Lack of tests maybe hurt the final?

Post by **o'dium** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:02 pm

Every Quake game thus far has had a test, and those tests were used for feedback for the fianl game to polish it as good as possible, right?

Well, Doom 3 never had a test and it turned out complete tripe. Quake 4 hasn't had a test, and... Well its not gone down to well either...

Reckon that has something to do with it? How important do YOU think tests are and why?

IMHO, I feel an early test is very important. It gives you a new set of eyes that can see things that you cant.

Post by **Foo** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:16 pm

I would have liked a test mainly because of the hype they can generate.

Aside from that, there's not too much altered between the first Q3Test and the finished product, in terms of gameplay. Most of all it was cosmetic and bugfixes.

Kinda like a head-start on patching.

I think one of the big catalysts behind the Q-tests was the size of the id team, so they couldn't test so effectively.

On the other hand you have Epic games, who employ a lot of people and presumably a lot of testers.

Don't forget, Activision has the Visioneer program of beta testers. There will have been semi-public beta released of Q4 already, but only within the program.

Post by **duffman91** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:42 pm

Interesting point. I have no doubt that id have a testing/beta team constantly giving them early feedback; however, a good public test would be very nice for a test run.

I'm sure it has something to do with the game's requirements. I wouldn't doubt if the lack of public tests is directly related to the expectation that most people will "have to" upgrade to play.

Post by **MKJ** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:45 pm

q4 had a closed test right?
and they used a lot of feedback they got from quakecon..

Post by **chiQ** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:47 pm

I loved the Q3 test. I reckon a MP test would have been a good PR exercise, if not a QA one.

Post by **o'dium** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 6:54 pm

MKJ wrote:q4 had a closed test right?
and they used a lot of feedback they got from quakecon..

Yes but on set hardware that they pick.

What happens to people who cant run it in Ultra like those PC's there? What happens when you have X on your PC and it conflicts?

We already know that Quake 4 ships with copy protection, and thats gonna stop it from being installed on a few machines if you have deamon tools on. A test cant fix that though...

Post by **Oeloe** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:29 pm

o'dium wrote:We already know that Quake 4 ships with copy protection, and thats gonna stop it from being installed on a few machines if you have deamon tools on. A test cant fix that though...

Wtf! I'm not gonna stop running Dtools to play Q4!

Post by **^misantropia^** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:05 am

It's probably going to be a matter of days, if not hours, before you can get a crack off the internet to lift the copy protection. And rightfully so, since software (and esp. some random game) shouldn't impose restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your rig.

Post by **Grudge** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:08 am

Activision does the testing now. I'm guessing they didn't have that beta testing program back in '99, that's why id released the Q3 tests to the public instead.

Post by **John^Rocker** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:06 am

id did a great thing releasing the test and raven is afraid

Post by **dzjepp** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:17 am

^misantropia^ wrote:It's probably going to be a matter of days, if not hours, before you can get a crack off the internet to lift the copy protection. And rightfully so, since software (and esp. some random game) shouldn't impose restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your rig.

If it turns out to use SF3.x (which is entirely possible at this point, it hasn't been denied), then a lot of people are going to have a problem running it (illicit (having to disconnect drives, etc.

) , and even some legit, with having to disable emulated drives and whatnot).

Post by **VoxProminence** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 8:22 am

yeah, and look how much quake3 changed between the first, and last test.

Post by **Foo** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 1:55 pm

Starforce is an unholy creation.

Ask any Trackmania player.

Post by **4days** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 4:54 pm

chiQ wrote:I loved the Q3 test. I reckon a MP test would have been a good PR exercise, if not a QA one.

:icon14:

Post by **Grudge** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:42 pm

I'm not installing anything that comes with Starforce. Fuck that. Fuck that right in the ass.

Post by **Tormentius** » Wed Oct 12, 2005 5:57 pm

I'll definitely buy Q4 the 18th but there is no way in hell I'm leaving the copy protection on it. As ^misantropia^ said, its not some companies place to tell people what other software can run on their systems.

Post by **FragZilla!** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 5:48 pm

It's not a whole new ball-game and there are much more testing resources for game developers to use compared to the 'we can all fit in one room' days.

As long as the skill curve hasn't been crushed like an Elephant stepping on an Ant (ala Quake3...please be more like Quake1&2!!!), I'm sure that gameplay will be great and players will stick by it for years to come.

I'm sure that there will be a few tweak & obscure hardware compatibility patches, but the gameplay should be rock-solid when the game goes Gold.

As far as the type of copy protection that will be used, that's an abomination. iD would be better off using something like (*ducks*) Steam/Valve authentication.

Post by **shiznit** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 6:38 pm

A test would of been good.

Post by **shiznit** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:20 pm

It's not the same.

Post by **o'dium** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 8:29 pm

Its a closed test in a closed space with set hardware thats all the same.

Post by **Foo** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:01 pm

...first reply in the thread. I already covered that with the comment about Visioneer.

What's the point in asking a question if you're not listening to the answers?

Post by **o'dium** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:11 pm

Foo wrote:...first reply in the thread. I already covered that with the comment about Visioneer.

What's the point in asking a question if you're not listening to the answers?

Sorry god, must of misread "Quake 3 World Foos Right Shut Up Forums" as "Quake 3 World Discussion Forums".

Post by **Foo** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:26 pm

o'dium wrote:
Foo wrote:...first reply in the thread. I already covered that with the comment about Visioneer.

What's the point in asking a question if you're not listening to the answers?
Sorry god, must of misread "Quake 3 World Foos Right Shut Up Forums" as "Quake 3 World Discussion Forums".

So you don't have an actual response for me except for an insult?

Post by **[FTF]Pyro** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:38 pm

Foo wrote:
So you don't have an actual response for me except for an insult?

why fly fish when shooting in a barrell is easier

Post by **Foo** » Thu Oct 13, 2005 9:40 pm

lots of morons in here.. probably misinformed.

Lack of tests maybe hurt the final?

Lack of tests maybe hurt the final?

::

no test necessary