It Has Gone On to Long

I do agree with you, but in the end it is the developers' decisions.
If they decide to carry out with this closed beta then they have every right to.
Like I said a while ago the devs are spending a lot of time tailoring Starbound to the community's liking and you have to give them props for it.

 

Gotta be patient for release, or just be cool enough to be invited.

 

I dunno... if coolness is the sole determinant for being invited, then why am I not invited?

 

You are right about it being the developers' decisions, if they choose to use their time to give us a beta that we could possibly give feedback and bug reports for to make the game more refined and better... Which is the thing about betas, it should be a time to give feedback and bug reports so we don't face that problem once the actual game comes out.

Surely if Chucklefish required more bodies, they would tell one of us...

 

I don't want a pre-release beta. It ruins the hype of the game when it's released because you get the game bit by bit.

 

Disclaimer: I'm not a programmer. Take the following with a grain of salt.

I think some clarifying is in order. What we call Alpha and Beta are testing stages in a software development process, which can be public or closed. It's about bug-hunting and refining, testing the software thoroughly and extensively to ensure it works as it should. In the Alpha stage everything is very much a work in progress and rather barely working; a Beta is often nearly-complete software, with few things left. These two steps don't require extra time; they're an integral part of development.

And then there's what (I think) you're talking about, which is called by several different names: sneak-peek, demo, pre-release... these things are most often tailored to giving potential players a preview of the game, usually with the intent of trying the waters and revving up the hype engines shortly before launch. And as such, they do take extra time.

 

Sales.

 

Yes, and sales are based off of what Strife said.

 

If it's a beta, it is by definition not a release. You don't understand software development terminology.

I doubt it would hurt sales or the community, especially if the game is actually good. The reason I don't want a public beta is because, as you said, people will see it as the full game, even thought it's obviously not. Because they're morons. They think, "oh if I can play it it's released" which is completely false. Of course, this will then lead to massive amounts of posts about FEATURE X DOESN'T WORK FUCK STARBOUND WHY WOULD YOU RELEASE A GAME THIS BUGGY IT'S SHIT YOU'RE SHIT I'M BUTTHURT. And I just don't want to deal with that.

 

Because, the devs hate you for no reason.

 

Half-life 3

think about that.

 

Portal 2
THAT took patience and self control.

4 YEARS

 

dont be so harsh, the term "beta" has been melded and diversfied incorrectly over the years and now can also mean a pre-release demo to many people, hence causing a lot of confusion at times

 

Plus, some betas never end.

I've been part of one that's lasted 10 years. >.>

 

That doesn't make it any less wrong.

 

but it also make it somewhat right since the term, to many people, also has the definition of a pre-release demo, yes its wrong, but its right at the same time. as long as others can understand what he really meant. but now were going into complicated semantics and language evolution, that might be too complex and pointless for the discussion at hands

 

A "Beta" version is the point before release where a selective group of the community tests the game to report bugs and glitches so that the developers can then spit and polish the final product.

The term "Beta" has not changed in any way, shape, or form, rather the difference in meaning relies on the fact that different people interpret and think differently when they see the word "Beta".

Not exactly anything to argue about, just remember some people look at a word different than you.

 

The act of releasing (aka. exposing to a new segment of a given population, on a limited scale or otherwise) a product that is in the beta stage of development, is referred to as a beta release.

 

They should implement a new category: Gamma testing.

Basically a full release, but not quite, yet not used for bug hunting.

EDIT: Stinking keyboard dropping keys.

 

While I'm okay with waiting, I would certainly buy into a Public Beta, as I would love to get my Starbound feet wet, so I voted yes. Public betas have worked very well for many indie games, I don't see why Starbound would be different.

Its really up to the devs, ultimately. I'm fine waiting but I would buy Starbound instantly if I found out a public beta came out tomorrow.