Which Month would you think Beta is going to start? (Poll)

Actually it does make sense because Tiy has said pretty explicitly quite a few times that the beta wont have quests, in other words, no story. If it had those features in it, it really wouldn't be a beta. EDIT: "it would be the full game."

Its essentially going to be "Starbound - Quests". So essentially, story mode, missions and quests wont be in the game, it'll be a pure sandbox at beta release.

 

Source? Insider info? I got my salt ready to eat my words.

 

i can actually coroborate, it was on a post lost somewhere on the forum where tiy said the beta would mostly be feature complete apart from the story so that people can test it without spoiling any of its storyline until the game is in full release to everyone.

 

That makes sense. Whether the post is lost or not, the idea behind it is sound and concrete. I'll bite.

 

It was in the reddit AMA. http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/related/1ccf2l/we_are_chucklefish_games_developers_of_indie_game/

He confirms it somewhere I just don't know where.

 

The closest comments I can find is this

"I think the game works best as a sum of its parts and leaving some of those parts out or incomplete would just muddy the experience. I want the beta to be a pretty complete game, just lacking the mission portion."

- http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/commen...lefish_games_developers_of_indie_game/c9f9k8p

 

Go check the FAQ on the main website, they said they will release it this year.

Here is what it says.

"When is it coming out?"
"2013! We’ve given vague estimates in the past that have turned out to be wrong– giving an accurate ETA for a game of Starbound’s size is hard! But rest assured we will release in 2013, and as soon as we know exactly when, we’ll announce it."
http://playstarbound.com/faq/
That enough for you? The whole exclusive thing might be the full game exclusively not the beta..

 

That's really good to hear =)

 

If the game is set to release this year then it stands to reason, as with any good deployment model, that there will be a beta. In some instances even an alpha is considered. These usually run almost back to back with a pause in between to consume feedback from the players and make code enhancements or fixes. Alpha is often a run through of the tutorial which may consist of a single planet or area with a minimal compliment of tools required to play and complete a quest; perhaps building a home. In this the user is immediately immersed and nearly every aspect of the game is evaluated through the tut. There's a period of feedback. A month or so should lapse prior to Beta. Alpha tends to last for a very short period of time. Anywhere from a weekend (PST) time to a week.

Then the Beta is released. Again a select few are invited to play on a private server with the _FULL_ compliment of the games features. Here users are invited to play on multiple worlds, test all animation sequences. Bandwidth is tested, and much much more. Beta (or open-beta) will usually run for about a Month (or in some cases 2 months) solid. This is a shakedown of everything, and feedback is crucial. Here the experience is much more polished. Again, beta ends and an additional period of time is needed to take stock, debug/fix code.

If Chucklefish actually intends on delivering in 2013 then expect something like this:

July (Alpha) > August (Debug) > September (Beta) > October (Debug) > November (Open Beta or Release) > Patches.. > December (Release)
or
September (Beta) > October - November (Debug) > December (Release)

Note: There is no guarantee that the fully completed game would be released 2013, and that the date only applies to Alpha, Beta, or Open Beta. It's not uncommon that gaming companies default on their dates. Those of us who waited for Diablo III should know from the experience

 

You do understand that the beta isn't people that are specially invited, it is those who pre-ordered the game. And the beta won't end until the game is released right? It's sort of like MC's beta/alpha. Those who bought it early get to play the beta and get the full game @ release. Correct me if I'm wrong but from your post it looks like you think the beta is a closed, invite only beta, which it isn't.

EDIT: When you talked about the Alpha it sounds like you think an Alpha is a Demo..

 

After all this I don't understand why they just don't call it a demo instead. I guess the word "demo" has become so uncommon most people don't know what it means any more...

 

Demo and Alpha are completely different words. A Demo is like a trailer that you can play. Demo's usually consist of the first mission of a game if the game has missions. An Alpha is the entire game, except it isn't finished yet. These pretty much let you do what the game was made to be able to do except not all the features are present. The popular game "Minecraft" gained most of it's popularity during Beta. Demos usually let the player have a taste of what the game has and demos are usually released the same point of the actually game.

 

Demos are portions of games which serve as teasers for the games themselves, they aren't supposed to have bugs in. Betas are the full game in a state where it's meant to be tested for bugs. Now, the devs are clearly trying to fix a ton of bugs before releasing the beta and they're also not putting any of the main story in at all, which makes it far closer to a demo than a beta. It would make more sense to call it "Starbound: Sandbox" or "Starbound: Sandbox beta".

 

Devs are always trying to fix bugs, they are clearly trying to put all of the full game features in the game for beta, because they said the where. Just because you think it would sound better call it a demo doesn't mean it isn't a Beta, because it is a beta. I know what a Demo and a Beta is, I just said the same thing you said on my last post.

http://www.playstarbound.com/store/

It says "Starbound Beta Invite" Not Starbound Demo Download

EDIT: We are beginning to roll of topic, I'm done with this thread before I roll this into a stupid argument on the internet. I hope you have a Wonderful week.

 

It really doesn't matter what they call it. They could call it the 'Starbound Turdpile Download'. That doesn't mean its a turdpile.

 

Just because they say it's a beta doesn't make it true. Anyway I am done too so that this doesn't go offtopic

 

Bro forget terraria, its a good game but they did not make it to its full potential... Thats to bad but with starbound coming terraria will be forgoten by players. Its sad but I think its a fact...

 

If only it would release in the Summer, but I hope the beta will be released in August or September.

 

Don't be so sure that Starbound will be a good game (or just much better than Terraria). Many promising games failed in the past, many will fail in the future.

 

It'll start in the month of Augsemberweenmas