What IS the Software Development Cycle, exactly?

Ever wonder what the difference between Pre-Alpha, Alpha, and Beta actually are?

Chances are you've been using these terms quite a bit around here, but I'm sensing some anxiety based on how the developers seem very flexible about their usage of each term.

To clarify:
Pre-Alpha is the main development stage, and lasts by-far the longest. During Pre-Alpha, the game is likely to change builds every day. Nothing is stable, and each feature of the game is tested individually rather than as part of the entire game. Bugs run amok because the developers are focused on getting up the system. If they try cleaning out bugs now, it might be a waste of time because of new bugs that arise when new groundwork features are added.
Simple version: It is when they are building the game.

Alpha stage is the beginning of actual software testing, actively searching for bugs and putting them to rest. The game is still highly unstable and features are still being added, but there are enough features present that testing can go forward and bugs can be hunted down without making the build less stable. Alpha stage usually ends when the game is considered feature complete, meaning that all of the intended gameplay/functionality is present.
Simple version: It is when they are testing the game.

Beta stage is the process of making the product more presentable to the users, which includes minor improvements to features and design, speed/performance issues, and removing more bugs. This process results in a beta version of the game, which then is released to testers who help find bugs and other issues that the developers can't easily check for. Sometimes beta testers suggest new features that can be added in.
Simple version: It is when WE are testing the game.

IF the developers were done with Alpha, it would mean that no new gameplay/functionality would be added to the game at least until the beta version is released. New content could be added, but general features include abstracts like crafting, building, mining, and combat mechanics that determine how the game works. A new type of tree isn't a new feature if trees already were in the game, so it is merely new content.

Even if the game is feature complete, new features can be added in after the release. Each time the development team decides to add in new features, they go through the whole process again from the beginning.

There are still features missing, so it is clearly not past alpha stage. So why would Bartwe say it is in Pre-Alpha?

Well, Bartwe has since stated that it was just stage jitters, but it seems to me that only a week or two ago they were still implementing a great number of new features, changing the game build every single day. These kinds of rapid changes result in a very unstable build that isn't even suitable for a proper demo. This seems like Pre-Alpha stage development. Since they wanted to have a workable demo for I 49, they went into a sort of "temporary Alpha phase" to clear out some of the major bugs that made it hard to show off.

Now that I 49 is wrapping up, I'm sure that Chucklefish will return to a sort of Pre-Alpha stage to continue working on the game. Chances are high that as they add new features, new bugs will appear and make it harder to show off another demo. Once every feature has a solid groundwork in place (I.E. everything on the Roadmap is at around 80-90%) then they will probably start stomping out bugs and fleshing out the final features. Of course, this is just speculation since they might just be ready for Alpha now.

The Alpha phase will probably not take very long, especially after the mini-alpha they just went through for I 49. Also consider that they've been stomping out bugs as they came along this entire time, even if they weren't actively searching for them. All of that saves time during the actual Alpha stage, so we can quickly transition from Pre-Alpha into Beta.

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

 

Game is in alpha, as confirmed by Tiy.

Pre-alpha comment was stress, as said directly by Bartwe.

 

Granted. Like I said, they have definitely been in Alpha in the past two weeks or so.

I wasn't sure if that was just a temporary thing just for the demo or if they are really truly in Alpha.

 

I feel bad for Chucklefish (and all other indie devs) because people just jump to conclusions and get angry over things that are non-issues. Unfortunately the unhappy people are always way more vocal than the people who appreciate the work.

 

Those are names. Not every company develops in same way. Especially in games industry.

In various betas I've been it, I've seen anything from "core game kinda works but we're not sure how to exactly do/balance it's parts, and there is stuff missing" to "hey, it's basically a release version, we're just testing if it works on different machines and looking for bugs".

Also, it doesn't mean anything for release. Game can be in beta for month or a year

 

Then... pre-beta would be basically late Alpha, wouldn't it?

That rings true to me, they seem to have finished a lot of the groundwork which means adding most of the content should be simple. If I've been paying enough attention to things, that is.

 

pre-beta is the right term for the current state

 

And finally a method to the madness surfaces. My work here is done.

 

They can develop however they want, but they're still using the words incorrectly then.

 

Pre-beta you say? That gave me the "beta is near" feel. Now, my computer's hum sounds like the noise in the spaceships. This game is leaking into my brain...

 

THIS is my perception of what is a proper development cycle, i copy-pasted it from my own post from another thread :

- Pre-Alpha : In thought stage. No coding done yet, We think what we want to have in our application / game.
- Alpha : Heavy development, features are being added. Bugs are expected and lightly being squished, but the focus is to implement the wanted features. Sometimes, tech-demos are given to the public to show how much the developing has progressed.
- Pre-Beta : Pretty optional, some give closed-beta access to their application/game. It is expected to have MOST features done and mostly but not strictly bug-free. It's often simply called Beta, not wrongly so, though.
- Beta : The application or game is feature-complete (for what is wanted for the first release). We now go on a bug-hunting spree, and the application/game is feature-frozen until release.
- Release : Like the Beta, but with 98% bugs fixed -- All those which have been detected during Beta.

After that, each patches goes into the same cycle, singularly.

 

Alpha and Pre-Beta are the same thing.

 

The line is pretty much blurred indeed. I could safely discard the Pre-beta mention, but i like to have it.

 

In my research I found it was very similar.

Technically, the line between Pre-Alpha and Alpha is very fuzzy. It might be more constructive and less confusing to call them the design and development phases, respectively. I think the main reason the thinking and design behind the game isn't considered all of Pre-Alpha is because it is a much smaller portion of the development compared to the actual coding and creating content.

In my research, the only distinction between Pre-Alpha and Alpha is that the developers are actively seeking out and fixing bugs during Alpha proper. In Pre-Alpha the program is too unstable to do anything more than unit testing.

If there is one thing to take away from all of this, it is that the beta stage is supposed to be feature complete. Adding more features means adding more bugs, which is counter-productive during beta when you are trying to eliminate as many bugs as possible.

 

FTFY

 

I hate to say it, but I see this all over the place where indie game communities are concerned. There is one particular piece of software to blame for this...

As much as I enjoy playing it; Minecraft has skewed what many people think of as a typical software release cycle.
Remember beta is when a peice of software is almost feature complete, minecraft added a huge number of core gameplay features in "beta" which some of are major: creative mode, hunger, the end, beds, combat mechanics (criticals, blocking etc) , experience points.

You could almost say beta 1.8 for MC (September 2011) was the actual true beta. Rather than the "beta" that was released 10 months earlier.

Funny how people get up in arms about comparing the two games. Yet many people, on a fundamental level, expect Starbound to follow MCs non-standard dev cycle.

 

True. Chucklefish has stated that they will continue to add content, but they never promised the kind of radical changes Notch made. Of course, there will be a few post-release features added, like probably pets, vehicles, storyline, etc... but those are still announced ahead of time. I think the only reason they aren't waiting to release the game until after these features are done is because people in the community would complain.

Also, Dwarf Fortress.

 

Notch and radical changes in minecraft ? Like what ? He isn't leading development fo minecraft for like 2 years now. Pretty much everything that was added in vanilla was cloned/inspired by some mod before that. Frankly, vanilla game is nothing compared to some modpacks that community created.

As long as game is moddable (and it seems it will be very easy to mod, compared to say minecraft) devs won't have to do much after release

 

It's all just relative isn't it?

 

Yes, you decide where you are...
Those terms are used loosely at best. You can release a software ad still call it beta...gmail was beta for years...