We were recently asked when we would be in “Alpha” or “Beta”. The short answer is: it’s still too early to tell. Those terms are thrown around a lot with games and they’re really pretty arbitrary. Some games are basically done when they launch their Beta. Some games are really janky when in Beta.

The reason we are calling our builds “Prototypes” is because we are super early in development still and these builds are honestly just tests to see if the game is fun and worth continuing. ( Good news, it’s pretty fun!) We will most likely continue building on this Prototype, as things are actually going well.

When will the game be in Alpha? To me that is when every element is in the game but we still have work to do. Alpha is working, but lots of bugs. Right now we DON’T have a town, villagers, blacksmith, tutorial text, 90% of our mobs, and half of our character stats. Just to name a few things. As you can see, we still have a long way to go before we meet my definition of Alpha.

When will it be in Beta? Oh god. That is going to be the most asked question, I think. The unsatisfying answer is, “when it’s ready”. It could be two years, I honestly don’t know what is going to happen. For me, Beta means we’ve finished all elements of the game and there’s nothing left to add. At that point you just need people to to see what they can break. That’s what Beta Testers do. They get in and play hard and see what doesn’t work. Then we go back in and fix it.

What I don’t want to do is launch a broken game or open to Beta Testers too early. Some companies need to rush, and I understand that. My philosophy is to play things safer. We keep plugging away diligently and before you know it we’ll have a great game.

The only limiting factor is the budget. Everyone at Knob Cat has been working so efficiently and I am impressed with the progress. I’ve been trying to guess what the rest of development might be like and I think we’re on track. Obviously, our priority is getting the game released as soon as we can so that we can fund future development. This game is going to be continuously evolving and growing. Hopefully, it will bring years of entertainment to a lot of people.

I started this project because I want to play this game. That’s our driving force. I love this game and I want to play it. I want to launch and have others enjoy it so badly. I doubt anyone wants to play DotO more than me, so you can believe that I’m trying to get it out as soon as reasonably possible, while still maintaining everything that makes this game fun.

So, too long and didn’t read? I don’t know when Alpha, Beta, or launch will be, but I want to get there as bad as you!

Cheers,
Joe
Executive Prime