Oswald Rant: Why Go Beta?
This week, I touch on a subject that is beginning to spiral out of control as Urban Terror continues to progress. In the past, I have ranted on such things as quality versus quantity, when it comes to level design, the community mappers and even the porting of levels. While not everyone agrees with my opinions, I feel this current situation is being abused and level designers should take a look at their work before making the decision to release their beta level.
In all my years writing level reviews and modding, do I ever remember a time when beta levels were being released almost on a weekly, if not a daily basis. Level designers are now compelled to release ut_mylevelsucks_beta1.pk3 to the community, in order to get feedback. But what exactly does a level designer do to support their release?
There are two schools of thought on this.The first and usually the easiest, since it requires no legwork by the level designer, is to post a thread in the forums and by word of mouth the level is released, occasionally being picked up by some support web sites. Other times, the level designer will e-mail this information to those same sites, looking to get their level posted and mirrored on an FTP, in order for gamers to grab and test it.
But just how successful is that? It isn’t, as gamers tend to be quite lazy, only wanting to check out a new level and make a snap decision on if it “rocks” or if it “sucks.” Usually (but not always), a beta level will not draw a second look, but like all rules, there are exceptions.
One prime example was the release of golgothabeta by Dick Dastardly. This level was a very well rounded level, based on the criteria set forth by The 6ixth Floor. But this level also fell into the same trap as many other beta maps. It suddenly found its way onto web sites as a beta map. Fortunately, this level had a good ending, as Dick Dastardly hosted some test sessions, worked out a few problems and re-released the level.
The more successful way to release a beta level, if you think your level is ready to be beta tested, is to do what laerth, author of ut_subway did. He decided to use the community to his advantage and actually did some work setting up test servers and coordinating test sessions, in order to get feedback from the community. This was not a closed test by any means. It was open to anyone who wanted to take the time to get the information and pak file and test it. These testing sessions ran through the weekend, with laerth being available for comment and starting a few feedback threads in the forums, in order to collect information pertaining to ut_subway with hopes of correcting problems and improving upon it.
What was interesting to note, was the level did not really make it’s way onto many (if any) public servers, unlike like golgothabeta. In the end, the feedback that laerth was presented with helped to create a very successful and popular community level. The time he spent, coordinating the beta test effort that helped make the difference. Unfortunately, golgothabeta and ut_subway are the exceptions to the rule. There are no fewer than fifteen to twenty “beta” levels that are currently available for downloading based on my research of Urban Terror sites. How many of those do you think get played on the pubs? One? Two? Maybe, but I doubt it. Most will spend their time, without gamers giving them a second look, or the level designer continuing to work on them.
Level designers need to concentrate more on the initial work and effort they put into their level, than just trying to get a level released. Because looking at many of those beta levels, they should not even be available for download, as many of them look (and probably are) unfinished. I use the analogy of a house being built. Would you invite your friends to a party at your unfinished house, in order for them to give you feedback? No, you wouldn’t, so why release a beta level?
As I sit here there are five levels for that Urban Terror that reside on my hard drive most, if not all will never see the light of day. Why? Because they are not completed, but compared to some of the beta releases, mine are more complete! Yet, I know I will be scrutinized, if I release a below average level, so I continue to work and develop my ideas into something better than before.
All I ask of level designers to step back and look at your level. Ask yourself, “Is my level ready?” If so, then do some work to support your beta release. Don’t rely on the development team or the community to become attached to your map, because that is not likely to happen. As mentioned above, if you feel so inclined to release a beta level, then shoulder some responsibility to organize some testing sessions in order to receive feedback. This way, you will have achieved something from being a beta, rather than having you level get stale on some FTP, knowing it won’t get played. If, without hesitation, you cannot answer, “Is my level ready?” then why release it?
