Alpha / Beta definition

Alpha: Can we make this work?
Beta: Can we break it?

It's funny, I was just about to post the opposite. I was thinking that despite the obvious concern that Uber had in the beginning that people 'just wouldn't get it', the reaction to pretty much every single tidbit of information handed out by Uber has been extremely positive.

I personally think Uber is uncovering a phenomenon big game companies have been ignoring for ages - gamers are smart. Give us the information we need so we know what's going on and what is needed, and we'll be able to handle just about anything without blowing a gasket.

Just remember that we ARE talking about 8,000+ people - as seen clearly by the previous livestream, a concept (like flowfields) takes a while to sink in, and needs to be repeated over and over in various formats before everyone gets on the same page. This isn't bad, just a factor of communicating with that many people.

I think people can understand lack of content so long as they can see the potential in the game and the mechanics. What I'm worried about is people being frustrated by a lack of stability : "I've been looking forward to this game for a year and everytime I join an online game it crashes!" or worse the game won't start at all due to some nasty bug or video driver issues or even because the user is trying to run PA on some woefully underpowered machine.

I feel like the alpha needs to come with big red letters saying something to the effect of "this is a development build, unfinished unpolished unstable and poorly optimized. It will probably crash, probably be unbalanced, probably be missing units, and probably not run on your mother's laptop. You were warned."

Yeah, but a lot of gamers really aren't smart. Some of the demographic is. As smug as I'm about to sound; I'd wager that the TA/SupCom/ZK/PA playing sub-demographic is smarter than the average gamer. But by definition we're also a smaller sub-demographic, so we can almost always be easily ignored.

There's also varying degrees of intelligence in here. There's been many points over the past few months where I've thought of some brilliant idea, and then promptly had it shot down in a flaming wreck seconds later by people who deftly saw all the flaws I had missed.

My point: only some of us have realistic expectations of the alpha. And as neumeusis pointed out; when the alpha does invariably roll around, this place is going to get very overpopulated.

I think we can make the situation better with a little bit of education. Explain that the alpha isn't meant to be fun. Explain it with icons of spanners and wrenches plastered over everything. Have dialogs directing alpha testers into testing specific things and having them follow instructions.

• And if you are having fun, then please fill out a bug report because something is very broken.

On the forum side of things; maybe Uber can elect a small contingent of articulate and experienced forumites to be moderators of a bug-forum. The Feature List threads, such as the one from Xedi and now from Knight are great... when they're constantly updated. Instead of someone from Uber wasting time filtering through reports, delegate that out someone from the community. Lock or kill duplicate threads. Interrogate people for reproduction steps.

And reward those who find reproducible bugs. Gamify the hell out of bug hunting.

Crap.

I'm gonna be having fun LOADING THE GAME.

lol.

Gamification of critical, but rather dull, grunt work is definitely the best thing to do... though not the easiest.

Well one thing seems certain. A small team like Uber is going to have a lot of problems dealing with 8000 mouth brea--- I mean battle hardened and wise game testers. It may be worth getting some community help!

I really can't wait for the Alpha to air and begin testing and seeing the amazing work Uber has done. Pretty sure i won't be able to help much cause i'm not a professional gaming person but... maybe i can report a few bugs or balance issues that gets looked over.
We'll make an awesome game together.

Actually this is one of the best short summaries I've seen

I cannot wait for friday! Finally see some game engine footage ! How long do you think you guys will stay in Alpha? I could only afford to get beta access when i funded and Im Itching to blow up some Bots!

I do believe most RTS players are not stupid people. That being said, I'd expect most Alpha players to be ready for a lot of troubleshooting and feedback that would help Uber develop the Beta properly.

Anyone who willingly purchased PA with Alpha access knows what they should expect. If they get disappointed by the Alpha after they consciously bought it then they shouldn't have even bought the game with an Alpha code in the first place.

We are here to help develop the greatest RTS to date, not get butthurt if the game isn't what we expect after first Alpha release. As long as people have that mentality, everything should be okay! :twisted:

You have a lot of faith in people, I was once like that.

Fact is there are about 7000-8000 Alpha Participants just based on the Kickstarter, never mind any pre-orders, and I'm going into this expecting that most of them don't get what a real Alpha build even is.

Mike

First off a little counterexample for nanolathe: Terraria was never released in Alpha or Beta, and half of its content (including new game mechanics like enchanting and wiring) was released after it came out in full release.

Secondly, a good way to try and keep the misexpectant (i know that's not a real word but you get what i mean) from badmouthing the game far before it ever is even thinkable to release might be to try and repeat a lot how much people need to not reveal any information about it. Have a big warning pop up every time you try to start the game, mentioning how much of an Alpha it is and for people to keep their traps shut about it until release. Also keep mentioning ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA in livestreams and information tidbits.

I didn't really have an idea of alphas or betas either for a while. But i know what to expect now. And i'll be sticking with this game all the way though and watch it grow into something amazing.

So? There's such a thing as Free Updates in these these days of the far, far future. Just because a game adds new features after release, doesn't mean it's still in Alpha. Jon plans to add lots of features to Planetary Annihilation after release. Doesn't mean it'll be in "Alpha" a year after everyone can buy it for $30 from the Uber Store.

This is exactly the point Mike was making. People just don't comprehend simple definitions anymore.

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Secondly. Unless Uber forces us all to sign NDAs... which I doubt they would even try to do... PA in its Alpha stage will be uploaded across youtube and Twitch and Science knows where else.

I have no doubt in my mind that some people, not all... but some, are hopeless wretches that you can't trust as far as spit.

How Uber decides to deal with people who'll be trying to Torrent it or upload assets to Filesharing sites (Coz there ARE people who will do it) is beyond me

I can't even imagine how to deal with it.

Holding as much information on the Server as possible for the time being sounds like a good first step, until the actual final release. But that's a whole different can of worms I'm not touching with a ten-foot-pole.

Nothing has been said definitely yet, but NDAs for Alpha aren't that outrageous, and makes sense from a marketing perspective for pretty much the same reasons as I outlined above.

Mike

I'd like to know how they're even going to try to enforce it. Good faith?

Yea... no.

You've never signed an NDA? ;p

Mike

A NDA is fairly difficult to enforce when you cross national borders.

But it could still essentially give Uber Carte Blanche for dealing with those that break it no? When dealing with the accounts and such at least.

Mike