beta testing

[BOSTON]

I'm interested in beta testing the new game. Can anybody help me?

[norb]

There is a thread about testing the game that I wrote around here somewhere. It's stickied so it should be easy to find. Read that first, then ask away.

[GShock]

I just plainly can't follow these boards like i follow dozens of other forums, norb. To watch a thread, i must open each single message in a separate tab. Of course, if i open more threads at once i will get lost, and to find my own answers i use Ctl-f pointed on my nick....that says it all.

[norb]

Have you checked your options for flat vs threaded view. I think that's the thing that gets messed up. I use the new forum menu item, I hit it twice and it gives me the posts since I last visited. Then I just use the back key to go back to it after I read. I tried upgrading fireboard and it messed up the entire site.

[Badger]

Hi Norb & others.

I've got a few questions about Beta-testing this game.

- will the game be fully functional, and if not, will you be indication what needs testing & whats not functional?
- will there be some sort of documentation on what the possible functions/keys/commands are & how they are supposed to work? Or will testers have to figure that out by themselves
- will you be using something like the Mantis software for bugtracking, where bugs can be reported & documented? Or will reports be doen through mails & processed by NSD ppl?
- Will testers be assigned specific tasks, or will the game have to be tested as a whole (which i personally find counterproductive)
- What amount of work (number of hours) are you expecting from your testers?

Any chance of getting some answers here?

cheers
B

[norb]

Badger wrote:

Hi Norb & others.

I've got a few questions about Beta-testing this game.

- will the game be fully functio

That is hard to say at this point. Many items are still in development during testing. So there may be things that aren't quite finished, but then we would not be testing those portions. Our first goal during testing would be to work on the gameplay aspects. The AI and making sure that everyone moves smartly and makes good decisions. We may have a small team at first and then a larger team in the future. We are getting close, we just got the toolbar into the game. Just a few more screens I think and all of the placeholder assets will be gone. That is the point where we can open it up for testing.

[estabu2]

norb wrote:

Badger wrote:

Hi Norb & others.

I've got a few questions about Beta-testing this game.

- will the game be fully functio

Our first goal during testing would be to work on the gameplay aspects. The AI and making sure that everyone moves smartly and makes good decisions.

You want to ask US to make good decisions?@*#$&$^ You might be asking to much there norb!!!:P

[Badger]

hehe, apparently most of my questions got lost in cyberspace. Put everything in now

[norb]

Badger wrote:

Hi Norb & others.

I've got a few questions about Beta-testing this game.

- will the game be fully functional, and if not, will you be indication what needs testing & whats not functional?
- will there be some sort of documentation on what the possible functions/keys/commands are & how they are supposed to work? Or will testers have to figure that out by themselves
- will you be using something like the Mantis software for bugtracking, where bugs can be reported & documented? Or will reports be doen through mails & processed by NSD ppl?
- Will testers be assigned specific tasks, or will the game have to be tested as a whole (which i personally find counterproductive)
- What amount of work (number of hours) are you expecting from your testers?

Any chance of getting some answers here?

cheers
B

1. you will be told what to test and what you test will be functional
2. probably not, we don't do the docs until the end, but you can ask
3. we use mantis
4. assigned specific tasks
5. usually people tell us what they can contribute and we assign tasks based on that. Min is probably 10 hours a week.
6. No, we won't answer any questions

btw - there is a large post stickied here that describes a lot about our testing process, some of your questions are answered in more detail there.