[halley_dooken]

When Jumpgate Evolution goes into at least playable beta, take off the beta sign ups and make it private at first.

[Bingofuel]

Originally Posted by netburnrol

Awesome

Kinda odd seing floating heads, arms and capes. Todays patch is supposed to fix the invisible clothing.

[Wild_Cujo]

Never tested a game but I have tested software with Adobe. In my experience with Adobe its always a great idea to bring a limited number in as early as possible to get feedback, and I think what ND has done with an open invitation to the office is perfect. IMO the early beta is really more Alpha still and there should be a small alpha group those familiar with the software (probably the test pilots for Jumpgate Classic).

[vorlon31]

Make beta accounts live for 1 month at a time rotating through the invite lists to keep fresh eyes involved, testing first impressions and really nailing that hook. Once satisfied that its all AOK start letting past betas back in. This keeps any opinions and ideas diverse at first and creates a solid groundwork. Then after the foundations are solid open the doors and build up.

[netburnr]

Let people in only to take it away a month later? Sounds like they would have a riot on their hands...

[mudhen]

I would suggest they let in as many of the old hands as possible as early as possible. I say old hands as we know not to expect a fully functional bug free enviroment, and the more pilots involved, the more input you receive.

[Chaser]

Originally Posted by Tritian

I have to disagree. i think we are far better beta testers then the 'average jo' coming off the street, for several reasons.

1) We have been dealing with the Jumpgate universe for many years. Our experience as to what did and didn't work in Jumpgate is very important.
2) We have prior experience beta testing ND products.
3) Our knowledge of proper balance between the ships and gear in the Jumpgate physics engine is vitally important.
4) Many of us are armed and highly fanatical. =)

HA<HA<HA..gotta love that Tritan..he gives everyone such a bad name in Jumpgate Classic.."we are great, they suck" cut the normal person a break, Tritan...anyone who has ever playing a beta has testing experience. And yes, experience in this game would help... but some guys have already decided, I'm afraid, that if it gives outsiders a chance to stay and be happy, they wont like it.That said...we all will be happy as a lark to see beta coming...even to get ripped a few times for fun...lol.

[BladeR]

Early beta for testers willing to test a game for debuging it, not for "playablity". I.E players who want the game to succeed, not just to "try it out". Mid beta for the "try it out" bunch.

I find late betas did nothing but test network/server loads, but the companies release with holes that take 4+ patches to unravel b/c they brought people in to late to test the content. One recent release, Tabula Rasa, couldnt have had a long beta, theres 50 levels in game, but on release 10% or more of the content past 35 doesnt exist or is broken due to not many beta testers making it to those levels levels 45+ sucked, as almost half the stuff was broke or had issues.

I liked the first Jumpgate beta, I think I spent near a whole year in it. The game was released pretty solid due to the amount of testing on the players part that happened.

[Pyrophred]

Im with Trit here. Us fanboys who have experience with Jumpgate in the mid-beta. everyone else can join for late-beta to help catch the bugs and whatnot.

[Istanbul]

net, I actually like vorlon's idea. So long as it's announced that that is the plan, and make the cycles shorter, like 3 cycles of a week of a time each. Remember, early/early-mid beta that this would be used for is about making the game functional. If we're willing to be beta testers, we should be willing to sacrifice a little bit of play time to get a better product in the end. It's not like we'd be really trying to build up our levels, finances and stats by doing it, other than testing those features. If doing those things is a person's only motivation, rather than testing it, they probably shouldn't be beta testing til late beta for load testing/server reliability tests.

[GrimGriz]

technically, finding the fastest ways to level and make cash is something beta testers should do also...to make sure that there aren't ways that are disproportionate in effort to gain ratio

[Istanbul]

Also, in general, gamers know when a feature is working right or isn't. It's not like we're really testing the flight engine so much here. Having fresh input on such things as User Interface, whether the missions are working right or not, and such things isn't really something that a Jumpgate pilot is going to have that much of an advantage over a non-Jumpgate player.

In fact, having 'new' players is probably a good thing, since what they are trying to do is make the learning process of figuring out how to fly a less hit/miss affair, and that's not really something that we'd be able to give totally reliable input on, since we already know how to fly.