It is, it’s also in alpha still. If they were claiming beta in this state I’d be more worried rather than just mad they keep adding stupid shit instead of going full optimization. They have a game, they just need to get it out the door and worry about content in future releases. It’s like the painter who can’t call a painting finished.
Oh well if they’ve only started four times then that’s fine.
It’s only a problem if they do it 20 times right, then we worry, but 4 times, nah, that’s standard.
You are correct words do have a meaning. A weird thing for you to bring up since you’re the one incorrectly applying labels here.
Alpha products are available only for internal review, they are not available for public release they are not intended to be viewed by the general populace.
If you’re charging people money for it then it can’t be an alpha because now it’s an external product not an internal sample.
In video games development, and more broadly in software development, Alpha state refers to a feature incomplete and largely untested state and is unrelated to internal/external sales, review, testing or release.
Alpha software is not thoroughly tested by the developer before it is released to customers.
While outside of recent trends, particularly in crowd funded games development, alpha releases to customers for paid software are less common they do occur and don’t have any bearing on the alpha state of the software.
In general, external availability of alpha software is uncommon for proprietary software, while open source software often has publicly available alpha versions.
Further
A feature-complete (FC) version of a piece of software has all of its planned or primary features implemented but is not yet final due to bugs, performance or stability issues. This occurs at the end of alpha testing in development.
And for Beta
Beta, named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet, is the software development phase following alpha. A beta phase generally begins when the software is feature-complete but likely to contain several known or unknown bugs
I am both a qualified software developer, and have worked in the video games industry. I hope you have learnt something.
I really feel there would be a market for something like star citizen without all the realism stuff that gets in the way of the gameplay. I’m a backer, and when I can get to playing the game it’s fun, but finding my way to the launch pad after every two years break when I’m trying to checkup on progress sucks.
Years ago I made a space game that was basically, Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, but with spaceships. I made it way too complicated and basically only I could play it, but I’ve often thought that it was a good basis for a game if only I made it less stupid.
I cannot believe nobody has made a space game since, where being the master of your ship is the whole goal.
Basically Euro truck simulator in space. One of the nice things about that game is that all the gamey stuff is just handled by menus so that you can actually get to the experience without having to wander around a supplemental environment that doesn’t really add anything to the experience.
I’ll be “that guy” but according to Chris Roberts (the guy who owns CIG that is making the game) star citizen is supposed to be a “space life” game. It’s not an “arcade game” where there is a specific game type it is built around. You’re supposed to just be a dude/dudette living your life out in space and do what you want which can include all the things you mentioned. I personally want that very much. There are a million games out there that do the basic space pew pew thing or mining, but nothing like a life sim.
There’s going to be more than just hunger and dehydration, they built toilets and showers into some ships for a specific reason not just atheistics lol
Yeah, the problem is it wasn’t sold as a space life game a decade ago. And there’s a vast gulf between space life sim and actually having to eat/pee. It was already controversial when he said capital ships wouldn’t despawn so you’ll have to hide it and keep a 24/7 watch to make sure it isn’t stolen. A game isn’t supposed to be a job, there’s got to be a happy medium there.
Star Citizen is in this picture. They added hunger and dehydration to a space exploration, cargo, and fighting game.
Oh boy. Time for an 800 comment long flamewar about Star Citizen. I’m ready.
I’m proud to be the one to start the fire this time. To be clear I do really want a good game out of all this.
Personally, I think Star Citizen is shallow and pedantic.
It’s just a scam though isn’t it? 💣💣💣
They’re doing way too much work for it to be a scam. Irresponsible, naive, badly managed, sure. It can just be a bad project.
Its an educated wish.
It is, it’s also in alpha still. If they were claiming beta in this state I’d be more worried rather than just mad they keep adding stupid shit instead of going full optimization. They have a game, they just need to get it out the door and worry about content in future releases. It’s like the painter who can’t call a painting finished.
After what feels like 20 years, it still being in alpha should worry you more than if this current state was called a beta.
Yes and no. On the other side they’ve essentially rebooted development something like 3 or 4 times. So there’s a chance it comes up roses.
For other games that would be described as development hell
Yup, I acknowledge that it’s in development hell.
Oh well if they’ve only started four times then that’s fine. It’s only a problem if they do it 20 times right, then we worry, but 4 times, nah, that’s standard.
I’m not saying this is normal. Why are you so hellbent on making me look like I am?
It’s like trying to trace an outline of a fractal.
They can claim whatever they want. But if it’s publicly available then it’s a beta regardless of what arbitrary name they give it.
If it was alpha it should be free.
The industry definitions of alpha/beta disagree with you.
Words have meaning and you’re using them wrong.
You are correct words do have a meaning. A weird thing for you to bring up since you’re the one incorrectly applying labels here.
Alpha products are available only for internal review, they are not available for public release they are not intended to be viewed by the general populace.
If you’re charging people money for it then it can’t be an alpha because now it’s an external product not an internal sample.
In video games development, and more broadly in software development, Alpha state refers to a feature incomplete and largely untested state and is unrelated to internal/external sales, review, testing or release.
While outside of recent trends, particularly in crowd funded games development, alpha releases to customers for paid software are less common they do occur and don’t have any bearing on the alpha state of the software.
Further
And for Beta
I am both a qualified software developer, and have worked in the video games industry. I hope you have learnt something.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle
Sorry bud you’re just wrong on that one.
It’s been in development hell for over 10 years it’s not going anywhere slowly. They barely even have a product.
Okay? But it’s still definitely an alpha.
I agree as well…
Indeed.
I really feel there would be a market for something like star citizen without all the realism stuff that gets in the way of the gameplay. I’m a backer, and when I can get to playing the game it’s fun, but finding my way to the launch pad after every two years break when I’m trying to checkup on progress sucks.
You’re talking about No Man’s Sky and Elite Dangerous. The whole point of Star Citizen is the realism.
Drag thinks hunger mechanics in a spaceship game are too much, though.
Same here, I loved the idea of a walk on space game I could play with friends. I loved the idea of ground side fights and boarding actions.
But now we’ve got some kind of super high fidelity survival game. If you can even run it it’s far more akin to an first person POV EVE.
Literally any other space game.
Years ago I made a space game that was basically, Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, but with spaceships. I made it way too complicated and basically only I could play it, but I’ve often thought that it was a good basis for a game if only I made it less stupid.
I cannot believe nobody has made a space game since, where being the master of your ship is the whole goal. Basically Euro truck simulator in space. One of the nice things about that game is that all the gamey stuff is just handled by menus so that you can actually get to the experience without having to wander around a supplemental environment that doesn’t really add anything to the experience.
Space truckers came out this year.
I’ll be “that guy” but according to Chris Roberts (the guy who owns CIG that is making the game) star citizen is supposed to be a “space life” game. It’s not an “arcade game” where there is a specific game type it is built around. You’re supposed to just be a dude/dudette living your life out in space and do what you want which can include all the things you mentioned. I personally want that very much. There are a million games out there that do the basic space pew pew thing or mining, but nothing like a life sim.
There’s going to be more than just hunger and dehydration, they built toilets and showers into some ships for a specific reason not just atheistics lol
Yeah, the problem is it wasn’t sold as a space life game a decade ago. And there’s a vast gulf between space life sim and actually having to eat/pee. It was already controversial when he said capital ships wouldn’t despawn so you’ll have to hide it and keep a 24/7 watch to make sure it isn’t stolen. A game isn’t supposed to be a job, there’s got to be a happy medium there.