What is Pre-Alpha (An Education Thread) | Forums

[Assassin_M]

In short, Pre-Alpha is like mega early version of the game, before everything is finalized..
Pre-alpha refers to all activities performed during the software project prior to testing. These activities can include requirements analysis, software design, software development, and unit testing.
In typical open source development, there are several types of pre-alpha versions. Milestone versions include specific sets of functions and are released as soon as the functionality is complete.
what follows this is the Alpha stage (you dont say ?)

Alpha
The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black box or gray box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1]
Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. The exception to this is when the alpha is available publicly (such as a pre-order bonus), in which developers normally push for stability so that their testers can test properly. External availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software. However, open source software, in particular, often have publicly available alpha versions, often distributed as the raw source code of the software.
The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be a feature complete.
Then the Beta

Beta
Beta (named after the second letter of the Greek alphabet) is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.
Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access.
Some software is kept in perpetual beta—where new features and functionality are continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release.

Now I do not intend anything, I was just throwing this out there to show how early the game is..
Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwar...ase_life_cycle

[EscoBlades]

According to the dev team, the game was pretty much feature complete at the start of this year. They intend for the remaining time to be used for polish and testing. Pretty incredible.

The build used to compile the trailer was from around February 2012 (if not before)

[playassassins1]

Now that you explained this, I hope that everyone will understand that the game will be different than the alpha in some ways.

[Mr_Shade]

According to the dev team, the game was pretty much feature complete at the start of this year. They intend for the remaining time to be used for polish and testing. Pretty incredible.

The build used to compile the trailer was from around February 2012 (if not before)

Indeed..

The basic features and gameplay are in place, now it's all tweaking, optimising and testing


Even though the pre-alpha footage may not impress everyone, I for one am impressed with the new animation system, fighting, area traversal and the graphics (if you watch in HD)

I personally think we have an awesome game on the way..

[reddragonhrcro]

Also beta versions don´t end up always being made into an alpha version.Her is an example.
The RE 3.5 Halucination beta version(its the second beta,RE4 had 3 beta versions that got scraped):

[BBALive]

Also beta versions don´t end up always being made into an alpha version.Her is an example.
The RE 3.5 Halucination beta version(its the second beta,RE4 had 3 beta versions that got scraped):

It goes from Alpha to Beta not Beta to Alpha. 4 versions of RE4 were scrapped until they settled on the final version.

[reddragonhrcro]

It goes from Alpha to Beta not Beta to Alpha. 4 versions of RE4 were scrapped until they settled on the final version.

My mistake,swaped those 2.Wait 4 scraped versions?First ended up as DMC,second is the Halucination version(fog version,hookman version,its all the same),third is the Zombie version(never shown public) and the fourth was the final version.These are all known versions.

[De Filosoof]

Indeed..

The basic features and gameplay are in place, now it's all tweaking, optimising and testing


Even though the pre-alpha footage may not impress everyone, I for one am impressed with the new animation system, fighting, area traversal and the graphics (if you watch in HD)

I personally think we have an awesome game on the way..

Yeah, it looks great. I think the anvil engine always looked great.
The only thing that really bothered me in previous AC games was the glitching stuff with the clothes and weapons and stuff.
It really looks solid in this anvil next engine.

[BBALive]

My mistake,swaped those 2.Wait 4 scraped versions?First ended up as DMC,second is the Halucination version(fog version,hookman version,its all the same),third is the Zombie version(never shown public) and the fourth was the final version.These are all known versions.

Ah yes, 3 versions. My bad.

[TheLeoCrow]

According to the dev team, the game was pretty much feature complete at the start of this year. They intend for the remaining time to be used for polish and testing. Pretty incredible.

The build used to compile the trailer was from around February 2012 (if not before)

So have we reached the RC stage?
Release candidate

A release candidate (RC) is a beta version with potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. In this stage of product stabilization, all product features have been designed, coded and tested through one or more beta cycles with no known showstopper-class bug.
A release is called code complete when the development team agrees that no entirely new source code will be added to this release. There may still be source code changes to fix defects, and changes to documentation and data files, and to the code for test cases or utilities.