Alpha - Beta

[HagarTheHorrible]

Alpha - Beta.

 

What defines the difference between the two ?

 

I'm just waiting for the update to download and I was idly wondering at what point the Alpha will change to a Beta, is it when the Alpha reaches a certain percentage of completion or when the Alpha reaches 100 % ?

[ShamrockOneFive]

Alpha is usually what is consider in the industry a period where the software is prototyped and primary content is developed. Battle of Stalingrad is a slightly unusual Alpha in my opinion as the underlying technology has been well developed and we're seeing a well evolved product already. Not a lot of performance issues caused by debug code or unoptimized code.

 

Beta is when the product is nearly content complete and software bugs are worked out and eliminated. Beta usually extends from somewhere in the middle of the development cycle although in some products its more like 2/3rds of the way along. Beta testing is critical at that point.

 

From the beta, usually what happens is as the product closes in on completion the start producing release candidate (RCs) builds which ultimately culminate in a gold master product and its shipped to production. These days that doesn't always happen as with digital distribution. I'm not sure what the guys have planned but I assume that we'll see the product gradually evolve and the transition from alpha > beta > release will be incremental.

[HagarTheHorrible]

Thanks

[Fifi]

Exception is the ROF Beta career...stil beta 

[BeastyBaiter]

To me, an alpha is when most of the major content has yet to be developed. I consider BoS an alpha because atm, it is really only a shell of a CFS. It has no meaningful SP and no MP at all. Until those core game modes are added, it will remain an alpha to me. Once it has them, then it is a beta even if they are still adding planes. A beta to me is when the core game mechanics are finished and it is under going testing prior to public release. BoS is an oddity in that it allows you to buy your way into the alpha/beta although this is becoming more common with digital distribution only games and especially MMO's.

 

I think the word beta is misused a lot however. The RoF career is not a beta. It is the release version. It might be changed in the future but that doesn't make it a beta. Windows 7 is still updated, no one considers that a beta. WT is also not a beta, it left beta around a year ago. As an MMO, it doesn't have any defined content limits. It will simply go on until they stop making money.

[dburne]

The RoF career is not a beta. It is the release version. It might be changed in the future but that doesn't make it a beta.

 

777 might disagree, as they continue to tout it as a Beta Career.

[BeastyBaiter]

I'm sure Jason would disagree with me, but I really don't consider it a beta. It works, it will not change significantly except as some sort of addon and as such, it isn't a beta. It's just one of those things that will be listed as "beta" forever simply because none can be bothered to alter the text in game. Not that I'm complaining, it works great and I love it.