The Dink Network

As some of you may or may not have noticed, I am planning to release a Beta version of my Epic DMOD, Scroll of Chaos, which will reveal Dinks starting village (a largish one), abit of the land of Kerth, a village there and a city, and a hopefully a few missions for each. But how long into a DMOD do YOU feel a Beta should go into? How much should one do before they release a Beta? What is your view on this subject..
PS: Aristotle was not a merchant banker, he was a 16th century Swashbuckler

it must be over 3 hours for it to be an epic

I think you're confused between a demo version and a beta. A beta is 100% complete, save for the debugging, which is where you have beta-testers for. A demo on the other hand is partly complete, but is usually bug-free until the point where it ends.

You can of course release a beta of the demo, which is a not-bug-free version of just a part of the game

*rolls eyes* demo of a Beta..whatever. It probably will be up to a few hours if play if you dont bother skipping all the dialogue and dont bother exploring properly.

don't release a Beta of a demo. I did that with Cloud Castle 2, and it was one of the worst things I ever did. Apart from kidnapping those little viking children, that is. The poor sods.

Oh? Well, maybe, maybe not...at this rate mind you, my estimates of when I will be done will be totally inaccurate anyway. Mind you, already my dmod is better than any of the few Beta Demos ive ever seen...or some completed romp Dmods. Im taking alot of care, for instance take how silly the hardness tiles for houses are done? I am fixing that so you cannot walk around the tiny hardness tiles hourses have by default...and so far it has caused no problems

Actually, SabreTrout the reason me and DuckFreind want to do betas is the for the same reason that the software industry does it... so that people can spot flaws, bugs and anything that should be changed before the final release. What is wring with that. I would say that it is a sign that we are cpmmited to making good dmods with as little flaws and bugs as possible. I would of thought that that would be considered commendable rather than being a bad idea. Oh well. each to their own.

See, this is why I should have made the hardboxer comprehensible. Maybe I'll update it today.

At any rate, in case you want it: Hardboxer

It draws those nice, invisible barriers without you lifting a finger. Well, barely lifting a finger.

Well me and DuckFriend are flatmates and we both are fussy about that so we will try it thanks.

Actually, SabreTrout the reason me and DuckFreind want to do betas is the for the same reason that the software industry does it... so that people can spot flaws, bugs and anything that should be changed before the final release. What is wring with that. I would say that it is a sign that we are cmooited to making good dmods with as little flaws and bugs as possible. I would of thought that that would be considered commendable rather than being a bad idea. Oh well. each to their own.

Indeed, each to their own. Beta testing is not only a good idea, but is vital to any good d-mod. But you shouldn't do it until the d-mod is completely and utterly finished in your eyes, and you yourself have searched it intensively for bugs.

And besides, if people have played a heavily flawed version of your d-mod, it could well take some of the shine of it when it is released in a more playable form.

Believe me on this. It comes from experience.

yeah work out the bugs yourself until you think it is good then beta test it. Thats the way software companies do it.

I would recommend you not release a demo at all. Once you do you'll never finish it.

well you could make a copy of the game at an earlier state and then complete the entire game and then release the demo and follow it up with a full game like a week later.

That would be stupid.

Demo's are usually useful only for producers/devlopers that are wishing to commercially sell their products. This way someone can witness what the game would be like before they play it and decide whether or not to purchase that product. With freeware games however demos would most probably be to show what work has been done and what to look forward to, so completing a full game and then releasing a demo would be pointless as previously stated, unless of course you are wishing to sell the product.

I would recommend you not release a demo at all. Once you do you'll never finish it.

This is likely, though not certain. Most d-mod demos are never finished, but some excellent examples to the contrary do exist.

But I certainly wouldn't advise releasing a demo. Heck, I released 2, one of which was finished (Cloud Castle 2) and the other being the pitiful PlaneWalker.

And the CC2 demo probably did more to derail the project than anything else.

Yes, Sabre, yes igloo, I know you test for the bugs and flaws yourself first. We are both very meticulous and have over a decade of writing so we know how to make good stories, so I doubt that many game or story flaws or bugs will remain.

Not necessarily. Just becuase others here do that doesn't mean we will. We aren't lazy. Besides it's actually quite fun devolping dmods so the motivation to keep working on it exists, making abonding it less likely.

Ok enough asking politely!

USE THE FREAKING MODIFY BUTTON!

That sounded a bit mean to me. Is everybody else lazy? Don't we realise that it's fun to develop d-mods?
There's no need for the arrogance. We're a fun community, we laugh at our mistakes and everything, but it's advisable to not lift yourself above the crowd that much.

Besides, it's Christmas, let's get along.

Heh. It's pretty clear you've not yet made any dmods yet. Bugfree dmods don't exist anyway, and trust me, your first one will not be close to one. Making dmods is fun, and not that hard, but don't overestimate yourself. To make even a decent dmod is pretty tricky, let alone an awesome one.

Back off - you don't even know to what posts he's replying to. If you have it in the same view as me then yes you see all the posts under each other and it looks like he didn't edit his previous post. But with different settings, they're arranged in the way people replied to them and then it are two different posts.

That's what paragraphs were invented for, and please make use of the smileys, are there not to sound so badass

Making d-mods is fun. Fixing bugs isn't.

I never said it would be bug free, just that are meticulousness would make us more fussy so we would let less slide...

Jamie, people should only use the modify button to add something that directly relates to their previous post. If they desire to post something new in reply to someone else, then posting a new reply is appreciated and expected.

When someone deems you Arbiter of the Internets, let me know. Until then, please stop telling people what to do.

Woooo.Way to be the king,redink1!!
You're so sexy when you're tough!

Old grudge eh? Redink?

I think he's just getting a bit pissed that you are trying to tell Draconic how to act on the board, when you are quite possibly the least qualified person to do so.

Apart from me, of course.

Release a demo if you want, but beta test it first - sometimes having a demo out there can help spur you on to finish. It can also pinpoint areas players like/don't like and that may help you in development.

I released a demo of SOB, back in 2000 [man that's nearly 5 years ago, phewie]

POTA had a demo (I believe) although I wasn't around then.

Dead fish, dead fish, your posts on this subjects about the modify are dead fish, useless and irriating. Stop nagging ppl to use the modify button, maybe we dont want to use it, its not liek we HAVE to. Please, lay off and stop nagging people about it.

OK... how about we call them alphas? They aren't finished versions.

And DuckFriend you are... ?

...the friendly friend of ducks? Your post makes no sense.

My post was meant to imply that DuckFriend's opinion is worthless to me

Wheras your own opinion means so much to everybody else.

I take it as gospel, at any rate.