The Test in their normal outfit.

[Mc Mcarthy Jones]

So the other day I went to a therapist about this whole costume problem, and he was completely useless! He kept trying to relate the problem to other issues in my life and It’s like bro, why are you trying to psychoanalyze me? All I did was ask a question! Then, when I got mad that he was wasting my time, he implied that I should go to a psych ward! I know right? Completely psychotic, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with me. Then he called in some people to restrain me, then I hit him with my shovel, it was a whole thing. But moral of the story is, don’t go to therapy, it’ll only give you more problems. I guess now I’ll have to solve this whole costume problem myself, like always. Luckily I’m a genius so I already have the perfect solution, talk about The Test, I’ve already given them a costume, so therefore I have no need or desire to talk about costumes at all! Boom streak broken problem solved, I’m practically cured all ready!

So The Test. They’re kind of a bro when you think about it, holding all those pesky characters for you, giving you more xbox time assuming the new Call of Duty update hasn’t just dropped, they’re a really good guy all things considered. Maybe a little too good, (like cmon Test not in public) they’re supposed to an enemy but they’re hardly trying. The only thing you have to do to sidestep them is remember where they are, which is not that hard of a task for most people. As soon as you can accomplish this, it leaves all those juicy benefits for you to take advantage of, and oh boy those benefits sure are juicy, but we’ll get to that in a second. I guess you could say that The Test is more challenging when in cahoots with Gotta Sweep but one, that’s not guaranteed to be the case and two, you can simply preemptively look in The Tests direction if you know Gotta Sweep is out, it adds barely any challenge. I guess maybe The Test can very rarely appear in a segment that makes it impossible to walk around them, but that’s very rare and even then, that’s just the generation making them any obstacle whatsoever, they did nothing except exist.

Now let’s talk about those juicy benefits that are there for the taking. The Test completely freezing every character is basically like the power of teleportation throughout that whole hallway, obviously that’s very good. “Oh, but The Test doesn’t always spawn in a super helpful location so it’s not that bad.” Shut the hell up Straw Man go to your room! A. It’s not like The Test spawning in an at least somewhat good location isn’t a super rare occurrence, and B. Even when The Test is just in some corner somewhere, they’re still not an active threat, which is a problem. Also in that instance, The Test still gives you free stamina. Yeah since every character is completely paused, you can get a full stamina refill with no risk whatsoever! This means that you can also wait out events and such for completely free! In short, The Test is a very reliable, and very easy to take advantage of character, so basically like my ol’ pal Jim who cut off all ties with me for some reason.

Now we get to the part where I make stupid suggestions (god I hate how formulaiic I am!) This first idea might sound a little crazy, and I could certainly see why someone would dislike it, but here goes. Give The Test three different “positions.” Let me elaborate, The Test would have three different spots on the floor that they would teleport between at random. Once the player enters The Tests line of sight for a location, that location would become “activated” (i.e. The Test will instantly start moving if their movement requirements are met, but only in that location.) The Test will not teleport while the player is in their line of sight, or while they’re “activating.” You might be thinking, why? The reasoning is because I think this would make The Test harder to deal with, remembering three locations is certainly harder than one, I don’t know if it would be that huge of a jump, but at least it’s something. It also makes The Test a lot less reliable, which is one of the contributing factors in how helpful they are. (To clarify something here, I don’t actually have a problem with a character being very consistent or reliable, I just don’t think it works for The Test because it makes them too helpful and easy to deal with. Plus, this change would still make them more reliable then other characters, I mean they only have three places to go, compared to the other characters everywhere they can be.)

The second change is to deal with those good ol’ juicy benefits. (even if you think the first change was bad and stupid, I still think this next change would be important and help the character a lot.) Now there are two ways I’ve bothered to think up for this part. The first one would be to just stop event timers and stamina regen while in The Tests eyesight. This would be a more subtle way of going about this, and I do think it would help. However I think The Test should be nerfed even harder than that, the power of basically teleportation is still pretty useful even when you’re not sure of when and where you get it, and I think The Test still shouldn't be that useful. They’re still a character after all, not only that, but a character who's only supposed to appear on late floors. So I’d say, instead of that first change, to slow all characters down to about half speed instead of just freezing them. It’d still make The Test helpful, just not incredibly helpful. It would also give you the opportunity to slow characters' speech and sound effects down as well, I know I want to hear Beans say POOM at half speed. (The thing about sound effects isn’t necessary though, I think it would just be a fun detail.)

That’s pretty much it, but I want to try and be a little more positive in these posts, so let’s compliment The Test on the easiest thing to compliment a Baldi character on, their personality. I know I’ve criticized The Test for being all ooga booga scary and what not, but they definitely have an aura to them. They have a lot of pomp and circumstaaaawait a second! Pomp and circumstance, Mrs. Pomp, oh my god there’s something here! Let’s see… The Pomp and Circumstance Marches were a series of five or six marches composed by Edward Elgar. Elgar kind of sounds like Edgar. Edgar is Edgar Allan Poe's first name. Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Murders in the Rue Morgue. That story features a detective called C. Auguste Dupin. Dupin as in duped. Much like how some suspicious individual who isn’t me duped a detective in the case of the murders at the Blue Morgue. My lack of involvement in those murders ties it back to me. My favorite game is Baldis Basics Plus. My favorite character is 1st Prize. 1st Prize kind of looks like Baldi if you squint and there you have it Mrs. Pomp should dress up like a bumblebee! Oh my god it’s perfect! I don’t know how I didn't think of it sooner! *Sigh* yep! Perfect! ... ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! The clock one was still better wasn’t it?

[|i.c.c.n|]

yep, you're right; the first suggestion is very stupid.
The Test goes from 0-1000 in an instant when he sees you looking away, so unless he makes a sound or has a warning timer (making it easier to avoid his 2-minute punishment thanks to getting a head's up, which imo could be good but you want him to be less beneficial to the player) then a player would get caught completely off-guard not knowing he moved, and then blinded. (theoretically you can try to avoid this by systematically looking down each hallway as you travel, but it's hard to effectively look both ways in an intersection without being seen... plus it's annoying)
not to mention that if a pushing character is on the floor and happens to push you into Test's new sightline that you were unaware of, you would have even less warning about what's about to happen to you. the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him. (being, once activated he stays active until he blinds you)

additionally: considering the fact that Test spawns in a different location after he blinds you, this either means that his spawn locations get highly nerfed because he no longer can spawn anywhere once he moves, or the 3-locations idea is even more unfair because they'd probably get changed, too (and if only one of his locations gets changed... why? that's technically better than him just moving to one of the 3 predetermined areas, but it's still not as effective as "you have absolutely no clue where he could be now")

also, don't misjudge the power of people's brain- sometimes it can take someone a bit more effort to remember where something was ^^ (ADHD folk come to mind) so tripling the memory requirement doesn't sound very disability-friendly (especially on top of all the other things we need to keep track of in average gameplay!)


the idea of nerfing Test's freezing ability is interesting, but unfortunately it does also nerf another aspect- the fact that Baldi doesn't slap when he's frozen. you can't exactly look where you're going, so if you're walking away from Test and Baldi happens to be in the direction you're headed, you could accidentally walk into the guy and die. theoretically you still can even if he was slowed, but it'd be a lot easier to hear a slap or two before you do. (NPCs will still do what mechanics they can while frozen- Bully will bully, Beans will spit gum, Cloudy will blow wind... so changing it from a freeze to a slowdown makes it more likely for any threats to leave the area in general)

pausing the event timer as a nerf seems like a good idea, until you happen to pause an event timer that benefits the player and suddenly Baldi's ruler is broken for longer, or you have more time to get to the Party/Mystery room

...pausing the stamina regen sounds like it could be fair though- you don't exactly need to run if everyone is frozen in time, and if you do then that's on you

[Mc Mcarthy Jones]

Originally posted by iccn:

yep, you're right; the first suggestion is very stupid.The Test goes from 0-1000 in an instant when he sees you looking away, so unless he makes a sound or has a warning timer (making it easier to avoid his 2-minute punishment thanks to getting a head's up) then a player would get caught completely off-guard not knowing he moved, and then blinded. (theoretically you can try to avoid this by systematically looking down each hallway as you travel, but it's hard to effectively look both ways in an intersection without being seen... plus it's annoying)
not to mention that if a pushing character is on the floor and happens to push you into Test's new sightline that you were unaware of, you would have even less warning about what's about to happen to you. the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him. (being, once activated he stays active until he blinds you)

additionally: considering the fact that Test spawns in a different location after he blinds you, this either means that his spawn locations get highly nerfed because he no longer can spawn anywhere once he moves, or the 3-locations idea is even more unfair because they'd probably get changed, too (and if only one of his locations gets changed... why? that's technically better than him just moving to one of the 3 predetermined areas, but it's still not as effective as "you have absolutely no clue where he could be now")

You’ve completely misunderstood what I said so I’ll try to explain it better. When The Test is in a location, they will behave like the normal Test does, that being that once their activated, they will instantly move upon seeing the player. When The Test moves to a new location they will deactivate, meaning that they will have a cooldown phase upon seeing the player again, however, when The Test moves back to a place where they’ve already been activated, they will be activated again. Basically when The Test moves to a new place, they will be deactivated until the player has activated them at that place. Then, any time they are in that place again, they will be activated. Once The Test catches you, they will completely reset. That meaning that all their positions will change, and you will have to activate them all again. That may sound “easy” but remember that you just got caught by The Test, you deserve a break from them. (Admittedly that’s something I should’ve touched on but oh well.)

Originally posted by iccn:

also, don't underestimate the power of people's brain- sometimes it can take someone a bit more effort to remember where something was ^^ (ADHD folk come to mind) so tripling the memory requirement doesn't sound very disability-friendly

Yes, you want to make games as accessible as possible, but if striving for that leaves a character completely crippled for a large majority of the player base, then that is not the right solution. Look at Celeste as an example, that game has a myriad of accessibility options for players who might struggle, wouldn’t it suck if instead of options, the whole game was designed to make sure there’s no one left behind. On that note, perhaps there can be a “simple test” option to keep The Test how they used to be.

Originally posted by iccn:

the idea of nerfing Test's freezing ability is interesting, but unfortunately it does also nerf another aspect- the fact that Baldi doesn't slap when he's frozen. you can't exactly look where you're going, so if you're walking away from Test and Baldi happens to be in the direction you're headed, you could accidentally walk into the guy and die. theoretically you still can even if he was slowed, but it'd be a lot easier to hear a slap or two before you do. (NPCs will still do what mechanics they can while frozen- Bully will bully, Beans will spit gum, Cloudy will blow wind... so changing it from a freeze to a slowdown makes it more likely for any threats to leave the area in general)

pausing the event timer as a nerf seems like a good idea, until you happen to pause an event timer that benefits the player and suddenly Baldi's ruler is broken for longer, or you have more time to get to the Party/Mystery room

Yes there are some positives to nerfing The Test like this, but I would still consider it a nerf overall. I feel the same way about the event timers thing.

[|i.c.c.n|]

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

yep, you're right; the first suggestion is very stupid.The Test goes from 0-1000 in an instant when he sees you looking away, so unless he makes a sound or has a warning timer (making it easier to avoid his 2-minute punishment thanks to getting a head's up) then a player would get caught completely off-guard not knowing he moved, and then blinded. (theoretically you can try to avoid this by systematically looking down each hallway as you travel, but it's hard to effectively look both ways in an intersection without being seen... plus it's annoying)
not to mention that if a pushing character is on the floor and happens to push you into Test's new sightline that you were unaware of, you would have even less warning about what's about to happen to you. the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him. (being, once activated he stays active until he blinds you)

additionally: considering the fact that Test spawns in a different location after he blinds you, this either means that his spawn locations get highly nerfed because he no longer can spawn anywhere once he moves, or the 3-locations idea is even more unfair because they'd probably get changed, too (and if only one of his locations gets changed... why? that's technically better than him just moving to one of the 3 predetermined areas, but it's still not as effective as "you have absolutely no clue where he could be now")

You’ve completely misunderstood what I said so I’ll try to explain it better. When The Test is in a location, they will behave like the normal Test does, that being that once their activated, they will instantly move upon seeing the player. When The Test moves to a new location they will deactivate, meaning that they will have a cooldown phase upon seeing the player again, however, when The Test moves back to a place where they’ve already been activated, they will be activated again. Basically when The Test moves to a new place, they will be deactivated until the player has activated them at that place. Then, any time they are in that place again, they will be activated. Once The Test catches you, they will completely reset. That meaning that all their positions will change, and you will have to activate them all again. That may sound “easy” but remember that you just got caught by The Test, you deserve a break from them. (Admittedly that’s something I should’ve touched on but oh well.)

I'm sorry, I was going off the assumption you wanted a challenge. as I mentioned, one of the few threatening aspects about him is that he stays active- mentioned right after I said "the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him." (which seems to be apparently what you were going for) however I didn't know about the cooldown phase which will make him even weaker (assuming it's not just, his 5 second activation timer again)

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

also, don't underestimate the power of people's brain- sometimes it can take someone a bit more effort to remember where something was ^^ (ADHD folk come to mind) so tripling the memory requirement doesn't sound very disability-friendly

Yes, you want to make games as accessible as possible, but if striving for that leaves a character completely crippled for a large majority of the player base, then that is not the right solution. Look at Celeste as an example, that game has a myriad of accessibility options for players who might struggle, wouldn’t it suck if instead of options, the whole game was designed to make sure there’s no one left behind. On that note, perhaps there can be a “simple test” option to keep The Test how they used to be.

while you have a good point on crippling a character for a large portion of the playerbase, your 3-location suggestion is not how to fix that. it makes him needlessly complicated and weaker in some areas. a better solution should be simple and strong, so more people understand/combat it and him still be a threat. what you've done is just tried to apply RNG to a character in a game that used to have a really bad RNG problem (and still arguably might)

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

the idea of nerfing Test's freezing ability is interesting, but unfortunately it does also nerf another aspect- the fact that Baldi doesn't slap when he's frozen. you can't exactly look where you're going, so if you're walking away from Test and Baldi happens to be in the direction you're headed, you could accidentally walk into the guy and die. theoretically you still can even if he was slowed, but it'd be a lot easier to hear a slap or two before you do. (NPCs will still do what mechanics they can while frozen- Bully will bully, Beans will spit gum, Cloudy will blow wind... so changing it from a freeze to a slowdown makes it more likely for any threats to leave the area in general)

pausing the event timer as a nerf seems like a good idea, until you happen to pause an event timer that benefits the player and suddenly Baldi's ruler is broken for longer, or you have more time to get to the Party/Mystery room

Yes there are some positives to nerfing The Test like this, but I would still consider it a nerf overall. I feel the same way about the event timers thing.

as I said above, I thought you wanted a challenge.


also just remembered, The Test may very well get his initial speed slowed down, so I'm not sure how well your ideas would go with the plan mystman said he's been meaning to do

[Mc Mcarthy Jones]

Originally posted by iccn:

I'm sorry, I was going off the assumption you wanted a challenge. as I mentioned, one of the few threatening aspects about him is that he stays active- mentioned right after I said "the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him." (which seems to be apparently what you were going for) however I didn't know about the cooldown phase which will make him even weaker (assuming it's not just, his 5 second activation timer again)

What do you mean that you assumed I wanted a challenge, does this idea not seem more challenging than the current Test to you? I’m pretty sure, and correct me if I’m wrong here, that remembering three locations is objectively harder than remembering one. And what do you mean by all that cooldown stuff? The only cooldown would be their 5 second activation timer, that’s it. (Unless they’re pushed by another character.) I hope that cleared things up.

Originally posted by iccn:

while you have a good point on crippling a character for a large portion of the playerbase, your 3-location suggestion is not how to fix that. it makes him needlessly complicated and weaker in some areas. a better solution should be simple and strong, so more people understand it and him still be a threat. what you've done is just tried to apply RNG to a character in a game that used to have a really bad RNG problem (and still arguably might)

I’ll give you that, it is definitely complicated, maybe too much so, but it’s still the best idea I had. Also, yes, I did add RNG to the character, the entire reason that The Test is so useful and easy to deal with is because they’re so predictable, that’s why I added RNG. I get, not liking the idea, but not liking it because of the RNG makes no sense in this context. Every other character is RNG, whats the specific problem with The Test being less predictable?

[|i.c.c.n|]

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

I'm sorry, I was going off the assumption you wanted a challenge. as I mentioned, one of the few threatening aspects about him is that he stays active- mentioned right after I said "the only way you could not know where he went and it still be fair is if he had to get activated in each location, which still nerfs one of the few threatening aspects about him." (which seems to be apparently what you were going for) however I didn't know about the cooldown phase which will make him even weaker (assuming it's not just, his 5 second activation timer again)

What do you mean that you assumed I wanted a challenge, does this idea not seem more challenging than the current Test to you? I’m pretty sure, and correct me if I’m wrong here, that remembering three locations is objectively harder than remembering one. And what do you mean by all that cooldown stuff? The only cooldown would be their 5 second activation timer, that’s it. (Unless they’re pushed by another character.) I hope that cleared things up.

what I meant is based off past suggestions, I thought you would've wanted things much harder. The Test is easy to avoid, so long as you remember where he is. yes 3 locations is harder to remember than 1, but in a more frustrating way than in a challenge-y way

also, what do you mean "Unless they're pushed by another character"? do they get another activation timer if they're moved? so on top of him having 3 locations to switch between that each need to be activated, he can just be moved and lose his threat level?

while with your further explanation I can see how you might think this a good idea, but I feel it's just making a character more frustrating than challenging. frustration may create challenge, but it's moreso something you slog against rather than strategise against (not that you can't strategise against Test being in more locations, but if he just decides to move at some point you can't exactly plan for that easily)

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

while you have a good point on crippling a character for a large portion of the playerbase, your 3-location suggestion is not how to fix that. it makes him needlessly complicated and weaker in some areas. a better solution should be simple and strong, so more people understand it and him still be a threat. what you've done is just tried to apply RNG to a character in a game that used to have a really bad RNG problem (and still arguably might)

I’ll give you that, it is definitely complicated, maybe too much so, but it’s still the best idea I had. Also, yes, I did add RNG to the character, the entire reason that The Test is so useful and easy to deal with is because they’re so predictable, that’s why I added RNG. I get, not liking the idea, but not liking it because of the RNG makes no sense in this context. Every other character is RNG, whats the specific problem with The Test being less predictable?

the other NPCs typically have semi-predictable RNG if they're more of a threat. Faculty NPCs will tend to patrol/explore the entire floor and will check inside rooms (Principal in particular likes to check areas he hasn't been in in a while). It's a Bully won't spawn near the player and will spawn in locations it's possible to circle around him in. Playtime will wander randomly, sure, but she also always turns around if she loses sight of you. AnC doesn't even seemingly have RNG in his AI- he uses location triggers.

The Test may have RNG in his spawn locations, but considering how powerful his punishment is it makes sense for him to be largely predictable. yes this may make his freezing ability too strong, but it's better than being blinded because you couldn't figure out what was going on

[Mc Mcarthy Jones]

Originally posted by iccn:

what I meant is based off past suggestions, I thought you would've wanted things much harder. The Test is easy to avoid, so long as you remember where he is. yes 3 locations is harder to remember than 1, but in a more frustrating way than in a challenge-y way

also, what do you mean "Unless they're pushed by another character"? do they get another activation timer if they're moved? so on top of him having 3 locations to switch between that each need to be activated, he can just be moved and lose his threat level?

while with your further explanation I can see how you might think this a good idea, but I feel it's just making a character more frustrating than challenging. frustration may create challenge, but it's moreso something you slog against rather than strategise against

I disagree with you that it would be more frustrating than challenging. Let me ask you this, how do you plan to strategize against a character like T. PoTT? You don’t, you just react to his presence. How does The Test being like that make them worse? The fact that you have to remember where they are, instead of just being able to react to them, is the entire point of the character. Anyways, here’s what I meant by the “unless they get pushed by another character” thing, I remember Micah stating that he would add a short cooldown to The Test when they get pushed to a new spot to make them more fair, but I don’t remember when and where or even if it's been added yet, or even if it was true really.

Originally posted by iccn:

the other NPCs typically have semi-predictable RNG if they're more of a threat. Faculty NPCs will tend to patrol the entire floor and will check inside rooms (Principal in particular likes to check areas he hasn't been in in a while). It's a Bully won't spawn near the player and will spawn in locations it's possible to circle around him in. Playtime will wander randomly, sure, but she also always turns around if she loses sight of you. AnC doesn't even seemingly have RNG in his AI- he uses location triggers.

How is this not semi predictable? The Test only has three locations, that seems pretty predictable to me. How do all other characters have more predictable A.I. then this? they can be reacted to sure, but that’s not really predictable. Assuming Mrs. Pomp isn’t currently heading to her room; she just wanders around randomly, how can you predict that at all? “Oh she might go into that room there.” That’s not any more or less predictable then this is. “Oh T. PoTT won’t come here for a while.” Again, that’s not any more or less predictable then this is. “Oh ItsABully won’t spawn near me.” You realize that there is a lot of space on any given floor right? I’m not saying that not being able to super accurately predict these characters is a problem, I’m saying that this version of The Test falling under that should be treated the same way.

Originally posted by iccn:

The Test may have RNG in his spawn locations, but considering how powerful his punishment is it makes sense for him to be largely predictable

Having a character be really easy to deal with because their punishment is really strong is poor design. Maybe if The Test were harder to deal with, their punishment wouldn’t have to be so bad.

[|i.c.c.n|]

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

I disagree with you that it would be more frustrating than challenging. Let me ask you this, how do you plan to strategize against a character like T. PoTT? You don’t, you just react to his presence. How does The Test being like that make them worse? The fact that you have to remember where they are, instead of just being able to react to them, is the entire point of the character. Anyways, here’s what I meant by the “unless they get pushed by another character” thing, I remember Micah stating that he would add a short cooldown to The Test when they get pushed to a new spot to make them more fair, but I don’t remember when and where or even if it's been added yet, or even if it was true really.

Principal isn't really frustrating to me because makes noise. if he isn't whistling, he's opening doors- most Faculty are noisier when moving around than Principal is, with the exception of Gotta Sweep who still has an audible difference in that he's much faster than Principal is. I don't need to keep an eye out at all times if I can hear him. (and if he's making absolutely NO noise, then all I'd need to do is take a quick look around to see if I can safely break the rules)

if I'm trying to hide from an angry Principal, then I'd have to be more careful, sure, but at least I can hear doors if he's currently patrolling whilst keeping an eye out for me. and even if I fail at keeping track of him, I could still try to plan a way to survive detention- you can't exactly plan your sight back.

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

the other NPCs typically have semi-predictable RNG if they're more of a threat. Faculty NPCs will tend to patrol the entire floor and will check inside rooms (Principal in particular likes to check areas he hasn't been in in a while). It's a Bully won't spawn near the player and will spawn in locations it's possible to circle around him in. Playtime will wander randomly, sure, but she also always turns around if she loses sight of you. AnC doesn't even seemingly have RNG in his AI- he uses location triggers.

How is this not semi predictable? The Test only has three locations, that seems pretty predictable to me. How do all other characters have more predictable A.I. then this? they can be reacted to sure, but that’s not really predictable. Assuming Mrs. Pomp isn’t currently heading to her room; she just wanders around randomly, how can you predict that at all? “Oh she might go into that room there.” That’s not any more or less predictable then this is. “Oh T. PoTT won’t come here for a while.” Again, that’s not any more or less predictable then this is. “Oh ItsABully won’t spawn near me.” You realize that there is a lot of space on any given floor right? I’m not saying that not being able to super accurately predict these characters is a problem, I’m saying that this version of The Test falling under that should be treated the same way.

3 random locations. you didn't describe how they would be in relation of the player, so I had to presume the locations were random, but probably equally spread apart. you can't predict where The Test will spawn in the current version of the game, so how would you predict where his other locations would be? the floor may be big, but it's also pretty much never a perfectly symmetric shape by any means. in fact, the floor being big just opens up more possibilities for other locations. this isn't even mentioning the fact that you didn't mention any way for the player to know when The Test moves- Bully at least announces his boredom, while Test doesn't make any noise unless you're interacting with him

as for how other characters have more predictable A.I- I mentioned exactly how. Faculty members like to explore the whole floor, so if you know one was around recently but left, they probably won't come back around for a while (and if you know what direction they went off to, you could even take a guess as to what area they'd be in). I also made sure to say semi-predictable, since obviously you won't know exactly which area a given NPC is going to. also while you can't predict if Bully is currently spawned near you, what you can predict is that if he gets moved, his next location won't be near you (in a place that he can be circled around in, even if it's not the easiest thing to do)

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

The Test may have RNG in his spawn locations, but considering how powerful his punishment is it makes sense for him to be largely predictable

Having a character be really easy to deal with because their punishment is really strong is poor design. Maybe if The Test were harder to deal with, their punishment wouldn’t have to be so bad.

I feel like mystman did at least try to make it hard to deal with him, though? because you can't see where you're going if you're walking away from Test, the lights are flickering (which can be distracting at best and prevent you from immediately seeing something at worst), NPCs still react/interact with you and can't really be moved out of the way, and he's super fast so if you look away you get blinded. yes it's a bit unbalanced in practice, but I'd like to trust that mystman had a plan in mind that perhaps didn't fully come to fruition yet

and like I said, removing stamina regen while looking at test sounds like a good idea since you don't need to sprint. other things that could be good is making it harder to see if you start to look away from Test (he just needs to be visible on screen to keep still), or your idea to nerf Test's freezing ability so that NPCs can still move. you can make The Test stronger without introducing more RNG to the mix,

[Mc Mcarthy Jones]

Alright iccn, you still haven’t told me, how this version of The Test would be unpredictable and frustrating. The only thing you’ve talked about is how other characters aren’t that. You may not know where The Test can be at first, but you find out and then you play around that. Once you figure it out, you know exactly where The Test can be at all times, the only thing you don’t know, is which one of those spots they’re actually in, at the moment. Which is very easily played around, in the exact way you currently deal with The Test, just on a larger scale.

Also

Originally posted by iccn:

and like I said, removing stamina regen while looking at test sounds like a good idea since you don't need to sprint. other things that could be good is making it harder to see if you start to look away from Test (he just needs to be visible on screen to keep still), or your idea to nerf Test's freezing ability so that NPCs can still move. you can make The Test stronger without introducing more RNG to the mix,

Those changes wouldn’t make The Test harder to deal with, they would just make them less helpful, that’s not the same thing.

[|i.c.c.n|]

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Alright iccn, you still haven’t told me, how this version of The Test would be unpredictable and frustrating. The only thing you’ve talked about is how other characters aren’t that. You may not know where The Test can be at first, but you find out and then you play around that. Once you figure it out, you know exactly where The Test can be at all times, the only thing you don’t know, is which one of those spots they’re actually in, at the moment. Which is very easily played around, in the exact way you currently deal with The Test, just on a larger scale.

I don't have the easiest times with my words so I was using comparisons to in-game examples, but admittedly perhaps my comparisons weren't clear.

my memory is atrocious sometimes if I don't make sure to dedicate some brainpower to a piece of information, and I'll get distracted by sounds or a lot of information at once- which may cause me to temporarily forget something else. even the disorienting sound meant for Baldi used to affect me in some way too before subtitles because my mind wouldn't like focusing on other sounds when there was a loud, persistent sound right in my ears.
your proposal for The Test would be unpredictable and frustrating because not only would it make him much more different than the formula we're already used to (which would be much more confusing for new players), the other two spawn locations wouldn't feel like they had any particular rhyme or reason unless you looked into it more (NPCs should have their mechanics discoverable from in-game through experimentation), and it's especially frustrating because that's a lot of information for one NPC. other NPCs, you mostly just have to check if they're near you and react accordingly. The Test, you had to keep track of whereabout he was and prepare accordingly, as well as keep in mind where he could possibly be if you find he's moved by an NPC.
while the beginning stages where not all areas are activated may be easier, once all are active it gets much more difficult in a frustrating way because of all the stupid conditions to each position you have to keep track of. especially because The Test doesn't make sound, so you'd have no warning and just have to watch down hallways you eventually figure out spooky blindness man goes to, leaving you less aware of other nearby threats that may be quieter than your average NPC

I don't know how else to word that this isn't a good idea.

Originally posted by Mc Mcarthy Jones:

Originally posted by iccn:

and like I said, removing stamina regen while looking at test sounds like a good idea since you don't need to sprint. other things that could be good is making it harder to see if you start to look away from Test (he just needs to be visible on screen to keep still), or your idea to nerf Test's freezing ability so that NPCs can still move. you can make The Test stronger without introducing more RNG to the mix,

Those changes wouldn’t make The Test harder to deal with, they would just make them less helpful, that’s not the same thing.

you're the one that suggested ways to make The Test less helpful in your topic post, and you even said "Maybe a little too good, [...] they’re supposed to an enemy but they’re hardly trying." and "I just don’t think it works for The Test because it makes them too helpful and easy to deal with. "
would them being less helpful not also make them more of an enemy NPC? and part of the problem is that he's too helpful for how easy it is to deal with him, yes? if both those answers are true, I'm not sure what the issue is. yes he's still easy to deal with, but at least it's less free distance and he still has his massive punishment and super speed if you slack off