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[SolarShado]

anybody know when DF will officially progress from alpha to beta? I know that 100 COREs will make v1.0, but does beta start then or before?

[JoshuaFH]

excuse me for my density, but what is the difference between Alpha and Beta? and what are COREs?

[Qloos]

A game usually switches from alpha to beta when all the core components are done but not everything is tweaked or added to complete the game.

[Kardos]

In perpetuation of the India-test site theory.
DF actually had a pre-alpha beta.  Thus the subcontinent of India was created.
But ya, the beta is generally the 'completed' game, but it misses some extra components, and is also where the final bug testing takes place before the official 'finished' release version.
For a game like Dwarf Fortress however, the beta will probably be when the entire dev list is finished.  In it will most likely be Toady's optimization of the code in preparation for DF v2.00.  I can hardly wait the 20 years it will take to get there!

There, that's enough rumor generation from me! 

[Mr.Person]

Games going into beta usually enact a feature freeze. 100% bugfixes and tweaking from there, unless major gameplay problems show up.

Honestly, I doubt DF will ever leave alpha. Toady will be adding features to DF on his last day of work.

[Tormy]

A game usually switches from alpha to beta when all the core components are done but not everything is tweaked or added to complete the game.

This, so basically "beta should start" near the release of v1.0
Even tho, this makes no sense in a game like DF, since Toady is fixing bugs after each major releases anyway + the game is donationware.

[Christes]

Yeah I don't think the traditional model of software development fits DF at all.

[SolarShado]

All good points. This summs it up i think:

Yeah I don't think the traditional model of software development fits DF at all.

In hindsight, it feels like a stupid question. Most software is finished before it's even released, DF's been in "beta testing" for, um... a while, so yeah....

Any idea if toady'll ever change the "alpha" to "beta" or remove itn entirely? Or ya thing he'll just call it alpha till he "finishes" it? (If he ever does! )

[Karlito]

I've been under the impression that when the Version 1 Arcs are completed the game will switch to beta.  Then we'll be seeing some of the far future goals (if we live that long).

[motorbitch]

jeah, like toady sayed that the army arc has a eta of 2040, so we can expect 2056.

[Sergius]

My understanding of the release cycle as it applies to conventional software companies is like this:
Alpha: very early testing stages. not stable at all. testing is normally done with a select group of people, generally working inside the company.
Beta: more or less feature freeze. a lot of bugs are ironed out, testing is generally open to the public (public beta) or more selective (beta testers). Avoiding introducing more bugs by adding features is usually avoided.
Release Candidate: this is the "final" version, UNLESS some bugs are found (they usually are). then the Release Candidate 2 is made public, and so on. Once a version is satisfactory, it simply gets renamed to Final (without any other changes).

Of course, in the open-source community the whole "testing is done inside/outside/by employees" doesn't make much sense. But yeah a Beta is when the game is more or less the way you finally want it but it's still full of bugs. During Alpha, anything goes: breaking save compatibility, removing lots of features nobody cares about, or even scrapping the whole thing and starting over.