Pre-Alpha 5 Live! for May - Race / Class Trees, Skill Tree Updates & More - Crowfall Videos - MMORPG

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Pre-Alpha 5 Live! for May - Race / Class Trees, Skill Tree Updates & More - Crowfall Videos - MMORPG.com

Crowfall Principal Game Designer Mark Halash and Design Director Thomas Blair were on hand recently for the Pre-Alpha 5 Live! The video dev diary spent time answering player questions as well as speaking about the current live version and what players can expect in the 5.6 build currently sitting on Test Live.

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boris20

I cant even keep up with how games are labeling their current status these days.

So what I gather is, 5.6 is in a test live status before it goes to Pre Alpha 5 status. So theres an alpha test for a pre alpha test?

This game had my hopes up but I just seems still so far away from any sort of real launch.

We still have to finish Pre-Apha before it goes to alpha, then beta to go before we can see a launch? Or will there be a Pre-beta then beta?

Vrika

boris20 said:

I cant even keep up with how games are labeling their current status these days.



So what I gather is, 5.6 is in a test live status before it goes to Pre Alpha 5 status. So theres an alpha test for a pre alpha test?

Pre-Alpha 5 Live! is their name for a monthly series of videos that deals with current status of their Pre-Alpha 5 test. It could be better named.

And Crowfall has two test environments: LIVE and TEST. Their patches are first in TEST environment, and once it gets more stable it gets moved to LIVE environment. In that way, yes, they've got alpha tests for their pre-alpha tests.

DrunkWolf

So when does it come out?

Arkade99

DrunkWolf said:

So when does it come out?

They are targeting end of year for soft launch, though obviously if the game isn't ready by then, they will push the date back. They have said that they have enough money to finish the game. As an investor, I get monthly financial info, and I see no reason why they can't finish the game given the money/costs they have.

Soft launch in Crowfall terms just means they won't be doing a massive marketing campaign when the game launches. Instead, they will use the first few months after launch to make sure the game is doing a good job of drawing in and retaining players. Once they are satisfied with that, then they will do the big marketing thing to attract larger groups. It's a strategy Todd Coleman used with Wizard 101 and it worked well.

Arkade99

boris20 said:

I cant even keep up with how games are labeling their current status these days.



So what I gather is, 5.6 is in a test live status before it goes to Pre Alpha 5 status. So theres an alpha test for a pre alpha test?



This game had my hopes up but I just seems still so far away from any sort of real launch.



We still have to finish Pre-Apha before it goes to alpha, then beta to go before we can see a launch? Or will there be a Pre-beta then beta?

The game is currently in pre-alpha 5. The current patch on the live server is 5.5 and the current patch on the test server is 5.6. There will be 2 more patches (5.7 and 5.8) before the game gets to alpha. They are trying to do a major patch each month. 5.6 will be moving to the live server soon (possibly by Friday), and they have already begun to tease what's coming in 5.7. We could potentially see 5.7 on the test server by then end of the month. Even if it doesn't happen until mid-June, we'll probably see 5.8 on test by the end of July. Most of what they are doing now is building content, rather than building the tech needed to build the content.

So, realistic timeframe is that alpha begins some time in August. The alpha and beta phases shouldn't be very long. End of the year might end up being aggressive for soft launch, but I think they can definitely launch by then end of March 2019. If they start alpha in August, that gives them 7-8 months for alpha and beta. That said, they will take as long as is necessary to finish the game. They aren't under any financial constraints to push the game out early.

AndrewGoat

I forgot this game existed. Still in pre-Alpha, eh? Seems legit.

FlyByKnight

I'm giving Crowfall one more year before I put them on my "unfinished games to make jokes about" list.

Kajidourden

FlyByKnight said:

I'm giving Crowfall one more year before I put them on my "unfinished games to make jokes about" list.

Which is hilarious considering they're moving at the fastest rate of any kickstarter mmo.

Shroud of the Avatar for instance launched in 2013 and just this year released.  Crowfall is currently slated for a "soft launch" (let's just call it what it is, release) towards the end of the year.

FlyByKnight

Kajidourden said:

FlyByKnight said:

I'm giving Crowfall one more year before I put them on my "unfinished games to make jokes about" list.

Which is hilarious considering they're moving at the fastest rate of any kickstarter mmo.

Shroud of the Avatar for instance launched in 2013 and just this year released.  Crowfall is currently slated for a "soft launch" (let's just call it what it is, release) towards the end of the year.

I've been very supportive of these guys but I have to be fair to the other games I've made jokes about. I'm already predicting the "my bad we had to push soft launch back because of ABC". So next year this time my jokes will begin. I already have a "Slowfall" parody logo with a deformed dumb version of the crow in mind.

subzar

Can't wait to play in 2030 when there's pre-alpha 47.

SBFord

I read comments like some of these and miss the days when developers simply didn't talk about their games at all and only showed off screenshots every 6 months or so for years and that was good enough to start a stampede for gaming magazines. *facepalm* You guys do realize that making an MMO takes YEARS, as in 3-5, due to their complexity. Right....RIGHT?