"Experimental" versions

[RocketWizardzX]

Perhaps releasing versions that are optional (because Steam allows for experimental releases) that show off small amounts of new features, and that it should at the very start, state that "It is unstable and will have bugs. Please report them so that we can fix them, so we can have a more stable update release. NOTHING IS SET IN STONE SO DON'T COMPLAIN ABOUT FEATURES BEING REMOVED, it is a natural process of development, ideas get scrapped and others are released."

This way, the community will be able to point out bugs, of course, with reproduction attempts. Bugs that you might miss, the community just loves to try to discover them. It shows that something is wrong. It can also allow for concepts to kind of be introducted and removed depending on different things.

Overall, the community can help you track down bugs.

(if "Experimental" versions are currently being released, then lock the thread because it would be irrelavent by that point)

[Whirligig Girl]

They tried once, and it was a disaster. Having a dedicated Experimentals team is a more controlled way of testing at any rate.

[CaptainTurbomuffin]

They tried once, and it was a disaster. Having a dedicated Experimentals team is a more controlled way of testing at any rate.

How about a closed beta test, like what's done with Starcraft2;LegacyOfTheVoid. Not everybody could have access to it, so there wouldn't be so many idiots&trolls. But a much larger community still, than an experimentals team. Testing could be done with people from different skill levels, and with different systems.

[yorshee]

How about a closed beta test, like what's done with Starcraft2;LegacyOfTheVoid. Not everybody could have access to it, so there wouldn't be so many idiots&trolls. But a much larger community still, than an experimentals team. Testing could be done with people from different skill levels, and with different systems.

I think that's how experimentals is done now, is it not?

[Red Iron Crown]

The way it works now, as I understand it: Development -> QA -> Experimentals -> Release

Development is just the devs themselves, maybe half a dozen people. The QA team is about twenty or so members IIRC. The experimentals team is more like a hundred.

[cantab]

There are experimental versions, released to the experimentals team who are chosen and retained based on their ability to give Squad good bug reports. There's also a process to give pre-release builds to Youtubers.

But KSP isn't early access any more. Squad should not be making public releases that are riddled with bugs whether they're called 'experimental', 'beta', or even '1.0 release', it just reflects badly on the game and the company.

[Fred Cop]

Public Experimental Versions?

This is Kerbal Space Program, not Minecraft.