Stars Beyond Reach Beta Approaches! Have some screenshots. :)

[Misery]

Ah, and I'd been just about to post a big annoying question wondering how this was going!   Well, now I dont have to be more irritating than usual, so that's good.

Whole thing is looking quite nice!   Quite eager to have a go at this.

[wwwhhattt]

I totally get that!  And even if the timing of the beta had not changed, things in people's lives shift and I'm not about to hold that against someone.  It sounds like you might still be able to test some and give some feedback, and honestly first impressions testing is quite useful as much as someone who puts in dozens of hours.  Both have merits.  We'll be doing the beta right up until June 5th when we release, so if you want to test a more polished version sometime in May (if that fits for you), I can note that down.

Later in May would suit me lifewise, and more polished sounds... safer.

BTW, do the Andors terraform at all? Their screenshot city seems to be doing well enough in ordinary landscapes.

[Zebeast46]

I think I would also prefer a more polished experience so I think I would prefer getting in late april or early may.

[Aklyon]

I think I'd be fine with either option.

[crazyroosterman]

Later in May would suit me lifewise, and more polished sounds... safer.

BTW, do the Andors terraform at all? Their screenshot city seems to be doing well enough in ordinary landscapes.
[/quote] that might be one of/their racial trait that they don't need/cant teraform since they so against causing harm to living and sentient creatures.(just speculation on my part really)

[Mayjori]

Spanks for adding me, looking forward to testing !

[TheVampire100]

I just have to ask: The Peltians city looks a lot like an old German settlement. Is this intended that way? We all know that peltians a re a kind of "communist" aliens. Communism has been created from ideas of the German Philosoph Karl Marx and maybe this is a reference to it? I'm curious, if so, that's an awesome reference in my opinion.

[FractalReaper]

I find Arcen games to always be worth playing and have been very excited about SBR ever since I heard about it, so I would like to be in the beta. I'm completely okay with being in the early waves. In any case, I'm looking forward to the game.

[YoukaiCountry]

I am more than fine with early stages if the help is needed. It can be rewarding figuring things out.

[Faulty Logic]

I would like to volunteer for beta testing. I've no preference for what stage of the game.

[x4000]

Chris, I'd like to jump on the early ship -- I'd really like to kick the tires of an early SBR build. Looking forward to seeing your latest work!

Have a lovely holiday weekend.

Thanks!  I've adjusted your notation to say that.

Hey! I would also love to sign up for the Beta. Keep up the good work, as always!

Thanks!  I have you noted down.

If anyone in particular wants to volunteer to be the front-line cannon fodder in that way, or specifically wants to volunteer to NOT be that sort of cannon fodder, do let me know.  Some people love that, some people hate it.
<snip>

Chris, I'd like to jump on the early ship -- I'd really like to kick the tires of an early SBR build. Looking forward to seeing your latest work!

Bring it on! I play NetHack and DwarfFortress all nights long. I'm sure you can let your ~*~ and I'll manage to tackle it down!
(AI War plot idea: all tooltips are replaced with ~*~, and the achievement for beating the game with it on is called "I come from DF". I'll definitely post it on Mantis; so sad April 1st is past)

... Well, enough for bragging. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not afraid of bumping in all the newb's traps.

Haha, awesome.  So front lines it is for you, then.

If anyone in particular wants to volunteer to be the front-line cannon fodder in that way, or specifically wants to volunteer to NOT be that sort of cannon fodder, do let me know.  Some people love that, some people hate it.

Sign me up for the red shirt brigade! Haven't tried taking on a game blind in a while, wonder if I can still do it.

That is absolutely what this first wave should be called in our testing from now on, hah.  I've got you noted as a redshirt now.

I would like to be part of the Beta.

I was surprised I didn't have you on the list already.  On there now!

Thank you for letting me participate. I am also fine with being on an earlier wave as well.

I have been part of this community silently (what a paradox), playing AI War, Skyward Collapse and The Last Federation. The last one I haven't managed to really get into for some reason. Somehow I find it..weird/impenetrable? Hard to explain.  Even was able to get two AI War expansions migrated to Steam thanks to your fast help. 

Mostly playing the games for the Singleplayer or with friends experience, so I barely had a need to participate here so far. I guess I am really excited for S:BR that finally made me register here. I assume that after the beta is over, I will probably most likely fall into silence again unless something drastic happens (like a new game is announced  >D ).

Given your notes, I'm thinking I'll put you in wave 2, which I suppose we'll call "blueshirts," heh.  That way you're still hitting things in an early fashion, but if there are any impediments that are there we find them sooner than later.  Given that you were into AI War but had trouble getting into TLF I am particularly interested in your feedback on things impeding your ease of getting into this game.

Let's see if that 1 minute teaser clarifies some things or causes more confusion. I fear that it will be the second one.

We'll find out tomorrow.

Is beta testing feedback done via a bugtracker or do you do everything via the forums?

I'll have detailed notes about this in the tester instructions, but basically mantis with one-issue-per-issue is preferred for most things.  That way I can mark them with statuses, assign them, and mark them as complete when done, etc.  Then also other people can comment and upload stuff, and repeat issues are easier to link together and whatnot.

THAT said, if there is a longer discussion that needs to happen around some particular issue, generally it's good to make a mantis issue and then a forum issue and put a link to each respectively.  The forums are much better for longer discussions, if the solution to the issue (or even the true nature of the issue) is not something too clear.

I believe I posted before, but as a very happy owner of all of your previous titles and expansions and as someone who is fond of the original Stars Beyond Reach, I would love to participate in the beta to help in any modest way I can. Good luck with the release!

Thanks, added you!  As a redshirt, based on your later comment.

feel free to use me as cannon fodder in the beta id be happy to take the risk of mental trauma to get into the game earlier and risk less spoilers for my self.

Living up to your username, I see?   I've got you marked as a redshirt.  One thing to note is that with the diplomacy the AI is not as proactive with that in the very early builds as it will be later.  I have it noted down that was a particular interest of yours.

I'm interested in applying for the beta.  What information do you need from me?

By the way, aren't you concerned that all these beta testers are going to impact sales?

I have you added down!  Assuming that you are getting PMs from the forums okay, this is all I need from you.  I'll reach out via PM to folks when the time is right.  If anyone has concerns about that (worried about not getting the message), then feel free to PM me with an alternative email address and I'll email you instead.

In terms of beta testers impacting sales, typically the opposite is true.  Having some form of community prior to launch, with healthy discussion and people who know how to play, sets people's minds at ease.  At worst we're talking about a few hundred beta testers here, whereas on launch day I would expect to sell at least 3,000 copies.  Hopefully substantially more than that if the game really lives up to what people hope it is.

Ah, and I'd been just about to post a big annoying question wondering how this was going!   Well, now I dont have to be more irritating than usual, so that's good.

Whole thing is looking quite nice!   Quite eager to have a go at this.

You always seem to be down on yourself and think you're annoying, but you really are not!  I don't think anyone here thinks that.  Anyway, glad to sate your curiosity.  Does that mean you want redshirt, blueshirt, or later?

Later in May would suit me lifewise, and more polished sounds... safer.

BTW, do the Andors terraform at all? Their screenshot city seems to be doing well enough in ordinary landscapes.

Noted down, thanks!

And nope, the Andors are extremely tidy and don't terraform.  They're basically like "whatever is going on around us is fine guys!"

I think I would also prefer a more polished experience so I think I would prefer getting in late april or early may.

Great!  I need folks for those waves as well, so it's always nice to have people volunteer.   Noted down!

I just have to ask: The Peltians city looks a lot like an old German settlement. Is this intended that way? We all know that peltians a re a kind of "communist" aliens. Communism has been created from ideas of the German Philosoph Karl Marx and maybe this is a reference to it? I'm curious, if so, that's an awesome reference in my opinion.

Ha!  That's actually a huge coincidence, but you've got a good point.  They are basically communist agrarians, and so we went with something very medieval but in a thatched sort of fashion rather than stone and mortar.  The idea being that these guys are a bit more out in nature than some of the other races.

I find Arcen games to always be worth playing and have been very excited about SBR ever since I heard about it, so I would like to be in the beta. I'm completely okay with being in the early waves. In any case, I'm looking forward to the game.

Thanks!  I have you noted down as a blueshirt, then, for the second major wave then.  I have 6 noted redshirts already, and I don't expect that phase with just those 6 to last very long (a few days, a week at most) before we bring in the blueshirts.  If you or anyone else does really prefer to be a redshirt, though, I can definitely do more than 6.  12 is probably about as many people as I can reasonably respond to in the redshirt period, though.

I am more than fine with early stages if the help is needed. It can be rewarding figuring things out.

I tentatively have marked you as a blueshirt as well -- let me know if that's ok!

I would like to volunteer for beta testing. I've no preference for what stage of the game.

Ah, the gauntlet has been thrown down against the races of this game.   I'm marking you at the moment for after blueshirts, because you're going to be coming in and destroy the AI in various ways and I'll need time to deal with other things before I get to that aspect of the beta, heh.

[Captain Jack]

You know Chris, if you're going to run with the Star Trek joke, wave 2 should be the goldshirts. TNG switched the officer and security team colors and the redshirts became goldshirts.

To take it a step too far, if you want wave 3 to systematically deconstruct the AI, wave three fits the science team--the blueshirts.

(help why do I remember this useless trivia. )

[UsF]

Given that you were into AI War but had trouble getting into TLF I am particularly interested in your feedback on things impeding your ease of getting into this game.

I wish I could explain it 100%. I really am interested in the intrigue game that can be played, but I think I find it hard to find a grasp on where to start. I guess that is the problem of starting out with a set system with certain parameters and relations rather than starting at zero and growing your own system that is normal in other 4x and strategy games. When you do it from the ground up, you get to learn all the mechanics as they become important (the workaround in TLF was the incremental tutorial I guess). Not sure if that is the problem, but I imagine that it might be playing a major role in it. Another thing that I think is a problem is that I find it hard to process the information given out by the game. Maybe I cannot handle how it is structured, but my brain hurts somewhat trying to figure out on where to best start to gather information to accomplish my goal.

I will give the tutorial another try, I think. But I like to dive in without help to figure out things myself. And that definitely hasn't worked (after I did the tutorial once).

[crazyroosterman]

Given that you were into AI War but had trouble getting into TLF I am particularly interested in your feedback on things impeding your ease of getting into this game.

I wish I could explain it 100%. I really am interested in the intrigue game that can be played, but I think I find it hard to find a grasp on where to start. I guess that is the problem of starting out with a set system with certain parameters and relations rather than starting at zero and growing your own system that is normal in other 4x and strategy games. When you do it from the ground up, you get to learn all the mechanics as they become important (the workaround in TLF was the incremental tutorial I guess). Not sure if that is the problem, but I imagine that it might be playing a major role in it. Another thing that I think is a problem is that I find it hard to process the information given out by the game. Maybe I cannot handle how it is structured, but my brain hurts somewhat trying to figure out on where to best start to gather information to accomplish my goal.

I will give the tutorial another try, I think. But I like to dive in without help to figure out things myself. And that definitely hasn't worked (after I did the tutorial once).

what information do you not understand i found it quite straightforward to get what the computer was telling?.

[x4000]

You know Chris, if you're going to run with the Star Trek joke, wave 2 should be the goldshirts. TNG switched the officer and security team colors and the redshirts became goldshirts.

To take it a step too far, if you want wave 3 to systematically deconstruct the AI, wave three fits the science team--the blueshirts.

(help why do I remember this useless trivia. )

Haha, that's a good point.  Gold is harder to see in my spreadsheet as a text color, though.

Given that you were into AI War but had trouble getting into TLF I am particularly interested in your feedback on things impeding your ease of getting into this game.

I wish I could explain it 100%. I really am interested in the intrigue game that can be played, but I think I find it hard to find a grasp on where to start. I guess that is the problem of starting out with a set system with certain parameters and relations rather than starting at zero and growing your own system that is normal in other 4x and strategy games. When you do it from the ground up, you get to learn all the mechanics as they become important (the workaround in TLF was the incremental tutorial I guess). Not sure if that is the problem, but I imagine that it might be playing a major role in it. Another thing that I think is a problem is that I find it hard to process the information given out by the game. Maybe I cannot handle how it is structured, but my brain hurts somewhat trying to figure out on where to best start to gather information to accomplish my goal.

I will give the tutorial another try, I think. But I like to dive in without help to figure out things myself. And that definitely hasn't worked (after I did the tutorial once).

Oh sure, I wasn't really asking for a reason why you couldn't get into TLF -- I think I probably understand it, based on cumulative feedback about the game.  It's a game that gives you 200 options from the start, and a really wide surface to play with.  There are very few short-term goals.  So it becomes a matter of experimenting and freeform short and long term strategies.  That appeals to some, but is overwhelming to others.

AI War, on the other hand, has a much more concise endgame goal, and the very early-game goals are also very concise: take some planets and shore up your own local planet.  There's not really a comparable thing in TLF at the start, and your endgame goals are something that shift with the situation.  It's very fluid and very cool in certain ways, but in others it can be troublesome.

Going into SBR I knew all this, and explicitly set out to avoid the learning curve of both TLF and AI War.  Civilization does this rather inherently by giving you a limited set of stuff you can do right at the start.  That's more or less what SBR does, but the set is a lot less limited.  And unlike Civ, it's also not something where those first few turns are mostly on mental autopilot.  As with AI War, the order you do things in will depend on your circumstances.

SBR has that sort of shifting, fluid endgame like TLF, because I like that sort of thing -- although it also has four fixed-point endgames like AI War.  But the fact that the endgame is shifting here is balanced by the fact that you always have an anchor in your own civilization and looking out for your own short-term interests while you move forward toward the goal.  There's never a point where you might wonder if you should throw your own civilization under the bus and try to win with a different ending mix.   Though you might do that with an intended ally, of course.  In TLF part of the thing was that there was no one civilization to say "no matter what, these guys don't go under the bus or I go with them."

Anyhow.  I put a lot of work into SBR to try to combat the learning curve problem while at the same time maintaining depth from start to finish in the game.  There's some stuff that still needs refinement, but I think I'm pretty darn close.  So people like you interest me very much, because it will let me test if I'm right!  Anyway, that's what I meant before.

what information do you not understand i found it quite straightforward to get what the computer was telling?.

I can't speak for UsF specifically, but the general idea I have from people who fall into that group is that "I know mechanically how to do various things, but I don't have a ledge to use as a launchpad toward a specific goal."  Aka, analysis paralysis sets in, is one way to look at it.  There are so many possibilities that none is obviously better than another, and so one can feel quite lost on "how to play" in a strategic sense even though one knows "how to play" in a mechanical sense.

There are plenty of beloved games that give me that same feeling, to be honest.  I think it's just a matter, with those sorts of games, of what clicks with how specific people think.  That's my theory, anyway.  Because there's a wide variety of games like that (a lot of stuff with a sandbox element), and different subsets of people click with only certain subsets of those sandbox types.

Anyhow.