   BetaShare - Small Developers Can Run Proper Beta
UPDATE: BetaShare Super Discount CodeAs promised, I have implemented a code to give a HUGE discount on all BetaShare packages. This code gives 32% off all packages . On the smallest package, this reduces the price to $101.32 USD . The code to get this discount is NIL5TM simply enter it in the appropriate field in the developer order form. Offer valid until March 1, 2004. Discount cannot be combined with any other codes or promotions.Finally I have something to show off in this forum!Most small developers find that putting together a beta test with a serious amount of testers (anywhere from 50-500) is very difficult and inevitably end up giving it to a few friends and posting on a few forums, getting some feedback, and calling that the beta run. Most valuable information that can be gathered isn't, and the test is limited to very few testers (and consequently little chance to find all the fun incompatibilities that plague PC games).2004 is a brand new year and I'm finally letting the general world know of a project I started back in September after an interesting thread on the wonderful dexterity.com forums. The result is a full-fledged beta service that provides a customizable beta site, typical scripts like bug reporting, feature requests, surveys, etc, a pool of BetaShare members (over 400 already) interested in testing betas, secure beta download system, an extremely easy-to-use SDK with features such as usuage statistics tracking, allowing testers to submit input directly from beta application, and even online authentication. Basically everything you need to run an incredible successful beta is all provided and hosted for you. The system does cost some money, as trying to run such a venture for free would be a quick dive into a pool of red ink. $149 will get you the whole package and can be just the thing to get past that "90% done" hurdle and deliver a quality product. BetaShare is entirely geared towards making beta tests for shareware games possible. Testers require no payment (unless you wish to do otherwise), and you can get tonnes of people who will happily test your product just for a free copy at the end. Hopefully this idea will work out and be of real benefit to the indie developer community. I've poured the past 4 months into developing the system (and this is with having an extensive set of reusable libraries already written). In addition to our existing customer, I too am using BetaShare for my own pet project of 1.5 years - http://custombar.betashare.com . Due to actually using the site for my own indie project, I've been able to make many improvements based around real experience, and new features just keep coming and coming.Check out http://www.betashare.com for more information. I'll happily answer any questions and always welcome feedback on the site and system.   BetaShare - Run Your Beta Right![edited by - LordElectro on January 18, 2004 3:18:15 PM]
  All this traffic in the logs and no replies?  Also, I forgot to HTML the links in the original post, fixed now. Sorry about that. ;  Forgive me for my doubt, but -- I just don''t think there''s much of a market for this.  The indie field is populated with lots of people who''s whole development budget is far less than $149 total.  Closer to zero, in fact.    Their testing cycle consists of just what you said, which can be done for free.  Does it lead to lots of mistakes and buggy software that might only work with a small portion of PCs?  Sure, but it''s no worse than what some mega-corps do these days, when "beta" seems to mean at best, "Release engineering just handed me this binary that we think works.  Maybe.  Try it!"And those who DO have more than a $149 budget, they can set up their own beta testing scenerios and generally piggyback that on with their web site development costs.  If there''s an interest in their game, they WILL get traffic and tons of folks wanting to download and test the beta.Maybe you should partner with someone who runs a well known indie dev site, to further expand the reach of your website?  You might want to include some sample reports on what you''ll get, including statistics.  I''d hate to pay $149 just to find out that my minimal guaranteed 15 users have all sent me emails stating, "ur game dont work"...With that said, your services do look interesting!   ---[[ Gaping Wolf Software ]] [[ GameGenesis Forums ]] ;  Actually organizing a large beta is difficult though. The minimum testers is a very pessimistic number, both betas on there received over 100 sign-ups. The numbers were made-up before we really knew what to expect. BetaShare clearly has a lot of power to gather testers, so these minimum guarentee numbers will be increased in the future. CustomBar got over 300 sign-ups in fact, and is currently running and active with 150accepted and confirmed testers who have posted a total 82 unique bug reports, and 75 feature requests (with several hundred comments) after only a month and a half of testing. This is in addition to general feedback about the quality of the program. The site provides all the tools you need to be able to effectively collect feedback from your testers. This incredible level of feedback is only possible and manageable as a result of BetaShare.Having 15 people e-mail you saying your game doesn't work is exactly the type of problems BetaShare overcomes. Putting together an effective system for collecting tester feedback takes a lot of work. There's also an incredible amount of administrative work finding testers, keeping track of them, and actually making the most of your tester base. The more testers you have, the more difficult this becomes. BetaShare also makes it possible to collect software usuage statistics and have your beta interact directly with the site, allowing you a level of insight that you simply cannot get from 10 people and a forum post. Imagine being able to see that 60% of your 70 testers are having a lot of trouble getting past level 5. You can get very extensive data about what work your product needs, data that you would otherwise not have.Clearly this is not for everyone. You are perfectly right that a good deal of people have neither the money nor the will to beta test their releases. However, there is no need to target every single person that attempts to create a shareware title. There is a dedicated 1% of people who make their products with the intention of making real money. Such people, the Shareware Professionals have a business and a budget and ~$100 expenses, while not easy on the wallet, are numerous in business. If you are working on your first or next shareware title that you have slaved over for months, with a large list of things to do, not only in terms of the product but in terms of marketting, putting up a site, setting up payment processing, preparing press releases, etc, and with a pressing need to finally get the software tested before release, for $149 you have just bought yourself a lot of time and a lot of very useful data. The idea for the site actually came as a result of a fellow indie's desire for such a system (the guy that is running the Mission: Land! beta). Having the technical knowledge to actually create the system and a strong desire to use something like this for my own 1.5 year CustomBar project, I snatched up the opportunity and BetaShare is the result "Maybe you should partner with someone who runs a well known indie dev site, to further expand the reach of your website? You might want to include some sample reports on what you'll get, including statistics."I definitely agree with you on this, the current BetaShare.com page does not do the system justice at all. I'm working on a demo mode and a slideshow tour that will provide a much deeper look at the system. However, we have to start somewhere and proper marketting is the next step in what is a new and growing service. If you have any specific suggestions on what info is missing from the main page, or what you would like to see, I'm all ears. Thanks for the honest feedback! [edited by - LordElectro on January 9, 2004 8:49:21 PM];  People were looking but not responding because it costs $149. Period. I know I don''t have $149 to spend.  I''m developing on Dev-C++ (free), using a free texture editor, modelling with a free modeller, and doing everything for $0.00 without problems...  This is a similiar situation for a lot of people and so your price is way prohibitive. ;  I wouldn''t say entirely prohibitive, but I, too, don''t have the money to spend on something like this.  However, when I finally have a game worth beta''ing i''m going to find the money.  It seems pretty valuable.  I''ve been following the forum thread on Dexterity, and noticing that it''s generating alot of interest.  It will probably be successful.As an aside, I think if you did lower your price though, more people would sign up immediately.;  Fair enough, we''ll run some price reductions soon then ;  Set the price at $100 and I`m signing in with my Avenger game.    VladR Avenger 3D game;  Deal. I''ll post a $100 promo code in this thread tomorrow, valid for a good long while.   BetaShare - Run Your Beta Right! ;quote:Deal. I''ll post a $100 promo code in this thread tomorrow, valid for a good long while. Good! Now before we make a deal, here are few questions regarding my sign-up:1. Payment processing.   First of all I dislike very much that you don`t have a payment processing through some well-known shareware processor like RegNow   or some other that would accept my credit card. I can`t use PayPal because my country isn`t listed in the list of countries from which it is elligible to sign up for a PayPal account. If we`re talking about Money Order (i.e. Western Union), the charges will be approx. $25. A regular wire transfer could be for around $15 which again is something distracting. So do you at least consider adding this (e.g. RegNow or other processing system) to your payment options ?2. Piracy.   Well, I can`t for earth think of a way how to prevent testers from spreading the copy of my game all over the internet. Since my game is going to be under 10 MB (a download file size), well how can I prevent them from uploading the game to some server and let others download it freely ?Making it encoded through some KeyGen is no option, since they can just add the Key to .txt file alongside with pack file.Theoretically, I could have several different versions, each with different levels and no single tester would get a complete versions, but that still can`t guarantee that the final product with all levels wouldn`t have bugs (in fact, I`m sure it would).Anybody has any ideas ? 3. After-testing Gift.   No problem on my side to give the free copy of the game to each tester after they help me with a product, since they wouldn`t buy it anyway after exhaustive testing during which you inevitably have to hate the game after 100th replaying. But what about those who sign up just because of free game and never spot a bug or help me in polishing the product ? If 300 people sign up, and 10 of them actually test it thoroughly, I can`t just give the game to others.4. Volume Discount.   Be sure as hell that within 4 months (if I`d be happy with testing of Avenger), there`d be more games because starting February 1st, I`m going full-time as indie (I quit my daily job last week where I`ll stay till Jan 31) and have already another game 60% finished (based on same, my own, engine). Besides, I`m planning to releasing at least 4 games within first 6 months of this year after the engine is thoroughly tested, because I`ve designed it quite generally, and I approximate that about 7-8 other simple 3d games could be made with it with minimum hassle only with changed gameplay and different models and environment. So what would the volume discount look like then ?I hope you realized (based on sie of my reply) that I`m considering your service seriously in best hope and good will.    VladR Avenger 3D game