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We have declared Alpha!
A major milestone for Dragon Age! Next up, E3
Pre-alpha = In production
Alpha = Feature complete (fix bugs & polish, last minute changes)
Beta = Feature & content complete (fix bugs & polish)
Final = Pray to the old gods you guys love the game
- Cameron Lee
So again, how long should beta be? You mention it's a problem because we announced Alpha this weekend. When should we have announced it, and why?
Everything you listed is still an issue when you're not aware of our internal alpha/beta timeline.
I do think part of the problem is people worry and see this is such a huge project that they have been building for years...when they are just going to have four months to test it. But this forgets that in the beginning they have had to work with an entirely new engine, one that had never been used for an RPG before, so they had to build from the ground up. That takes a lot of time. And we also know that they have had a build of the game, which they could play, back at Christmas. AND we know they have at least one QA tester already working on the game who posts on these very forums. They didn't just decide to start 'editing' it now and working out the kinks they have been doing so for a while, and have a dedicated team of very passionate people who want to make the best game they possibly can for us, working out those kinks. I have no idea of the specific process, but everything looks fine to me.
It's also important to echo that the QA team (as well as non-QA people) have been actively testing the game systems and content for a quite some time.
And that is what Im talking about all along. Lets take a safe bet - 6 weeks. We have 4 full months till October. Detract 6 weeks and we have 3 months of dev time for both alpha and beta. Asking again, to whomever concerned, do you think its enough? By Bioware standards. Just asking.
How much should we have?
How much did our other games have? How much do other studios games have? By what basis are you drawing from your concern that this may not be enough time? Just a hunch?
I would love to know - out of pure curiosity, not concern - how much gets added to the game between alpha and beta. We know alpha feature complete and beta is content complete, but I'd imagine that not a lot of stuff gets added to the game at this stage. We know that the writing team are working on codex entries and there are still cinematics being done because of Twitter, but I'd love to know what else is still going on. Is all the voice work done, for example? The models for characters, critters and items?
Not very much content is added between Beta and Alpha. Content is more iterated on. It means "no temporary assets" or obvious broken windows like "bad textures" splashed on a level.
It doesn't mean that, for example, the cinematics that Mr. Epler is working on are finished. It means that it exists in the game in some format. Some will still need to have proper animations set up, and fine tuning some other things. But it means we shouldn't have a dialgoue line that says "TEMP: Cassandra storms out of the room in response to the Inquisitor's accusation." It means there will be some form of Cassandra animating out in a huff, even if it still doesn't look finished.
Beta (for us) is more "we've finished our hardening passes. Ideally if there's no bugs, the game should be done and ready to go." Except that "there's always some bugs!" So we fix those ones 
Thanks for the explanation! It is nice to think that the game is more of a game every day.
It's cool to see it become more of a game every day too!
I think a better description of a product of beta stage is the last stage of refinement before a product can undergo a release.
The big problem is that it's often subjectively applied based on those doing the applying. I'm pretty sure that BioWare declares Alpha at a later measuring stick than other companies. It's why I have been trying to add "for us" parenthetical remarks.
I thought I made myself clear. Since when answering question with a question is an answer? I put a very clear question, it doesnt matter what I think and what I know. Out of my concern, sorry again for caring btw, I wanted to know is this enough time for Bioware.
Seriously, all this iill will in the comments and ad hominem from certain individuals makes my anticipation drop by a huge margin. What I wanted was a reassurance that all my concerns are unnecessary. Instead I was called a troll, a dick, an *******, butthurt and accused of small mind not able to grasp the intricacies of developement of a game
Yeah, the skin of the forums might 'ev change, the audience did not.
4-5 months is a very, very long time in game development. But when I see a post like this, I don't see questions, I see judgment:
Hurray!Wait, what? Are you telling me that you are realeasing game in BETA in less than 4 months? Is this a good thing to be proud of? Is there a new meaning and "timetable" of/for alphas and betas in the industry that I'm not aware of?
Look, I said it in my previous thread when I was arguing about new screens quality and all, of course I was branded a nay sayer and a troll and whatnot. Dont you think thats alarming? DECLARED ALPHA... as if we just entered alpha stage with DAI and we haaaav aaaall the time we want to squeeze alpha AND BETA into 4 months?
Colour me buffeled.
I'm afraid DAI will be a swiss cheese ridden with holes that they did not have the time to work on as much as it was needed 'coz - those bad, bad publishers with their excell sheets...
In a result DAI might be uncomplicated, full of missing content, barren and just good looking.
This coming after someone had tweeted Cameron who said this is pretty normal. You did not give the impression of asking "Is this enough time?" You gave the impression "This is alarming because it's not enough time" as well as "This timetable is different than that of other games." So that's why I was asking you how much time we needed, because it seemed like you knew how much time we should have, because your first post made it pretty clear that you didn't feel it was enough time. I mean, you literally ask if there's a new timetable for alpha/beta, which tells me that you know what the timetable should be, and that our current one is wrong.
Hence why I was asking questions. No, you didn't make yourself clear... you weren't asking questions, you were making declarations.
In the future, if you are looking for the answer for a question, be quick and concise: "Will you have enough time for Alpha and Beta? This seems really late to me" instead of going on about how we're using a new timetable for alpha and beta that you're not aware of. When you say that, you're telling me that you are aware of some other timetable. I was curious what that was.
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