How/Where do Devs Alpha Test Their Games?

FranceToast

Active Member
Donor
Jul 31, 2018
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Do people ask here on F95Zone for alpha testers? Reddit? I mean people who are willing to try out a very preliminary version of a game mostly for Ren'py type bugs, etc?
 

polywog

Forum Fanatic
May 19, 2017
4,065
6,294
I suggested a "Demos" category here, to reduce the number of abandoned games, but It was rejected by the evil TCMS

I pleaded on the new devs behalf, "they need guidance, instead of haters telling them that their hopes and dreams suck"
Their spirit crushed, before the project even got off the ground. Could have been a good game with a little encouragement, and constructive advice, but no, Instead it was happlessly tossed into the Games category to fend for itself. The poor v.001 didn't stand a chance against the barrage of insults... "your game no worky" "need walkthrough, where's the beef"
even if the game struggled and survived the attacks, it could never shake those first pages of brutal comments in the game thread. visitors read those comments, even after the game is completed, and choose not to play because the first comment says the game is broken. :(

Is it really too hard to make a demos page for the poor innocent little critters, where they can be nurtured and grow up before tossing them into the wild to be eaten by predators? Give them half a chance to survive.
cute-baby-animals-49.jpg 84632887.jpg
4.jpg
 

Avaron1974

Resident Lesbian
Aug 22, 2018
25,858
89,137
Usually they either ask patrons or people they know.

I beta test a couple of games for friends and help out in various ways with some other games for devs I know.

Some of them approached me on here others I know personally and chatted to me about it while getting drunk and before I knew it i'd agreed to work for free.
 
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Winterfire

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Game Developer
Sep 27, 2018
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I just test them myself, then if someone points out a bug I had not noticed, I fix it while I feel stupid for not noticing it myself.
 
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anne O'nymous

I'm not grumpy, I'm just coded that way.
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Jun 10, 2017
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As professional, I perform at least and try (I'm not serious enough with this) to also keep a tests suit for . And as Perl addict, in the same time I works on the draft of my game, I write an effective test library (based on ) for Ren'py, since Python, like too many languages, really lack of an effective library for this.
 

aphrodisia

Eccentric Empress
Game Developer
Jul 18, 2019
57
153
Do people ask here on F95Zone for alpha testers? Reddit? I mean people who are willing to try out a very preliminary version of a game mostly for Ren'py type bugs, etc?
I generally suggest asking Patreon patrons or good friends you have that like your game. One of my Patrons actually volunteered! Also game development Discords are an option.
 
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