Open beta test before 1.1

[marcello639]

Before releasing 1.1 should do open beta test. Steam provides easy way to do that.

I see only benefits for Squad and players if do this. Nothing tests a game better than hundreds or thousands actual players, who decides to do most stupid things ever...

It gives time for bug fixing last minute changes without grey hairs. Also less raging players. It's a definitely win win... win

[AbacusWizard]

There was already an open beta test before 1.1; they called it 0.90.

But honestly I think we're just going to have to treat 1.1 as the beta test for 1.1.01.

[marcello639]

well, i meant as option to be able to choose to test, or keep playing 1.0.5 

[Guest]

The QA process already involves some users testing it, but submissions for it were quite a while ago.  I'm not quite sure if anyone that participates on the forums even got selected or not.

[BloodDusk]

13 hours ago, CliftonM said:

The QA process already involves some users testing it, but submissions for it were quite a while ago.  I'm not quite sure if anyone that participates on the forums even got selected or not.

Probably just people like Scott Manley, HOC, etc. test these things.

[razark]

There's an entire QA group for testing things.  They will test.  They will not be perfect.  There will be bugs that get through.  Things will change.  People will complain.  Other people will tell complainers to stop.  Moderators will lock threads.

Such is KSP.

 

They tried the open beta tests at one point.  It didn't work very well.  Chaos rarely does.  Too many people complained about Squad releasing buggy versions of the game.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, BloodDusk said:

Probably just people like Scott Manley, HOC, etc. test these things.

No, they're on the media team and get an early copy to show off new features.  The game is rarely in a finalized state when they get it.  Oh, they may report a few bugs from playing around with it but they're not the main QA testers.

[AlextheBodacious]

It's not so you can play early, it's to find bugs.

[razark]

My understanding of the process is that there are three groups that get to play with the game before the unwashed masses.

1. QA
An internal group of Squad employees that tests items as they are added to the game, as well as the full build.

2. Experimentals
This is a group outside of Squad.  Squad will occasionally call for applications to join this group, and make their selections based on whatever criteria.  These folks receive release candidates, test, and submit bug reports.  A non-disclosure agreement is standard.  This is your Beta Test phase.

3. Media Group
This group is given early copies of release candidates.  They are most likely not playing early copies of the actual release, and changes may occur between their copies and release.  These folks make videos to bring publicity to the game.  They make their videos using their copies, and shortly before release the videos are released to the public.  I believe I heard that this group was by invitation.  Probably covered by NDA as well.

[pandaman]

1 hour ago, AlextheBodacious said:

It's not so you can play early, it's to find bugs.

Exactly this. 

What's needed before any software release is reliable comprehensive reporting of issues.  Hundreds, or thousands, of enthusiastic and genuinely well meaning players reporting that 'X doesn't work' is unfortunately of limited help and can often clog up the system and slow the process down.

A reasonably large, but controlled group of testers that can identify issues and report effectively on what happens, and ideally what steps to take to recreate the issue, so it can be worked on more efficiently is by far the most practical way.  Yes some seemingly obvious things will get missed completely, and other more unusual things may not come to light for days or weeks after release, but that can happen regardless of how many players test it.

[Waxing_Kibbous]

This game feels like it's one step away from a FOSS project- the only thing missing is the source code That said, I'd love to play on the testing versions, and that's probably all I'd play on- many of the programs I have are the development versions (I'm a Linux guy), and I like finding bugs and reporting them. Some programs, like Krita, have fantastic bug reporting integrated into them, making it pretty painless to do. Anyhow, I don't expect it to happen, but I'd bet there are quite a few people who would love to play test.

Edited January 28, 2016 by Waxing_Kibbous