Request for a new build today (9/12)

[Carrick1973]

TWI - please give us a new build today as we really want to validate the final build before it's released to the general public. There are some game elements that have yet to be tested, specifically some of the options have been turned off in the settings screens (sound channels as an example). It would be nice to have a full 24 hours to test all of the maps enabled on the servers in order to regression test that the new updates haven't broken any of the original maps we were testing. I haven't been having as much FPS problems as some of the guys with the newer cards have had, but I certainly hope that the problem with the GPU being fully utilized has been sorted out. It would also be nice to have the debugging tools turned off in order to test the optimized code in its' final state. Finally, it appears that the stats are not all being saved, as they certainly don't show up in the player stats screen correctly

Thanks for such a great game TWI - I really have enjoyed being part of the Beta test and hopefully some of my posts have helped make this game even better.

 

[Hesgad]

guess they would give it when it was ready well see its up to them at this point

 

[mr71mb0]

Lol, I can see it now;

Someone at TWI suddenly stands up and shouts out "Stop what you are doing everyone, Carrick1973 wants a new build now!! He want's to validate everything we're doing before we release it."

"Yeah, good idea, run it past Carrick1973 before we go gold."

 

[Moyako]

That would be pointless. Just wait a few hours and download the finished thing

 

[The Algerian]

What makes you think the final build is completed now?
Chances are they're gonna work on it 'till the last minute.

 

[Gudenrath]

Lol, I can see it now;

Someone at TWI suddenly stands up and shouts out "Stop what you are doing everyone, Carrick1973 wants a new build now!! He want's to validate everything we're doing before we release it."

"Yeah, good idea, run it past Carrick1973 before we go gold."

I lol'ed.

 

[Carrick1973]

That may be, but I have a feeling that they have to pay for each build that's pushed out by steam and may not want to incur the cost. I just think the cost to benefit analysis indicates the need to get a final beta build into the players hands to provide some final validation the bugs have truly been squashed and regression test the features that were working correctly. Right now, there are several thousand people who have purchased the game. Tomorrow, that number might be 50,000 and I'd hate to have some of these big bugs still in the code. I have faith in TWI, but I also know how easy it is to break something when trying to fix a bug related to something else - especially when they are as sleep deprived as I'm sure they all are right now.

 

[TheAngelKing]

The steam version doesn't unlock until 1pm on the 13th (Eastern Timezone)

 

[Pvt.pile]

I don't think they have to pay Valve or at least ive never heard or read anything about that before?

 

[u-s-e-r]

Lol, I can see it now;

Someone at TWI suddenly stands up and shouts out "Stop what you are doing everyone, Carrick1973 wants a new build now!! He want's to validate everything we're doing before we release it."

"Yeah, good idea, run it past Carrick1973 before we go gold."

That gave me a laugh

Who knows, maybe they are planning to give us a new build if they can, or not.

 

[Phantomspiker]

That may be, but I have a feeling that they have to pay for each build that's pushed out by steam and may not want to incur the cost. I just think the cost to benefit analysis indicates the need to get a final beta build into the players hands to provide some final validation the bugs have truly been squashed and regression test the features that were working correctly. Right now, there are several thousand people who have purchased the game. Tomorrow, that number might be 50,000 and I'd hate to have some of these big bugs still in the code. I have faith in TWI, but I also know how easy it is to break something when trying to fix a bug related to something else - especially when they are as sleep deprived as I'm sure they all are right now.

Steam doesn't charge dev teams to release patches.

 

[Rich-UK]

I would like a final check to see if Auto Balance feature has been changed at all, if not ill keep my refund ticket open.

I wont be downloading the final version, as that my affect my refund request.

 

[Carrick1973]

As a test lead for many years, and a developer and project manager for many others, I know exactly how the process goes. I also know that last minute fixes tend to break more things than they fix if not designed and implemented correctly. The beta exists for a reason, so to say that they don't want to get it into our hands is pretty stupid. They have the beta for a reason.

 

[mr71mb0]

I think you have to be more realistic about the resources TWI have.

They simply are not the size of EA or Activision and cannot throw legions of programmers and in-house testers at it. They will get there but I wouldn't be surprised if it releases with some fairly serious bugs in there. People just need to give them time to sort them.

 

[Raquel]

Im guessing patching the beta now would mean taking resources from whatever they are doing right now, just let them work on the release build, geez

 

[Hillstorm]

I think you have to be more realistic about the resources TWI have.

They simply are not the size of EA or Activision and cannot throw legions of programmers and in-house testers at it. They will get there but I wouldn't be surprised if it releases with some fairly serious bugs in there. People just need to give them time to sort them.

Agreed.

 

[Hillstorm]

I remember the bad ol days. I bought a game called iPanzer '44 (back in 1999, I think) that I was so excited about. Got it off the shelf.

Game was so buggy, tanks would sometimes float in midair... AI was worthless, graphical problems. Game promises multiplayer would be available "soon."

They never patched it. It was "release and forget." No multiplayer, nothing. We've come a long way since then, thankfully!

 

[Carrick1973]

I think you have to be more realistic about the resources TWI have.

They simply are not the size of EA or Activision and cannot throw legions of programmers and in-house testers at it. They will get there but I wouldn't be surprised if it releases with some fairly serious bugs in there. People just need to give them time to sort them.

If they don't get a final build out to the beta testers, hopefully they have enough internal testers to validate the code correctly. I have my doubts though as I'm surprised some of the big issues with the browser got through the initial testing (sorting, and then double clicking on a server doesn't take you to the right server as an example).

I have the same gut feeling that I have when a sponsor is pushing to get code into production that you know still has bugs in it, but they're willing to take the risk in order to make the deadline. Not a good feeling and it usually doesn't work out that well.

 

[u-s-e-r]

I think you have to be more realistic about the resources TWI have.

They simply are not the size of EA or Activision and cannot throw legions of programmers and in-house testers at it. They will get there but I wouldn't be surprised if it releases with some fairly serious bugs in there. People just need to give them time to sort them.

This is true. How many employees did TWI have again?

 

[Josef Nader]

This is true. How many employees did TWI have again?

Not sure, but if I had to guess you could put the entire dev team on the average school bus and still have room to spare.