To BEta or not to BEta...

...that is the question. This is a serious dilemma for me and i'd love your undivided attention and brutal, unrelenting honesty on this. Just like everyone else, Tesla Effect is a big deal for me. With the game now at the tail end of its development, the Beta is easily less than a month away, but i'm not sure if I want to play that version of the game. Or do I?

The bottom line is that I absolutely want to play this game. But in playing the Beta, am I playing a lesser, less functional version of the game and therefore not experiencing it as the developers intended for their final product? I've never participated in a Beta. Obviously, I want the best quality, most complete gaming experience from this. For this reason, am I better to hold off?
For what it's worth, I wouldn't play it, essentially for the reasons you described. You probably won't need to wait very long after beta to enjoy the full game anyway.
Ah but you are forgetting some of the reasons for having a beta.

Sure #1 is to find bugs but #2 is to get a chance to affect the finished game.

This is your chance to comment upon the user interface. In the past people have often commented on the fact they they didn't like the UI of the previous games.

This is your chance to say "this would be better if you did this instead of that".

While yes it would contain spoilers for you wouldn't you feel better if you could make the game experience better for new Tex players?
Samantha


Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.
It's a silver bullet we all carry. Some of us (as Sam alluded to) have a duty as long time supporters of the series to do our part. But that's not to say a good many of us would rather enjoy it like old times. Either way, do what feels right.

I personally don't want anything to do with the game until I get to play it upon release. :wink: :lol:

-Cub. =o)
I love the fact already that we've talked over the years about what we would try and contribute if we could ever make a Tex game ourselves, and those who can contribute something unique have been able to give that input into the game.

I love the game, the genre and the friends on this board, and I know full well that people like Cub and Jen will find every niggle and more that I would also find.

As long as we don't get stuck in the Autotech building I'm sure the beta and the finished product will both be just fine.
David
David already knows too much...

-Cub. =o)
I'd be more willing to do it if there wasn't an "all or nothing" approach where we could choose a version or a portion of the game to play. I'd be willing to play Day 1 in its entirety with story paths and all cinematics. That way it would basically be just playing a demo. If Big Finish do something like that, I'd definitely participate.

At the same time, I see where everyone is coming from when they describe it as a duty or an opportunity to have a hands-on say as to the development of the game, but at the same time, it's their game. For better or for worse, I want to see what THEY intended. Amongst the very few saving graces of Duke Nukem Forever is that you played that train wreck of a game knowing that it was at least 3DR's own incompetence that ruined the legacy of that game, not fan input. I slept so much better knowing that I, weary fanatic, did nothing to drive the steak into the heart of PC's beloved action douche.
I agree that a Day 1 beta would get the most results. But I would hope the notion of timely feedback would be rendered silly by great post release tinkering.
They've already said the beta will only be a portion of the game.

Intellectually I prefer waiting, but I know I wouldn't be able to resist the chance to play the game early, at least for a bit. Alas, I wasn't able to back at a level that has beta access, so I won't have to deal with that temptation.

Luckily, the wait isn't too much longer.
I'll be doing everything I can to ensure the Beta goes extremely well. I'm sure Cub's going to do the same given he's already seen most of the game in post-production and editing. I'm not too concerned about having the game spoiled for me given the Tex games have always been games I've gone back to multiple times, each time delivering something new that I missed last time.

Will also be interesting to play this one without any documentation, if I get stuck I'm stuck for good and have to rely on my wits to get out of it.

Having just released my game Micronations that used Unity3d I've been overall pretty happy with how stable the engine is box standard. I don't foresee any major crashing issues with the engine since Tesla doesn't appear to be pushing the engine to its breaking points (even Micronations didn't and that was an entire city simulation with thousands of vehicles and buildings).

Really looking forward to Beta, and I really hope that Big Finish firstly lets us know the Betas going on (haven't got any updates from them in months) and secondly have some kind of bug tracker going on. I can make do with a Bug reporting forum but it can get messy if too many of us are posting, and I don't like the idea of people being able to go "Its not a bug its a feature" which some people do with games.

The case with this beta, don't get overly precious about it because its a Tex game, that's where I'd say most of you should avoid the Beta entirely, your emotions and attachment to the game will get in the way of actually reporting bugs so its better you layoff until the games ready. Whilst more people looking at the game will help, there's nothing worse than a biased QA tester, I know this from experience, we had a lot of kids freak out because they were testing a Worms game at my work, suffice to say their careers were short lived. (which is unfortunate because I don't like turning people away from the industry).

this post was surprisingly longer than I had anticipated.
.

Test it!

Without a doubt. Test it.

Given the standards of the quality of the games have gone up since UAKM, this is THE time to get it right. Test it. Having to work through or around a glitch is a 'game killer.' Who wants to load patches and fixes that could have been identified before asking people to pay?

Test it.

If nothing else, I am willing to test it.

Ema Nymton
~@:o?
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We Cheat The Other Guy And Pass The Savings On To You.
I'm in for Beta. Generally I am fairly impatient. So, if I know that I have access to the game, I won't be able to resist.
I can see the benefits to both, but for me personally, I would probably just trust that my fellow supporters who are wanting to play it, would find all the bits that need tweaking, much like David said and so play it fresh when it's finished.
"When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas." Jean Harlow
Mat's right...!

I'll probably give in once someone creates a thread and starts talking about it anyway. :wink:
David
So it looks like you'll have to make that decision sooner rather than later. Destructoid played it, and it looks like it is indeed a slice from the middle of the game:
http://www.destructoid.com/telsa-effect ... 9622.phtml