Standard Beta Release Discussion thread

[JeffRyan]

This is all different because of David's 'Risk Rollout' plan for systems. He's rolling things out in terms of 'risk to development' so the first Alpha had the main 'how does it fly' as the main thrust. Alpha 2 was about multiplayer and Beta is about the trade cycle.

Unlike most developers FD aren't rolling out the slice of the cake with everything in place, mainly the 'high end' development work is what has been rolled out first. And filling in the lesser stuff as we go forward.

I'm paraphrasing and expect someone else can explain it better, but basically this is why their development cycle is so different to what some people are used to. Where Betas are essentially demos.

 

[RaynMaykr]

It's important to note that newsletter 30 is not a comprehensive list of new features.

 

[MikeSnos]

This is all different because of David's 'Risk Rollout' plan for systems. He's rolling things out in terms of 'risk to development' so the first Alpha had the main 'how does it fly' as the main thrust. Alpha 2 was about multiplayer and Beta is about the trade cycle.

Unlike most developers FD aren't rolling out the slice of the cake with everything in place, mainly the 'high end' development work is what has been rolled out first. And filling in the lesser stuff as we go forward.

I'm paraphrasing and expect someone else can explain it better, but basically this is why their development cycle is so different to what some people are used to. Where Betas are essentially demos.

I think the 'word' is probably iterative and incremental builds where the number of features increase as previously implemented functions are shown to be stable... It's classic software development really... build on top of the previously built and stable code. Nightmarish to implement everthing at once and then have a high old time picking it apart to fix bugs... ugh!

 

[fourty6to3]

Will Alpha's be getting an early build before the 29th?

Just curious since getting early builds a day or so before it goes into the wild was a selling point for alpha access. Is that still part of the plan, or did that apply to the expansions?

Edit to add:

From Newsletter #18

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.

 

[Aleksej]

I think that something might be expected to be released to Alphas e.g. the 15th of June in order to test the version for the major showstoppers like A4 release prior PB1.

 

[technome]

Well, it didn't apply to the PB1 to PB2 transition. Going into open beta, who knows?

 

[fourty6to3]

Yeah, I thought it would have happened. Maybe implementing that part of Alpha access was a mistake? Hopefully we'll see something more official in the coming days

 

[SAB380]

I don't mind at this stage, personally.

If it helps Frontier to transition slowly to put us alpha's in there early and get some initial data points, then sure.

If it is however more work for them to do 2 transitions and have 2 sets of players in 2 different builds, then whatever, I can wait until they are ready to transition everyone.

 

[insanephoton]

To be honest we really don't know. The 2 weeks thing may only have applied for PB1 as it was essentially Alpha 4 with some bug fixes. There has been talk of early access only being a matter of hours or maybe it will be like PB2 where it was released to everyone at the same time. Only the people at Frontier know for certain and they might not have decided yet.

 

[fourty6to3]

Yeah, the way I interpreted it was that there would be one specific build two weeks in advance, then all subsequent releases would be a few hours to a few days to sweep for game breaking bugs.

When I signed up for Alpha access this wasn't on the cards so I don't particularly care either way. However, I did notice that it was a selling point near the end of Alpha availability - so I'm a bit curious as to it's status.

 

[RCKJD]

I'm only a Premium Beta guy, but I wouldn't mind if the Alpha's would get an early release. After all, youtube and twitch and that thing. So between first view when playing it on the 29th or seeing it on twitch on the 15th and then playing it on the 29th... I know where I stand.

 

[sqzbox1]

From a personal point of view (an Alpha male) I'm also quite relaxed about whatever they decide.

However, if I were FD I would seriously consider giving the alpha community a 1 or 2 week early release. It has been my experience so far that the alpha group are serious fans and serious players so basically are a positive and knowledgeable group on which to unload a "possibly (but hopefully not)" seriously bugged major release. As a long-time (35 years) professional in the commercial software world I am well aware of the hidden gremlins that only surface when a product is released. No amount of testing by developers can emulate the stupidity of a user. Oops - sorry - I mean the lack of experience of the users. The alpha group won't find everything but almost certainly will find all the deal-breakers, which would go a long way towards a smooth implementation to the larger community.

 

[Void Sun]

I talked to Michael Brooks about this at LaveCon. It all depends how confident they feel about the stability of the build for the release date. If there are any major concerns they will release early to Alpha backers. If there is no uncertanty around core stability it will be released on schedule to everyone at the same time.

So we won't know till FD make that call on the build stability.

 

[sqzbox1]

Sounds like round the wrong way thinking to me. If there aren't any major concerns then release it to the alphas and let them find the problems - there WILL be some. This is a reality in the s/w business. If there ARE major concerns then best hold back any release.

 

[bamber]

my only comment is that the uploader struggles when a lot of people are trying to upgrade and we often see very low rates 50kb/s or so. If you have all Alphas, Premium Betas and Betas all trying to upload together it will take an age.

Spreading the issue over 3 days (Monday Alpha, Tuesday Premium Beta, Wednesday Beta),Thursday Beta 1.01 rolleyes ) would surely help a difficult transition and make things easier for everyone?

I dont think we need weeks for alpha - hours should be good enough

 

[Aleksej]

my only comment is that the uploader struggles when a lot of people are trying to upgrade and we often see very low rates 50kb/s or so. If you have all Alphas, Premium Betas and Betas all trying to upload together it will take an age.

Spreading the issue over 3 days (Monday Alpha, Tuesday Premium Beta, Wednesday Beta),Thursday Beta 1.01 rolleyes ) would surely help a difficult transition and make things easier for everyone?

I dont think we need weeks for alpha - hours should be good enough

So what is it possible to find and fix within several hours? The more casual players we have the more people are frustrated even with minor issue.

 

[bamber]

You only need find major game breaking issues - FD are pretty good at getting after the minor issues quickly see PB2.01 and 2.02 that cames out exceptionally early

All we really need to know in a few hours is the program loads and doesnt crash when we enter major events (hyperspace, Supercruise, station area, Station, user access screens etc

If you cant cope with minor bugs wait until september, there is no point in having major bugs as no one learns.

Early alphas wouldnt load for 3 or 4 hours - thats a gamebreaker minor issues arent.

 

[Void Sun]

FD do the fairly major basic testing themselves. I doubt very much they would do a release before checking docking still works. Michael actually personally performs a final play through on release day before doing his Man from DelMonte impression.

Running 2 seperate versions of the code base (3 now standard betas have a build) is very complex and managing bug reporting between them is a nightmare, FD will only prerelease to alphas if they feel it is absolutely neccesarry.

Being an alpha / DDF backer though, I wish it was otherwise, love to get my hands on those new features early.

 

[Bobbydylan]

As an Alpha backer, I don't feel the need to be given early access. I'd rather not split the community.

 

[Aleksej]

You only need find major game breaking issues - FD are pretty good at getting after the minor issues quickly see PB2.01 and 2.02 that cames out exceptionally early

All we really need to know in a few hours is the program loads and doesnt crash when we enter major events (hyperspace, Supercruise, station area, Station, user access screens etc

If you cant cope with minor bugs wait until september, there is no point in having major bugs as no one learns.

Early alphas wouldnt load for 3 or 4 hours - thats a gamebreaker minor issues arent.

If no reward for a kill is a minor issue to you... well that's strange as it is really a major issue. Flying on a basic Sidewinder with one pulse laser all the time is not fun at all. 2.01 and 2.02 fixed some the major showstoppers just like 4.01, 4.02 and 4.03. And they did require several days.

As an Alpha backer, I don't feel the need to be given early access. I'd rather not split the community.

I would agree if there would not be many frustrating posts about how the game is difficult when PB was released and people asking for a refund because they do not want to spend any time in learning the controls thinking that they should master the game right away. And there will be more similar posts at SB release.