Beta-testing on the agenda or not ?

[qwizzie]

Just wondering if Egosoft will beta test this in the open, beeing a whole new engine and all. the best way to get bugs out are through beta testing if you ask me.. pref open beta. And if beta-testing is a consideration, will the L3 dev forum be used for that ?

What do you guys who create mods think .. are they beyond betatesting already with a release date within a half year? Or are they probally still in Alpha testing ?

qw

[Alee Enn]

I am sure someone at the level of CBJ will post here as they know more than I do, but L3 is the lowest testing level. L3 only see stuff that has already been tested.

L4 & L5 levels, however are more likely to be able to beta test, but the real question is, would you really want to? Beta testing seems attractive until you realise that it's a horrible laborious process. You won't be enjoying the game, you'll be looking for things that go wrong. You'll have to keep repeating the same situation over and over.

Imagine having to watch the same 5 mins of a new TV programme you like, the same 5 mins over and over constantly looking for the one detail that is wrong. It might seem like heaven, but it may soon put you off something you are currently looking forward to.

I don't beta test, and I am thankful I don't. Full respect to those who do.

[Ascadian92]

Erhmm, the whole point of being a beta tester is to test the game, to weed out all the bugs, and make sure there is no nasty hidden surprises for when the game is released, not to have fun lol.

[Skeeter]

Most betas these days basically open up the game to mass test the game. Most of those players just play the game normally and pop on forums to report bugs if and when they find them or to discuss what is working or isnt working for the player i.e gameplay so devs can tweak things like values of this and that or economy and stuff.

Closed betas can be a bit more involving but generally not that much more.

Testing something over and over again like a mission 10 times is something for Q/A staff not public betas etc.

[frymaster]

it depends on the company, basically. A lot of the time, "beta" means "hey, come try out our game early to build up buzz but you aren't allowed to moan if it's not totally polished" but that's not always the case.

Also, http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/01/25

[Skeeter]

Also ES are still adding stuff in the game so its not up to beta status yet i assume as beta status will be feature locked and mostly after that is fine tuning and fixing bugs.

[Skid]

There are basically three types of Betas, like frymaster said there are betas to build buzz and hype for games soon to be released. There are beta where everything is pretty much done but the developers need everything putting though one last test run to catch anything there missed, MMOs also use this time to stress test the servers.

And there is proper closed beta testing, where in a select group of people are tasked with testing the game, finding any bugs, trying to repeat and confirm other peoples bugs, explain exactly where the bug is and how to make it happen and reporting them to the developer for fixing.

My bet would be Egosoft will do the latter.

[softweir]

Egosoft have never yet had an open beta test on a major release, so I don't see them doing it for Rebirth! For instance, firing every single missile from every type of ship, trying to get the missiles to pass behind and in front of other ships to see if the trails render properly. That's several hours of WORK, and not much fun. Another example is play-testing plot phases: you can't just play through the plot, you have to play each mission, then play it ten different ways to see if you can break it, by doing things like running away and shooting allies in other sectors.

It's not like it's an MMO game - they NEED open beta tests in order to produce realistic server loads, which is most easily done by getting a lot of players to test an already mostly complete and tested game. (As well as generating buzz, which is useful for something as expensive to set up as an MMO.) It isn't testing game code, it's testing server code!

Egosoft's beta testing is much more like the "keep doing the same thing trying to break it" sort.

In order to find out if Egosoft have started beta testing you need to sign up for level 5 Devnet status. Look in your forum profile and very carefully follow the instructions. Better still, don't - I have declined to volunteer for Rebirth. Testing is not only hard work, it spoils the game for you when you do play it for real.

[Gazz]

In order to find out if Egosoft have started beta testing you need to sign up for level 5 Devnet status. Look in your forum profile and very carefully follow the instructions.

That's basically it. No NDA? Don't bother asking.

I never did that because then I'd have to watch my big mouth. Ignorance is bliss. =P

[VincentTH]

In order to find out if Egosoft have started beta testing you need to sign up for level 5 Devnet status. Look in your forum profile and very carefully follow the instructions.

That's basically it. No NDA? Don't bother asking.

I never did that because then I'd have to watch my big mouth. Ignorance is bliss. =P

Same here, I can't keep a secret, let alone an NDA contract, so I have stared at the the NDA for years, and never had the courage to sign up

Open Beta, I can do it, but CLosed Beta, no, not for me!!

[Argon Destroyer]

I hope ES will accept my request to be a tester, NDA file is on the way. Second thing is Russian post. It's terrible slow and unsafe.
From X3:R till X3:TC I always wondered, how ES is testing their games, because they was unplayble till 4 patches are released I hope X:R will be much better.

[softweir]

In order to find out if Egosoft have started beta testing you need to sign up for level 5 Devnet status. Look in your forum profile and very carefully follow the instructions.

That's basically it. No NDA? Don't bother asking.

I never did that because then I'd have to watch my big mouth. Ignorance is bliss. =P

Ah, well, I was too lazy to mention the NDA - I just stuck that under "follow the instructions"!

If it helps, you can pretend I was setting it as a test for wannabe beta testers - if they can't follow the instructions to become a beta tester, they won't be able to help much with the testing!

Keeping your mouth closed is hard. I very nearly lost my level 5 status quite early on in testing X3.

[Skid]

Keeping your mouth closed is hard. I very nearly lost my level 5 status quite early on in testing X3.

Its worth mentioning the fact that since you have to physical sign the NDA makes it a binding contract. So they can literally take you to court for breach of contract if you break the NDA.

[softweir]

Keeping your mouth closed is hard. I very nearly lost my level 5 status quite early on in testing X3.

Its worth mentioning the fact that since you have to physical sign the NDA makes it a binding contract. So they can literally take you to court for breach of contract if you break the NDA.

Indeed they could, if you handed code to a pirate or competitor!

[A5PECT]

From X3:R till X3:TC I always wondered, how ES is testing their games, because they was unplayble till 4 patches are released I hope X:R will be much better.

If you extrapolate by linear regression, then the alpha builds must be one hell of a jumbled mess.

[TSM]

Keeping your mouth closed is hard. I very nearly lost my level 5 status quite early on in testing X3.

Its worth mentioning the fact that since you have to physical sign the NDA makes it a binding contract. So they can literally take you to court for breach of contract if you break the NDA.

Indeed they could, if you handed code to a pirate or competitor!

or if you spoke about testing in an open forum

[Alee Enn]

Keeping your mouth closed is hard. I very nearly lost my level 5 status quite early on in testing X3.

Its worth mentioning the fact that since you have to physical sign the NDA makes it a binding contract. So they can literally take you to court for breach of contract if you break the NDA.

Indeed they could, if you handed code to a pirate or competitor!

or if you spoke about testing in an open forum

If you reveal anything specific.
Talking about testing without talking about WHAT you are testing should be ok.

but I could be wrong

[LV]

your missing rule #1 Alien

if your not sure you don't say anything, think of Dev testing as fight club

[LTerSlash]

Here we go...

ive participated on several closed beta tests in my life, and a lot of open betas tests, and i can say, no one test anything, and when someone do generally devs dont listen to the feedback because they dont even bother about, since almost no one is testing.

People wanting for beta, they just want and early access to the game, thats all. and "open betas" are a joke at best, they are just a demo, only usefull to stress test servers for multiplayer gameplay or heavy load (if its a MMO).

5 people working for Egosoft doing the closed beta is much more effective than allow 20.000 players to play.

[Ketraar]

No idea where you did all that testing, but in the TC testing phase a lot of people made a huge effort and so did the devs. Sure there are always the ones that only are there for curiosity, but you can spot those quite fast. So yes testing is a PITA and nowhere even near fun.

As for Rebirth...#connection failure&%...@#data corruption detected/8%..



MFG

Ketraar