Does anyone know of a site where I can beta test Spore? It would be very helpful for others who want to beta test spore too.

I dont think you can beta test it at all.Best advice i can give is Get intouch with a Maxis Represenatve and ask them.

they probably will have beta testing near release, with a game this much focused on sharing use content they will have to test the servers on a larger scale

Perhaps...

I'll keep my eyes open for any info. If they release it, they'll probably keep it relatively quiet so that secrets aren't released TOO much.

if anyone finds out how to get in touch w/ someone at EA... please let me know. all the contact info on the ea website are for customer support and what not...

Ok guys I just found out that spore beta testing ended a long time ago. I emailed will to ask him, and thats what he told me

Hmm...if it's actually done, I wonder who did it. Must have been Maxis people since I haven't heard about any of it.

It would make sense that they would put out a beta test, or a demo, or something. After all, where will the player created creatures, buildings, cars, planets, etc. come from if no one is there to make them?

ok... are you stupid?? were there any public beta versions of any Sims games?
and the player created stuff is from the Maxis people...

o yea... how'd you contact Will?

No need to be rude, just because there wasnt any Beta testing for the Sims doesnt mean it wont happen for Spore, although it is unlikely.

sorry, but i mean come on!

i probabley wont take part of the beta if there is one. beacuse it ruins the game if you play a demo or something.

Workin on it!


Sent in a mail to EAs department of Spore hehe.

Howd i get the address? i improvised. I checked into the news letter and noticed the email inwhich to send the blank email to cancel your name off of the 'send to..' list
it was something of

subscription_spore@fun.ea.com

so... i crafted an email and sent it to spore@fun.ea.com

Most websites for game companies use very similar main base email addresses (for media) so that it is not easily forgotten. My email has not recieved the sent mail back so the email box was valid apparently. Maybe Ill get a reply? :P

I asked for an update on Spores progress. Information has died and i suggested they release information to let the public know it is still being created and not dropped like projects in the past have been done to. I also requested a developer or team email if there was one. Or rather i asked for one politely. We'll see if we get a response


If not ill try sending one to

Spore@Eagames.com
Spore@ea.com

or find the contact email which i believe is Contact@ea.com or something or another. Im determined to collect information! Im getting tired of those same old screenshots!

Thats great, thanks alot Keys for taking some action I think it was very true to say that the lack of new information is worrying and because of it forums and Spore fansites seem to be dying out. It would be life saving to hear just a tiny bit of news.

Please be sure to let us know how you get on, I'm sure me and the other members are very greatful for your contribution. :D

Not a problem!

Id been looking for Spore forums for some time and only recently had it occured to me that google would be of prime help. So thus ive landed here!

No reply yet from spore@fun.ea.com or whatnot though i dont really expect them to reply overnight. If they truly do check their mail and that IS the address i suppose we can be hopefull for tomorrow or sometime next week.

Ill continue to hunt down an official address.


Like you said. its worrying that there has been a lack of updates. Sites have been dieing down and the same old same old screenshots have not been replaced. Just thinking about the game drives me insane so im going to work as hard as i can on gathering any form of information.


What [u]WOULD[/i] be helpfull are questions. If i can get ahold of Will and crew and manage to get a deal with them like a developer response chat (we submit questions and they answer) but i cant do it without questions.

A dev chat would be cool.

That it would be. (i just noticed my forum code didnt go in right :P)

A small group has been doing it for Oblivion. having tracked down a developer email and has since been sending in questions and will continue to until the game is released. How it works?


A thread begins and questions are wanted. The public asks their questions and the poster arranges them according to crowd publicity (i like or a no go). Then we send it in after some professional-like rewording and working and await on our reply.

well i havent read the whole topic but i would like to point out that beta is the VERY last stage of a game (city of villians came out two days after the beta). all a beta is is fine tunning the game finding a ketting rid of bugs in the game so there is HOPE!

Beta stage for a game obviously comes after Gama and Delta stages which are the primary development and scripting stages of the game (Scripting as in planning).

Beta stage is when the game has been produced and is on solid ground (well enough to be released). However developers choose to put this system through rigerous trial periods. Some choose to release a public Beta (Maxis isnt really popular with this. Notice we dont have Sims beta/demos) so the odds are low for Maxis releasing one. However after the beta (most areas release a beta a week or two before the game is released. The produced data of the Beta testing is used in the first official patch because at two weeks the game has been set into Alpha stage and their game CD has been shipped to the production facilities. At one week the company is taking a break while the financial department handles last minute issues. Game discs are also shipped standard 5 day business out to the game store warehouses where they are then forwarded to their store locations. :P

Well to be honest i have never heard of the gamma and delta but i was told by countless people that alpha is before beta (sound odd though).

Well, alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet. Then Beta, Gamma, Delta...

Or am I completely missing the point (I'm just skimming the post right now)?

As Far as i know and have been taught in game design classes in College

Alpha - Release Stage
Beta - The Stage before release, this is when the developers begin the final testing and root out the bugs and glitches
Gamma - The Development stage
Delta - The concept and planing stage

Whatever what do i know, im just a 12 year old just starting to learn code (ok that isn't fake but i can programe)

I had a strange feeling the whole system works backwards. :P

Dunno lol. Thats what ive been taught though.... but my teacher during those classes was never all that much... 'there' so maybe im wrong? lol

May I jump in and suggest this should be moved to another forum, as when I saw the title i though, WOW! I could be a beta tester!!

and, yeah, i think it does go through the stages like that, although the only one commonly used is beta, the rest you won't hear often.

I don't think will wants beta testers, since it sounds like hes doing a global release at the same time, and having beta testers kind of gives those selected an edge above the rest - they will allready have started making content that appears in our games before we buy it.
Wills all about fair.
So I think its more likly that the beta will be for employees only...

sounds right, I just wish there was some new info. even a prespective release date would be cool. or even month. Perhaps Will Wright has developed Carpul Tunnel Syndrome so he's having touble programming the things... LOL yeah. i've been looking through other threads on other forums and the last post was sometime in June 2005... thats like 9 months. it's insane. WE NEED INFO BADLY

Dude! Chill. Wait 10 days. We will have new info by then. At least some.

this might of already been said but im guessing spore is either in alpha, pre beta or not in testing at all
i mean realease is rumored to be in q3 and thats 4 months away at least
its most likeley in alpha by now but who knows it might not be and the release date could be much later than expected
answering the original question EA probably has beta testers already
but to take your mind off this game until release try www.betawatcher.com if you want betas

i have an incling that this game will hit near release ( judging by last years GDC video the core game looked almost complete unlike the movies was which actually 3 years i think and was only expected to be released in 2 )


but we should never get our hopes up

prolly not past pre-beta, yet.

I meen, last year, yes, it *LOOKED* complete, but to be fair, all the creatures he made were pre-designed, it was all done to script, and everything had obviously been set up just for him. There was hardly anything inbetween the stages, either. there were actually alot of gaps, like he said 'held together with bailing-wire and ducttape'
The health wasn't working, eggs were layed on button press, etc.
If I were him, I would be asking the audiance what they wanted from the creature, just for the sake of it...

It has been nearly a whole year, though, so it will have had alot done to it.

yes companies can really make games look complete when theyre not
i mean the world looked fairly stable and the building editor looked solid
but there was no sign of a UI (as with most in development games)
so certain elements looked fairly good

i think will probably disabled the health bar for practical purposes
since he was using the game in a presentation and he actually demonstrated how you can get hurt
i think he disabled the bar because if something was unfortunate was to happen to his character he would have to restart the game which would mess his presentation up as bit
but then again it just might not of worked
i think one problem that will delay the release of this game will be the UI
i believe "the movies" was delayed mostly bevause of interface issues (i roughly remember hearing that somewhere )

well anyway back to the topic
it will probably be in pre beta

sorry i go on a bit and i seem to mention games ive been on a lot

Right now Will has stated that the company is having their span of issues dealing with the AI and UI systems, being the process and development of it is constantly popping up with new problems they have to work over.

The version Will had running was held together with ducktape and paperclips. He only had that base world setup and working. The textures were bland and mostly an eyesore because of the simplicity. Most of the features were gone, including alot of the creature addons. The species on the planet were pre-crafted by wills crew in a quick rush to inhabit the planet. There were probably 6 at most. Alot of which never made it into the development showing because of major issues that caused a crash or some sort. (thus the flying critter in the background that never made its appearance other than in the background). The galaxy was uninhabited aside from a few untouchable planets he placed his cursor over and the planet(s) he went to visit. Those had, like his origional planet. Been modeled as bland spheres with minor properties and placed into the game to give us something to look at.

Alot of the game was missing in the video and it was probably only... 5% of what you'll be able to do.

Hey!
I pmed will on a fan site (since he had joined) and reffered him to this site :D!!! If he gets it then that will be good! And mabey he will have info on the beta testing!

those are valid points
you can sort of picture how it was held together so simply
but im guessing thw game has came a long way since then
but from experience i dont think this ones going to hit the shelves this year
so beta testing is out ( for now )
theres a chance he might reveal some beta demos to certain media comkpanies
but that will be only a month or so before release
beta is important to test your market
but i think hes got a pretty good idea at the potential players reactions when he checks his email box every day
he has been in the game designing business for many years and has managed to keep his 1 and only company maxis in riches with his ideas ( unlike say bulfrog )
so whether he will release a beta will be up to him somehow i think his beta will be a select few who sign up way in advance

The game at the time of the show was undeveloped, but showed some true potential. Just imagine when it's done with beta, filled with lots of goodies...and ready of release...it will be amazing.

It'll be hard though. Imagine the AI system that'll have to be worked in...as well as the UI that was mentioned...

i still have my concerns that spore will be released on time
i think its because i compare it the movies ( a game which i waited for a long time)
but saying that maxis are a bigger company with better facilities and unlike the movies, spore has complete support from its publisher EA
so there is no real concern from EA delay release they trust will wright they know anything he releases will attract sales
so its really only the development itself that may take longer but saying that
its doubtful will wright will announce a really incorrect release date since he has experience with modern games and how long they take to make
for example sims 2
back on topic now
if release is on time beta (if they have a public one) will be to but who knows
release dates can go horribly wrong aswell

Spore probably wont be released by Q4 2006 but will most likely pull an Oblivion.

The origional release date was set for Q4 of 2005 (december) just before christmas. That way it would be out for the holidays. But the development team made a unanimous(sp) choice to hold the game back and put it through a few more months of development. The official release date was set Q1 2006 afterwards and is set to come out this month on the 20th (ships).

Spore will probably do the the same if not a longer delay.

these days all games are delayed
it's just all thw work that goes into them now
we just have to accept it
anyway thanks fro telling me about the old release dates

The example you used of The Sims 2 had two delays...and both dates were those annouced by Maxis...so we could truly see some major delays...I predict July 2007...that way, it won't get in the way of a Sims 2 EP (they're always released in March and September) and will maximize profit without being launched to early, either. That...or late this year...but that's unlikely with a game this huge.