b e a r d
Turns out that I'm the dummy and the build that Steam reviews is just meant for the release version lol. I can actually send out beta codes right now.
@beardalaxy I'm trying to think of creative ways that you could give them out. Maybe some sort of fedi contest?
@xianc78 interesting idea. my current plan is to do some testing only with some people who worked on the game and close friends. then i'm going to post an application for the wider test. most people who submit will probably get a key unless like a TON of people do.
@beardalaxy I would suggest something fun like a fan-art contest, but I don't think you have a big enough fanbase for that let alone enough fans that can draw.
@xianc78 I also think it would be kind of lame to be like "only people who can draw well can beta test" especially since it's actually a beta, not an early access sort of thing. The whole point is to figure out balancing and patch bugs so the experience might be a bit rough and I want people who are actually going to test and provide feedback.
@beardalaxy I remember hearing about Nintendo Power giving away free games that way, but yeah it kind of sounds like a bad idea for beta testing. I honestly don't know how most companies/devteams pick their beta testers. Maybe it's their top posters on their forums. I was selected as a beta tester for CS:GO back when it was still in development and I have no idea how I was selected.
@xianc78 There are a bunch of different ways. The most common thing to do these days is a shotgun approach, just picking at random whether that's automatic, a big open beta test, or selecting from applications. The other big one is to make people pay for beta access, through something like Patreon.
Before they ever do this though, they are doing focus testing throughout many parts of development. Regular people playing the game while they watch and/or record their thoughts on the experience.
Then there are also seperate companies that will actually try to break things. That's more useful for big single player games or for the final step before launching an open beta.
My method is just going to be doing this small insider beta, collecting feedback from it and adjusting accordingly, then sending out applications on a few different places (here, RPGcodex, Reddit, Discord, and RPG Maker Web) and then pick based on the responses. I don't want a bunch of people who know nothing about game development because they may not be intuitive enough to break things in some cases, and I also don't want just game developers because they might not play it like a regular joe would. Ideally, from the applications I'd like to select a good mix of people that I think will give me diverse feedback, but not so much that it's hard to keep up with it all.