Arma 3 Community Alpha - Announcement!

[sethos 2]

But, the point cm. is making is that since the TOH Community Alpha wasn't bound by any NDA, why would the ArmA 3 one? So, the assumption (unless BIS says differently) is that the ArmA 3 Community Alpha will be done in a similar fashion to the TOH Community Alpha, which would mean no NDA. Yes, all other Alphas that I know have had NDAs. But this Alpha might not be based on those.

Are you comparing an 'Alpha' that was basically two helicopters crammed into another game with tweaked flight physics to a stand-alone game sequel alpha?

[Tonci87 163]

But, the point cm. is making is that since the TOH Community Alpha wasn't bound by any NDA, why would the ArmA 3 one? So, the assumption (unless BIS says differently) is that the ArmA 3 Community Alpha will be done in a similar fashion to the TOH Community Alpha, which would mean no NDA. Yes, all other Alphas that I know have had NDAs. But this Alpha might not be based on those.

The ToH Preview was exactly that, a Preview. There was a new Helicopter modell and there was a tweaked Flight modell. The Community Alpha of A3 will bring whole new Gameplay elements and an upgraded Engine that we will test. It is to be expected that there will be bugs, maybe even serious bugs on some systems. But some people will be to stupid that this is likely to happen in an Alpha build.

[CarlGustaffa 4]

You can't have an "open available alpha" and expect to control videos from it, NDA or not. And the TOHCP was more than "tweaked flight physics". If they're going for "open" that is.

[antoineflemming 14]

CarlGustaffa is right. Ultimately, the only way to enforce an NDA is to have a closed alpha. That would take us to the previous discussion. So far, there has been no indication of a closed alpha. Therefore, there's no indication of an NDA.

[zonekiller 175]

i love the idea :)

it would be cool to test some hard core ideas before its released -

get them sorted asap :)

count me in.

[cm. 10]

The ToH Preview was exactly that, a Preview. There was a new Helicopter modell and there was a tweaked Flight modell. The Community Alpha of A3 will bring whole new Gameplay elements and an upgraded Engine that we will test. It is to be expected that there will be bugs, maybe even serious bugs on some systems. But some people will be to stupid that this is likely to happen in an Alpha build.

How on earth do you expect BIS to control media with a "community alpha" - which implies it is "open" to the community. If people are stupid that they can't tell that something called an "alpha" is an alpha then well..... maybe they should re-do high school because obviously they can't read. If we were always worried about what the lowest denominator though we would still bashing rocks together.

Because an Alpha will be in a unfinished state, and there will be bugs. The lasts thing BIS needs is videos all around youtube showing bugs in the alpha, together with some stupid smartasses that predict that A3 will be a total bugfest because there are bugs in the alpha. You know that those idiots do exist

are you saying that the community preview was in a finished state or that it didn't have any bugs?

[Flash Thunder 10]

If its not under NDA then morons will not read that its alpha WIP and create bad press for BIS anyways we don't know anything else about it as of now this thread should be closed until more information is given.

Edited March 6, 2012 by Flash Thunder

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Other than the announcement..this thread has become silly with arguments. :nono:

:239:

[Whirly 1]

The alpha trial will be an awesome opportunity to experiment with the new improved command menu, I'm really looking forward to testing it out and reading all the community feedback.

[Tonci87 163]

How on earth do you expect BIS to control media with a "community alpha" - which implies it is "open" to the community. If people are stupid that they can't tell that something called an "alpha" is an alpha then well..... maybe they should re-do high school because obviously they can't read. If we were always worried about what the lowest denominator though we would still bashing rocks together.

They can´t control the media, but a Community Alpha doesn´t mean that it will be open to everyone. Maybe only selected Forum members (aka core Community) will get it.

are you saying that the community preview was in a finished state or that it didn't have any bugs?

No, but it was based on a working and stable engine, we don´t know if that will be the case with A3´s Community preview.

[cm. 10]

They can´t control the media, but a Community Alpha doesn´t mean that it will be open to everyone. Maybe only selected Forum members (aka core Community) will get it.

which is a closed alpha.... :rolleyes2:

[maddogx 13]

which is a closed alpha.... :rolleyes2:

And? They never said it would be "open"... :rolleyes2:

[antoineflemming 14]

Following E3, we plan to open up the game to our players. This process starts with the release of a playable build of Arma 3. We call it the 'Community Alpha'. It's intended to enable people who'd like to try the game early on in development help us to shape it up - and make Arma 3 the greatest release of the series. Ours is a large and complex game - being developed by a relatively small team - so we really appreciate your opinions, thoughts and feedback.

The Community Alpha will be quite limited in terms of the assets it includes, with the goal of providing enough content to experiment with the brand new bits of gameplay and technology. It also enables our passionate community to prepare their mods for the very latest version of the Real Virtuality engine. Then, later on in the year, we'd like to open up our game up even further with a more extensive beta program. The exact details, however, we intend to set out closer to their launch.

No indication of an Alpha closed to select members of the community. "It's intended to enable people who'd like to try the game early on in development help us to shape it up - and make ArmA 3 the greatest release of the series", NOT "It's intended to enable people who we'd like to try the game early on in development help us to shape it up - and make ArmA 3 the greatest release of the series". The focus is very much on the people who'd like to try it, not the people BIS would like to try it. Oh, and by the way, Musil does say people who'd like to try the game early on, not people who want to test the game early on. Yeah, they want feedback, but I don't think they are as worried as many in the community are about people abusing the Alpha. And if they aren't that worried, then I'm not that worried, because ultimately if something like that happened, it would only affect or hurt BIS. So, that's why I at least think that it won't be closed. Or, if closed, it wouldn't exclude members of the "community" If it were closed to the community, it would probably be closed to the BIS forums and maybe the Armaholic forums, maybe, but once again just how many ArmA-related forums are out there, and who then can be considered community and who can be excluded. It becomes much harder to close it to the community when the community isn't just the official BIS forums. So, there's another reason I think it will be open.

Edited March 6, 2012 by antoineflemming

[PuFu 4600]

No indication of an Alpha closed to select members of the community + another wall of text

Neither does it say anywhere else it will be OPEN for everyone. Can we close this subject till more information is released?

[cm. 10]

indeed, arguing over nothing really.

but i still think i'm right :D

[antoineflemming 14]

Neither does it say anywhere else it will be OPEN for everyone. Can we close this subject till more information is released?

Oh, yeah, I know. That "another wall of text" was just me explaining why I think it will be open, just in case you didn't read that wall of text. Kind of deductive reasoning. But, yeah, you're right. It's a non-issue right now. By the way, too bad nothing's getting released to coincide with GDC...

[Whirly 1]

BIS wouldn't spout off about the alpha if were closed, some people here should use a bit of common sense before posting unconstructive comments.

[batto 17]

Hi. I'll be probably one of the last ones on this forum who will buy ARMA3. But I've an idea. BIS will make some alpha test game schedules (for some timezones) on wiki. People who will regulary attend these games will get a a little discount and people actively cooperating with devs (bug reporting, filling reports of games on wiki, ...) will get higher discount or ARMA3 for free. It's just an idea.

[CTCCoco 1]

Hi. I'll be probably one of the last ones on this forum who will buy ARMA3. But I've an idea. BIS will make some alpha test game schedules (for some timezones) on wiki. People who will regulary attend these games will get a a little discount and people actively cooperating with devs (bug reporting, filling reports of games on wiki, ...) will get higher discount or ARMA3 for free. It's just an idea.

Paying the people which are lucky to test Alpha? wtf? If they have to pay, they'll make it closed because they'll contract professional testers for it... It's like you get paid for report a bug which fucks your gameplay experience :|

[batto 17]

Paying the people which are lucky to test Alpha? wtf? If they have to pay, they'll make it closed because they'll contract professional testers for it... It's like you get paid for report a bug which fucks your gameplay experience :|

Nonsense. Professional testers are people playing & modding ARMA2 and I guess BIS will release Alpha to test it in the wild before release, right? Maybe you could define what do you mean by "professional tester". Full gameplay experience will come after release. And yeah it should be limited so kids will not make negative marketing before release.

[maddogx 13]

I wouldn't go as far as what one_man_clan suggested - giving everyone a discount may be a bit too much - but some kind of incentive for proper bug reporting might not be such a bad idea.

They could turn it into a game, like giving people one "point" for each well formatted bug report (with a good repro etc.) that is accepted by a BI dev on Dev-Heaven. At the end of the alpha, the 3-5 people with the highest score win a prize (free game or whatever).

[flattermann 12]

can be simply done by incorporating a kind of warning into the alpha, e.g. a screen with info after one's loaded it or so

[CTCCoco 1]

Nonsense. Professional testers are people playing & modding ARMA2 and I guess BIS will release Alpha to test it in the wild before release, right? Maybe you could define what do you mean by "professional tester". Full gameplay experience will come after release. And yeah it should be limited so kids will not make negative marketing before release.

A "professional tester" is somebody that get paid for being testing every stupid thing on the game to take count of most of bugs. Every game have these people, and if they would like this they won't put it to the normal people. They want to put Alpha for "normal" people because they don't have to pay and they'll have much more people for support.

Personally, I'll do it for free if I can, just for enjoy this game much more with less bugs.

[henriksultan 10]

Ooo Arma 3 getting closer by the day, such joy!

Would obviously love getting my hands on that alpha whenever you start it but just knowing its out is a major turn on :p

And them screens are looking good! All my ♥ to the Arma series

[dmarkwick 261]

Nonsense. Professional testers are people playing & modding ARMA2 and I guess BIS will release Alpha to test it in the wild before release, right? Maybe you could define what do you mean by "professional tester". Full gameplay experience will come after release. And yeah it should be limited so kids will not make negative marketing before release.

A professional tester is someone who has to go through every single possible activity as far as using the software goes with no regard to fun, just pure functionality. So things like using the settings individually and saving the settings, using the settings individually and cancelling the settings, entering text into text fields, entering numbers into text fields, joining a game and playing, joining a game and backing out, every possible set of activities you could do. And they have to be done with each major build to make sure there's no regression. Being a professional tester is not a glamorous job :)