of slow down and then build back up, 6-10 minute songs).

The progression in the video will be along the lines of single girls stripping --> lesbians --> masturbation & dildos.

No reward round, just play it and survive it. I wanted to make another big tit themed video, but I am also getting some inspiration from the early, early Cock Hero videos (like 1 & 2, early Flux ones) where each round is just girls dancing around and that sort of thing.

I have all the music picked out, I have all the clips I need downloaded (hopefully), and I've started to edit the video together for 2 rounds like I said. If I had to pull a number out of the air, I would say that I'm about 8% done with the video right now. I can't promise anything other than I will be SLOW while working on it, and it will probably take two more months of me working on it before it's ready.

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Sorry for the LONG post, but what do you guys think?

By the way I have a new recently made Mega account for sharing, I have a Pornhub account that I could use to post videos on, and I don't mind making torrents and sharing the content that way.

So thanks for reading, thanks for participating if that's what people want to do, and I'll throw it back to everyone to discuss my game-plan and offer suggestions.

[smoothie69]

You could check out this thread to see how beta testing went for that CH. viewtopic.php?f=25&t=16422

Big Boobs! Great choice! I helped with the beta testing on the CH I mentioned . Love to provide feedback on your efforts too!

[ComboNo1]

Thanks for pointing out that thread smoothie69. I know it's been up near the top of the front page for a while now - I guess I read one or two posts into it and never checked back. I just went through and read all of it a little bit ago, so I think I'm caught up on the latest about that project now (sounds really intriguing too, I want to see what it's all about it when it's done).

I want to do the opposite of that project when it comes to the testing. I want it to be completely "open". I don't want to swear anyone to secrecy. I'll offer up all the details: the song list, the names of all the girls I have picked out, how I want to structure the rounds, anything you want to know ahead of time - if you want to know that information, or if you feel that knowing it will help you give me better feedback on the overall project.

Testers will be signing up to spoil the surprise of seeing the video before it's finished, that's all. We can put discussion on the forum inside spoiler tags, and I hope that people who want to see only the completed video can avoid seeing anything too spoiler-ish until it's ready.

[basturd]

Big boobs including fakes or only natural?

[ComboNo1]

I'm going with the naturals (or ones that look natural) vs the "bolt-on tits" that a lot of people here don't seem like. Big natural tits with thin/slim/athletic/model type bodies as much as possible.

[Maskeraid]

Hey ComboNo1.

Here's a lengthy reply, hope you've got some patience lol

No1:
I personally didn't beta test either of my last 2 CH videos and I am also pondering how to go about doing a beta test. On my current project I have 3 rounds done + a bonus round. I haven't yet decided how I am going to do a beta test since I've structured this video differently than I have before. I too am aiming for around 6-7 rounds. Generally I think Beta testing is all how you want to do it. Think of it in terms of video games;

open beta: post the links to the sample in a new thread, be it pornhub/torrents/Mega.
~Or~
Closed beta: If you want to keep your beta to a closed group, iirc, you can set videos on Pornhub to only display to people you have in your "Friends" list. Stick your Pornhub page link into your "Beta" thread, then get people to PM their Pornhub user-name to you and you can approve those few people to view it. or you can just give the mega/torrent link to those who PM you.

As for number 2:
I don't know what video editing software you're using, but in sony vegas I don't believe there is a way to add multiple audio tracks to a single video and have the user select one. I did some scurrying around the interwebs and found that a program called "VirtualDubmod" is capable of doing just that, so a user can right-click a video that's playing and select a different audio track to play. Kinda like selecting a different language on a dvd or movie file.

However... the problem then would be to be able to have 2 separate beat-meters to choose from and I wouldn't know where to start. Imo, it would be easier to just render 2 separate versions of the video, one for easy, one for hard. If you're not having a visual meter and just the beats then a separate audio track to chose from would be a first for CH videos. ( i prefer a visual one tho)

In terms of beat patterns, definitely vary it... but not too often. One of the Complaints I had about my first CH video, was that the beats were all 1-1 just at varying speeds. Adding in some 123-123 and 1-2-345 and other beat variants adds a more fun aspect to it. So vary your patterns just don't swap them every 5 seconds as you'll find a lot of people dislike having to look away from the models to check the meter when beats change. I've not held back with my new video, they are vary in intensity throughout.

Definitely not a dumb idea though, I can't recall which one it was but I'm sure there was a previous CH video with 2 versions. People have done 2 different videos just for SD and HD, so two different versions with varying difficulty is more more of a stretch than 2 different definitions. It will just mean more work on your part. If you'd like me to make some step-by-step pics on how I set up my beats I'd be happy to, again I don't know how valuable that would be as I don't know what software you're using.

Phew... and finally 3:
I hated English lessons at school. However, if there is one thing I can take away from those lessons, it is what my teacher said to our class once. That was: "I am my own worst critic". Only thing that stuck with me after school. (besides how fucking boring Great Expectations is..) I definitely apply this to anything that I do creatively and it definitely helps in making CH videos.

I started my current CH video MONTHS ago. So far, I have redone round 1 twice and rounds 2 & 3 once each and by redone I mean deleted and started again because I was completely unhappy with it. I even redid the instructional video because I just felt it was tacky. I've lost count of how many times I have re-rendered videos because I missed a frame that looks out of place, or I cut a video in a section and left a small gap so the video has a microsecond of black.

I build my rounds separately as I go (different projects in vegas for each round). This way I can render them as individual files and watch them over and over so I can pick out those little errors. Once I'm done with all the rounds I copy and paste them all into one single Vegas project and render the entire thing.

So, having extra eyes to pick at any slight mistakes, it definitely can't hurt and I'd be happy to help in any way I can with your endeavour. Making a CH video can be a lot of work, and finding the time to do it can be troublesome. Especially when you got to balance work and life in there too.

[ComboNo1]

Thank you for the thoughtful reply Maskeraid, it was very helpful! The dog wanted an early morning walk, so I could think about what you wrote while I was out there in the cold too.

On point 1, I guess I have decided to start out as an open beta - at least to preview the first two rounds, and then I can close it off and make it smaller or more private (closed beta) if it needs to be.

I'm going to make a preview video for the first two rounds, throw a little "Cock Hero Busty Daydreams preview" watermark in the corner, and probably share it on Mega. I'll throw it up on Pornhub if there is enough demand for that too. I got lucky, I am working round by round and I just happened to complete round 1 and 2 first (instead of say 3 and 6).

Thanks for telling me about the private setting on Pornhub too. I didn't know about that.

On point 2:

it would be easier to just render 2 separate versions of the video, one for easy, one for hard.

That is what I meant I was thinking about doing. Sorry if I didn't come across clear.

AND

In terms of beat patterns, definitely vary it... but not too often. One of the Complaints I had about my first CH video, was that the beats were all 1-1 just at varying speeds. Adding in some 123-123 and 1-2-345 and other beat variants adds a more fun aspect to it. So vary your patterns just don't swap them every 5 seconds as you'll find a lot of people dislike having to look away from the models to check the meter when beats change. I've not held back with my new video, they are vary in intensity throughout.

There are a lot of great points in that paragraph. Especially about swapping the patterns every 5 seconds. I'm going to keep all of this in mind.

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again I don't know how valuable that would be as I don't know what software you're using.

Without going into too many gory details: I use Linux almost exclusively on my PC (I still have Windows 7 on there too for a few games and iTunes), so my video editing software (OpenShot) is pretty basic compared to probably what everyone else is using. But I made my "2K Titfuck" video all on linux, so I know it's possible.

A lot of the other programs for the project are cross platform, like Audacity for the beats and Handbrake to do the final render of the video. So no issues there.

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And finally, I spent from the second half of December through the first half of February just downloading torrents a couple of times a week to gather my content. And I've been working on the rounds for about a month now. It's unbelievable how friggin' long this takes, but it's fun. Something must be wrong with us.

Thanks again Maskeraid.

[AViolentDelight]

Hey Combo. I would love to take part in the beta testing process! I think my input could be really helpful to your development process.

[ComboNo1]

Ok, I "finished" editing the video for round 1 this afternoon (except that I think I have a couple black frames or mistakes of some kind in there), and round 2 was already done. So here is a link for the preview on Mega:

https://mega.nz/#!LAhDxIYR!XxvPcCYX4bKi ... UCbe_ljnH0

(please copy it over to your "cloud" and then download it from there, if you can)

It's just video and music, no beats or other Cock Hero playable stuff on there yet.

And here are the preview pics:

Spoiler: show

CH-BustyDaydreams_preview1-2_preview.jpg (97.64 KiB) Viewed 1919 times

I guess download it and watch it if you're interested, and give me some feedback on this thread. Nothing specific I'm looking for, other than I'm on the right track. If everyone hates the style or something, I want to know now before I complete the video, and if everyone likes what I've got so far (which I hope they will) then it will encourage me that much more.

Thanks!

p.s. I don't have the names of the girls or the song info handy right here as I type this, but I can post that as a spoiler tag too, if people want to know.

[ComboNo1]

Hey Combo. I would love to take part in the beta testing process! I think my input could be really helpful to your development process.

Great. Feel free to download the preview video and take a look at rounds 1 and 2. I really haven't figured out how the testing process will work past that for right now though.

[Tittyluvr1334]

Hey Combo - first of all, kudos to you for doing this. I am one of those working on the Crowd Sourcing project that Smoothie provided the link to you. With that in mind, I'll share with you some of my experiences so far on the "beta testing".

First, whether you want an all open or a closed circuit, I still feel it's important to know a little bit of the preferences of those viewing it and giving feedback. If a bunch persons who are only into small chested women give you feedback and suggest that it's not that good - well perhaps there's some bias there. And the opposite is true. I personally love larger (especially naturally looking but large and augmented is great too), so i would already look favorable on your source material. In the end, it just assures that you have a wide range of preferences because that way individual subjective opinions are able to be compiled into more objective overall opinion. It just help assure a wider spectrum of the opinion pool.

What we did was provided a MEGA link to those interested and had them submit feedback via PMs - but that would work just as well as a post in this thread - except sifting through this larger thread for specific feedback posts may get a little inconvenient. PMs would give you a more direct format to looking at feedback, but it wouldn't be shared on this post. In fact that was a big motivation for us to use PMs vs public. Having them all in my PMs was very convenient.

Outside of the beta-testing, we have three persons working on the project, which created it's own set of logistical issues. It sounds like you're doing this all yourself, and so it eliminates that set of problems. But having three of us also provides checks and balances for our editing of each other which gives extra sets of eyes and ears. Plus it helps in the creativity part. I set-up a messageboard much like this one for the three of us to continue to share our thoughts and stay in touch and apprised on what's being done and need redoing.

Once I received the feedback from the Beta testers, I posted their thoughts, and any additional conversation that generative from it, on the messageboard for the other two guys to read so that these can be discussed and considered by us all. The feedback we got was overall quite good, but there was a few mistakes found, and some additional insight on some things we could do differently. I was amazed at some of the suggestions - in fact some were so obvious I was flabbergasted that I hadn't thought of it, or didn't notice that it was wonky until it was pointed out. So that's a big positive to having the testers IMO.

The biggest thing to take from it all - we all know it's very labor-intensive; but it's a labor of love. I'm enjoying being a part of all of this. I just wish I could speed up the process.

Finally - there was one cock-hero that was made with only one small segment (one round IIRC), that was meant to be a beta for a bigger project. The project was a His and Hers cock hero experience. I cannot remember what it was called or where to find it. I do remember that there was a stroke meter in blue on the right (his) and a stroke meter in pink on the left (hers) which was much slower and I think it was more a clit rub or vibration on/off to the strokes. Both meters ran vertically top to bottom on opposite edges of the screen. The point is, that there was two different beat meters. One was faster than the other and they both followed the music, so there was no artificial beat included IIRC. So that's one way someone could do what was discussed up-thread on easy and hard stroking.

Another easy way to allow for two different levels of difficulty is to make some sequences (where it makes sense) to do an up/down as one beat, vs a up as one and down as one. Basically it's the difference of single vs doubletime. I would recommend not doing this throughout the entire project but I can see doing this in a couple of shorter rounds, or even at one part within a round. You could accomplish this by laying the groundwork during the intro or "rules" scene, indicating that if you see certain dialogue flash on the screen, it means to allow a easy vs hard option to the viewer. The easiest way to implement this would be to take a part of a song (you mentioned using trance music or something - like dubstep or EDM I'm guessing). There are parts of these songs where the music kicks it up, it's a perfect time to allow the fast beats of the song to mirror a "hard" difficulty level to allow the viewer to stroke to the natural beat, or give the option just before the drop, to allow the easy 1 beat for up and 1 for down level of difficulty.

Just some ideas to consider. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've done so far. Good luck and have fun.

[ComboNo1]

Thank you Tittyluvr1334, that is some good stuff to think about.

What we did was provided a MEGA link to those interested and had them submit feedback via PMs - but that would work just as well as a post in this thread - except sifting through this larger thread for specific feedback posts may get a little inconvenient. PMs would give you a more direct format to looking at feedback, but it wouldn't be shared on this post. In fact that was a big motivation for us to use PMs vs public. Having them all in my PMs was very convenient.

I think you have just convinced me to use PM for communication right there. Your reasons make very good sense.

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I like your thoughts and suggestions about 2 on screen beat meters too, and other ways to work the beat meter for "normal" and "hard" difficulty (and who knows, someone else probably wants to implement something like this on their project - so it's a good idea ), but my intention was always to make two different versions of the one video - all the same, but with different beats and beat meters.

And as far as content - as in the big boobs, I know that it's not everyone's thing, and I respect that.

I'm a big tit guy, but even within that genre of porn, I don't like the big giant beachball fake tits as much as I used to (not to say that I 100% don't like it, but I digress), and I do not like 250 lb girls that have big tits primarily because they're fat (but once again, if someone likes BBWs - more power to them).

So I'll make it clear when the time comes that it's big boob content, and if that's a turn off then I don't really need to have someone like that involved in testing out my video (because they won't enjoy the content regardless). But if you are someone that likes mainstream porn, and is open to big tits every now and then for a change of pace, then know that it's good looking/cute/hot chicks with slim, tight bodies and mostly natural tits. Maybe I need a good percentage of these type of people (mainstream fans) for testing, to see if they can appreciate it and/or be won over to enjoy the video.

I know people with names like "Tittyluvr1334" are probably going not going to complain about the content too much ...

Thanks.