Important BETA RELEASE DISCUSSION - DECEMBER 4TH (*ALL* beta discussion goes here. Other threads deleted)

I know, just look at how well minecraft did after doing "alpha testing". I guess that is why nobody plays it anymore.

 

No... Minecraft is a special case.

 

How is Minecraft a special case? Hell, even Terraria released the game when it was still basically nothing compared to now. Yet they both seem to be doing fine. Not saying that Starbound should be released as a broken game, but just that releasing alphas does not mean instant failure.

 

Of course they are alpha testing it... why would you think they don't have people testing the game?

 

I meant it more as an "alpha release test" than the developers themselves testing the game.

 

It was also confirmed by Tiy that we would get release this year.

"No matter what."

 

That first impression being: Man my grandchildren might be able to play this.
At least that is what a lot of people seem to think. Given that is a popular opinion other places, its how a lot of people are being introduced to Starbound.

... as the punchline to a development joke.

 

Corn!

 

MAZE

 

Funny how people get that impression when after things got really "official" with the pre-ordering, they established that the game will come out in 2013. They have backed down only once, but the beta is still coming in 2013, which is still half of the prize. Sure they at first estimated that it'll come out in summer and in 2012 and what not, but they had no idea back then. As Molly said, Starbound is the first large project.

 

Ahh, well, an alpha release would be harmful to them in a lot of ways, which is why they're holding out for a stable beta. Open alphas very rarely work out well, and only for very specific types of games.

 

Technically beta would be 1/3rd of the "prize" for those who purchased the lowest pre-order tier.
First fully delivered thing too. The soundtrack is still incomplete. The full game has been pushed back to 2014.

Also money exchanging hands for promised goods changes things.
It maybe funny how it does, but that is how some are hearing about Starbound right now and the first impression given.

 

By that logic it'd be like 3/4th of the "prize". Presumably the beta has way over half of the content of the full game, just needs tweaking and the small things need to be added. Testing to see how it works in the real world, so to speak.

 

It seems that they have enough features to launch a beta. In my opinion, an Alpha is not applicable anymore.
But if they step back again, who knows...

 

The last updates been mainly about doing final clean-ups and bugfixes, which means they are doing the final polishing for the beta release.

 

Yep, that's true.
But one thing that concerns me is the multiplayer. Looking at the Roadmap, the "Server Stuff" seems a bit undeveloped.

 

Roadmap is highly outdated. According to it, flying creatures don't show up in the game yet, while they have been in for a month at least.

 

Hm, I didn't notice that.
Well, if they took the time to do the Roadmap, they should at least update it

 

They have stated that the Roadmap seemed like a fantastic idea at first, but they can't find enough time to continuously update it with the beta time pushing them and with them having families.

 

BAH. Having families is a luxury! They can have them back once they've released the beta