Alpha testing and stable demo suggestion ...

[Narcissus]

GonZ came up with a suggestion in Armagan's "Ooops" thread in the general area ...

What I would suggest is that you choose a few (10 or so) from the faithful and get them to run the game and bug test for a few days before you go to release.

That way you could get some selective feedback and possibly avoid some bugs.

Naturally I volunteer my services but there are probably far more qualified people around who would be just as willing to help out.

EDIT: Sorry ... I forgot to add the link.

A few posts later I came up with, in my opinion, a much better idea and wanted to actually put it here for evaluation.

A simple and possible idea would be: put newly released updates as an alpha download for anyone to test ... yet leave the tried and true 'older beta' version for download as well.

Doing this will allow new players (and potential customers) of TaleWorlds to get a bug-free and stable demo/game. Using this method ... noone would feel cheated by not being a new alpha tester ... Armagan could still receive some help ... and anyone that prefered the 'older' version would be able to revert back until the bugs and glitches are worked out of the new updates.

There would need to be a new 'alpha-bug-report-only' type of thread or area ... but this would probably make everyone happier in the long run and could prevent potential customers from getting a somewhat mis-aligned view of Mount & Blade.

Narcissus

 

[svart]

I was opening this post to reply negativly () but than read it.
Good points, simple and efficient.

 

[Maelstorm]

I agree with this idea as well

 

[Ingolifs]

The original idea of having 10 alpha testers is crap, but this one is actually quite good. It keeps the die-hards involved without frightening the casual gamer away with gimpy-armed watchmen.

 

[DaLagga]

I like the idea as well. Most of the bugs in .700 could have easily been caught by the community in a matter of hours.

 

[Ingolifs]

But this whole idea is only really viable for big releases. There's no point in having an alpha test of the 0.701 version.

 

[The-Nit]

Acutally this idea is ALWAYS viable, there should always be a few days of alpha testing before you realease it to beta

 

[GonZ]

The original idea of having 10 alpha testers is crap, but this one is actually quite good. It keeps the die-hards involved without frightening the casual gamer away with gimpy-armed watchmen.

You certainly have a way with words Ingolifs. I still don't think the idea was as bad as "crap" although Narcissus' idea would solve the problem. And solving the problem is all I was trying to do.

 

[sheek]

This is a good idea.

 

[Narcissus]

GonZ,

I thought your idea had a lot of merit, myself. I wouldn't want to be one of those ten (or however many deemed appropriate), yet it could help Armagan out quite a bit.

The only thing I really added was a way to keep a stable demo for the public ... which has a side-effect of keeping regular players happy also.

 

[Can O Soup]

I think many new gamers won't understand the arm thing is a bug unless they look. I had reccomended the game to my friend yesterday, and he thought it was a spear slinger, not his arm. He still loves the game anyways. Score one for me!

 

[Skanky Burns]

Sensible, keeps everyone happy, still gets things tested AND is easy to implement. It gets my seal of approval.

 

[Luthius]

And mine. You can keep old characters going on the old version if you like until a stable beta comes out to start over again.

 

[ThVaz]

Nice suggestion. Some people become very upset to find that their save games got useless after a patch.

 

[Hardclyff]

Personally I would suggest not naming public versions Beta in this stage, as Beta usually refers to versions that have most features implemented. Alpha would be more accurate... or better yet, no name at all cause this game can be hardly grasped by any standard development cycle concept.

Two version branches, as 'stable' and 'unstable', might be a good idea, assuming the 'unstable' versions would be made available to dedicated (and reliable) testers and released often. "Given enough eyes, all bugs are shallow."

That is just my $0.02 though.

 

[Daimyo]

I think it's a good idea too.

 

[quixotecoyote]

I think the focus needs to be on going forward to the finished product. Why spend time on versions already outdated when there's work to be done to finish the game?

 

[Hardclyff]

Why spend time on versions already outdated when there's work to be done to finish the game?

I get you refer to continuous unstable releases for 'beta' testing. Releasing versions to close public during development to allow broader testing is a common practice.

Developer makes progress on feature A, releases it, and starts working on feature B. After some period results from the testers arrive, the developer switches to fixing the bugs reported in the feature A, and the testers can focus on testing the feature B meanwhile... and so on.

 

[RJK]

Sensible, ... It gets my seal of approval.

Alas, my seal has become grumpy and haughty as of late. Very similar to oKin after losing The Mod Wars to Lost Lamb actually

Losing to a lost lamb? The mind boggles. And melts. Then makes a kind of hissing noise.

Very disturbing :/

 

[quixotecoyote]

I get you refer to continuous unstable releases for 'beta' testing. Releasing versions to close public during development to allow broader testing is a common practice.

Developer makes progress on feature A, releases it, and starts working on feature B. After some period results from the testers arrive, the developer switches to fixing the bugs reported in the feature A, and the testers can focus on testing the feature B meanwhile... and so on.

This would only be true if a new version was releases after each feature. As it stands there are numerous changes in each release. AFAIK armagan isn't going back and working from earlier releases to make new features. There's no reason to when each new release is a step forward.