Game availability once Beta Starts??
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will the game be available 24/7 once the beta starts?
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Typically betas are down less, but not a consistent 24/7. They tend to be on and off in bursts that are up for longer and down for shorter times, but... unless it is an early access program they do not tend to be 24/7.
Where that is no guarantee, it is what I find likely.
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@Jairone said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
Typically betas are down less, but not a consistent 24/7. They tend to be on and off in bursts that are up for longer and down for shorter times, but... unless it is an early access program they do not tend to be 24/7.
Where that is no guarantee, it is what I find likely.
i've seen both 24/7 and scheduled betas. it really depends on the developer and publisher.
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@Jetah Yeah, but 24/7 is generally also down fairly frequently for things... it's a testing and iteration phase, after all.
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@DevilsDog said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
will the game be available 24/7 once the beta starts?
I doubt it, given how every alpha test so far has been for a limited time period. For example, the upcoming alpha phase 2 is supposed to be set for weekends only.
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hopefully it will be 24/7 for the time it will be available
finger crossed
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I could see it being 24/7 for X time. Beta is hopefully where all the underlying mechanics are in, it’s all about content generation.
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i've seen some beta phases be limited then transition to 24/7.
it depends on how many testers the game has and the developers/publishers.
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@Jetah said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
(...) and the developers/publishers.
And the available funding. Hosting the game is going to cost money, that's something people often forget about. I do hope that they can manage and afford 24/7, but I wouldn't be shocked if not.
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@Logain said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
@Jetah said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
(...) and the developers/publishers.
And the available funding. Hosting the game is going to cost money, that's something people often forget about. I do hope that they can manage and afford 24/7, but I wouldn't be shocked if not.
Having the game up 24/7 will produce money as well as more people will purchase a game they can actually play regularly
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Aside from hosting, you will also need people who can give support en maintain the game/servers.
24/7 During Beta would be nice, but considering the smaller developer we are dealing with, I rather have them spend time and money on content and finishing the game, then giving us full access during that period.
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It seems pretty early to be discussing this... so much will depend on what transpires in the next Alpha(s?).
Given the complexity of what the devs are hoping to pull off, it might be necessary to do more limited -length/-feature Alphas than are currently planned, in order to fine tune foundational code and prevent the beta from displaying embarrassing glitches.
But every one of those tests, in turn, ought to generate video/PR buzz that builds investment. Some of that is our job, right?
At that point, beta planning can be tailored to the available $$ for staffing support and servers. The first beta might run 24/7 for 2 days... or weekend mornings for six months! Whatever it takes to get the best result using the resources available is what I want to see.
It's thrilling to be in on the ground floor of something so YUGE and creative! No doubt tempting to get ahead of ourselves in our visioning and hopes, but for now my m.o. is going to be to stay constructively engaged with the ideas and not fret about timeline.
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@Xzoviac said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
@Logain said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
@Jetah said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
(...) and the developers/publishers.
And the available funding. Hosting the game is going to cost money, that's something people often forget about. I do hope that they can manage and afford 24/7, but I wouldn't be shocked if not.
Having the game up 24/7 will produce money as well as more people will purchase a game they can actually play regularly
depends how long closed beta is and how long open beta would be.
i promise you that development doesn't stop if beta is 24/7. it could actually be more of an advertisement tool about the game than it being reserved for certain play times.
just 1 ad on a popular streamer could get DS a minimum 100k-1million views.
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@Xzoviac said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
(...)Having the game up 24/7 will produce money as well as more people will purchase a game they can actually play regularly
Don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to them running the service 24/7, I just wanted to point out that it requires money. There's certainly some gain in there, but I'm not sure on the retention rate, do you happen to have statistics?
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The cost is only extra electricity. If you rented the server already, you have the server available and payed for.
I don't know if you can only rent a server for 3 hours here, and 4 hours there? And if you can, would that we worth it (everything is always cheaper if you buy "more of it", so renting a server for a period of X days, is probably more worth it, since devs also need it to further develop an aspects of the game as well, regardless of player testing it.)
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@Gothix said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
I don't know if you can only rent a server for 3 hours here, and 4 hours there? And if you can, would that we worth it (...)
SpatialOS is a SaaS, which means you are not 'renting a server', you are 'paying for resources'.
Actually, unless they managed to score a special deal, you simply look it up at Improbable. 'Prices are shown on a “per hour” basis for simplicity, but you will be invoiced a prorated amount based on the duration you use the template for, to the nearest minute (rounded up). The duration is measured as the difference between when the deployment is created and when it is terminated. The minimum duration is 10 minutes'And no, there is no special discount for using the service longer (since running a 10 minute test server would be somewhat pointless).
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@Gothix said in Game availability once Beta Starts??:
The cost is only extra electricity. If you rented the server already, you have the server available and payed for.
I don't know if you can only rent a server for 3 hours here, and 4 hours there? And if you can, would that we worth it (everything is always cheaper if you buy "more of it", so renting a server for a period of X days, is probably more worth it, since devs also need it to further develop an aspects of the game as well, regardless of player testing it.)
This isn't just about prices, though. The dev team is relatively small, and they need time to go through all the data, gathered from previous tests and to act on it.
