A few big titles went into “beta” state this past week. Traditionally, a game will go through several phases in development: early “alpha” builds are usually only seen by the game studio and are the most flexible in terms of adding or removing features and content; early “beta” builds are nearing the finished product and become either “closed betas” or limited access or “open betas” for anyone to play. An “open beta” is near completion, but the studio wants as much public feedback as possible AND wants to stress-test their server capacity for multi-player features.
Lately, it seems like people are confusing “open beta” with “demo” which are also open to the public before a big game is released. Demos, like the name implies, are available to let potential customers get their hands on a game and see if they like it. This can help generate hype and drive up pre-order numbers.
The first big “beta” to open to the public last week was “Evolve” from Turtle Rock Studios. This is the same studio that developed Left 4 Dead 2, and features a unique twist to the 4-player co-op experience: a 5th player competes against the other 4 player “hunter” characters as the giant monster they are trying to trap! The monster begins each match as an imposing creature, but if it can evade the hunters long enough to consume smaller monsters populating the terrain, it can “evolve” into larger and deadlier variations!
This beta is clearly in its nearly-finished state, and Turtle Rock Studios is “rolling out” more features and access to different platforms as it gears up for the game’s release in February. (The Xbox One platform gets the beta on January 15th with “smaller technical test” betas starting on the 16th for PC and the 17th for PS4.) Speaking of that beta/demo confusion, downloading the beta from the Xbox Live Marketplace lists it as a “demo.”
Described as an “early access alpha” release on Steam, H1Z1 is a “zombie survival MMO” made by Sony Online Entertainment. In other words, expect it to come to the PS4! The “zombie survival MMO” genre is already represented by games like “Day Z” and “Rust” on PC, so this will be the first time something like that will appear on console. When it is ready.
Calling it a “beta” is not only wrong, it’s unfortunately not even close to that stage of development. As soon it was ready, people started streaming their experiences on twitch.tv and youtube – to unintentionally hilarious results. With no release date advertised, SOE can take as long as they want to fine tune H1Z1.
Hopefully, gamers and gaming enthusiasts will learn the differences between alphas, betas, and demos. Stay tuned to eBash Bits and Bytes for more stories about upcoming games!
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