Open Testing - Test Branch

[Refactored Games]

What is the Test branch:
Unclaimed World exists in 2 different "branches": The ordinary game, which ideally should be quite stable, and a Test branch where we test out the new features before they go in the ordinary branch. The Test version is more prone to crashes and has interesting new bugs.

How do I play the Test branch:
Find Unclaimed World in your game library to the left, right-click and select "Properties" from the drop-down menu. From the window that appears, select the BETA tab and select beta from the menu.
From now on, you will get the recent beta versions until you opt out by going back and selecting "NONE"

Follow this link for an instructions screenshot:
http://forum.unclaimedworld-game.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2592&p=2908#p2908

How do I report bugs and crashes in the Test branch:
We have a separate sub forum called Test Branch: Bug Reports where you should post these bugs:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/284100/discussions/2/

[Northward Bound]

A quick link to the Test Branch: Bug Reports forum would be a good idea

[Refactored Games]

Alright, I added that link in the bottom of the post now (the link can also be found in the menu to the right).

[kawbentley]

Is there a beta code we can get to access "secret" beta content?

[kubluu]

Escrito originalmente por kawbentley:

Is there a beta code we can get to access "secret" beta content?

Not sure what you mean.. There is no secret content, and no code...
However, it has been a long while since we last released a version on the test branch. So the two versions have been the same for a while.

[JohnnyCiocca]

Hi there. I haven't bought the game yet because of only one reason: the mixed reviews on store page. Most of them claim that the game seems abandoned. Checking the news/blog part of the game official site, last update was Nov 26, 2014 - is this correct?

I see around the discussions a couple posts now in April, but not a lot of them. If the devs could send a word on how dev/early access to new builds is going, I'd be very pleased =) Thanks for the attention, and from videos and screenshots, the game looks awesome!

[Refactored Games]

@JohnnyC

The game is far from abandoned, as you can see right after you posted this, we have deployed a big update: 0.2.0.0 http://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791435319444/announcements/detail/123063972325483399

At the moment we are 5 people on the team so there's plenty of stuff coming. At the moment we put more time into development than PR/community, we've also chosen to give this latest update a longer dev cycle (2 months) than the usual 10-14 days. This allows us to put more time into develoment work, because the more frequently we deploy, the more time we have to spend on testing, comparatively. But we try to keep the community posted on everything we work on.

About the "official" website: Yes, it looks a bit abandoned, and there have been many updates to the game since then (as you can see from the announcements here on Steam) so it's simply because it takes work to maintain a presence on both Steam and our own website, and most people go directly to the Steam store for questions and info...but we should probably get better at maintaining our own website to avoid confusion.

Thanks for the kind words and hope you will like the game.

[JohnnyCiocca]

I'm sorry if I sounded harsh saying that the game seemed abandoned! I'm rushing on that link to read more on that big update! =) and thanks a lot for the reply! Really gladens me to see when devs, be they big or small, keep in touch with people interested on their work - no matter if they're already part of the community or still thinking about jumping on that train!

I'm used to being beta tester way before the rise of kickstarter, so longer cycles are no surprise - and most of them are really welcomed by me, as they usually translate in better bug squashing and new features =)

About the site being a bit abandoned, you guys should consider asking for the help of the community themselves! Kinda like moderators in forums, you know?

My interest on the game spiked even more with your reply! I doubt it'll take long for it to sweep me away XD

[Donoya]

Why is it that in the beta branch, the version that shows when you launch the game is the same as when you launch it on the stable branch? Has there been a problem with getting updates? I am starting to wonder if the game has stopped development (even if only temporarily). I've seen that you've answered every comment that had people asking about it, so I appolagize if it's getting old telling people that the game is not abandoned.

[Refactored Games]

@tinabobinsky
It's because we move the beta branch version to the ordinary branch after typically about 2 weeks, when we've determined that it's stable enough (based on the reports we get from players and our own testing.) We do this without announcing it because, well, people might not find it that interesting haha. (We would like to hear if we should find a better way to keep players informed about these things?)

It's true that the last update was more than 2 months ago, which is longer than typical - it's because the programmer is doing some optimization which has taken some time but he's saying it's nearing completion. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is working on UI improvements and new content, I'll write a dev update soon!

[Donoya]

Okay, that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know what's going on. How big is your development team, by the way? I want to get a reasonable idea of how fast an update will typically occur. I don't expect it to be anything like ARK, and if the code isn't very easy to work with and it takes an hour or two to implement something simple like a recipe, I can understand a small update taking about a month.

[Refactored Games]

@tinabobinsky
You can see the frequency of previous updates by looking at Announcements: http://steamcommunity.com/games/284100/announcements/

We are currently 4 people. Read more here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/284100/discussions/0/520518053433170939/

The longer breaks happen when we make deeper code changes (like now) it's a bit like neurosurgery, it takes time to patch up the patient afterwards and train her to walk ;) but if it's simpler, cosmetic surgery, to stay with that analogy, (stuff like UI and recipes) then it can be over with quicker. We try to mix it, so that after this long one, we will make sure to make some faster follow-ups.