In More Current Beta Testing News...

...the use of ellipses is now back in style. Yes, you heard me...

I'm hopeing to once again do some betatesting for SpiderWeb Software with their latest game Geneforge 3. They are a small ((read v small) as in 1 Man=designer/writing/maker of game, 1 Woman=general manager, 1 Woman= Office Manager)) software company in Seattle, Cal, that make gameplay, plot and immersive games, without all the extra highend graphics stuff you see on shelves today. They release their products not on shelves, but on the net as Shareware, which is registerable to receive the full package (as part of that original download or as a separate mailed cd).

Their games are quite detailed, most of them rpg-based, good to great storylines with high replayability and decent gameplay. The two major series they have done so far (other then their original Exile series which was done while the president/designer was in university I think) are the Avernum and Geneforge series, both unique in their own way. Due to the restricted amount of manpower in the creation of the games, they focus on things other then high-end graphics, which is also great because people with old machines can still play the newer games because of the lower then usual requirements.

Now, I've betatesting twice before for SpiderWeb, once for Blades of Avernum, a scenario-based game offshoot from the Avernum series, and Geneforge 2. Now, its come to the period of time in the game creation process where the company has made a working if untested version of the game, and need simply for a small number of people to bash keys away and play the game for hours each day, so that hopefully they will run into every single bug in the game, point it out to them so they can fix it. This is the aim of the betatesters. Although we don't get paid, and we do have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) saying we won't release to a third party any information WHATSOEVER on the game during the betatesting period, we do get something from the experience of betatesting. Ok, so it may sound kinda annoying, having to play through an entire game with TONNES of bugs, but usually the bugs aren't that terrible, and often just text errors, and not many of them. Often its the balance of the game that gets mentioned e.g. the bad guy at the end is way too easy because of the level your character can be at that point.

In the end, betatesters will end up getting SOMETHING out of the experience. They get the privilege to play the game a good month or two before anyone else on the platform has (which in gamers terms is a lifetime especially when you can rub it into their faces on the game's forum), you get the experience of the actual betatesting by playing through the game and looking at the game differently then you would as an end-user. By scrutinizing the game, you are required to comment on the game engine, story continuity, textual referencing errors, how it looks, the balancing etc. Having done this is a plus when trying to get into areas of work related to games testing and creation, and also means you get to...umm...enjoy the game on a different level.

Oh, and you get a free copy of the game at the end. That's a saving of $50 bucks (AUD). Score.

So this is what I'm hopefully going to be able to do for the next month or so, spending 1-2hours a day steadily going through the game, making a note of problems and keeping them up-to-date with constant emails. Not to mention the continually updated versions that you have to download as major bugs are fixed and encorporated into the game. So you could be playing the game, almost finished and...*POOF* here's the latest test version, you gotta start again. Now that, is annoying.

How does this have anything to do with my uni work? Well...I'm participating .in the creation of this game. Differing from the participation in the forums, where the end-users can discuss what they like or dislike, I get to personally participate in a part of the game making process before it is released to the market, where although I am not participating in the 'creation' of the game content, I am somewhat regulating it.

Should I be required to inform them that I'm talking about this on my blog, and doing some smallish form of perticipatory research during the test, even though I am not in anyway going to disclose any confidential material before, during or after the test period? (not to mention the fact that no-one will probably ever read this). This is an interesting question, although I don't know if i need to answer it, and I certainly don't have enough time while I sit here refreshing my inbox, waiting for the NDA over email.