The bèta of the demo is on the way

My work on this game is finally about to pay off.
I already finished one entire playthrough test of game and except for a few rough edges I could fix in less than a minute per issue, it was quite a success. The second test is almost done as well. After that a few fixes will also be done and then a third test.

If no setbacks come at the end of this test or during the final alpha test, the game can enter the beta.

Who can beta test?

Anyone can. If you recognize a bug when you see one, you’re cool. ;)
The beta will be open for everybody within or outside of gamejolt.

Will the beta be hosted on GameJolt?

No. I will only host it on a special set up GitHub repository. You can either use the git tool to download it, or use the github feature to download the beta as a .zip
Only the stable release will be hosted on GameJolt.

Why?

1. First of all technical reasons. Uploading to GameJolt is quite complex and takes a lot of time. Once git is set up file I can upload/download in a very short time. During the beta test, the game may undergo a lot of bugfixes and stuff, and having to update the beta on GJ will really work counterproductive for this reason.

2. I don’t wish to confuse people downloading a game finding bugs and issues common for beta versions and who are going to hate the game just because they never realized this was beta. Of course I’m pretty sure some bugs will survive into the first stable release (unavoidable in a big project such as this) but the more stable it is the better. And like I said, re-uploading the game for every tiny fix is going to be a very time-consuming process.

Can I download the beta already?

No, I said that I was close to preparing the beta.
However in the meantime you can download the alpha version if you have trouble waiting.

Do you have an ETA for the demo?

“It’s done when it’s done.”
I never dare to set any ETAs as I know I can rarely make them, but if I didn’t think it was “soon” I wouldn’t have posted this announcement. :)

What kind of trouble are you still dealing with before releasing the beta?

Most of the bugs/issues/todos are pretty minor and might not take the fun of the game away at all. Only a few of them can however still crash the game and thus need to be taken care of. Even though they crash the game, these are no big issues and will not require me too much work. Still I want them to be fixed before the beta will be prepared.

For which systems is the game going to be released?

Windows and Mac.
I apologize to Linux users in advance, but I cannot get the game compiled in Linux at all.
Of course, the BlitzMax compiler has become free recently, so any Linux user who want to try to get the BlitzMax sources compiled for me as very welcome to do so as the game is open source, however due to security reasons I cannot giveout the code handing the GJ API, meaning the Linux version will then not be able to put the achievements you scored online.

The alpha version didn’t support the GJ API. Will the beta do so?

Yes!
Though as a security measure savegames saved in the alpha will not load in the beta/stable version and vice versa.

I’m pretty good in the English/Dutch language. May I search the game for spelling errors?

By all means, do! Especially in the English version help on this is appreciated since English is not my native language (you may have guessed that my native language is Dutch), and besides since this game is a scenario based game spelling errors easily pop in.
People playing the Dutch version of the game should take in mind that only the text popping up in scenario textboxes will be translated. Item and ability names and system menus and such will in both version be in English.

Lastly

Well if you are interested than simply follow this game, as I will announce it when the beta is open. If you have any question this news article did not yet cover please ask them in the comment section below this article or on my issue tracker.

I hope to welcome you soon in the open beta.

Jeroen