The beta is in the box. For those of you unfamiliar with game development’s lexica it means we are nearing completion of the game. Yet somehow the release date remains evasive and people are asking: why o why are thee covering thine great game with such a shroud of mystery?
Its because we don’t have a clue.
How can you not have a clue when as a developer you are in first line? Say you, slightly sceptic and impatient enough to raise a clenching fist.
Because the release date is beyond our knowledge, because the release date is beyond anybody’s knowledge. We reply, before disappearing into a magic cloud.
Sure, I might have made that magic cloud thing up but you get the general idea, and here are the less magical details.
Most developers follow this kind of plan when working on a game, its more of a global guidelines thing rather than a fixed set of rules but the main deliverables tend to be the same everywhere:
- The first playable is exactly what it says it is. In our case there wasn’t much to see beyond a character in a game area but it gave a basic idea of what the game would look like. Noticed how the first playable doesn’t have any block capitals? That’s how low it is in my esteem.
- The Alpha contains all the game features, the first video released last week from our publisher was made from Twin Blades’ Alpha.
- The Beta not only contains everything else that should be in the game such as the menus, translations etc. but also have the game feature balanced in order to tune the gameplay. This is where we are now and the video which Bulkypix will publish tomorrow will feature footages of the beta.
- The Gold Master is fully debugged and clean for the public to enjoy. However one last step remains before said public may access the game: the Apple submission process.
- The street release has passed the certification process and is available on the App Store.
Thing is, there is no ETA on how long the submission process might take at this time of the year where Apple is swarmed with release candidates. As a result delays become unpredictable for developers and even for Apple: it’s the twilight zone, and it’s ugly.
In this world of uncertainty however one fact remains: Twin Blades will be available before Christmas, and maybe even before, who knows?
(No one!)
