Why I think that the beta should be nearly completely closed...

More importantly in regards to weapons, they're JUST WEAPONS. Not mechanics. THAT'S what I'm stressing here. Things like acid rain, and stuff of that nature, cool stuff. That needs to be secretive.

 

Well, bare-bones features of the game could be in there, with the insanely specific features held back. That way, the developers know if the game runs correctly, and you get your surprise at full release.

 

Yeah, but with how large the in game universe is going to be, you kind of need a decent amount of testers. Not large, but a small group isn't going to cut it, there are just too many ways to do things for a small group to cover them.

 

Then you don't get to test those features at all.

The universe may be big, but the mechanics may not. You'd be surprised how you can cut down testing into decent sizes. I could probably get 100 people to find 99% of the bugs, and the 1% remaining would be negligible without trial.

 

I don't understand what you said. :/

 

That's one of the real dangers though. The game is (or at least sounds) so random that some significant issues/bugs simply would not be found with a small team.

There is no way that there are literally millions of completely unique weapons in the game. It is simply not possible. More likely is that there are X base weapons, then tons of variations of them.

 

In Terraria I only looked at teasers and nothing else. Luckily my memory banks are over 9000.

 

i would love for a beta even tho i know its mostlikey gonna be closed

but if it wernt i would totly get it

and idk about most people but i like teasers and spoils

 

i wouldn't like if the game could be played before the full release, i really hope that there are game testers - much better than everyone arguing about the bugs

 

People see "beta" as "get to play it early" instead of "iron out all the bugs", and they end up forming all their opinions of the game based on that instead of after it actually becomes a game

I tend to hold back on anything I release because I end up in a loop of
10 OH FML I MISSED A BUG
20 REMOVE DL LINK
30 UPLOAD FIXED VERSION
40 REPLACE DL LINK
50 GOTO 10

 

It's not like you'd be forced to watch gameplay videos if they were released. It really is your choice if you want to stay in the dark, but some people want as much information as they can get as soon as they can get it.
I think it should really be the individual's choice if they want to want the game to be a surprise and stay in the dark, for me honestly I would love to watch some real gameplay footage right about now.

And great job so far on the game devs, it's looking good.
(Mostly looking forward to giving you my money, so get on it!)

 

You're missing my point. I acknowledge that yes, the individual can choose to have the surprise ruined.

But with a smaller testing group that remains to be quiet even AFTER testing? The entire community gets a surprise, and they work together. It's a different experience than when one person has a surprise. When EVERYONE has a surprise it's 10x better.

 

I do tend to spoil myself pretty bad when it comes to trailers, leaks, and such. So maybe a surprise once in a while wouldn't be too bad.

Just don't make us wait too long, I can't handle not knowing anything about it.

 

My opinion, kind of modifying what they're doing with Diablo 3:
They should have the beta OPEN, however, only allow a small chunk of the content of the game to be played in the beta, much like they did in Diablo 3. So, people would test out some kinks, and the game'd be good, (duh, in my opinion) and people wouldn't be worried about not getting into the beta, and they'd be happy they can at least play some of the content before the release. Problem solved about ruining the game, problem solved about not getting into a test, or whatever.
Done.

 

Just as an aside, Borderlands advertised millions of weapons as a selling point. Having said that, the system would consider a weapon 'different' even if everything was the same save a very minor variation (e.g. +1 dmg vs +2 dmg = 2 different weapons for purposes of counting total # of weapons)

 

I can prepay the game and sign under a NDA with my own blood Ó_o, no but seriously I agree to the thread maker.

But some things like balance should be beta tested on a larger scale (PvP), it doesnt take long for the community to say which guns should be nerfed and which should be buffed.
They can also check what problems people will have with the multiplayer = better release.

 

Well I don't like gameplay getting spoiled, but if they did it so no one was allowed to make videos, I supposed it would be ok. Just keep it away from Pbat Lol!

 

It is nearly impossible to avoid leaks even if you have a nda AND want to have a good balance in multiplayer upon release (if you have more then 5 guns).

But I believe its worth the risk considering how much they can gain from a multiplayer beta.
PLUS, they can exclude alot of gameplay in multiplayer and maybe restrict the beta to a handful of persons.

Also the reason big games like COD, BF3 etc. HAVE betas is to see how the game will respond to a release, if the servers can handle it so to speak.
Thats why they have betas near release, they are stress tests.


And letting some of the people in the community get to play beta is also a great PR tool, if Star bound is as awesome as people thinks it is.
Letting handpicked folks play it will get them to tell all of their friends that they dont think but KNOW its an awesome game.

 

I see your point, but remember that nopony is forcing you to watch any Let's Plays or browse any wikis about the game before its release.

I think having someone do an LP of it (as PBat did with Terraria) is a great way to get people interested in (and aware of) the game, and therefore would serve as a major advertisement in addition to being of great interest to those curious about the game.

 

No, you don't. Reread.

It's the COMMUNITY not knowing that's important. Not me as an individual. I could care less whether I knew or not. I care whether the community knows or not.