Kilsin said:We don;t have a timeframe for PA1 or Alpha/Beta, but PA1 is to help us set the game and servers up for large amounts of people and to help crush and game-breaking bugs that would affect large amounts of people, so however long it takes to get a stable build running minus game breaking bugs is how long Pre-Alpha will last, it may be only a month it may be longer but we won't know until we get in and test.
What we do know is we want a long Alpha/Beta period to make sure we comprehensively test the game so we can push out a relatively bug-free and smooth experience for the games' official launch.
Kilsin, are posters with pre-alpha access permitted to post their experiences on this forum to those with alpha access?
Searril said:Kilsin said:We don;t have a timeframe for PA1 or Alpha/Beta, but PA1 is to help us set the game and servers up for large amounts of people and to help crush and game-breaking bugs that would affect large amounts of people, so however long it takes to get a stable build running minus game breaking bugs is how long Pre-Alpha will last, it may be only a month it may be longer but we won't know until we get in and test.
What we do know is we want a long Alpha/Beta period to make sure we comprehensively test the game so we can push out a relatively bug-free and smooth experience for the games' official launch.Kilsin, are posters with pre-alpha access permitted to post their experiences on this forum to those with alpha access?
No, my friend, Pre-alpha testers will be under a full NDA and have a special hidden forum section to discuss things in.
Does anyone have any info on Alpha sign up?
IMO:
There are a few thresholds that have been crossed (and can't be uncrossed), with respect to the context of Pantheon's development time.
One of those is the time that will be spent in subsequent phases. Whatever made up names they want to call them, every phase with a discrete name beyond pre-alpha will be shorter than pre-alpha.
As a consequence, all the other groups of pledgers will be less happy than the pre-alpha group, soley with respect to the temporal quantity spent in their respective phases.
Or put another way, no-one is going to be happy with the amount of time spent in each phase after pre-alpha. Why? Because they will all be a shorter amount of time, if this game is going to be released before Sol turns into a white dwarf star.
vjek: ...Or put another way, no-one is going to be happy with the amount of time spent in each phase after pre-alpha. Why? Because they will all be a shorter amount of time, if this game is going to be released before Sol turns into a white dwarf star.
Actually, if alpha and beta are short, then it means the game is in a fit state. I dont care how long I get in these test phases. For me it was always about getting the game I longed for, out, to the general public. Not how much time I have in alpha and beta. These phases are not meant to be a space of play for the chosen few. These are test phases and should be looked at with a view to hunting out bugs, not as play time.
For me, the shorter they are in these phases the better. I just want the full release I was promised. I hope we get there very quickly.
Now, early access to play the release game is different. I think there should be a good amount of time for long time supporters to enjoy the world as it is meant to be, before full release to the general public.
IMO:
While it may be true (that the game may be in a fit state in subsequent phases), my comments were based on Kilsin's statement of " ...What we do know is we want a long Alpha/Beta period to make sure we comprehensively test the game so we can push out a relatively bug-free and smooth experience for the games' official launch. "
Which indicates (to me) that a long Alpha/Beta would mean longer than Pre-Alpha, if PA was intended to be short. It would seem that, based on Kilsin's statement, at some point, their intent was to have a short pre-alpha, and a long alpha/beta.
This would allow them to reach that public design goal of 'a relatively bug-free and smooth experience for the games' official launch.'
But, I suppose it's also possible that the company has shifted yet another public design goal from 2017 to something entirely different in 2023.
Why are they sitting in pre-alpha so long anyways? Why not move to Alpha? If they go with a super short Alpha/Beta, then that means they have been using pre-alpha as the Alpha/Beta phase. They will purposely have led Alpha/Beta players into pledging for basically no reason, when those people would have been better off just pledging at the very lowest tier.
I think there are in a bind with this dilemma, because once they move to Alpha there will be so many people, its almost as if they will be releasing the game into early access. If the game is not at a high enough quality after this long, it could create a negative impression on potential future players. There is just too many people pledged to Alpha/Beta to contain the info.
It seems they are just going to skip Alpha/Beta in concept and basically go straight from pre-alpha to early access.
Sure aged like milk.
Back in 2017, when official replies actually happened,... they where "on track". Well. Now, 6 years later, we are... where exactly?
Just be upfront. Don't let the millions of dollars worth of bakers be in the dark like this. Just let us know. We can handle it. Only silence is a bad pick.