News Info on Beta and access

[Major Squeeze]

Alpha 4 is a completely separate product to the Premium Beta build available on 30th May.

Alpha 4 is due out first to Alpha backers only, between now and May. Nothing to do with beta at all.

May 15th (ish) Alpha backers will then get the first early look at the 1st beta build as a separate item, billed as the " 2 weeks early" build.

Premium Beta backers will get that same product (or a slightly updated build depending on what the Alpha guys find) on the 30th.

Alpha 4 and the Premium build are NOT the same thing.

 

[nicomak]

Alpha 4 is a completely separate product to the Premium Beta build available on 30th May.

Alpha 4 is due out first to Alpha backers only, between now and May. Nothing to do with beta at all.

May 15th (ish) Alpha backers will then get the first early look at the 1st beta build as a separate item, billed as the " 2 weeks early" build.

Premium Beta backers will get that same product (or a slightly updated build depending on what the Alpha guys find) on the 30th.

Alpha 4 and the Premium build are NOT the same thing.

pretty much what i thought though the store does say this :

Alpha Phases
1. Moment-to-moment combat and ship controls. RELEASED
2. Online multiplayer and ship loadouts. RELEASED
3. Space station docking/outfitting and the beginning of gameplay progression. RELEASED
4. The final phase, which adds Travel and Trading in a 200 cubic light year volume of the Milky Way, is to be released in May.

https://store.zaonce.net/elite-dangerous-cat/elite-dangerous-alpha.html

I still think that's 2 different things though. but it seems that may is gonna be quite active.

 

[Zarconian]

So Alpha 4.0 will come before Alpha backers get to test the Premium Beta build?

 

[nicomak]

So Alpha 4.0 will come before Alpha backers get to test the Premium Beta build?

Dont know for sure, i'll hope FD clarifies it soon

though they did say that they would give the date for A4 shortly
and that alpha backers would get beta 2 weeks before beta backers.

it seems to me like they're talking about 2 different things.

 

[Major Squeeze]

So Alpha 4.0 will come before Alpha backers get to test the Premium Beta build?

As TWO separate releases , yes.

What's probably caused confusion and head scratching is that these two releases if you calculate the dates and the info in the announcements, you would think there is so little time between them they must be the same.

If they do release Alpha 4 in May then there wont be much time between it and the 1st Premium build round about the 15th. That's about two weeks?

In fairness, FD announcements of late have been somewhat foggy, and as a result seemed to have thrown up more questions than answers.

I'm still sticking with two separate relases. I'll eat my X52-PRo if I'm wrong.

 

[Zarconian]

Yeah they will most likely release alpha 4.0, have it tested by the alpha backers, fix it and release it under beta 1.0 for alpha backer by mid May.

 

[gazmoid]

Sensible

That sounds sensible to me though I get the lurking feeling that they will be two quite different releases. Some of this Alpha code has to be running parallel to the main game thread for deep testing purposes.
Anyway come the End of May we all at Premium Beta or higher will get to play a real Elite game.

A couple of years ago I thought I'd never see the day. Well done Frontier !

Now Gail Zappa just needs to release the Zappa Roxy Concerts on Video and two of the big ones will have bitten the dust.
G.

 

[Rog]

Dont know for sure, i'll hope FD clarifies it soon

though they did say that they would give the date for A4 shortly
and that alpha backers would get beta 2 weeks before beta backers.

it seems to me like they're talking about 2 different things.

It seems to me like they're making it up as they go along.

After two weeks of testing the first Beta (by the alpha group), it's inevitable that code changes will be ready to be rolled out.

So instead of alpha and beta using the same builds (remember alpha tests beta before beta), it would seem that both camps will forever be using different builds!

What a mess.

 

[CMDR Charybdis]

So instead of alpha and beta using the same builds (remember alpha tests beta before beta), it would seem that both camps will forever be using different builds!

Not really the issue that it might appear to be, and all normal practice for software development An alpha build by its very nature will contain showstopper bugs and crashes that are found and fixed, so the act of fixing the bugs will always produce a different build. It is rare for an alpha build to have such a low/acceptable defect rate that it can be promoted unchanged to a beta.

Having said all that the one alpha builds that I've played so far (as the first phase of the premium beta testers) has been remarkably stable and polished. Not surprising perhaps, there have been a lot of eyes on the game and an internal (pre-alpha) test build with more defects would have lowered expectations rather than raised them.

Just trying to guess a little at what is going on under the hood: the time differences between the alphas indicates that there are several parallel development streams of long duration coming together and undergoing integration.

Each alpha is another element of the game integrated together: alpha 1 = combat, alpha 2 adds multi-player, alpha 3 adds docking, alpha 4 adds a small universe. Quality elements like that just aren't built in a short period of time. All of this goes with a "sprint" development model where the later sprints are more about integration of parallel developed components, rather than new functionality.

My guess is that the beta build will be like alpha 4 but with more polished integration on the transitions and a greater level of immersion as a result (hyperspace jumps are an example, along with finding and starting missions).


So bringing all of this together speaks to me of good project management and software delivery practices in place, and with nothing made up

Ian.

 

[Rog]

So bringing all of this together speaks to me of good project management and software delivery practices in place, and with nothing made up

Ian.

Hi HypoThermia, we may have to disagree....

It's a shame it took all the way from the beginning of the Kickstarter until Newsletter #18 on the 1st April to let people know goalposts were going to shift at the last minute.

There is *no doubt* that prior to NL#18, people in alpha & beta thought that 1st round beta people would be joining alphans at the *very beginning* of the beta phase, with 2nd round beta people coming in a short time later.

That is after all what was implicit in all the wording on Kickstarter, in the subsequent stores and indeed on these forums.

Beta starts when Alpha finishes.

There is also *no doubt* why there is an 'exclusive access period':

For anyone still interested in joining the Alpha now but unsure if it is worth it for a short period of time before we start the Premium Beta - here are two fantastic reasons;
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
- Also, all Alpha players will be granted a life time discount of 50% on ship insurance in game as a thank you for your support!

LINK.

People who backed the game to join beta testing should get exactly that, on time, for better or worse, and not modules that have been already tested for two weeks.

It's also worth noting that the alpha phase was supposed to transition into beta in January. What went so drastically wrong that it's going to take six months instead of one?

I'm not saying that selling £200 alpha places had anything to do with it (see NL#18) whatsoever.

But I'm certainly thinking it very loudly.

 

[Zarconian]

The price for Alpha makes sense because (a) it matches the price paid by people that backed the game in KS; and (b) it prevents people from joining the Alpha just to play the game instead for testing purposes.

 

[ubermick]

The price for Alpha makes sense because (a) it matches the price paid by people that backed the game in KS; and (b) it prevents people from joining the Alpha just to play the game instead for testing purposes.

To a point though - it matches the price from the original Kickstarter campaign, but doesn't offer the perks that went along with that.

Personally think that while the money requested in the initial campaign was asking for donations - and donors got some perks in return - Frontier should call a spade a spade at this point. They're no longer asking for help, they're selling something. And if they're trying to sell it and be fair, then they should either offer the same perks as those pledging in the original Kickstarter (in essence, just extending the pledge drive until release) or lower the price of the Alpha and Beta packages to reflect the lesser "products". But at this point they can't, since there are too many people who've signed up in 2014 that would feel cheated by it, despite repeated claims by many of "I didn't give them £200 so I could play the game, I did it because I want to back Elite and would have been happy to get nothing in return until the release"

 

[gazmoid]

Premium Beta.

Lets face it .. We all just want to play the game. We want it NOW !!! This is a good thing ! Sure as Premium Beta I'm a little disappointed in the time slip but that's ok. Things like this never go to time. What bothers me more is Alpha getting Beta's potentially weeks before us. But then I'd rather a more stable beta for the first one so maybe its not so bad to give it to the smaller Alpha base first. THEN I want us to have full beta access at the same time.
I think that seems more fair to me.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Little update to 1st post in reference to support not being in at the weekends.

 

[jan]

Think there is a small typo in the opening post it say Premium beta 100 and standard beta 150, i wud have thought it to be opposite aint standard beta 50?

 

[Sir.Tj]

Think there is a small typo in the opening post it say Premium beta 100 and standard beta 150, i wud have thought it to be opposite aint standard beta 50?

Hi jan,

its the price to upgrade to Alpha.

Could have been a bit clearer so I've tweaked the description on that section.

Products already owned against cost to upgrade to Alpha.
Premium Beta £100
Standard Beta £150
Standard Beta and Expansion Pass £115
Full Game £165
Full Game and Expansion Pass £130

 

[nicomak]

.... sorry misread [this post is asking you to delete it]

 

[TallblokeUK]

I currently have the premium beta, am I able to upgrade to the Alpha?

 

[Sir.Tj]

Hi Tallbloke,

Yes, all the info is in the first post of this thread.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[nicomak]

one thing though i've got a friend who ordered premium beta a few days ago but it seems he cant ugrade from it to alpha now. after adding alpha to cart the price is still 200£.