[2020] Alpha?

Originally posted by ß₥ɦ ¦ вlϊтz: It's been in Alpha since it was released on Steam in 2013. I guess that I don't know what the definition of alpha means anymore because of games like this one. Alpha is abused almost as much as "Early Access" is so I don't pay attention to most labels like this anymore. As far as I'm concerned if the game is active and has a price attached to it then it's considered a release regardless of what the developers call it.

Been explained a thousand times, but in short, Alpha is a stage of game development. It has a very clear meaning. That meaning is, loosely, 'All the features and mechanics and such that we want in the game is not yet in the game'. After cramming all of that into the game, you then enter Beta and polish everything to a lovely shine before releasing.

Alpha easily encompasses 85-95% of a games total game development life cycle. But you almost never see games showing you early alpha versions; It's always late alpha, or early beta, or late beta. 7DTD on the other hand has been in player hands since the very first working version, Alpha 1, build 1.

I get it, With so much game development going on behind closed doors it's really hard to get a scale on how long it takes to actually make a video game from the ground up- In most cases though you won't even HEAR about a game in development until it's nearing completion. But it does in fact take years. There's a ton of examples of games taking as long or longer as 7DTD has, There's a ton of examples of games being rushed out in 2-4 years that show that lack of care and polish considerably. 7DTD isn't terribly out of the norm here, It's not way out in left field with how long it's taking..they're actually really spot on for a company of their size with a project as ambitious as it is.