Beta testing has begun!!
Welcome to this new development update! So much work accomplished since the previous update. So many long hours and concerted efforts to get the game closer to our goal.
Along the way my graphics card died on me! So I got one of the newly released Nvidia beasts as a replacement. Alas my computer is not top of the line anymore and it doesn’t allow the card to fully showcase its power (both CPU and motherboard are the bottlenecks). As a result my frame rate on GoaT is stuck between 60 and 70fps when I know it should be much higher.
Anyway, you’re not interested in my technical woes because you read the title of this post and it says “BETA TESTING HAS BEGUN”! Yay! And as you can see we only use the most discriminating professional testers… 😉
More seriously though, we’re currently testing the pre-release on a bunch of different rigs, squashing bugs left and right. For the first time in a long while people who’ve never played the game got to experience it at last!
And before you ask: yes, this is a closed beta process. We will add more testers in the coming weeks and although we do appreciate everyone’s willingness to help we’ve got testing covered for now! If you are among the next (small) wave of testers then we will get in touch with you soon.
The entire process has been an eye-opener though and we’ve already got some quite astute notes. But I’m very happy to report we haven’t heard anything of a nature to make us doubt the validity of the entire experience! Whew! 😉
What we’ve got in spades are insights into what some players expect, or may take for granted. If you’ll allow me to digress here: When I was working on movies we did what’s called “test-screenings”, after which producers would come back to us (the crew) and make us change A LOT of things, sometimes putting into question the foundations of the project.
I always disliked those periods. Not because of the feedback itself (it often had merit) but because it meant our leaders (the studio) didn’t make the right decisions in the first place. Sometimes even though we were telling them there were issues.
To be fair, creating a piece of entertainment is always difficult because it has to be communicated clearly. You need to make sure your intended audience “gets it”. Although it can sometimes lead to a certain amount of pandering. Or on the opposite end you can get obtuse experiences with a mightily cerebral message, which does not appeal to me either (at least as far as games are concerned). Finding the right balance always is a difficult act.
But it’s exciting watching players put two and two together and as a result wanting to learn more about the world they explore. Which is why I don’t want to reveal too much about the story or even some game mechanics.
But I must say the game has gotten much richer and deeper than I would ever have anticipated. When I started development 3 years ago (how time flies) I thought GoaT would amount to a moderately nice-looking romp involving hitting enemies until they went down. Period. And boy did it turn out to be so much more!
Anyway, there are still many bugs to fix before we can officially launch the (public) pre-release so I’ll go back to work now!
Barring any unforeseen catastrophe you guys should be able to put your hands on the early access version of Ghost of a Tale in… “not too long”. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience. It shall eventually get rewarded… 🙂
Neverarine
June 27, 2016 at 8:35 ami cant wait to get my hands on this! its been so long since this got started! 😀
FirestormDDash
June 27, 2016 at 4:20 pmIndeed it has! Its like ordering things long forgotten through the mail and having it jist show up in the mail one day and be like “whats this? Presents!?”.
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:23 pmThat’s right! It’s a present from your past self! With a little “You were right to back this” note.
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:22 pmI know what you mean… 🙂
Evan
June 27, 2016 at 9:23 amOh wow, the release is fast approaching. So excited.
As much as I’d want to get my hands on beta and early access, I feel it’s best for me to wait until the finished product is released to enjoy the game fully. (don’t like spoilers) 🙂
Looks awesome as always, and it definitely has come a long way since the time of the KickStarter.
Best of luck going forward.
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:24 pmThanks Evan. Yep, long way since the first prototype! 🙂
KwisatzHaderach
June 27, 2016 at 10:36 amVery excited to hear the good news! As always the pics look stunning! Oh, what a ride it was thus far! I remember the discussions on the forums – in the olden days – about wether Tilo will be playing Stairway to Heaven or Freebird on his lute. I’m very curious to find out which one of the two Seith went with (hint hint, take me into the beta! I love betas! I’m very knowledgeable about betas! Some of my best friends are betas! My whole life is a beta!!!)
Evilkinggumby
June 27, 2016 at 12:20 pmWow kwaisatz isnt on the beta too?! Bummer.. I’m not…yet *hopeful* i am glad your baby is proving to be really rich and awesome! The winds are at your friend ď
KwisatzHaderach
June 28, 2016 at 8:55 amSee, evilking, that’s what happens when game developers grow famous and rich and beautiful! They abandon their fans!!! Why do you think these kids get to play early and we are not?! Because they have ALL the money! Think about it! Seith probably sold out to them right after he grabbed OUR money after the campaign and now he has to do their bidding. Seith USED to make good games, but he’s just not true anymore!
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:28 pmYeah, like… he changed, man. First he takes our money, then child labour… It’s all the cheese. Went to his head.
Kein
June 27, 2016 at 2:48 pmIs there any chance to get into beta? Or backers only?
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:30 pmIt is a closed beta. And for now we’re okay as far as testing is concerned, thanks!
Dragonhead
June 27, 2016 at 7:09 pmKeep up the great work! 😀
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:31 pmThank you! Will do!
lucky
June 27, 2016 at 7:19 pmThanks for the update! As always, can’t wait 🙂
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:32 pmYou’re welcome. The wait for the pre-release is getting to an end… 🙂
MundM
June 28, 2016 at 5:08 amOh, the teasing! Unbearable!
Indeed, it’s not the game I expected a few years ago, too!
But I’m glad you found a more elaborate game play style then having it be an overly cute hack ‘n slash!
Can’t wait to hide from some nasty rat skeletons and craps…I got just recently introduced to crabs you shouldn’t approach too easily (Dark Souls 3), so I would love to see how much of an issue your version will be!
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:33 pmI certainly hope you like what you see when the early access’s released!
MundM
July 4, 2016 at 10:22 amI meant crabs, not craps, I hope you got that 😀
GW
June 28, 2016 at 7:10 pmFor the beta, what are the recommended min/max specs? I’m dy-ing (okay, not dy-ing, but eager) to nab the public version and do a write up on my site. And yes, kudos for the young testers! This means your game gets a wider audience who’ll get their collective sense of wonder activated when they see and play the final version. Might even make real cute sword-carrying talking mice a “thing” as pets, but I hope not. I can get the non-talking ones for free around here without the finely crafted gear, but choose not to (eeek!).
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:36 pmI’m writing a new post to answer those questions! But yeah, so far the appeal of the game seems to cross several boundaries in terms of age and player types.
PouchBunny
June 28, 2016 at 11:18 pm*squeeeee!* O…M…G… can. not. wait!
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:36 pmYou just squeaked! X)
Crinkem
June 29, 2016 at 8:42 amI can’t wait to play this! I’ll wait patiently for the public beta in the future. This is the most excitement I’ve had for not being able to play a beta, haha. I’m just happy that the beta is released and other people are enjoying it! As always, keep up the good work, Seith!
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:38 pmThanks you! If it’s any consolation, the beta testers’ work involves mostly reporting bugs and such. You’ll definitely have a much better time when you discover the game after that stage is done!
Agata
June 29, 2016 at 2:22 pmCannot wait! I’m so excited about this game. I’m you follower on facebook from almost 3 years. I know already that this game will be great!
Thank you for yur work!
Seith
June 29, 2016 at 4:39 pmThanks for being a long-time follower, Agata. And thank you for your words of encouragement! 🙂
armodillo17
July 1, 2016 at 12:12 amThe closer this gets to release, the sadder I become that I can’t play it : ( I’m still glad I backed it, though. Hopefully it’s successful enough to warrant a Mac or Nintendo console port in the near future.
Seith
July 1, 2016 at 3:09 pmKnow then that your support for the campaign is appreciated even more! A Mac version is not totally excluded of course but to be honest it’s not a priority. Not even including consoles, the most generous estimations regarding the percentage of gamers playing on a Mac stand at less than 5%.
So a Mac version would come down to two factors: 1) Technical feasibility (GoaT uses tessellation a lot) and 2) The time and money required to create the port.
A Nintendo port is not possible at this point due to none of their available consoles coming anywhere close to what’s required to run the game. Maybe the NX will change that, who knows?
Mikael
July 2, 2016 at 9:43 pmAwesome!! I’m a console player so i have to wait alot 😀 But i’m happy because i can see more gameplay videos soon! Great work Seith! Love you!
3dmnop
July 14, 2016 at 11:04 pmit’s been years, and it’s great too see your game finally being played. 🙂
Yan
July 17, 2016 at 10:26 pmSo, no Xbox Game Preview for now? I remember some speculation about it last year.
John
July 28, 2016 at 1:46 amOk I downloaded the early release of the game from Steam. One thing that is not good is that once the guards get totally site of you they do not reset even though you manage to get away from them and able to hide in different room. your unable to save game or proceed properly with the game. This effects all the guards.
Otherwise the game is challenging. would be nice if the guard you drop the barrel on would stay down just a bit longer.
I’d give this a hands up for this game.