I am confused, why this is called pre alpha.

I guess i just dont have a idea what these words, games throw around now a days. I was in Elite and dangerous Beta, and Elder scrolls online beta. This seems rather far along to be called a pre alpha, I mean i played for 3 hours so far, on a low end no graphics card system, with no bugs or crashes. The combat works, housing works, loading between areas works, crafting works, and again no bugs.

I am sure things need tweaking and such, but this seems more like a beta, then pre alpha. Hell the released version of Dragons prophet was in a worst state then this is now. So im just confused lol. I would also like to add, that I play dark fall now, to keep me occupied till this comes out. I play that, which has been released for over a year, and some times within a hour I crash. If i switch between windows mode and full screen I crash, if i tab out I crash. So that is a released game and, this is in better shape lol.

 

No one has a real definition for these terms. There are still a lot of core systems that have received little or no attention. I expect most systems to be in place before they call it a beta. As for true Alpha? My thoughts on that are even more vague.

 

Well, I am for once very happy with my purchase for a video game lol. Been a rare thing, the last game i bought and was happy with was Civ 5. So thanks every one who made this possible

 

It is pre alpha because all the systems are not in. Not the pet system the dropping things on the ground plus more. So that makes it very much pre. Hope that helps **cheers**

 

I think at this state of the game what you are seeing is number of game tech systems in place to be tested and commented. The producers have made a big effort so you can test them with the lesser degree of stress possibly. It is playable but lacks cores features that makes it a proper game .

Of course this is only my opinion and i could be wrong

 

As others have said, Alpha means that all the systems are in place. There are still many things missing, including the main quest line.
Maybe we'll have systems in place near the end of the year. That's when Portalarium said we might be able to leave the server on full time.
Beta means the entire game is there, and it should be pretty much ready for release.

 

Also, only a very tiny fraction of the game work is presently accessible.

 

Hmm, well when i joined Beta on elite and dangerous, all you could do is fly into a space station lol.

Eww quest line huh? Lol i hope that isnt a forced quest line, I am so sick of questing in games just the sounds of a quest line sounds like a waste of time lol.

 

=p

I have very clear definitions for those terms in all the software we write.

They are seemingly using it with a crowd of people who are not as educated in the workflow, build states and terminology enough, and then seem to leverage them (by silence) to be advocates that this is still in a state of infancy.

The "freeze" release, when they stop removing stuff, has been tentatively talked to be around the end of the year. That is normally your "beta" period start.

If that is truely the case, then going from pre-alpha->alpha->beta in 4 months tells you this is no longer a pre-alpha.

And honestly it is not.

These are no longer "ideas" they are playing with, they are systems in the game.

Does anyone really think housing, crafting and, rounding the corner, combat would be completely gutted and re-designed at this point?

Pre-alpha is about finding a shape.
Alpha is about tweaking/sharpening that shape
Beta is about crushing bugs

This is definitely alpha. Anyone not an engineer in software can call it whatever they want; anyone who does this for a living knows exactly what it is.

 

Amount of content does not dictate state of development.

That is just a lack of content.

Systems, working, not yet bug free per se, are pretty much alpha.

A lack of systems also does not dictate state either. That, again, is just a lack of content.

They could very well launch this tommorow into beta and crush bugs and it would still be considered a feature complete release.

Would that include all the features they promised? No. But that is not an indication of a software's actual build state.

Amount of Content/Number of Systems != State of the Code.

 

Alpha stages in any software development is essentially when you simply add features as you implement them. It's something you normally keep internally within a company.

No prior testing.
No prior balancing.
Everything's in pieces.

If you see things missing in the game, it's because it hasn't been added yet.

A Beta is when all the features are in place and when the developers are focusing on polishing, debugging and balancing the various systems.

Joviex: Typically in a game development environment, content isn't considered a feature. Story, NPCs, environments can happen during the end of Alpha and even during Beta as it is independent from most of the coding. As a artist, this is the part of development that takes the least amount of time (although they make us work late hours to fit the schedule) and is done at the end. There's usually a small team that works with the TDs throughout the pre-Alpha (possibly even the Alpha) that'll establish a workflow for the rest of the art team...

... Also one of the (many) reasons why there are so many bugs during questing when a game is released.

 

I have not heard that the quest will be forced, so I think you're ok.
It really depends on how you want to play the game.
Solo players are in it for the quest.
Remember this game has four modes. Solo offline, Solo Online, Friend Play Online, and Open Player Online.

 

A short answer is that normally betas are open to the general public, and this is only open to pledgers or Alienware promotion users. Between alpha and pre-alpha... that is most subjetive.

 

Pre-Alpha - better known as "first playable", Game is still in development. Design is still occuring because systems or features are missing or incomplete. There are content and system portions of the game that are totally missing still.

Alpha - All Systems are in place (Feature Complete as some call it). Graphics that are not in place have temporary or placeholder graphics at the moment. Content for players to experience is not quite completed. Removing Major Bugs and Instability. Typically this is when ppl outside the dev team have a chance at getting a first look or playable version.

Beta - All Systems are in place (Feature Complete as some call it). All Content is created, but not necessarily accessible to public testers. All Graphics are in place. Balance, Polish, and Removing Bugs and Instability are the only parts remaining.

 

That is good to hear I dono I am pretty much a solo player. I just think quests are boring. Here is a example, when i was playing this, I was walking around the woods. I stumbled into a cave, and some bears ate me lol. That was the most fun i had in a game in awhile. It would of been 100 percent ruined for me, if some one came up with a story behind why the cave was there, and that the bears were doing something, which in turn made them want me to go to the cave.
I dont think i would of even went in the cave at that point, they already told me about the whole area, ruined any kind of enjoyment out of going into the cave. Now i made my own quest, the bears ate me, so i want to go kill them lol.
That is why i think quests are worthless. I spend more time in games just running around seeing what there is to see, and creating my own story, then following some one else version of a story. I find a book does a much better job at that then a game.
I am glad to hear they wont be forced, like most mmorpgs/rpgs are. I would prolly end up quitting in a week after the game came out, if that were the case.
I also hope they release at the end of the year, there is enough in the game now if it was saved, where i could have fun for 100s of hours.

 

Well many things aren't in to be tweaked. Not trying to be argumentative but I see many features still missing. plus this team is very small so progress is slower than most games. I don't expect it to ready til 2/2015 or even longer for beta but who knows.

 

Pre Alpha...

Alpha...

Beta...

~Time Lord~

 

Fail Release...

 

The game is barely playable at the moment. It is a long, long way from what I'd expect in an Alpha. They're putting in totally new systems and features every preview.

 

I guess you havent played to many games to compare it to... The game is def playable, I mean i havent played all of it, but it def is playable. Maybe not pvp but i have 0 interest in that anyways. All pvp ends up in these games is a bunch of people, thinking it takes skill to play a video game, and calling each other names over and over and over and over, and this goes on for years lol. So other then that, which balance for pve isnt bad at all. I mean i started out and a bear ate me, good balance lol.

If you compare it to lets say Ulitma online which has been out for 15 years. The enchanted client has so many bugs, that your game will crash at least once a hour, the health bars wont go down, the names will get stuck, people will get stuck running around naked, and that is just to name a few. If we move on to darkfall unholywars, i just crashed 7 times within 15 mins, trying to open up task manager. If we say Elite and dangerous, that game which was claimed to be in beta, only lets u play with 4 or so people, and crashes, and lags so bad you cant even play. If we go to elder scrolls online, that game when it came out, crashed for a day. Then at launch most of the quests were broken, over 20 percent of the people got banned for no reason, due to a bug in the system, that basically let you log into other people accounts.
I could really go on and on for another couple of pages about games, and their states as of now. So as you say unplayable, I highly highly disagree. I ran around for over 4 hours, with no lag, no crashes, placed numerous houses and decorations, got eaten by bears. Chased by eleves, swam in oceans, saw night turn to day, sorted my bags, crafted a dagger, cut down a tree, skinned a deer, switched from game client to the browser, switched decks, switched weapons, went from the bottom of the map to the top. I encountered 0 bugs or problems, no crashing, no getting stuck, no nothing just smooth game play. All on a seriously under powered i5 3570k not over clocked, and 8gbs of ram, and no graphics card.
This game is def playable................