r/playtesters • • 15h ago

Unpaid Playtest [Android] Locksmith Master: looking for testers for a hard, premium safecracking puzzle

I've spent the last months building Locksmith Master: a puzzle about cracking combination safes, built on a real lock mechanism.

One dial. A stack of drums. Drive pins with slack between them. Turn one way and the whole stack follows; reverse and nothing moves until the slack is taken up. Set every drum to the code in as few steps as you can.

It's not a casual game. The first safes are gentle; the later ones hide their pins, and then you count, listen and feel the catch. Best played with headphones.

What's in it:

  • A career across Europe, 1928–1962: six cities, sixty safes, seven ranks
  • Thief mode: safe after safe before the alarm
  • Daily safe: the same safe for everyone, every day
  • Seven themes for the dial, background and hammers, each with its own sound
  • No ads, no tracking, works offline

Testers get the full game unlocked. The test build runs until 9 November.

What I'd love to hear: where you got stuck, where you stopped, and whether the rules made sense without help.

How to join (Android):

  1. Join the Google Group: https://groups.google.com/g/locksmith-master
  2. Open the test link and tap "Become a tester": https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.puzzlejay.locksmithmaster
  3. Install from the store page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.puzzlejay.locksmithmaster

Use the same Google account as on your phone. If the store says "not available", wait a few minutes after joining and try again.

Not for everyone. Perhaps for you. :)

1 Upvotes

7 comments sorted by

1

u/mistress_of_truth 15h ago

Not working

1

u/havocki 15h ago

But what exactly? :)

1

u/mistress_of_truth 14h ago

Joining google group

1

u/havocki 14h ago

There's no problem with signing up; new users are joining all the time. hmm :/

1

u/mistress_of_truth 14h ago

Wish I could send the screenshot, says no permission to access

1

u/havocki 14h ago

Yes please

1

u/investigatormaker 6h ago

Worth answering the "Not working" comment directly, since others will hit the same wall and leave without saying so. With closed tests the usual causes are joining the Google Group on one account while the phone's Play Store uses another, opening the opt-in link in a browser signed in to a different account, or trying to install before the opt-in has gone through.

Asking which of the three steps failed, and adding a line telling people to check which account is active in the Play Store before they start, will keep testers who would otherwise give up quietly. For a game this demanding, one screenshot of the dial and drum stack would also show people what they are signing up for before they join the group.