Happy August, my friends. It has been a busy road in development for the team lately, and the pre-alpha server is feeling it. No new updates went in this month, so testers were invited to play as they wish while we kept an eye on game/server stability. Everything seems to be running great!
So what did testers do? Aside from the typical adventuring and crafting, we spawned a black dragon at the crossroads for funsies. As one of our fave testers, Glorf, pointed out, it gave us some much needed feedback on low-level players taking on high-level mobs. Should lowbie players be able to do damage to high-level mobs? You can join that convo on the official forums, no pledge is required to post.
As we covered in our latest Producer’s Letter, some changes are coming to the testing format. It is our intention to open our test server for a persistent, always-on, testing environment for our pre-alpha testers. As part of this, we are introducing a playable game loop for our testers to enjoy while we build out the world of Terminus. How does this impact testing and development? The biggest change will be that we can implement features and test them faster. With once-a-month testing, we push a big update and if something doesn’t work or it needs tweaks, those won’t be rolled out until the next monthly test session. In our new testing scenario, we can roll out updates as needed and as completed. This will make the process of vetting features and making adjustments a lot faster. It is this process that will make our testers absolutely vital! Be sure to check back because more on this will be shared in the coming months.
Our testers are anxiously awaiting 247 testing, but what are they looking forward to? We asked!
The thing I’m probably most excited about is the data that will hopefully be provided to you guys that you need.
Being in my 40’s now I find it hard to do marathon gaming sessions like I used to back in high school with EQ or later on, in with WoW. So the idea that I can play at my own pace and be able to test everything out with time instead of just picking a random thing for the current 24 hours play time has me most hyped.
I’m really looking forward to just being able to spend time in-game.
Apart from being a lab rat for whatever testing is required, I will be attempting to find a guild by playing with as many people as I can.
It is generally a unanimous sentiment, more time with an available test environment means more testers can find the time to lend us a hand. We look forward to sharing more about our testing endeavors, so be sure to watch this space for more news from pre-alpha.
Interested in seeing what 247 is all about before everyone else? Visit our pledge page to find out how you can be a part of pre-alpha. Curious how the game looks in its current form? Watch Red Beard Flynn’s trek through Terminus as a winner of a pre-alpha game session.