Status Update #5
By some miracle, this mod still isn't dead! In fact, I'd argue it's more alive than ever, as a great deal of progress has been made across several chapters! That said, there's not much in the way of surprises in the way of this update...well, except for one.
As 2023 comes around, and we near the third year of development, I’m happy to say that Solo Mission will most likely release by the end of the year! As such, I’m considering how to handle the release, and want your feedback.
The way I see it I have two main options:
- An open beta. The initial build be a bit buggy, but would help to find and resolve these bugs before a “proper” release.
- Wait for the full release. The initial build would be more solid, but take much longer to release.
I’m torn between these two options, so I’ve decided to let you all decide which you’d prefer by opening up a poll, which can be viewed here!
Either way you choose, I'm looking forward to sharing more in the near future. And don't forget, you can always support the mod (and see bonus WIP content) via Patreon, or by getting yourself an official Decay: Solo Mission poster!
I have great feelings about the coming year for Solo Mission, and hope that you'll all be able to share in that enthusiasm too!
-Mr. Floyd
well, if it helps you ease the project, the beta release will be fine, and if we see crashes or severe bugs and you resolve quick for us to apply a small update and continue the gameplay, i dont see why this option would not be the best!
So i am for an open beta
Very nice work on those maps! The extra details and the improved lighting really help.
Personally, I'm in favour of an open beta. With Half-Life:Enriched I decided to release alpha builds periodically and that's been going pretty well so far. It helps me stay motivated and work from milestone to milestone.
The downside is that you lose some control over the content. People will upload footage of your work to YouTube without mentioning that this is WIP. Also, there will be ignorant people who do not understand what alpha/beta means whining at you. You've got to be prepared for unfair comments from people expecting everything to be AAA quality.
On the other hand, I've also received a lot of kind and helpful remarks from people who had the chance to play the early version.
I personally wouldn't let the community decide if you should do an open beta. This is your work, so you should only release it in a state that you are comfortable with showing to the commnunity.
Nice maps
I agree with the others, an open beta would be a better option
Nice map improvements, looks much better yet still recognizable
Voted for open beta, that's what I did myself after a period of closed tests and it helped a lot optimizing, improving things, gather some feedback; you should totally do that!
Otherwise I like what you have done, take your time, this will be an excellent remake. :)
Voted for open beta. It's not even a choice in my eyes!
Beta has my vote.
I really like the details on the new screenshots. It looks so much more polished than the original.
I think the open Beta will simply be far more efficient at identifying bugs, due to the much larger player base compared to closed testing.
But I'm not a dev at all so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
Excited to see the final product however you decide to release it.
Honestly, I would suggest that you go with a closed beta. Hard-Life has also been making good progress with patreon supporters. You should at least consider that for a solid final release.
The main reason I don't think I'd go with something like that is because I'm pretty against the idea of locking anything about the mod itself behind a paywall.
Hard-Life developers are scummy for this. Extended is easily way better, even if there aren't any downloadable files yet. (apart from sdk)
It's your call but beware that RTBR has also suffered a bit from the same decision. They released division demos for 2 years now and there have been many complaints about performance and level design.
Awesome job! It seems you're really getting ahead of the game now!
I think people are getting a bit excited about the possibility of playing the mod early via an open beta, that's why the majority thinks it'll be the best way to go about this, but I disagree.
If you release the open beta people will play and complete the mod. Sure, they will play a buggy version but they will still play and complete it. Months later when the mod is fully released it won't be as exciting because it has already been played, completed, recorded etc. etc. It'll lose steam.
Get a dozen or so playtesters that will take the job seriously, steadily develop the mod while releasing builds internally for them and release the mod as polished as possible. There are tons of other mods and games people can play while they wait for this.
Thank you for the update!
I voted for open beta, since I really interested how it will play out haha!
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