Alpha - Set your expectations LOW

Irrelevant, there will still be issues with your hardware/software that Uber hasent accounted for (unless you have the exact same setup they use when testing it, and even then its likely that there will still be issues).

The problem causing many of these issues is that every computer is different, how good/powerfull/etc your computer is dosent make it any "less different" then a weaker machine, and therefore dosent protect it against such issues.

If those issues will be small or game breaking we will have to wait and see, but dont set your expections to high for the early alpha.

(Off course even if everyone used the same machine there would still be bugs and issues, an example being console games, theres no such think as a bug free software)

I've been in dozens and dozens of betas, including truly abysmal ones (Anarchy Online, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes on first day of closed beta, anyone?).
I've played dozens of pre-alpha games as well, with little more than being just tech demos. Still excited me (Kenshi, Overgrowth, Dwarf Fortress, Minecraft back when you could literally only place dirt blocks and there was no other point to the game)

I know what they are like, real betas, not just PR demos.
And i'm still excited like heck.

Just having a basic TA-sort-of battle on a single pre-determined spherical map is interesting enough to me. And the prospect of seeing the game grow on a weekly basis in front of my eyes.

So no, my expectations are high. Even though i'm well aware of what a beta is, and how limited they can be. High expectations do not necessarily mean that you expect the game to be a flawless complete gem from day one, it can also mean just high expectations of sheer excitement over the continued growth of it.

And if the alpha causes a bluescreen on your system everytime you try to start it up you will be crushed thanks to those high expectations.

Having high expectations for the future of the games development (as in its continued growth), i can understand.

But were saying that you shouldent have high expectations for the release of a alpha (not even a beta), one reason being that you might not even get it to work for your system at first (While this can also be true for a released product its "way way way x 1000" more likely in a alpha).

We arent saying this to be mean, were saying it so that people that may not really understand what a real alpha is wont be hopelessly disappointed when the alpha releases (and rage all day on the forums for example).

Simply put, when dealing with a alpha its better to set your expectations low and perhaps be pleasantly surprised, then to set them high and be disappointed.

I expect crashes and bugs, but bluescreens? I havent seen bluescreens in years and a normal piece of software should not provoke them.
Also I do understand what unfinished software looks like, I write software myself and it usually starts off pretty unfinished and broken. The anticipation of trying out how broken it is can be a pretty big one, too

I just read an article about how optimistic people live healthier and therefore longer. So let's be optimistic: It wont destroy my computer and it initial crashes will be fixed quickly.

stability across today's various hardware environments is, imo, the #1 focus for most alphas.

i'd bet seriously on 50% of us being unable to play at some point during the alpha due to ATI or Nvidia simply not working - just to name one potential issue.

Its easy to provoke a bluescreen, make one part of the computer overheat for example, it will bluescreen to protect your computer (of course that can be prevented by good hardware and a good fan layout).

But yea it was a extreme example.

I haven't seen a blue screen in a few years now, I just hope the alpha/beta won't be like Starcraft 2's beta, I felt bad for the people who lost their GPU's due to overheating. :shock: Its good to have everything backed up and have a start up disk just in case.

SC2 Beta was perfectly playable, gameplay was fun and all, unless you had a broken gfx ;D
It was more like a demo...

If a piece of software can overheat your computer, your computer is broken and not the software.

Computers are to complex to work like that.

Just like theres no software without bugs theres no hardware without flaws.

You might just as well say that every computer is broken.

But i get your point.

Blue screens of death became a lot less apparent in windows vista onwards with the re-write of the audio api - the old version (in xp) had direct access to the kernel and when the audio drivers crash -> BSOD. New version is event driven, if the driver crashes - kernel can simply just restart it and carry on. No 1 reason why Vista & onwards versions don't BSOD so much.

Now the main reason is hardware failure/massively overclocking - so not likely to see it (but not impossible)

Beta's are -> "This is just about ready! Lets just ship! Hang, lets wait a month and give it to a few people first, just to iron the small bugs.

Alpha's are so very, far, far, far from this...

SC2 had a very long beta though, and was mainly for multiplayer balance. (which did undergo some drastic changes). But yeah, an Alpha is a lot different then beta. And starcraft 2 is actually a good game to illustrate that!


Here you can see the progression of the game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmOM3Gqu-D0

well their hardware setup is nvidia & intel.. at least thats what's been mentiond in their dev diaries. so i'd think if you have those 2 parts your chances are higher of it working... though drivers, variations in mainboards etc might still cause problems.
personally i've got an amd gfx card so i'm expecting a high chance of driver issues..

anyway i think the main thing for people to keep in mind is that not likely to be smooth sailing right from the get go, that's why were testing...

Do they really have no AMD card at all in the Uber office? I would expect them to have at least like one current model to check that no problems come up? Uber might not be big enough to have actual testers, but having a certain variation in hardware in the office would be reasonable.

probably but the setups the mentiond.. 2 or 3.. were nvidia. im sure they probably have done some testing with both, at least with the most recent drivers... then again only they know so i'm trying not to make any assumptions, only make sure i don't expect too much.

It's going to be interesting to see the reaction. The game is early and has had limited testing even within our office. We also are making changes at an insane rate which tends to destabilize.

It's always best to be pessimistic.


Suppose you're an optimist. If the alpha flops, then you're in for let-down and disappointment. If the alpha wins, then nothing exceeded expectations.

Worst case scenario: bad. Best case scenario: okay.


Now suppose you're a pessimist. If the alpha flops, then nothing of value was lost. You were expecting that, so you atleast have the consolation prize of saying 'yep, I saw that coming.' On the other hand, if the alpha wins; it's better than what you expected.

Worst case scenario: okay. Best case scenario: gravy. ^_^

I'm basically expecting a big kerfuffle and then a new normal where we are all playing the game and working on it together. There will definitely be a large variety of issues to deal with.

Totally true!

I am going to have some expectations for the Alpha. Whether it works for me or not is not going to change my day. If I have to wait another week or a few months it makes no difference. I can watch other people play it on you tube or maybe not.

Setting the bar high will help to achieve the best game possible. I know they have high expectations as well so why change that mentality. Being optimistic is just hoping for a positive outcome. Why would you want anything else? If it tumbles and falls being positive will just help in the long term. Negativity or a pessimistic attitude just seems well... sad.

pessimism/realism sets u up to be pleasantly surprised or properly prepared