IMRAN: Public Beta?

yin26 · June 29, 2001, 19:55

Imran,

The latest Firaxis interview with Jeff Briggs says that they are in the balancing and testing phase, and yet I've heard nothing about a public beta or the beta-testing process at all for that matter. Have you?

With the number of new and (for the AI) complicated things being added, one can only hope that a dedicated team of veteran PLAYERS (not programmers) is doing the bulk of the testing and being given a great deal of attention regarding their feedback.

Adagio · June 30, 2001, 09:12

Well, on the official Civ3 site under askthecivteam one asked this question and they said (If I remember correctly) they are not ready yet for a public betatest

Ralf · June 30, 2001, 13:24

Quote:

Originally posted by yin26
With the number of new and (for the AI) complicated things being added, one can only hope that a dedicated team of veteran PLAYERS (not programmers) is doing the bulk of the testing and being given a great deal of attention regarding their feedback.

Whether this is wishful thinking or not; Im bumping this topic nevertheless.

TechWins · June 30, 2001, 16:17

If I was Firaxis I would be doing exactly what they're doing. Letting as little as possible information out. Do I like what they're doing? No, but it's what should be done from a buisness. They figure not having a public beta nobody will know if they like the game or not. Lets say 5 people from Apolyton are allowed to play the beta. The 5 people play the beta, then they come back here and start posting about how terrible the game is. If this would happen how many of you would still buy it? Firaxis will be much safer on selling the game with having nobody know that much about the game. Yeah, if the people do love the game they will gain a lot more customers. Firaxis I think will go with the safe route and not let anybody play the beta.

Imran Siddiqui · June 30, 2001, 17:27

In their own words (my editing..something I'm doing for Apolyton):

Quote:

- Civilization 3 will probably have an Open Beta test. According to Jeff Morris (in his own words, “We probably WON’T be doing a closed beta test”.
29th December 1999
Jeff Morris on Apolyton

- Jeff Morris reiterated Firaxis’s commitment to an open beta. Mr. Morris stated, “Chances are we won’t be doing a closed public beta…”
1st November 2000
Jeff Morris on Apolyton

June 30, 2001, 18:32

Quote:

Originally posted by TechWins
Lets say 5 people from Apolyton are allowed to play the beta. The 5 people play the beta, then they come back here and start posting about how terrible the game is.

I would bet if five people where asked to play the game, they will have a gag order, maybe with a contract or something writen so they could not talk about the game until Firaxis release them from that contract.

TechWins · June 30, 2001, 19:05

Quote:

I would bet if five people where asked to play the game, they will have a gag order, maybe with a contract or something writen so they could not talk about the game until Firaxis release them from that contract.

Yeah, that's probably true.

Nemo · June 30, 2001, 22:39

actually, i recall an Apolyton thread some time ago indicating that several people were plucked from among our ranks...but i dont remember if it was for civ III or ctp II

connorkimbro · June 30, 2001, 23:00

Back before ctp was released, they had a public beta, and people dissappeared from the boards for a while.

from what i recall, just before the game was released, (or perhaps just after?) they all came back and told about how it went. From what i remember, they weren't really listened to that much. if firaxis does do a public beta, then the testers better damned well be listened to. . and that could add months to the game, depending on how things go.

seems like it's getting too close to the supposed deadline for that though.

Swissy · July 1, 2001, 08:48

Firaxis does not need a public beta test. They have the most anticipated TBS game ever, so there is no promotional/marketing reason to public beta. Firaxis may be commited to a public beta, but is the marketing department of their parent company

The only reason for them to consider public beta testing is for system compatibility. Considering there are so many versions of Windows out there(95, 98, 98SE, ME, and XP) with cpus from 266Mhz thru 1GHz+, they may want to see if the game actually plays on a 266Mhz-32MB-Win95 machine.

yin26 · July 1, 2001, 09:10

Quote:

no promotional/marketing reason

How about the quality of the end product? Ooops. There I go dreaming again...

Inverse Icarus · July 1, 2001, 10:57

if thety gave 5 people a closed beta (even though we have 2 quotes denying it), SOMEONE ::glances around:: could hook me up with it and i'd make sure it went public.

KrazyHorse · July 1, 2001, 21:16

And that, Kruxie, is the reason that you're on Firaxis' "never give this man a beta" list.

eNo · July 2, 2001, 13:37

mmm..butting in on somebody's elses presentation.

Is it possible to do something like a short term beta? So that I won't have to lose that much sleep? Maybe like one month just to broaden the input or something...