Open Beta

[tone]

DVK and I are just wondering about the merits of putting out an open beta now, in view of the difficulty in pursuading people to give decent feedback. It's almost impossible to work out how the economy and stats are working with the amount of feedback we're getting.

What do you guys think?

[Argent Usher]

I would give out only 10-15 new tickets for this new BETA stage and maybe we can pair it with a kind of competition based on historical knowledge or with a screenshot contest.

[dvk901]

I know other mods have done this, and given the way things have been going, I'm not dead set against this. It's getting very frustrating, I have to say, spending hours and hours working on things and getting little or no response from anyone. This mod has been the brain-child of everyone currently a team member.....but it seems a lot of you are burned out or just don't care anymore. I don't know what to think. We have a visually stunning mod right now, but it's an 8-cyclinder engine running on 4 because we're getting no feedback whatsoever on stats, economy, or how things are working\looking in general.

I was looking forward to a really neat Roman preview....but if this is the help we're going to get...well, it's just too much for a few people to handle.

[Argent Usher]

Well i must say i haven't enough time for BETA playing and development (ATM) and i read mostly at work the dev boards and try to give suggestions then.

[dvk901]

I know Argent Usher....I know people have lives to live. I appreciate what you're doing.

[pacco]

I can also talk only for myself.
To be honest, I don´t play games (few years) - I´m here only to help with skinning or modeling stuffs and to check how that work in game. I don´t work on testing stuffs, because I don´t have time for that and I don´t play games anymore.
Thats why we have beta testers, right?
What do you think - what will we get if we put out an open beta?
Nothing! Why?
Everyone will download the game and say: I have CTD! Why? Who knows? Tons of questions - why? give us a patch? when? is this save game compatible?
We need more beta testers, with knowledge.
But there is a problem - a lot of them come, take Beta and disappear.

[MarcusTullius]

We just need a healthy group of 10-20 dedicated beta testers and we will be absolutely fine.

For me, i'm working 10 hours every day with another 2 to travel and have so little time at the moment to even play an hour of RS

[dvk901]

Yeah.....both true I suppose. I sure don't have any time to play either. Makes me mad.

[Father Jack]

The problem is that we once had quite a large beta testing team (about 20+) but the vast majority of them seem to have got bored and moved on. The main reason is that they have no vested interest to beta test. If we can get a group together with about 10 or so people (I will include myself there once I have finished backing up my hard drive) who know what they are doing and who are dedicated then that would be perfection.

The pros of an open beta, which a number of mods have done, is that you can get a wide response from players. The big con of that is much of the information they will post may not be that helpful and only 5% of those who download it will provide any feedback.

[Maximus Macro]

hi i finally have a computer back after my lightingstrike so i can start testing again and putting the unit descriptions in.i've been playing for about 60 turns now(roman campaign m/m,saving every 3 to 5 years so now i just need to load every save and write down the things of interest,for now its obvious tax income is way to high,seleucids way to powerfull and many many flaws in the roman leadership systhem

[Calvin]

I'll see what I can do when I'm not going through traits. I have to say I agree with pacco on the kind of responses we would get. From other open betas I've seen, the devs go crazy because they keep having to remind people that it's a beta! Not a full release. Plus, even though I can fully understand your frustration I really think we should stick to the promise of only releasing once we're really happy with the product. I will do my utmost to test away

[dvk901]

Those of you who are busy with stuff......don't worry about it.

[apple]

I'm trying to play as much as I can when I'm not at work or at our country place (which happens to be wher I am right now).
What's hard for me is that I never had any idea of how powerfull a unit should be historicaly (though I currently reading up on the Punic wars.) so I try to consentrate on things like graphical and description errors.

[Calvin]

Also, if I may make a suggestion.

Boot out the half dead beta testers. I mean, whenever we have a 'roll call' these names pop up that I forget even exist since they only EVER post when there is a chance they'll get kicked out the beta team. We do not need dead weight, we need people like torzsoktamas who actually test! Not just make up numbers!

[tone]

Also, if I may make a suggestion.

Boot out the half dead beta testers. I mean, whenever we have a 'roll call' these names pop up that I forget even exist since they only EVER post when there is a chance they'll get kicked out the beta team. We do not need dead weight, we need people like torzsoktamas who actually test! Not just make up numbers!

Very true, if only we could find more like him.

[swhunter]

DVK and I are just wondering about the merits of putting out an open beta now, in view of the difficulty in pursuading people to give decent feedback. It's almost impossible to work out how the economy and stats are working with the amount of feedback we're getting.

What do you guys think?

I think a good group of 10 to 20 testers would be good.
Instead of an open beta.
That way we can find things out more effective.

[Roman_Man#3]

Well, I know that some modders have invited me to beta test their mods because I hang around and I mod. Maybe we could try inviting other modders to beta test, who actually understand that it isn't the final product. Also, we should talk to the people who beta test for mods from Palantir and Halie Satanus. They don't have many beta testers, but I know for a fact the people that do beta test for them are excellent at it. Palantir and Halie wouldn't settle for anyone less.

Just my 2 cents.

[MarcusTullius]

Well, I know that some modders have invited me to beta test their mods because I hang around and I mod. Maybe we could try inviting other modders to beta test, who actually understand that it isn't the final product. Also, we should talk to the people who beta test for mods from Palantir and Halie Satanus. They don't have many beta testers, but I know for a fact the people that do beta test for them are excellent at it. Palantir and Halie wouldn't settle for anyone less.

Just my 2 cents.

Great idea. Definitely approaching other modders who have experienced beta testers at hand could be productive.

[dvk901]

Perhaps Macky or Aradan would know some good people to ask? I know a couple, but not many. Just for a recommendation of people WE could ask if they would be interested in Beta testing for us?

[Father Jack]

There are a few modders out there who may be able to help. But many are already helping with mods/run mods so they will have time constraints.

Nakharar - although he does lead a mod so time for him could be an issue.
absinthia
Icedie
Nero666
Ummagumma - havn't seen him on TWC in a while.
B.Ward
Augustus Lucifer


Alternatively we could always ask mod leaders for recommendations for beta testers who have been good at beta testing for their mods?