About Pre-alpha disclosure ?
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Hi @Prometheus , @Specter ,
At the approaching Pre-Alpha Phase, I have some question about what test-players could do for DS and Fractured.1- Could they show content (video, screen-capture) of game on different media and social-media with some info on the pills like "Pre-alpha footage" and with an approval of DS before post ?
2- Could they report here in the forum some of the test conducted ?, some stats, ability, talent ?
In brief, do you want to control the flow of information disclosed or is free until some degree ?
3- Will it be a test-roadmap for players to check, like server-charge : multiple log on/off, cutting a forest down, launching all fireball at once (fx crash), researching inventory bug/exploit... with return of experience (on discord ?). Or players will be in free move and all they do will be tracked for further analysis ?
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There won't be any NDA on playtests. You'll be able to stream, make YouTube videos and spread game content any way you like. In fact, you are invited to do so!
The only notable exception to this is the Fractured Pre-Alpha. Content of the Pre-Alpha can't be divulged, and all players getting into it will have to sign an NDA.
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@gofrit The pre-alpha will be under an NDA. You will not be allowed to talk about or share anything from the pre-alpha. Participants who break the NDA will be removed from the pre-alpha.
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@gofrit said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
(...)3- Will it be a test-roadmap for players to check, like server-charge : multiple log on/off, cutting a forest down, launching all fireball at once (fx crash), researching inventory bug/exploit... with return of experience (on discord ?). Or players will be in free move and all they do will be tracked for further analysis ?
@specter said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
@gofrit The pre-alpha will be under an NDA. You will not be allowed to talk about or share anything from the pre-alpha(...)
Does that mean if we want to do 'coordinated testing efforts', we'd have to resort to in game communication, or would there be a restricted Discord channel set up for this? And are you going to have a separate hidden forum section with 'instructions' on what has been reported and what could need attention?
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@logain I don't know what the plans are for that but I assume there will be a way for the testers to communicate.
I shall ask Prometheus.
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@specter if i understand it right, there will be a closed forum section for it.
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Forum section for PUG, feedback and bugs are essential.
Having a role specifically for testers and a PUG channel would be helpful. Having a few voice channels would be epic too.
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@Specter thx you for your answer !
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Perhaps even a closed discord channel. Quick and easy way to submit feedback and report bugs.
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@gothix said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
Perhaps even a closed discord channel. Quick and easy way to submit feedback and report bugs.
discord is the worst method because the search is limited and it's impossible to provide proper feedback for the team to look review later.
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@jetah said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
discord is the worst method because the search is limited and it's impossible to provide proper feedback for the team to look review later.
But it's great for Mike to say to testing community quickly, "hey i found this fish that's stuck in a tree, can anyone verify?", and then Bill and Jenny, can quickly say "Oh yeah I saw that, it's indeed a bug".
And then Joseph fills out bug report to prealpha forum section, because Mike, Bill and Jenny are lazy asses who can only bother to chat on Discord.
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That's good to know ahead of time for anyone that is doing this. Though I remember there being no problem in the future tests being shared.
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@specter said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
(...)I shall ask Prometheus.
Thanks, much appreciated!
@jetah said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
discord is the worst method because the search is limited and it's impossible to provide proper feedback for the team to look review later.
Yes, I wholeheartedly agree, Discord shouldn't be used to report issues. That said, it makes for a great tool to gather the required assistance for testing something.
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Why not have both? Closed forum and discord channel. Both have pros and cons and both are simple to set up.
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Discord makes much sense about direct chatting while testing.
The Forum should be for all things that needs to get found fast and where people can answer later.
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@tulukaruk
both is fine but don't post a novel on discord about your feedback or bug. the forums are better suited for that. using discord to reproduce and walk through a bug is fine but not for a write up. using discord voice to chat with people while testing is also good.
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Hum better to not use forum and discord to return bug, since some bug tracker software like JIRA, Redmine, or Mantis BT are well formalized to do that... and you don't last track of your bugs.
They have probably something like this at DS. But using discord or the forum to exchange about bugs, to "promote" some idea or to coordinate simultaneous action is probably better.
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The last game I was in testing with they wanted you to stop and submit the bug where you saw it such as falling through the world or other bug. The reason was their bug software could track the location you were at in the game and that gave the developers information they could use to trace the bug. I think you would lose that information if the bugs were just reported in a discord or chat channel.
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@ladyrowan said in About Pre-alpha disclosure ?:
The last game I was in testing with they wanted you to stop and submit the bug where you saw it such as falling through the world or other bug. The reason was their bug software could track the location you were at in the game and that gave the developers information they could use to trace the bug. I think you would lose that information if the bugs were just reported in a discord or chat channel.
it would be really sweet if the client/bug logging could capture a few seconds previous all the actions did. it could be similar to how RTS and some FPS games capture highlights and replays without it being a video. When the NDA is removed we can stream content and use clips as video evidence as to what happened.
