Testing of new releases ideas

[speedio]

So to quote Tynan Sylvester.

I’m going to have to consider other test and development processes to try to avoid this kind of situation in the future.

What I'm thinking could be a good idea is to first have the build tested with the internal testing team. and when it looks like the build is about ready to hit the public you could release an experimental build for public testing.
This way users who does not want a buggy build can wait until a stable build is released and people who want to test the latest can get their hands on an early build with not complaining rights.
You would get a much larger tester base doing this.

thoughts?

[Darkfirephoenix]

Let's make it like the Factorio team does: Stable release for the ppl who just want to play an fully functional and stable game and Experimental Release for everyone who wants to test and inform Tynan (and ofc get the newer stuff earlier )

[Peacekeep3r777]

This is an alpha release, so it will always be "experimental" release. If someone wants to play stable release, he just needs to wait till its released like a final version. Tynan cannot do like x versions for each release, thats madness. I also hate when game is not working properly, but therefor its called ALPHA release. No need to say more.

[speedio]

Well yes of course it's alpha and there will be bugs. That's not what I'm talking about here.
Tynan wanted a new way to release builds that have less bugs. Having a huge testing team can be hard to manage and getting builds that are expected to be functioning without major issues out as "experimentals" rather then a new game update (Alpha 3 , Alpha 4 , Alpha 5 etc...)

And let's say for Alpha 4 he release it as an experimental update first. People play it for a few days with no issues that brakes the game. He can just recompile it again with no changes. Just changing the version number. If there are bugs he wants to fix before public release he would have to do them anyway if the first release had bugs in them as apparently alpha 3 just had.

It looks like he did 3 updates in 3 days for this update. With an experimental first he could potentially wait a few days before pushing a new update to get as many bugs in one update as possible. It would be less pressure to get an update out fast to the users.

Also I'm not thinking he should release every single build he makes as an experimental. Just the builds he believes are ready for a release.

[Darkfirephoenix]

That is the same thing I said speedio! The Factorio team for example releases (as I said) at least two kinds: Sable and Experimental. On the stuff about the many releases: Tynan could give the first experimental to his own testing team to find the biggest bugs/glitches, then he gives it to the ppl who want to try the Experimental version, wich in return give him feedback about the more fine bugs/glitches his small team maybe couldn't find (each PC is unique and maybe his testers didn't do some stuff in the order wich could result in an error etc.) and finally he makes it an "Stable" release for the ppl who maonly want to play the game and maybe think of imporvements for it etc.

[speedio]

Indeed ^^

This is what I ment by my first post. I guess it did not come through clearly enough :p

I have followed a few alpha games following this procedure and it seems to work for them at least.

A new problem could be going through all the bug reports though.

[Darkfirephoenix]

Maybe make it an extra part for the testers and for each release? So they could go into the "Alpha 4 Experimental" and make a thread for each bug and underwich circumstances they got it. This would organise it a bit for Tynan and the mods.