Sacred 2 Beta Testing Experience

[ka243 3]

I was curious about this, how did you get recruited to be beta testers and what was the testing process like?

Did you only report bugs or did you get to give feedback on other areas like balance?

Did you do all testing from home and using your own computer hardware?

Was there any beta testing for ice & blood expansion or for console versions?

[Llama8 8]

Only the mods from the SIF will be able to answer this, as the others will be under an NDA.

 

how did you get recruited to be beta testers and what was the testing process like?

We got an email from Ascaron asking if we wanted to become testers, generally, being knowledgeable & helpful on the SIF is/was more likely to get an invite for the beta. Additionally, for Sacred 2 there was an open invitation for testers a while ago.

The testing process varied, sometimes it was good when the devs had more time to discuss things with us, other times (especially towardsd the end when they were shedding staff) it wasn't so good. Most of the time it's good, since you can submit bugs, discuss them with the devs & then see things changed, but it can be frustraiting when a bug is submitted & then "fixed" only for it to re-appear in subsequent builds. The speed with which devs get out builds can affect this as well, getting new builds out quickly is good for checking for/fixing specific bugs, but it's not good for testing balance in anything other than early-game. Also, so much changes early on (features added, etc) that save games often weren't compatible with the next build which was frustraiting as well (especially if you're trying to test the main quest). It's also frustraiting when they've not finished implimenting your favourite character yet (the Temple Guardian), or when they change things on you quite a lot (like life leach not working on non-weapon-based Combat Arts), but it's great when you ask for a feature & they impliment it (like the controls for minions ).

Over all it was enjoyable & certainly opens your eyes as to a normally closed world. I'd do it again for an aRPG, but it's not always a bed of roses, you're not playing a game, you're testing software & trying to break it.

 

Did you only report bugs or did you get to give feedback on other areas like balance?

Both, while we may have given feedback on balance, the devs were the ultimate arbiters of what they wanted, we could talk about Combat Art/monster/etc X being overpowered/underpowered till we were blue in the face if they disagreed with us. Ultimately it's a balance, if devs stop listening to testers, testers are less likely to give feedback (which is the entire purpose of a beta), but if testers don't "take the hint" & keep on ####ing about stuff, they'll either be ignored or kicked.

 

Did you do all testing from home and using your own computer hardware?

Yes, since you're not going to be flown to/from wherever Studio 2 was based. Another reason for having a beta with normal players (albeit fans) is to test the software on a wider range of hardware.

 

Was there any beta testing for ice & blood expansion or for console versions?

Yes there was testing for Ice & Blood, quite a lot in fact. Console testing was handled separately as it requires specialised hardware (apparently).