Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Concerning Alpha and Beta Testing

As Alpha and Beta testers, while we will get to see the game before the rest of the world, we have the opportunity to help Larian with the finishing touches.

Beta testing is not to be confused with a product that is free of bugs and ready for public distribution. Expect the game to have bugs that will cause crashes, quests to be broken, monsters to stop giving xp, traits and skills not working, etc. These are not intentional, it is just the nature of a very complex computer program being built and nearing completion.

Alpha testing - expect most of the severe bugs to be found here. Don't be surprised if the game cannot even be loaded on most computers at first. We'll find most of the graphical glitches and FPS problems here too. The game is being tested on many more computers then what Larian has access to.

You are a backer to what will be one of the best RPGs in a long time. 10 years down the road, when you are comparing this game with the latest RPGs that just plain stink, you can brag that you were a backer to help the developers build it. People will still be talking about this game because they still talk about Sword of Lies (A.k.A. Divine Divinity) which was released about 10 years ago.

In the end, our efforts and feedback will result in a solid game release that will hopefully require very little post-production patching. There shouldn't be any articles with user complaints about the game not running properly or quests breaking.

As fans and backers, it is up to us to keep supporting Larian and ensure this game is as successful as possible when it is finally completed!

LightningLockey, I just love your devotion, and I hope that the alpha and beta testing will prove to be very fruitful indeed.

LightningLockey, hear, hear!

I've seen people getting Beta so that they get to "play" the game early.. which is very disappointing as they're going to complain about the game being broken. I pledged for the Beta tier so I can help them perfect what is going to be one of the greatest games of our generation..

Being a beta-tester is a lot of work, it is your "duty" to help Larian improving their game, they need you to make the game as perfect as possible (perfection does not exist in video games unefortunately).

Even if you just want to play around with the alpha/beta, it probably wouldn't be terribly hard to come up with some issue or suggestion, or discover a bug / exploit / etc just by playing. Something everyone does, or the order that they do it, is going to be unique, so you don't necessarily have to specifically try to break any game systems, etc, to find issues. Even just giving feedback on your playstyle and character build will help Larian balance the game and adjust the difficulty levels, etc.

Of course if people have the time and inclination to put more into the alpha/beta testing, that would be great. I'm just saying that small contributions do add up, and will help make the game better and more polished.

yeah even a small contribution is good but I mean people should not just think "ok we will play game before everyone else and spoil them !!" beta testing is (usually) about helping devloppers to fix all the last details before the release, so it is more about contributing in finishing the game than playing a final version of the game

They said that even if you don't give feedback, the alpha/beta versions have some stuff built in that sends information back. But when the time comes, the dev's will probably provide us with directions and such, like the desired format for bug reports.

With that in mind, I'd suggest giving out cheat keys to alpha/beta key holders like what David (Forktong) is usually doing when he is with a youtube personality. I'm seeing a lot of bugs when I'm cheating to other games not that because I'm cheating to break the game but for fun. I usually cheat after I finish the game though but it might be a different scenario when I'm play testing D:OS.

Anyways, cheers alpha/beta bug seekers!

EDIT: To add, Larian should give out a unique forum title for those bug hunters for their efforts.

Chaotica;
Of course. People should not approach it like playing a released game, but playing the alpha/beta, contributing feedback, etc, shouldn't feel like work, either.


Henryv;
I assume the alpha, at least, could include cheat functions. The pre-release version of Divinity 2 contained cheat codes (which someone eventually was able to expose, before the release of the Developer's Cut officially included that and more). D:OS builds shown in the gameplay videos contain at least cheats to level characters, resurrect party members and instantly kill opponents. Allowing levelling, stat boosts, unlimited gold, etc, could reduce the usefulness of feedback on game balance and progression, though that wouldn't necessarily mean that such cheats wouldn't be available.
If the beta is close to a release candidate, cheats could be removed/disabled.

Yeah should definitely contain something to help you get out of stuck situations etc.
Also if the balancing isn't quite right yet..

I guess one thing which may help is to classify people into different groups depending on how "good" they are at turn based combat.

For example I'm definitely not a "hardcore" mode player usually. Meaning I usually suck pretty badly and enjoy playing either easy or normal. In that sense I guess I'm more of a casual player.

There are other folks who will jump straight into hardcore and will complain if the game is too easy.

To get the right game balance though they will need to take both casual and hardcore gamers into consideration. So bucketing them by experience etc may be a good thing

Good points, Garod!

I think I will act like a normally do the first playthrough, then for others I will start doing and testing more crazy stuff: trying to walk where I'm not supposed to, taking quests in weird orders, using items and item combos in weird ways, moving objects like a maniac, and using spells quite experimentally.

I guess (hope) there will be different difficulty modes in the game, even in beta (perhaps not in alpha, but I guess so as well). And if you have problems with the balance (too easy even in high difficulty or too hard even in easy diffiulty) you should just be led to a form of "feedback message" which includes certain settings of your game like the difficulty mode, perhaps some hardware specs and things like that. I don't see a need (and a benefit) of categorizing people into different "skill" groups even before the beta testing. That won't be much accurate and you also won't be able to address the problems in the right fashion.

Honestly, one of the biggest reasons why I'm interested in Beta testing this game but not so many others is because of the editor. In beta I'll be more familiar with the game so that by the time it's completed, I'll have a solid understanding of what the game's working on.

I think Raze said that editor will be released with the game.

Missed it :<

I hope someone will share it privately

Missed what? Alpha/beta access should be available from the Larian Vault when it is upgraded to be able to manage Kickstarter/Paypal tier rewards and add-ons.

Cheat codes are not necessary in beta testing from our end. We should first focus on how the game is meant to be played. That is the primary concern, it will limit on what Larian needs to fix. Larian is still expected to release the game towards the end of the year or early next year. If all the bugs are some-how discovered and fixed, then they might have time to fix bugs that appear only when cheats are enabled.

Larian can always release an update to enable cheats at a later date.

Just try to have fun in a beta. If you encounter stuff/bugs that stops you from having fun or is downright weird: Report it. That's really all there is to it.

I just bought (pre-ordered) the new laptop (Windows 8) that will be released for MSI just to play/play testing D:OS. Since my old laptop is 4 years old, it is time for an upgrade to a better one. Hopefully, I could also get my hands on the DC beta keys.



Cheat codes are optional and it is being done already by Forktong (David) when he was introducing the game to some youtube personality. I believe cheat codes can be put to use when testing the balance of the game and should be available from the start of the testing. What is the most powerful build, will it destroy the game, will it make the game easier or will enemies be too hardcore like the final boss of ego draconis as some people complained. Also, if you've watched the youtube presentation of quill, you'll notice that David killed off two guards with cheat due to path finding issues of the guards. With cheat, we could kill some game crashing issues such as the one I've just stated inside the game and continue on with bug hunting.

Imo cheats are a minefield for testing especially for "unexperienced" testers. Example: you die and cheat yourself back. What happens? Enemies won't recognize you because the believe you are still dead. People could report that as a bug. But is it?

I don't think cheats should be available for beta. But perhaps some "controlled" trainer program from Larian with which you could change settings for a new game (like your starting level/stats).