4. What is the difference between ‘Beta-testing’ and doing Work Experience testing at Lionhead?
‘Beta-testing’ refers to testing work that’s done during the ‘Beta’ stage, towards the end of a game’s development. When a game reaches this stage, its content and functionality should be complete. All that is left to do is to tweak the values that affect the difficulty and pacing of the game (this process is called ‘balancing’) and to find and address any major bugs still remaining; the game should be more-or-less ready for release to the manufacturers / to the general public.
Many Developers, particularly those making massively-multiplayer online role-playing games (M.M.O.R.P.G.’s), offer the chance for members of the public to ‘Beta-test’ pre-release versions of their games ‘out of house’ ie: at home.
Lionhead does not offer this service. If you want to test our games, you have to come to us. Here you’ll see, test and feed back on our games at almost every stage of development; you’ll see the whole picture, not just ‘Beta’ stage versions of our games!
