Renault on 1/8/2016 at 00:47
Quote Posted by Flux
Also a note to other developers in case Brethren wants to beta-test your game. He grabs beta-keys and then disappears. He did the same with Solarix, stupid me, gave him another go with Devoid. After chasing for several weeks, no news.
Flux, what the the hell?
First off, I did provide some feedback on Solarix, you even (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141941&p=2279829&viewfull=1#post2279829) reposted it to the forums here.
Now granted, I wasn't able to help as much as I had hoped, so to help make up for it, I bought (as in paid for, spent real dollars on) a copy of Solarix and (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=141941&p=2293799&viewfull=1#post2293799) gave it away here on TTLG to help promote your game (it ended up going to faetal). So you can't argue I grabbed a beta code and disappeared, I actually purchased your game.
Now, I did get this demo key on 6/24, about 6 weeks ago. Summer has been busy, I've had a couple of vacations (one of which was a week long and that I just got back from today), and I haven't been able to find the time. You can plainly see on Steam that I've only played the game for one hour (61 minutes), so I hardly think I'm grabbing a key and running away with it. I PMed you on 7/18 to say sorry, I've been busy, haven't been able to play yet.
I guess you have your own way of doing things, but I think calling me out here in public, on a forum I've been a member of for 16 years, is probably not the best way to promote your projects. It's a fairly shitty thing to do, actually.
So take me off your beta list, revoke my key, whatever you need to do. I obviously have no interest in helping out with any of your projects going forward.
Yakoob on 1/8/2016 at 02:38
If I had a dime for every person that tried to scam me for free keys on my games...
henke on 1/8/2016 at 05:46
*furiously writes Brethren's name back on Pogo Fella beta invite list* :mad::(
Flux on 1/8/2016 at 05:58
Feedback before game's release/beta/alpha builds is much more valuable than buying and gifting the game to 50 different people.
A developer should not waste time by chasing again and again and again for "volunteer" beta-testers for feedback. That's "disappearing". It doesn't imply "scamming" or anything similar. We crave for feedback and we need it before release and before certain milestones...simply because being indie means you don't have budget of 10K$ for QA, so even a little bug report with your computer specs are golden...
If a gamer doesn't have time, no need to apply for such tasks, less beta-testers to chase, less headaches...
Chade on 1/8/2016 at 06:47
Are you really going to criticise someone for first having a surfeit of enthusiasm, and then at least trying to apologise and make up for that? That could easily have been me. I dare say it could have easily been a lot of people here: we're enthusiastic people with busy lives, and none of us can predict the future perfectly. I'm sure Brethren did his best.
Volunteer's aren't free. You're not paying them, you don't get to be the highest priority for a set slice of their life, so there are costs involved in dealing with that. Most of the time things will go to plan, sometimes they won't. If you're going to lean on other people's free time you should make peace with that.
henke on 1/8/2016 at 10:44
Are you for real, Flux? Calling out betatesters who disappointed you is not a good look. Continuing to harangue them after they point out they did not simply "take the keys and run", and even bought a copy of the game afterwards, is even less so.
Yeah, being indie means not being able to afford proper QA, but I think in your case the bigger problem might be not being able to afford a PR person who can talk to your audience without getting combative every chance they get.
Flux on 1/8/2016 at 12:37
Which part is hard to understand? He grabbed the key and then disappeared, meaning never returned any messages and never delivered what he promised, "beta-testing feedback".
He is a nice "guy" for buying the game afterwards, which he never had to, good for him. That's not the point. He wanted to beta-test the game, he didn't and I'm pointing that out in a forum. He is a bad beta-tester for me and I have every right to share that loudly, that doesn't make me more or less real.
He is just an unreliable beta-tester for me and since this forum has many "indie developers" as well, I just wanted to share my experience with him to others. If you wanna take notice, fine. If you don't, then that's fine too.
If someone is asking to beta-test a game, they should as least be a little communicative about it, wouldn't they?
17 beta-testers were given keys, and 16 of them played the game and provided feedback in around 10-15 days, some very valuable feedback, some less attentive. And I'm thankful to all.
Shadowcat on 1/8/2016 at 12:52
Sorry Flux -- it doesn't really matter how justified you feel; the fact is that you're making yourself look amazingly bad here. I can tell that you'll disagree, so please just take some advice, and bite your lip. You'll do yourself no favours at all if you continue in this manner.
Flux on 1/8/2016 at 13:03
Manners? Really? I can't even speak what I think of one "beta tester" around here? I've spilled some secret cult misconduct code?
You sound like my reputation around ttlg will adjudicate my fate as an indie developer.
Chade on 1/8/2016 at 13:06
Personally I see calling someone out in public like this as quite an aggressive move, not just "sharing information". It seems uncalled for given Brethren appears to have made efforts to apologize and do what little he can.
I'm speaking as someone who hasn't volunteered to do beta-testing for members here precisely because I am worried that I wouldn't have time for it. I could very easily imagine being in this situation where I volunteer for beta testing, and then something comes up and I'm busy for months afterwards and don't do any testing. In the end I never volunteer, so I never run the risk of wasting your time and getting called out by you on a public forum. So we're all happy, right?
Except I've never bought your game, never provided you with even the small amount of feedback that Brethren has, never done anything however small to promote it on these forums, and in fact never done anything to help you at all. Are you sure that's what you'd prefer?
You can't ask people to volunteer their very valuable and limited spare time to help you, and get a 100% success rate. Shit happens.
