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Playtesting with Shard open

You can keep Shard open while you playtest. Shard steps aside during the test and comes back when you stop.

What happens when you press Play#

  1. When a playtest starts (Play, Play Here, Run, or Start with a server and clients), Shard’s playtest copy writes a line like Shard: playtest started 1A2B... in the Output window.
  2. The Shard in edit mode sees that line and pauses. Its windows go blank, and you can’t chat until the test ends.
  3. Anything Shard was working on stops, like pressing Stop. The message queue is cleared.
  4. When the test ends, the playtest copy writes Shard: playtest stopped 1A2B..., and Shard starts again by itself. Your chats, settings and sign-in are all still there.

With a server and several clients, Shard waits until every part of the test has stopped before it comes back.

If a task was cut off by the playtest, its answer shows “This response was interrupted. Send a new message to continue.” Just send your next message.

If Shard doesn’t come back#

Click the Chat or Settings button on the Shard toolbar. That restarts Shard even if the “stopped” line never arrived.

Why Shard pauses#

Shard’s tools work on the place in edit mode. During a playtest, Studio runs a separate copy of your place, and changes made there are thrown away when the test ends. Pausing keeps Shard from working on the wrong copy.

Testing what Shard built#

Shard can’t press Play for you, and it can’t see your game while it runs. To check a feature:

  1. Playtest it yourself.
  2. Stop the test.
  3. Tell Shard what happened. You can also ask it to read the Output window with its GetOutput tool. Shard hides its own Shard: playtest lines from the results.

TODO (owner) confirm in Studio that prints and errors from a finished playtest are still visible to GetOutput in edit mode. The code expects it (Shard itself relies on seeing the playtest lines), but it’s untested.

The Output lines#

The Shard: playtest started and Shard: playtest stopped lines in your Output window are normal. Shard uses them to know when to pause and resume. They don’t mean anything went wrong.