Forums » General Pantheon Discussion

Pre-Alpha/Alpha

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 1:01 AM PST

    Vandraad said:

    Kilsin said:

    They haven't been lost by any means, they have been used in helping develop the game and we are either past that point of development now (a year past a lot of it) or have them archived for later reference, no further community input is required for the majority of them and remember that only posts prior to Jan 1, 2015 were archive, there is still a whole year worth of posts on these forums currently that are still being monitored and are worth contributing too, if you are not choosing to post, then you are missing out on having your voice heard

    I hope all mine were useful. :)

    There were a ton of very useful posts man, this community is awesome and helped us with some great idea's, suggestions and fixes for some potential problems, you had some good ones too but I had to delete most of Raidan's, that guy just talks nonsense all the time ;)

    • 75 posts
    January 6, 2016 2:38 AM PST

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 6:16 AM PST

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    • 149 posts
    January 6, 2016 6:25 AM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    Thank heaven above Kilsin! I hate all this "soft release" marketing stuff. Back in the day (like a decade ago), when you were in a beta test it was raw and bug ridden and you were there to TEST the game and help make it better. Now a days, companies use alpha and beta tests as promotional tools for streamers and websites to review the game early and build up the hype train.

  • January 6, 2016 7:21 AM PST

    Aggelos said:

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    Thank heaven above Kilsin! I hate all this "soft release" marketing stuff. Back in the day (like a decade ago), when you were in a beta test it was raw and bug ridden and you were there to TEST the game and help make it better. Now a days, companies use alpha and beta tests as promotional tools for streamers and websites to review the game early and build up the hype train.

     

    ... and to pre-sell copies of the game!  It's why I never have disagreed with people just playing alpha and beta instead of testing for more recent games.  They PAID for the alpha and beta already by making a pre-release purchase.  Now, one could argue our donations/pledges have achieved the same result, but I would counter that it's an entirely different animal donating, and then being a part of a true testing phase(s).  As Kilsin posted, their testing phases aren't going to be a marketing ploy for an already finsihed game.  In my mind, I'm thinking pre-alpha, alpha, and much of beta will give fits to someone who only wants to 'play'.  :)

    • 1281 posts
    January 6, 2016 10:37 AM PST

    Kilsin said:

    We have them up and are testing, I have created the sub forums and Adam has done a lot of the backend coding, we are still waiting on artwork and need to finish writing a couple of scripts/modules to link accounts with pledges/subs etc. when those are finished, we will open them up, we have no set date but are working hard as we would like to get it ready for pre-alpha but as with anything in development, there are no promises, we can only try our best and work with what we have available.

    Thank you for the update.

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 2:54 PM PST

    Aggelos said:

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    Thank heaven above Kilsin! I hate all this "soft release" marketing stuff. Back in the day (like a decade ago), when you were in a beta test it was raw and bug ridden and you were there to TEST the game and help make it better. Now a days, companies use alpha and beta tests as promotional tools for streamers and websites to review the game early and build up the hype train.

    Yeah, exactly! To many of us gamers open our wallets for these companies so it is now the new normal to release a polished game early and call it alpha/beta and put a huge price tag for early access, we are using alpha and beta like they were intended, as testing phases :)

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 2:56 PM PST

    BloodbeardBattlecaster said:

    Aggelos said:

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    Thank heaven above Kilsin! I hate all this "soft release" marketing stuff. Back in the day (like a decade ago), when you were in a beta test it was raw and bug ridden and you were there to TEST the game and help make it better. Now a days, companies use alpha and beta tests as promotional tools for streamers and websites to review the game early and build up the hype train.

     

    ... and to pre-sell copies of the game!  It's why I never have disagreed with people just playing alpha and beta instead of testing for more recent games.  They PAID for the alpha and beta already by making a pre-release purchase.  Now, one could argue our donations/pledges have achieved the same result, but I would counter that it's an entirely different animal donating, and then being a part of a true testing phase(s).  As Kilsin posted, their testing phases aren't going to be a marketing ploy for an already finsihed game.  In my mind, I'm thinking pre-alpha, alpha, and much of beta will give fits to someone who only wants to 'play'.  :)

    Spot on man and it is a bit different for us in regards to pledges since they are actually helping fund and develop the game, which without, we may not even be here talking about Pantheon, other companies pre-sell to get as much of their development costs back before they even launch the game, it really annoys me and I refuse to support them anymore!

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 2:56 PM PST

    bigdogchris said:

    Kilsin said:

    We have them up and are testing, I have created the sub forums and Adam has done a lot of the backend coding, we are still waiting on artwork and need to finish writing a couple of scripts/modules to link accounts with pledges/subs etc. when those are finished, we will open them up, we have no set date but are working hard as we would like to get it ready for pre-alpha but as with anything in development, there are no promises, we can only try our best and work with what we have available.

    Thank you for the update.

    You're welcome my friend :)

    • 3016 posts
    January 6, 2016 5:00 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Reht said:

    I saw the first one, but that was before the goal deadline had passed and Kilsin mentioned reading the FAQ before asking questions that have been answered.  However i didn't see the second one (wouldn't have read it anyway due to the thread title), thanks for that.  Still should have updated the FAQ, even if it was simply first quarter 2016, shouldn't have to sift through threads for information like that.

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    Thanks Kilsin...we're all dying to know..lol  --- A work in progress!!  I'll be there to test my behind off when the time comes!!  That includes spelling errors ... one of my strong points. :)


    This post was edited by CanadinaXegony at January 6, 2016 5:02 PM PST
  • January 6, 2016 5:31 PM PST

    CanadinaXegony said:

    Thanks Kilsin...we're all dying to know..lol  --- A work in progress!!  I'll be there to test my behind off when the time comes!!  That includes spelling errors ... one of my strong points. :)

     

     

    me too!  I love looking through quest text and such to find grammar (not intentional) and spelling errors... but you'd better watch the butt.  Sitting for hours playing Pantheon would be difficult after testing the butt off.

    • 366 posts
    January 6, 2016 5:32 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Raidan said:

    Kilsin said:

    Reht said:

    Kilsin said:

    We haven't updated the FAQ because we don't have a set date for testing, once we do, we will ;)

    You already posted early 2016 as the rough target for Pre-Alpha on the thread that Raidan linked, it's out there.  It seems to me that it would serve you better in the long run to update the FAQ once every few months if it changes, or even remove the goal timeframe instead of showing a failed goal.  



    We are in early 2016 mate, if anything changes we will update it, currently, there is no set date and we are within that timeline and have nothing to update. I am not sure what the problem is?

    Early 2016 basically accounts for the first 3-4 months of the year, if we think we will have to push it back, we will post it and update our FAQ if that decision is made but we are not even close to knowing that yet.

    I believe Reht was referring to this nugget in the FAQ section:

    ________________________________________________

    What are the approximate timeframes for Alpha, Beta, and commercial release?

    There are many variables involved and developing a massively multiplayer game is not an easy thing to do. Our goal is to be in alpha by the end of 2015, in beta during 2016, and to release the game in 2017. But this is not set in stone, and the above dates are subject to change.

    __________________________________________________________

    I had linked a thread where you had posted early 2016.  It's obviously easy to overlook though as there were a lot of questions in that FAQ

    Thanks man, I wasn't aware that it was stating 2015 and I misunderstood what Reht was saying, my apologies Reht. I will get this correct as soon as possible.

    Good job guys - its nice to know that VRI isn't one of "those types" of developers :)

    • 999 posts
    January 6, 2016 6:03 PM PST

    Zarriya said:

    Good job guys -its nice to know that VRI isn't one of "those types" of developers :)

    Agreed - finding the website errors is almost like pre-alpha testing!  And, agreed, we appear to be in capable hands :).  Haha, and just noticed Kilsin slipped in a joke about my postings... I almost missed that :).  Sneaky rogue... now what was I saying about those developers.... haha


    This post was edited by Raidan at January 6, 2016 6:09 PM PST
    • 671 posts
    January 6, 2016 6:48 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Hieromonk said:

    Kilsin said:

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

     

    Hence, the lack of longer standing members posting, or getting involved...  because so many good conversation have already been lost. These message boards..  are what is stalling the community.

    I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..  they have head their collective heads down building this game, grinning all the while. I think with the new tools they have built, means they are chugging along with much ease, thus allowing them to slow down and build a deeper understanding of their new game mechanics... and they are in-house pinging themselves with underlyering fundmentals, before solidfying roles and future rolls and depth of game mechanics. They are probably done storyboarding & flushing out the future races (to be announced years later, etc) and most likely have a SOLID foundation and are now testing the limits of their game mechanics..... before they announce Alpha.

    IMO.. I think we are less than 6 weeks way from VRi's announcement of Alpha Phase 1.0..  & along with that, new Official Forums w/ deeper lore and character roles, etc. I just wish the new board went online sooner, but I have a feeling it is all going to relate back to a possible announcement, of a newly funded company. Or at least one standing on a complete milestone driven platform.

    And that is the key...  there is no sense in starting alpha, if you don't know where you are going.

     

    Visionary Realms is going places.

     

     

    They haven't been lost by any means, they have been used in helping develop the game and we are either past that point of development now (a year past a lot of it) or have them archived for later reference, no further community input is required for the majority of them and remember that only posts prior to Jan 1, 2015 were archive, there is still a whole year worth of posts on these forums currently that are still being monitored and are worth contributing too, if you are not choosing to post, then you are missing out on having your voice heard.

    We have never changed engines either, we use Unity and have since Pantheon's creation, we have updated from Unity 4 to 5.# but we are still using the same engine. We will release more information soon and we have another newsletter coming up with some great info in it that I am sure you will all enjoy.

    We have Pre-Alpha coming up in the next few months, then Alpha after that and we will also utilise a long Beta testing phase to catch as many bugs and balance/stress test as much as possible but no dates have been set for any of those testing phases and I would not hold your breath for an announcement in 6 weeks, when it is ready, we will announce it to you all, I promise :)

     

    ??

    Perhaps you are overlooking the situation, that in fact those threads are indeed lost to the Pantheon Community. Threads which had a great deal of crosstalk & ideas among the community members... ideas that are now being re-hashed by newcomers, who are trying to cover the same ideas & topics, etc. It is inefficient to having post ideas twice... therefore, many People are not discussing their ideas = stagnation.

    That^ has caused a stall in the community, because there is no rightful sense, in engaging in an in-depth conversation here, because it is going to be wiped. Ergo: therefore, no sense in investing time here... because that time will be lost. Again, no argument here, just facts...  and the reason soo many people are waiting for proper forums, so ideas can be shared efficiently.

     

     

    And yes, going from Unity 4..  to Unity 5 (which we had all been following and discussing prior to forum deletes) meant you had to change and update your Engine... so that you could continue Pantheon with greater efficiency, described earlier by me. I hope your response above wasn't trying to be funny, and you just misunderstood the effort it takes from moving from one version of an engine, to the next. (doing so is not as easy as installing an update...  not as easy as you make it out to be, in your response to me). That difficulty & hump of migration was what I was referring to in my previous posts. Many of us here, have been doing these kinds of things (testing & building) for 20 years. We understand such things.

    Coincidentally, please don't forget how long some of us have been here...  and what we have collectivley gone threw. (note: Some have been here as long as you)

     

     

    Lastly, thanks for the update, but I will bet you Kilsin, that the new forums won't take 6 weeks...   and that by some time in March, Pantheon will be in pre-alpha.

     

    • 9115 posts
    January 6, 2016 7:30 PM PST

    Hieromonk said:

    Kilsin said:

    Hieromonk said:

    Kilsin said:

    Vandraad said:

    new forums?  again?  That's what, the 3rd version of the forums now? Lets hope all the threads migrate this time because we lost a lot of good stuff from the original forums.

    Believe it or not, these are still the same old forums we have had from the start, just stripped back to a default layout/skin which fixed a few issues and broke some custom modules, so the move to the "new" vBulletin forums will be the first time we have ever moved away from these original forums.

    We will not be migrating threads, we will be starting completely fresh and archiving these ones for our internal reference only.

     

    Hence, the lack of longer standing members posting, or getting involved...  because so many good conversation have already been lost. These message boards..  are what is stalling the community.

    I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..  they have head their collective heads down building this game, grinning all the while. I think with the new tools they have built, means they are chugging along with much ease, thus allowing them to slow down and build a deeper understanding of their new game mechanics... and they are in-house pinging themselves with underlyering fundmentals, before solidfying roles and future rolls and depth of game mechanics. They are probably done storyboarding & flushing out the future races (to be announced years later, etc) and most likely have a SOLID foundation and are now testing the limits of their game mechanics..... before they announce Alpha.

    IMO.. I think we are less than 6 weeks way from VRi's announcement of Alpha Phase 1.0..  & along with that, new Official Forums w/ deeper lore and character roles, etc. I just wish the new board went online sooner, but I have a feeling it is all going to relate back to a possible announcement, of a newly funded company. Or at least one standing on a complete milestone driven platform.

    And that is the key...  there is no sense in starting alpha, if you don't know where you are going.

     

    Visionary Realms is going places.

     

     

    They haven't been lost by any means, they have been used in helping develop the game and we are either past that point of development now (a year past a lot of it) or have them archived for later reference, no further community input is required for the majority of them and remember that only posts prior to Jan 1, 2015 were archive, there is still a whole year worth of posts on these forums currently that are still being monitored and are worth contributing too, if you are not choosing to post, then you are missing out on having your voice heard.

    We have never changed engines either, we use Unity and have since Pantheon's creation, we have updated from Unity 4 to 5.# but we are still using the same engine. We will release more information soon and we have another newsletter coming up with some great info in it that I am sure you will all enjoy.

    We have Pre-Alpha coming up in the next few months, then Alpha after that and we will also utilise a long Beta testing phase to catch as many bugs and balance/stress test as much as possible but no dates have been set for any of those testing phases and I would not hold your breath for an announcement in 6 weeks, when it is ready, we will announce it to you all, I promise :)

     

    ??

    Perhaps you are overlooking the situation, that in fact those threads are indeed lost to the Pantheon Community. Threads which had a great deal of crosstalk & ideas among the community members... ideas that are now being re-hashed by newcomers, who are trying to cover the same ideas & topics, etc. It is inefficient to having post ideas twice... therefore, many People are not discussing their ideas = stagnation.

    That^ has caused a stall in the community, because there is no rightful sense, in engaging in an in-depth conversation here, because it is going to be wiped. Ergo: therefore, no sense in investing time here... because that time will be lost. Again, no argument here, just facts...  and the reason soo many people are waiting for proper forums, so ideas can be shared efficiently.

     

     

    And yes, going from Unity 4..  to Unity 5 (which we had all been following and discussing prior to forum deletes) meant you had to change and update your Engine... so that you could continue Pantheon with greater efficiency, described earlier by me. I hope your response above wasn't trying to be funny, and you just misunderstood the effort it takes from moving from one version of an engine, to the next. (doing so is not as easy as installing an update...  not as easy as you make it out to be, in your response to me). That difficulty & hump of migration was what I was referring to in my previous posts. Many of us here, have been doing these kinds of things (testing & building) for 20 years. We understand such things.

    Coincidentally, please don't forget how long some of us have been here...  and what we have collectivley gone threw. (note: Some have been here as long as you)

     

     

    Lastly, thanks for the update, but I will bet you Kilsin, that the new forums won't take 6 weeks...   and that by some time in March, Pantheon will be in pre-alpha.

     

    The posts have served their purpose, though, is what I meant, we have used a lot of them in developing the game and they are now either no longer any use to us or stored internally for future reference, there can be no more outside input for the majority of them, to open them back up or allow more conversation on those topics would be beating a dead horse and no use to us or the community.

    I am continually (multiple times a day/night) reading everything in these forums, facebook, twitter, gaming forums, game media and collecting data and information for the team, so again, if you are holding back and not posting, you are missing out on being heard. These are proper forums, we just cannot link account/pledge/sub information on them anymore, it doesn't mean that they are not functional forums though even with a few bugs, so if you have something you wish to add, please do so and don't wait for the new ones, even when these ones are archived, we will have access to all of these posts whenever we may need to view them, so your posts and information are still being reviewed and collected.

    Not to nit pick either but you said "I have a good hunch, that since VRi moved Pantheon over to the new engine..", we did not move to a new engine, we upgraded the same Unity engine to a newer version, there is a big difference and I needed to correct you on that, which is fine, we all make mistakes, I am certainly not perfect. It is not as simple as I made it out to be because I was keeping my post short and on point, everyone is free to read the Unity patch notes to catch up on what has changed and there are some great articles on Unity features, mechanics and upgrade benefits if they are interested but that is not something I was going to go into detail about for my post.

    It's great to see a lot of original supporters around mate, I would never forget, I was a part of it all from the start which makes me appreciate how far we have come and how much hard work we have put in as a team to turn things around.

    This was not a personal dig at you either man, I just had to jump in and correct a couple of things so others don't read it and get the wrong impression or expect things in 6 weeks...if you hadn't of said 6 weeks and new engine, I wouldn't have replied at all and would have remained watching from the shadows but certain things like that require a response from me ;)

    You're welcome and we will do our best to move to the new forums as soon as we can, I am looking forward to the move more than anyone, I can assure you of that since I have to work with these forums more than anyone and they do my head in many times a day/night, I can't wait to see the back of them, the new vBulletin forums are much nicer and easier on the eyes plus the admin side of things is a lot more user friendly for what I do! lol

    • 9115 posts
    January 7, 2016 12:42 AM PST

    Raidan said:

    Zarriya said:

    Good job guys -its nice to know that VRI isn't one of "those types" of developers :)

    Agreed - finding the website errors is almost like pre-alpha testing!  And, agreed, we appear to be in capable hands :).  Haha, and just noticed Kilsin slipped in a joke about my postings... I almost missed that :).  Sneaky rogue... now what was I saying about those developers.... haha

    Hahaha! I couldn't resist man, I need to practise my stealthy moves with testing in the not too distant future ;)

    • 2419 posts
    January 7, 2016 1:48 PM PST

    Kilsin,

    Just a tiny suggestion from one who has recreated many forum posts here:  Please hold off with the implementation of the new forums until such time as VR can provide us with some specific udpates to the development of Pantheon.  Having actual topics pertinent to the current state of development would help in minimizing the rehashing of old topics.  I'm sure most would agree with me that having topics presented to us by VR for discussion about actual mechanics, design choices, NPC race names, even zone names or further expanion of lore are of more interest for the members here to discuss.

    • 9115 posts
    January 7, 2016 4:03 PM PST

    Vandraad said:

    Kilsin,

    Just a tiny suggestion from one who has recreated many forum posts here:  Please hold off with the implementation of the new forums until such time as VR can provide us with some specific udpates to the development of Pantheon.  Having actual topics pertinent to the current state of development would help in minimizing the rehashing of old topics.  I'm sure most would agree with me that having topics presented to us by VR for discussion about actual mechanics, design choices, NPC race names, even zone names or further expanion of lore are of more interest for the members here to discuss.

    By the time they are ready we will be close to or starting pre-alpha, so there will be lots to talk about, I would hope ;)

    • 84 posts
    January 7, 2016 4:05 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    This is why I keep bringing it up. When I donated for the pre-alpha perk it was so I could be involved in that early testing with a limited number of people so that what I said was heard. All the recent beta tests I have seen have had what seems like 10s of thousands or more of people playing and any feedback I have given always seems lost in the shear numbers. I am just concerned that pre-alpha will end up being like a week and then alpha will start followed quickly by beta, leading to the exact situtation I describe here and my "investment" being for not. There where other perks avaliable at the time that were "better" if pre-alpha is short. If you are really going to release in 2017 then there is somewhere between 1 and 2 years total of pre-alpha, alpha, and beta avaliable. Everyday that window gets smaller. I guess this sounds like a complaint, I don't really mean it that way, I am just explaining my thoughts and feelings on the matter. If Beta doesn't turn out to have 10s of thousands of people then I guess it doesn't matter if pre-alpha is short, but I will be a skeptic until I see it. After all the donation to join beta is very small even today.

     

    EDIT: I just took a look and it seems $100 is now the minimum to get into alpha and beta. Not so bad for beta. Pretty cheap for alpha if you ask me :) I think I am up to around $750 already...


    This post was edited by Nydan at January 7, 2016 4:15 PM PST
    • 163 posts
    January 7, 2016 6:13 PM PST

    Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!

    • 9115 posts
    January 7, 2016 6:53 PM PST

    Nydan said:

    Kilsin said:

    Narben4 said:

    pre-alpha/alpha...playing?? vs testing.

    I know we are all excited (trust me i need Pantheon to breathe life back into my MMO desire) but i am happy to breathe, contribute to forums and wait.  it will come

    Exactly, it's definitely Pre-Alpha, Alpha, Beta Testing, none of the phases are for playing the game, we need the testers to help us identify as many bugs, exploits, broken mechanics/features etc. as possible so we can release a stable and relatively bug-free game.

    This isn't a marketing ploy to do a soft release via alpha/beta like most other companies, we actually need help testing the game as it is unfinished. I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think it will be a fun playing experience because while it will most likely be new and fun to enter the world of Terminus for the first time, the game is not finished and we will need help finding everything wrong with it and breaking it even more!

    This is why I keep bringing it up. When I donated for the pre-alpha perk it was so I could be involved in that early testing with a limited number of people so that what I said was heard. All the recent beta tests I have seen have had what seems like 10s of thousands or more of people playing and any feedback I have given always seems lost in the shear numbers. I am just concerned that pre-alpha will end up being like a week and then alpha will start followed quickly by beta, leading to the exact situtation I describe here and my "investment" being for not. There where other perks avaliable at the time that were "better" if pre-alpha is short. If you are really going to release in 2017 then there is somewhere between 1 and 2 years total of pre-alpha, alpha, and beta avaliable. Everyday that window gets smaller. I guess this sounds like a complaint, I don't really mean it that way, I am just explaining my thoughts and feelings on the matter. If Beta doesn't turn out to have 10s of thousands of people then I guess it doesn't matter if pre-alpha is short, but I will be a skeptic until I see it. After all the donation to join beta is very small even today.

     

    EDIT: I just took a look and it seems $100 is now the minimum to get into alpha and beta. Not so bad for beta. Pretty cheap for alpha if you ask me :) I think I am up to around $750 already...

    Yeah, exactly and we raised it for that reason but we still have to keep in mind that we are being crowd funded and the pledge money helps us a ton with development costs etc. so we can't put it too far out of reach. :)

    • 36 posts
    January 7, 2016 6:54 PM PST

    Gadgets said:

    Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!

    Depends on what you find fun, lol. I'm deliriously excited to play the game when it's released, but I'm also pretty ridiculously excited to test it. Having testing phases that are actually testing and not just a soft launch makes me happy. I view it as contributing support for the game's development, but being able to particpate in a related activity that I find entertaining for its own sake is a nice bonus.

    • 9115 posts
    January 7, 2016 6:55 PM PST

    Gadgets said:

    Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!

    Back in the good old days, yes, people got paid to test but being crowdfunded, we rely on the community to help us with the game, so removing that option may have resulted in us not even making it this far in development, pledge and subscription sales help us more than people think and we appreciate that help a lot! :)

    • 999 posts
    January 7, 2016 8:07 PM PST

    Gadgets said:

    Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!

    Depends really.  I see your point, but depending on when/how much you pledged, the money came with perks other than just alpha/beta.  For me, the money was donated with the hope of obtaining the future perks, but also and more importantly to support really the only game that I believed had any chance of success delivering the MMO I wanted to play.  So, yes, if VRI had been an established AAA company with investment funds, I would agree with the paid (or than likely free testing these days), but an indie crowdfunded project needing funds for game development - especially developing the niche that I was wanting to play and no one else was willing to develop - I respectfully disagree that it's silly.

    Plus, being able to potentially shape, give feedback, and assist with ideas and positive changes prior to the game being released or even being in the testing phase holds more value than just being a "tester."  I don't think the "Apprentice Developer" has ever been fully realized, but our feedback has been heard.  A few quick examples: Only three starting cities changing and the cash shop removal.  Both of which may have changed without my or others involvement anyhow, but, if they didn't, they would have definitely been a detriment to my gameplay.


    This post was edited by Raidan at January 7, 2016 8:09 PM PST
    • 84 posts
    January 8, 2016 5:21 PM PST

    Gadgets said:

    Paying any sort of money to be considered as a participant of a closed pre-alpha, alpha, or beta is kind of silly. That is, if your participants real intent is to test it and not 'play' it. I remember through college when alpha and beta testing was a paid job!

    Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I make to much money to try and get a job that people used to make a minimal amount of money doing on games they may or may not care about. I guess I just want this to be a "silly" hobby. Is that ok?

    Raidan said:

    Plus, being able to potentially shape, give feedback, and assist with ideas and positive changes prior to the game being released or even being in the testing phase holds more value than just being a "tester."  I don't think the "Apprentice Developer" has ever been fully realized, but our feedback has been heard.  A few quick examples: Only three starting cities changing and the cash shop removal.  Both of which may have changed without my or others involvement anyhow, but, if they didn't, they would have definitely been a detriment to my gameplay.

    Bingo. Much more elegantly said than I was able to do.