There are a lot of reasons why someone might want to check out a guide like T Dub Sanders'. One might be interested in the underside of the game testing field. Others might just want to know what they can gain from a guide that is written to help people understand their role in the gaming industry. Others still are just pining for that ultimate career working alongside game developers and designers.

Whatever the reason, T Dub Sanders has put together one of the biggest and best game testing guides on the market – one that shows the underpinnings of the career in their raw, real format. There are no false promises of automatic testing or sitting at home and playing the newest games for hundreds of dollars a day.

That stuff is all pretty much a pipe dream and most people know it – yet many guide writers try to tell everyone that they can become the biggest and best new game testers in a field that doesn't really exist every day and too many fall for it. On the other hand, what T Dub has put together is a much more realistic, much more comprehensive look at what game testing is really about – the hard work and dedication that goes into becoming someone in charge of all that code each day.

By showing what it really takes to be a game tester, T Dub opens up an actual, realistic path to getting into the industry. He showcases skills needed to get started as a tester, the classes or college majors that people better be willing to invest in if they want to be a professional in this field and much more to help them figure out not only if the career path is right for them but if they are going to be cut out for it. That means a great deal for someone who may or may not know exactly what a game tester does and how it operates.

For anyone that is thinking about taking the path toward becoming a game tester, one of the first things that needs to be done is to learn more about what the career entails. Those people should pick up T Dub's newest guide and get a real insider's look at the job and how it really works. If you're serious about doing what T Dub shows you, you'll be on the fast track toward game testing in no time flat.

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Day 694 to Day 707: Closed Beta Success, IndieGoGo and more

December 2, 2012

Closed Beta #1 is a Success

Well, the days coming up to last weekend’s Closed Beta were a little nerve wracking as we put in long hours, to get as much functionality in the game as possible for the first closed beta. Ideally, all the elements would have been there and just needed tweaking, but as a small indie team, there was still a lot that was missing, and we rushed the code to get it into closed beta. 

Well Thursday morning rolled around, and though feeling a little unprepared, we opened the gates, and let the beta testers in.  I tracked the concurrent users, and it reached 64 in the first hour.  The server held up great, and the survey showed it wasn’t slow by any means.  It was clear though as people started to Report Bugs, that we had left a few things unchecked.  The day before we has wiped clean the databases and set them up for a “clean” first world.  We missed a couple of things, which created bugs, like workers in a couple types of jobs not getting paid.  Oops.  The economy module went fairly well, but it still needs improvement in simplifying it.  The politics module had a few glitches, but heads of governments and officials were elected, some constitutions were drawn up, and laws were passed.  There were even a couple of passed impeachments over the weekend.  The military module based on how the game works, took until Saturday morning to be tested.  Well, unfortunately this was the most glitched module, with a few things breaking, including the humorous one of putting units in the middle of the ocean.  Some but not all were looked at by end of the weekend.

So, by the end of the weekend 366 beta testers came through out of the 1,000 beta keys that were handed out.  A little surprising, I wouldn’t have thought 63% of people who would grab keys just wouldn’t show up.   Overall we had over 280 bugs/suggestions reported over the weekend, which is fantastic. With duplicates removed, and quick bugs fixed, it left us with about 150 bugs/suggestions to fix after the weekend.  We sent out a survey to the 366, and here is some of the breakdown:

CB1 Enjoyability

86% of respondents found the game was enjoyable. (Gave it a 3 out of 5 or higher.)89% of respondents like the graphics (Gave it a 3 out of 5 or higher.)87% of respondents enjoyed the Economy Module (Gave it a 3 out of 5 or higher.)77% of respondents, who tried Politics Module  enjoyed it (Gave it a 3 out of 5 or higher.)85% of respondents, who tried Military Module  enjoyed it (Gave it a 3 out of 5 or higher.)

So, with approval ratings in the 70s and 80s, I was very happy with how the first beta went.  I realize there is still a lot of work to do.  I asked in the survey how the excitement for the game was before and after playing, and for 47% of respondents it had actually dropped after playing.  We will strive to do better.

IndieGoGo in the final hours

Well the month of raising money at IndieGoGo is over on Monday at midnight.  It has been a fun ride seeing those excited about WorldAlpha pledging money towards the campaign.  In the end all of the money will be used to raise our marketing budget to get more gamers playing.  With IndieGoGo you can have a flexible funding campaign, meaning we will end up with whatever the campaign is funded, less slightly higher fees.  Right now it stands at $1,593.  The perks being offered are awesome, and those who have funded the campaign will definitely benefit when the game begins. So, if you are considering funding there is just slightly over a day left to contribute.  We thank all 38 funders thus far (2 of them even gave twice).  It really is fantastic to see the growing excitement for our project.  If you can contribute great, if not please let others know about WorldAlpha.

http://www.indiegogo.com/worldalpha/x/349455

Closed Beta #2 starts December 6th

Well our second closed beta is coming up this Thursday, December 6th at 10am Eastern, and will run until Monday, December 10 at 10am.  We will be handing out 2,000 beta keys this time, and hope to get at least 1,000 players into the game.  We are actually going to let our faithful DevBlog readers have the first crack at beta keys.  Here is where you can sign-up:

http://worldalphabeta2a.reachgeneration.com/

WorldAlpha Story 3. Rifle

This WorldAlpha Story continues with another segment:

Warrant Officer Kyle Mendall is in big trouble. Tasked with a daily inventory of the AlphaOne’s small weapons cache, he is aware of a missing sniper rifle. Discovering who stole it is no longer the issue. Keeping its status as “missing and unlikely to be recovered” a secret from his superior officer is the real challenge...

http://www.worldalpha.com/devblog/worldalpha-story-3-rifle

Citizen of the Week

This Citizen of the Week award this week goes to Woshie for this creation of the Earth Galactic Empire website http://ege-wa.enjin.com/ as well as promoting it through IRC.  Congrats Woshie.  You’ll get 1,000 EarthBucks for your efforts when the game is released.


Comments

I hear that this game was not in real time. That the clock on the game moves faster then the RL one and that they get overwhelmed with how many times they have to log in to keep up. So i geuss this is not a lazy mans game, suits me fine =)
December 9, 2012 | Christoffer Nilsson

Considering the other offerings out there, I'm would be curious to know what those 47% were expecting. The slate of advertised options was very ambitious and World Alpha is well on its way to delivering them all... not some, all!
December 3, 2012 | Alias

Got my Beta Key, can't wait to see the improvements since the first Test :D
December 2, 2012 | Ardikus

\0/ I got a beta key this time! So glad you let people like me get a first shot at it, didn't check my mailbox in time for the first round of tests. See you guys December 6th!
December 2, 2012 | Nate Sutera

Back to Blog List

View the original article here

Posted by at
Labels: , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)