[2020] Alpha, beta and beyond

Hey folks,

Quick note -- we're not making a huge deal out of this, but with this latest patch we are officially ticking the version from pre-alpha to alpha. The game has been in development (and in 24x7 testing) for a few years, now, and frankly we probably should have called it 'alpha' some time ago. We'll do an announcement this morning, but we are electing not to do an official press release, because we feel like the distinction between 'pre-alpha' and 'alpha' doesn't mean much to the audience at large... Internal designations vary so much between teams and projects that frankly, it doesn't mean much until you start to invite in the public en masse. That's beta and that's when it gets real.

Beta is what we are all focused on right now. We have some solid momentum going now on fps improvements (huge strides in the most recent build, as you can all attest!) and we're rapidly narrowing in on final elements that we need for launch.

As always, I want to thank all of you for your patience and your support, with a special call-out to those of you who have spent hours (some of you thousands of hours) helping us test this game and providing us with your critical feedback. It is more appreciated than you will ever know.

Regards, and onward to beta!

Todd & Gordon

yes, we are working on that right now

We're trying to decide that... It's certainly in a much better shape than what is currently on live, but we won't be able to start inviting beta folks until at least the first section of the NPE (new player experience) is ready. That's cooking right now internally.

All backers have access now. We'll start to invite registered players in waves once we announce beta.

Todd

The current active test groups are Pre-Alpha 1 through Beta 3. They can see their test group from their Account page. The TL;DR is that if someone has a pledge or backer pack, they can play. Anyone without a pack who has registered will get an invitation at some point during closed beta.