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[jsh357]

Announcement here, with some schedule info: http://forum.makingfun.com/showthread.php?6525-Dominion-2-0-Closed-beta-has-begun&p=33194#post33194

[Beyond Awesome]

Looking forward to this

[Witherweaver]

Do they have a formal signup for the wide-availability stage?

[Mic Qsenoch]

Do they have a formal signup for the wide-availability stage?

As usual, one can send the checks directly to jsh.

[SCSN]

The launch version is about 80% feature complete

I'm impressed, that's a tenfold improvement over the 1.0 edition.

[-Stef-]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

[Witherweaver]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

Can you tell us anything about the closed beta?

[jsh357]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

Can you tell us anything about the closed beta?

We can tell you that we're part of it.

[-Stef-]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

Can you tell us anything about the closed beta?

Yes off course.

Fact 1: It's closed.
Fact 2: It's beta.

[Witherweaver]

I'm afraid I believe none of this without screenshots.

[Rubby]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

Can you tell us anything about the closed beta?

Yes off course.

Fact 1: It's closed.
Fact 2: It's beta.

Fact 3: Stef is part of it

[Kirian]

OK, well, it's 01 May and not April.  So likely not just an elaborate hoax.

[Hugovj]

 

[DavidTheDavid]

Ya, some of the folks here were contacted by the lead developer, Jeff aka LordHumanton. The closed beta will move to open beta, which is detailed in the post jsh linked in his original post.

[werothegreat]

Ya, some of the folks here were contacted by the lead developer, Jeff aka LordHumanton. The closed beta will move to open beta, which is detailed in the post jsh linked in his original post.

How soon can we expect that?  I know it said "May", but as Kirian said, it's already May, so... are we talking a couple days?  A week?  Two weeks?  Memorial Day?

[DavidTheDavid]

Ya, some of the folks here were contacted by the lead developer, Jeff aka LordHumanton. The closed beta will move to open beta, which is detailed in the post jsh linked in his original post.

How soon can we expect that?  I know it said "May", but as Kirian said, it's already May, so... are we talking a couple days?  A week?  Two weeks?  Memorial Day?

The honest answer is, I don't know. I don't know how much flexibility they are putting into the schedule, but I'm sure they want some wiggle room.

[pingpongsam]

The linked statement reads pretty believably.

[theblankman]

The linked statement reads pretty believably.

That's cause it's real, I'm in it too.  And I can tell you that it's closed.  And it's a beta.  And Stef is in it. 

[DG]

I'm not in this closed beta so I'm going to make one request of the new beta testers. After Goko finished their beta they did eventually realize that they were not very professional in how they ran their beta tests. I'm assuming that Making Fun are a going to run a much better beta test, but if they don't can someone let them know sooner rather than later please. A lot of beta testers will be wasting their time if the feedback appears to go into a black hole, as it did with Goko.

[blueblimp]

I'm not in this closed beta so I'm going to make one request of the new beta testers. After Goko finished their beta they did eventually realize that they were not very professional in how they ran their beta tests. I'm assuming that Making Fun are a going to run a much better beta test, but if they don't can someone let them know sooner rather than later please. A lot of beta testers will be wasting their time if the feedback appears to go into a black hole, as it did with Goko.

The most severe early problems got addressed, from what I remember. For example, at the start, shuffling was bugged (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=3948.0), the server didn't verify client actions (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=4095.0), and KC-KC-duration would replay the duration too many times (no link because it must have only been posted on the official beta forums). All of that got fixed by the time of the (first) launch, I think, although that launch was retracted anyway because of server problems. I think they just had no time to address any feedback that wasn't game-breaking and didn't have a quick fix.

[jsh357]

Do they have a formal signup for the wide-availability stage?

As usual, one can send the checks directly to jsh.

There's no need to send checks.  Cards will do.  I also accept American Express.

[DG]

I'm not in this closed beta so I'm going to make one request of the new beta testers. After Goko finished their beta they did eventually realize that they were not very professional in how they ran their beta tests. I'm assuming that Making Fun are a going to run a much better beta test, but if they don't can someone let them know sooner rather than later please. A lot of beta testers will be wasting their time if the feedback appears to go into a black hole, as it did with Goko.

The most severe early problems got addressed, from what I remember. For example, at the start, shuffling was bugged (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=3948.0), the server didn't verify client actions (http://forum.dominionstrategy.com/index.php?topic=4095.0), and KC-KC-duration would replay the duration too many times (no link because it must have only been posted on the official beta forums). All of that got fixed by the time of the (first) launch, I think, although that launch was retracted anyway because of server problems. I think they just had no time to address any feedback that wasn't game-breaking and didn't have a quick fix.

I'm not talking about bugs. I'm talking about the beta process itself.

[-Stef-]

I'm not in this closed beta so I'm going to make one request of the new beta testers. After Goko finished their beta they did eventually realize that they were not very professional in how they ran their beta tests. I'm assuming that Making Fun are a going to run a much better beta test, but if they don't can someone let them know sooner rather than later please. A lot of beta testers will be wasting their time if the feedback appears to go into a black hole, as it did with Goko.

I think you have a good point and I will keep it in mind. I'll try to be a good beta-tester for a couple of weeks, and then evaluate what is actually done with my bug reports and recommendations.

[SCSN]

The one favor I'd like to ask of the Beta testers is to make sure they provide enough lobbies. On Goko you sometimes have to share them with multiple people!

[Mr.Oatmeal]

Wonderful...  Now that Adventures is out, the elite formers will have something new to dangle over our heads and create new cryptic messages about.  I call that Bacon Cheeseburger is going to stand for the Kingsom Design feature.
 

[LastFootnote]

Wonderful...  Now that Adventures is out, the elite formers will have something new to dangle over our heads and create new cryptic messages about.  I call that Bacon Cheeseburger is going to stand for the Kingsom Design feature.
 

Dude, which part of this beta test do you think will be fun? It's going to be finding and reporting bugs.

[Mr.Oatmeal]

Wonderful...  Now that Adventures is out, the elite formers will have something new to dangle over our heads and create new cryptic messages about.  I call that Bacon Cheeseburger is going to stand for the Kingsom Design feature.
 

Dude, which part of this beta test do you think will be fun? It's going to be finding and reporting bugs.

Fair enough.  Just interested in what's in store...

[Seprix]

I'd join that.

[werothegreat]

I'd join that.

I'm sure we'll be able to in a couple weeks.

[Drab Emordnilap]

Pretty sure this must all be a hoax, because I didn't receive an invite.

:p

[yed]

Who else is beta tester? How many beta testers is there?

[EgorK]

The one favor I'd like to ask of the Beta testers is to make sure they provide enough lobbies. On Goko you sometimes have to share them with multiple people!

And I just hope that there would be one global lobby and then people can create private ones

[Kirian]

This showed up over at Pocket Tactics, where the original Dominion Online was their disappointment of the year... for 2012.  Hard to believe it's been that long.

[pedroluchini]

This showed up over at Pocket Tactics, where the original Dominion Online was their disappointment of the year... for 2012.  Hard to believe it's been that long.

Why settle for Disappointment of the Year when you can be Disappointment of the Decade?

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

This showed up over at Pocket Tactics, where the original Dominion Online was their disappointment of the year... for 2012.  Hard to believe it's been that long.

I've said it before, this stuff is hard.

[Young Nick]

Woah. Color me an optimist but this sounds promising. A better UI/UX would definitely get me playing Dominion more often than I currently do.

[Beyond Awesome]

This showed up over at Pocket Tactics, where the original Dominion Online was their disappointment of the year... for 2012.  Hard to believe it's been that long.

Why settle for Disappointment of the Year when you can be Disappointment of the Decade?

I won't go that far if mf manages to deliver. I sure wonder what things look like on the end of the beta testers

[werothegreat]

I've been invited to the beta, and that's all I can say.

[pacovf]

I haven't been invited to the beta. I will answer all questions.

[Awaclus]

I haven't been invited to the beta. I will answer all questions.

What is the meaning of life?

[pacovf]

That one is easy. It's the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

[A Drowned Kernel]

That one is easy. It's the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

Do viruses count?

[pacovf]

The last condition clearly excludes viruses, so no.

[Awaclus]

That one is easy. It's the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death.

You were supposed to make the Moat joke. 

[qmech]

Nobody is supposed to make the Moat joke.

[HiveMindEmulator]

I just agreed to say nothing about the closed beta beyond the fact that I'm part of it.
So here I am saying absolutely nothing except that I'm part of it

Can you tell us anything about the closed beta?

Yes off course.

Fact 1: It's closed.
Fact 2: It's beta.

This looks like a violation of NDA.

[Witherweaver]

I haven't been invited to the beta. I will answer all questions.

Why didn't I get invited?  Should I question my choices in life?

[A Drowned Kernel]

Is this question rhetorical?

[pacovf]

Why didn't I get invited?  Should I question my choices in life?

Because of your avatar, and yes.

Is this question rhetorical?

No.

[jamfamsam]

I can neither confirm nor deny that I am part of the beta tests.

[enfynet]

I've been invited to the beta, and that's all I can say.

So now you're better than us? Is that it?

(You can stream without saying anything... No one will ever know.)

[Seprix]

Man, I'd like to be a part of this beta.

[Sidsel]

This beta be good..

[Kirian]

Why beta?

So we go through three phases:  alpha, beta, release.  It would make a lot more sense as a countdown: beta, then alpha, then release.  You could then even give names to earlier development stages ("Our game's in theta right now." "So... you don't even have a concept?").

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Man, I'd like to be a part of this beta.

So you're saying you'd like to be mo beta?

[DavidTheDavid]

The closed beta folks who've been active have provided some fantastic feedback. This forum has some pretty awesome players who also have a lot of insight into the history of the online builds of this game and what makes for good play. I know once open beta starts and more of you can pile on, it will be really fruitful. So yeah, hats off to such a strong community here.

[liopoil]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

But seriously, that's great to hear.

[DavidTheDavid]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

But seriously, that's great to hear.

Ya, I don't know what kind of "return rate" was expected on the invites, but we went through two rounds of invites. If LordHumanton needs more, he'll probably reach out again. But open beta shouldn't be too far off, and then it's a free for all.

[Emeric]

No more news about the closed beta, the open beta, the june opening service on the 2.0 ?

[Polk5440]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

Yeah, that is a little infuriating, actually. I did the beta for Goko Dominion, and would have liked to do this one, too. I am still hoping to participate in the open beta.

[jsh357]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

Yeah, that is a little infuriating, actually. I did the beta for Goko Dominion, and would have liked to do this one, too. I am still hoping to participate in the open beta.

They are getting/have gotten feedback, rest assured.  I can't speak for every single tester, of course.

[Deadlock39]

I'm sure if they weren't getting enough activity from those involved they would extend more invitations.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Man, you must really be an optimist of the highest order.

[Awaclus]

I'm sure if they weren't getting enough activity from those involved they would extend more invitations.

If the testers aren't complaining, the product must be good already.

[Drab Emordnilap]

Please let's remember that Making Fun is not Goko -- the sins of your brother be not the sins of yourself.

[Kirian]

I'm sure if they weren't getting enough activity from those involved they would extend more invitations.

If the testers aren't complaining, the product must be good already.

Or the product has killed every tester so far.  50/50 shot or so.

[werothegreat]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

[Kirian]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

[werothegreat]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

Ugh, to the public, not to the developers.  Although I also can't say how talkative we've been to them either.

[yed]

There must be a lot of issues, otherwise they would probably already opened the beta...

[Kirian]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

Ugh, to the public, not to the developers.  Although I also can't say how talkative we've been to them either.

When Hearthstone was in closed beta, people were live-streaming it.  NDAs are so far from the new normal as to be suspicious, except in cases where IP is involved, and all of the IP of Dominion is already out there.  If it's not good enough to let us hear about it, it's better to not announce the existence of a beta test.

[sudgy]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

Okay, you saying "recent memory" made me think you were making a joke about how he said "bear in mind", like, there's a bear in your mind, and, uh...

I'll go now...

[Throwaway_bicycling]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

I am certain they won't go to a final release without the crucial improvements to the "opponent topdecks a card with Watchtower" animation where your expertise is of the utmost importance.

[jaketheyak]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

Ugh, to the public, not to the developers.  Although I also can't say how talkative we've been to them either.

When Hearthstone was in closed beta, people were live-streaming it.  NDAs are so far from the new normal as to be suspicious, except in cases where IP is involved, and all of the IP of Dominion is already out there.  If it's not good enough to let us hear about it, it's better to not announce the existence of a beta test.

Really? Blizzard is the yard-stick?
Man, I got an invitation to Blizzard's most recent closed beta on the basis of my Hearthstone account, which has only a few hours total playing time.
And I got beta keys to give to four friends.
Which is to say that a Blizzard closed beta is about as close to a public beta as you can get.

There are all sorts of reasons for an NDA, beyond protecting IP.
The main one I can think of is that you don't want beta testers complaining about issues with the game that won't make it into the final version, giving potential customers the wrong impression.
Like if they start saying "they've still got the stupid lobby system" we might start to think that MF haven't listened to our feedback on that issue, when in fact a replacement matchmaking system is due to be rolled out tomorrow.

We're all keen to hear how awesome the new version is, which is precisely why the beta testers shouldn't be talking about it until it actually is sufficiently awesome.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

We're all keen to hear see how awesome the new version is, which is precisely why the beta testers shouldn't be talking about it until it actually is sufficiently awesome because seeing is believing.

FTFY

[Seprix]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

I am certain they won't go to a final release without the crucial improvements to the "opponent topdecks a card with Watchtower" animation where your expertise is of the utmost importance.

So you're saying once a Goko, always a Goko?

[liopoil]

The closed beta folks who've been active

...So some of the closed beta folks haven't been active and so are stealing precious spots from us who didn't get one? 

I am certain they won't go to a final release without the crucial improvements to the "opponent topdecks a card with Watchtower" animation where your expertise is of the utmost importance.

I would like it if they made the opponent press 'done revealing reactions' whenever they have a reaction in their deck, even if it isn't in hand, so that you can't tell if they have watchtower in hand or not. But actually that might be more annoying than useful.

[Kirian]

Bear in mind that the testers can't say anything, whether it be praising or complaining.

Which makes it one of the strangest closed betas in recent memory.

Ugh, to the public, not to the developers.  Although I also can't say how talkative we've been to them either.

When Hearthstone was in closed beta, people were live-streaming it.  NDAs are so far from the new normal as to be suspicious, except in cases where IP is involved, and all of the IP of Dominion is already out there.  If it's not good enough to let us hear about it, it's better to not announce the existence of a beta test.

Really? Blizzard is the yard-stick?

No, because--ignoring, for the moment, console-focused publishers--PC-game and online game publishers are having somewhat open alpha phases, and many are even allowing buy-in during the "closed" beta.  Making Fun is much closer in scale to, say, Kerbal Space Program or Prismata than to Blizzard.

We're all keen to hear how awesome the new version is, which is precisely why the beta testers shouldn't be talking about it until it actually is sufficiently awesome.

Though SFS's reply to this above is also correct, my point earlier was that they should not have made the existence of the beta public until it was sufficiently awesome for the beta testers to actually discuss it.

[SwitchedFromStarcraft]

Making Fun is much closer in scale to, say, Kerbal Space Program or Prismata than to Blizzard.

Which is why it has been so hard for them to deal with log-in issues, server capacities etc.  Serving 400 players at a time has got to be more difficult and more resource intensive than serving 1,000,000 players at a time, right? Cause there are no economies of scale. 

[jaketheyak]

No, because--ignoring, for the moment, console-focused publishers--PC-game and online game publishers are having somewhat open alpha phases, and many are even allowing buy-in during the "closed" beta.  Making Fun is much closer in scale to, say, Kerbal Space Program or Prismata than to Blizzard.

But it's not even about scale. Those games are using a fully open public alpha/beta model as a way to launch new games.
It's more to do with marketing than testing.

MF are running a closed beta to test a new version of a currently available game.
It would run completely counter to their marketing aims to make an unpolished version widely available.

Though SFS's reply to this above is also correct, my point earlier was that they should not have made the existence of the beta public until it was sufficiently awesome for the beta testers to actually discuss it.

I can't really get behind the concept that no info is better than some info.
I agree that it's frustrating that we don't know more, but I'm still happy that we know that the project has at least progressed as far as it has.

[Lord Humanton]

Hi,

The reason for the beta test is to get testing and bug reports/feedback. The reason for it being private is it's not ready for being public. You know, still alpha, feature-incomplete, in-progress. It doesn't help anybody to have mountains of forums discussing how much features X and Y suck when we know X and Y are only half done. It's actually a big distraction from development. Better to get a bit further first. This is also Donald's view, and most likely, you probably first read the Adventures cards when he previewed them after the game was manufactured.

That said... we are trying out this crazy idea of getting testers involved in the process as soon as it is possible. Right now there are a limited number of slots, because processing all the feedback takes time away from development also. If you are interested in joining the closed beta test, you promise to keep it secret, you have an email+password login on your account (not Facebook/Google+/Twitter for right now), you're playing on Windows, MacOS, or Linux, and you'd find it interesting to play on a feature-incomplete system, please message me this info: your name, your email, your Dominion Online login (if different from your email), your Making Fun forum name (create one if you don't have it), and what OS you are on. I'll add the first 25 complete replies.

Or you could just wait, because in a couple weeks we'll open up the beta for everybody to test. :-)

Right now we are only testing Windows, MacOS, and Linux native builds. We'll start focusing on finalizing the web builds in mid-June and then move on to finalizing builds for tablets.

[Seprix]

Hi,

The reason for the beta test is to get testing and bug reports/feedback. The reason for it being private is it's not ready for being public. You know, still alpha, feature-incomplete, in-progress. It doesn't help anybody to have mountains of forums discussing how much features X and Y suck when we know X and Y are only half done. It's actually a big distraction from development. Better to get a bit further first. This is also Donald's view, and most likely, you probably first read the Adventures cards when he previewed them after the game was manufactured.

That said... we are trying out this crazy idea of getting testers involved in the process as soon as it is possible. Right now there are a limited number of slots, because processing all the feedback takes time away from development also. If you are interested in joining the closed beta test, you promise to keep it secret, you have an email+password login on your account (not Facebook/Google+/Twitter for right now), you're playing on Windows, MacOS, or Linux, and you'd find it interesting to play on a feature-incomplete system, please message me this info: your name, your email, your Dominion Online login (if different from your email), your Making Fun forum name (create one if you don't have it), and what OS you are on. I'll add the first 25 complete replies.

Or you could just wait, because in a couple weeks we'll open up the beta for everybody to test. :-)

Right now we are only testing Windows, MacOS, and Linux native builds. We'll start focusing on finalizing the web builds in mid-June and then move on to finalizing builds for tablets.

Yo, I'm all down on this. Take your time, a delayed good product is better than a shoddy one on time.

[Lord Humanton]

If you are interested in joining the closed beta test...

I'll accept people and email them details on Monday.

Or you could just wait, because in a couple weeks we'll open up the beta for everybody to test. :-)

I've posted a summary of our roadmap here:
http://forum.makingfun.com/showthread.php?6715-Version-2-Coming&p=34309#post34309