178 réponses à ce sujet

[Hydromatic]

There is a LOT of butt hurt going on in this thread.

 

I dunno if i'd call one person being kind of an ******* "alot of butthurt"

[UltimateGohanSS]

I'm curious, how long before the actual release date of a game is it actually "done," no more editing or bug testing, but shipped off as the final copy for release? 

i m curious too.Does anyone know?

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I'm curious, how long before the actual release date of a game is it actually "done," no more editing or bug testing, but shipped off as the final copy for release? 

Most games go Gold between 6-8 weeks before release. 

[Allan Schumacher]

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.

[Hydromatic]

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.

Thank you for all the clarification Allan. Not everyone needs it, but thanks for atleast trying to enlighten the people who seem to have difficulty understanding all this.

[hangmans tree]

Same.

 
 
I'd love a source for that, because I have one right here.
 
While I personally don't really find this news (DA I going Alpha) exciting at all, there's no need to troll.

 

source: http://www.guru3d.co...k_review,9.html

Concluding then, as much as we like games to stress graphics cards we are a little puzzled. Watch Dogs is not a game that looks mouth-watering good, I mean it is nice and all, but it is just that. To see graphics card struggle this much over graphics memory is weird to see.

How about this:

http://leviathyn.com...much-pc-handle/

just one of MANY reports I've red so far about the problems cards encounter... so, who's trolling?

[Hydromatic]

source: http://www.guru3d.co...k_review,9.html

How about this:

http://leviathyn.com...much-pc-handle/

just one of MANY reports I've red so far about the problems cards encounter... so, who's trolling?

You're not trolling at all.

 

 

You are being a dick however.

[Al Foley]

At the risk of making a false comparison, though I think in this case it is vallid, for instance in my own projects my books don't go 'Alpha' until they are done.  But after I get through with each Chapter I go back and re read it and make a few minor corrections and try and catch the gramatical errors.  I am constantly editing my work to the best of my..admittedly limited...ability as I go along...there should be no reason the DA people can't do the same. 

[hangmans tree]

Most games go Gold between 6-8 weeks before release. 

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.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

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.

Yes. That's most companies timelines really.

[ElitePinecone]

 

This assumption is entirely flawed. There are gamers with the knowledge of develop cycles, how about deducting from previous productions? Tere are other studios which may or may not have a similar pattern and timetable. Furthermore there are people that have friends working at Bioware and they sometines reveal useful info.
 
IMHO informed opinion can be formed. Sometimes conversations like this brings those people to the table. But this is relative, we may argue ad finitum.

 

No. "People can have friends working at Bioware" is a ridiculous argument, by the way. 

 

Nobody here knows a single thing about the specifics of DAI's development.

 

How much of the game has already been tested? How big is the game? What is left to do on the project? Which features still need testing? How long does polishing take? What constitutes polishing? How many team members are working on the project? Are the cinematics done? Audio? Localisation? How long does internal certification take for Bioware titles? What do the stages alpha and beta functionally mean for Bioware titles?

 

Don't talk about timelines until you know the exact answers to all of those questions.

[jaethos]

Most games go Gold between 6-8 weeks before release.

Actually, many games don't go Gold until 3 or even 2 weeks before release date these days. Printing the discs takes little time and any packaging is made in advance. Digital takes even less time to get ready, obviously.

[lady_v23]

Bioware is slowly killing me every day

[coldwetn0se]

I don't work for a development company, and this is not a game that was made, so take this for nothing more than what it is.

I worked with a team who put together a content mod for ME3. The whole project took roughly 10 months. We started testing within about a month of development. And kept testing every time we add new content and made new fixes. By the time the project was complete, we had run through 7 test builds with our testing team, and minor testing by a select few on other aspects.

I don't claim to know the timeline of pre-alpha/alpha/beta for BW, but based on my small involvement with something game related, I am not concerned about their schedule. Congrats on the milestone.

Again, just my .02, based on my own very limited experience.

[ev76]

I can say with confidence based on what developers from bioware have said, according to their timeframes and how they seem to work things at their company that they are ok with this timeline.

[Pseudo the Mustachioed]

 

This assumption is entirely flawed. There are gamers with the knowledge of develop cycles, how about deducting from previous productions? Tere are other studios which may or may not have a similar pattern and timetable. Furthermore there are people that have friends working at Bioware and they sometines reveal useful info.
 
IMHO informed opinion can be formed. Sometimes conversations like this brings those people to the table. But this is relative, we may argue ad finitum.

 

as someone who began on bsn as just a fan and has since developed a game

you are incorrect, sir

[Thandal N'Lyman]

Having been in contact with BioWare Staff for the past several years, I can say that they are comfortable with the timeline, eager to show-off what's been accomplished to-date (can you say "E3"?)  and moving full-speed toward Oct 7 with the highest levels of enthusiam and dedication.

 

Will their hard work meet our expectations?  Here's hoping! 

[Andraste_Reborn]

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?

[Allan Schumacher]

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?

[Allan Schumacher]

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

[Deflagratio]

In the generation of "Early Access" and ubiquitous internet for patching, I have come to terms with the fact that "Beta" phase actually means: "It's ready to ship, you've got x weeks to sort as much out as possible beforehand."

[Andraste_Reborn]

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.