Release 7 Instructions

Hello and welcome.
Its all in the first posting on this thread and the included links.
*Salute*
Olahorand

 

Forgive me I am new. So it seems that there is a new release each month and then people who have made a pledge get only 4 days to test the game each month. I'll be honest, I'm very disappointed. From my point of view, of someone who has a limited amount of time, that is not enough time to sample and test the game. From a developer point of view, I wonder if that is wise to limit the amount of time you want people testing your game. As a game designer myself, the more testers you have and the more time they have to test a game produces a far better game then the reverse.

If I had known this upfront I would have thought twice before making a pledge. From all of the hype I have seen and read I had the expectation that this game readily available to play/test. There should be something in the FAQ outlining realistic expectations about the opportunity to play SotA. Caveat emptor.

 

Yes, about 4 days near the end of each month.

There's a thread called Release 7 Instructions. Also, you can download the program from your Account page, near the bottom.

 

These tests are not meant for players to "play" the game. They're meant for Portalarium to gather data and feedback about the game, so they can make a better game. It's about following the development cycle. If they kept the servers up all the time, they'd be shutting down to patch so often that you wouldn't be able to play at all anyway. Patience, sir! It will likely only be a few months longer until they switch to 24/7 access!

 

Like this?

SotA FAQ
SotA FAQ 02
Upcoming Events (Dates and Releases)
Bottom of Every Pledge Page - * Limited Monthly Access Available Now! * * Estimated Full-time Live Access: End of 2014 *
Account Page - *Note: Access is limited to release windows as described here and you must have a valid pledge for access.*

 

welcome
I´m new too and I´m happy to login the first time today. And I knew about the monthly limited Access before pleging ...reading here in Forum very often, like I do now.
I hope you´ll still have fun playing SotA

 

Wolfshead, if this were a standard, I dare not call it normal, development cycle there wouldn't even be a game out yet for anyone to play. Any established developer's or producer's development cycle would be scared to let anyone near the game when they were still developing many of the game's systems like housing, crafting, housing, etc. In Portalarium's case, they've let the community' lay the game since the avatar's were able to walk around. The very first release had nothing. All that we could do was login in single player online and walk around owl's Head. No established developer would do that. Since that time they've added multiplayer, crafting. combat, and housing. Each release they've added a bit more for us to do as well. Currently we can explore one main area that has two sewers, a clink, a bandit cave, and an undead dungeon. And this weekend they added another cave. We've literally been able to see the game grow from nothing to the point where there is starting to be enough content to play for more than a day or two. To get a good window into what's happening I'd recommend that you find the R7 and 3 quarter post to see what's upcoming in the next few months. By all means log in and play whenever you can this weekend, you might be pleasantly surprised,

And welcome to the community.

 

Hello to play this beta, which I have to have Pledge?

 

Yes, you will have to pledge. Pledging, however, will get you access to all further pre-alpha releases, the beta, and Episode 1 of the full game when it launches.

Currently, AlienWare has a promotion going on that can apply $20 to your account, meaning you can then purchase an Adventurer pledge for only $25. Check it out here: http://na.alienwarearena.com/news/get-a-20-shroud-of-the-avatar-pledge-upgrade

 

Welcome WolfsHead

 

stuck on Loading Player 86% anyone else? sorry, wrong place

 

Try the 64 bit option in the launcher. Much better for me

Sent from my GT-S5690M using Tapatalk 2

 

thank you, now it's working!

 

Thank everyone for the warm welcome and the thoughtful responses! Regarding the development of SotA, obviously we are in uncharted waters here and things are quite different than a typical release of a video game back in the bad old days of the publisher/developer paradigm. I should have read the FAQ before I backed this game. I was caught up in the excitement and just went ahead and pledged. I had watched quite a few videos and not once did I get the impression that there would be limited access.

Various companies are handling the crowd sourcing backer involvement differently. For example SOE has their Landmark beta servers are up all of the time and SOE lets their players play 24/7 during the development process and that seems to be working rather well.

I am interested in the rationale for Portalarium restricting backer testing time to 4 days per month. Why can't testing and development exist concurrently? Have they published any blog posts that give explanations for this? I would be very interested in hearing their arguments. If anyone has any links that explain the company's position on this, I would appreciate this. Thanks again.

 

@Wolfshead My assumption is resources. People need to be monitoring the game and giving customer support while the game is up. Additionally, it has been said there simply isn't enough content available during pre alpha that is ready to balance the cost of keeping the game running.

Once they are in beta maybe it will be open a lot but keep in mind they are technically not even in alpha.

 

Willkommen Gaelis, Wolfs, Warkrash, azaroth75 und alle anderen, die ich vergessen habe.

 

Danke Mata, thanks for your warmly welcome
My first weekend spending time in SotA has gone too fast, I like this Game already now . I was also impressed of this helpful and friendly community and now I´m looking forward to R8

 

We are not at Beta, We are not even at Alpha, we are at Pre Alpha

 

In addition to this, giving players 24/7 access to the game at this point would create bad impressions. Like tekkamansoul says, there isn't much content in the game yet, and while it is true that this means it would be a bad investment for Portalarium to keep the servers running, it also means that keeping the servers running could do a good lot of harm by way of letting players burn themselves out. Right now all we have is World of Housecraft more or less, though new features are being added all the time. We're limited to a tiny landmass with not much to do. As more systems are added and fleshed out, the situation will improve, and by R12 or so (I believe it was said) we should be ready for 24/7 access. It'll come when it's ready.