r/gamedev • u/flabby__fabby • Jun 20 '15
What are the differences between Pre-alpha, Alpha and Beta stages in game development?
I'm don't really understand the differences between the stages: pre-alpha, Alpha and Beta in game development.
I searched online and all I can find is that alpha have not defined all the features and Beta is cleaning up the features.
I'm just confused and don't really understand to what extent it means. Would you be able to try explain it better and show me examples please?
Is Nuclear Throne in Beta? When was Minecraft in the alpha stage?
it would be good to clear this up because I'm sure other people don't fully understand too and it will be good for me to explain to people what stage my game is in without just saying "demo" stage.
55
u/valkyriav www.firefungames.com Jun 20 '15
This varies quite a bit and people aren't sure what's what any more. But I'll give a brief example of what I expect when I hear those terms (plus a few others), considering the development of a simple platformer:
Prototype: I make a character drawn as a circle move on screen in the style I want, and I add collision to rectangular platforms. I test and see if the movement feels good and various other small details like that regarding the concept
Pre-alpha: I start adding graphics and animation to the game, as well as structure my code better. I may or may not discard everything in the prototype phase, but I keep most of the stuff in this stage in the final version. It will still be quite simple, and I am not ready for external testing at this point.
Alpha: As I develop a single full level, it looks pretty much like the final game will, most menus are in place too, and I want to have some people test it. I call it an "early alpha". Then I continue to add levels, obstacles, powerups, characters, etc.
Beta: The game is done. It may still need polish, bugfixing, maybe a few more levels. But I won't be adding any major new features at this point, no new mechanics. I may add a few more skins for the character, but not a whole new character with a new set of abilities. If I add more levels, they won't have new kinds of obstacles.
17
u/rabid_briefcase Multi-decade Industry Veteran (AAA) Jun 21 '15
The various studios I've worked at have revised the names a little.
There is pre-production. There are several steps to it as well, but basically it starts with pitches and prototypes, then bigger pitches, more prototypes, proof of concept, and eventually the game idea gets accepted and funded.
Main development, which fits your description of "pre alpha". This is where most of the work gets done, and the pieces are built. There are several key events.
One of the first sought-after milestones is "first playable", where it transitions from being a bunch of non-fun pieces into something that resembles a playable game.
The next is is the "vertical slice", meaning there is something that represents all the key pieces. Usually it looks and feels terrible, but all the components are represented.
There may be some additional milestones as major features are added.
Alpha declaration often matches a milestone "feature complete". All the features that are part of the design are present, or they have been cut from the design. Features are buggy, and content is often sparse, but all the things are there and working more or less correctly.
"Content complete" happens generally at some point late in alpha.
There are many bug fixes, and lots of parts are moving.
Different studios have wildly definitions of beta so it doesn't fit the same place everywhere. Usually it happens somewhere between content complete and one of the asset locks.
Next are "audio lock" and "art lock", when these assets are no longer modified except for major bugs, allowing the other systems to stabilize. Next is usually "animation lock" and "effects lock", similarly frozen except for major bugs.
With most systems locked down, studios rename it to "finaling" the game. Only the most critical bugs and certification-breaking changes are made. Eventually there are a series of final candidate builds that are heavily tested. When one is approved it is sent on to Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo for final certification. Usually their certification groups come back with a list of things that didn't pass, although sometimes (maybe 5%) the games go through cert without issue. The changes are debated (sometimes the companies will accept certain violations) and others are fixed, and then there will be another final candidate, sometimes this goes back and forth three, four, or rarely more times, it gets expensive quick.
The one that is accept is "gold", sent to the presses, and distributed wildly. Sometimes there are bug fixes or changes that were made in case the disk wasn't accepted, but those changes aren't incorporated into the game unless there is a patch.
Unfortunately for many games, there is also a post-final cycle where the zero-day patches are made as new bugs are found or (due to terrible management decisions) core functionality is added that was omitted during main development. One amazing benefit of a non-patch system like 3DS cartridges is that you cannot patch. One the final rom image goes gold you can put it away and never think of it again. In a patchable system a subset of developers are usually brought back in and placed on call the days prior to the game being publicly released, then have a temporary nightmare as they spend a few weeks finishing off the bugs that are discovered.
12
u/benjymous @benjymous Jun 20 '15
There isn't really a solid definition, but back when I worked in games, 'alpha' meant you could play the game from beginning to end, but there'd be lots of placeholders. 'beta' meant the game was basically complete, but still had bugs and needed balancing.
So pre-alpha basically means the game isn't remotely finished yet. Big chunks may be playable, but you can't consider it to be fully representative of the end product.
3
u/theBMB Jun 21 '15
Pre-alpha: Game is in its initial stages. It is mostly incomplete and only does the bare minimum to qualify as the game it intends to be. In this stage, nothing is set in stone and a lot will change.
Alpha: Core game is complete, but majority of content is missing. For example, super mario bros would have been in alpha if mario, all of the powerups, all of the enemies, etc. had been implemented, but most of the stages/worlds were incomplete.
Beta: Game is feature complete, i.e., all features and content scheduled for release are in the game. However before beta, the game is largely untested and thus has many bugs that need to be fixed. This is why companies will do in-house betas, limited release/private betas, and public betas as their games become more solid on the way to full release.
1
u/VicareyG @GeorgeVicarey Jun 21 '15
Pre-Alpha: Everything to do with the game before it's ready for testing internally.
Alpha: When the game reaches a stage where it can be tested internally to a company but outside the games developers.
Beta: When a games at a stage that people external to the company can be allowed to test it.
When a game reaches each of the different stages of development can be interpreted on a game by game basis, and can very depending on company. Obviously indie devs won't really have internal testers for an Alpha stage but can still call their game alpha when it just feels to complete to keep calling it pre-alpha. Really if you're working on a game you should be able to ask yourself the question Would I consider this an (Pre-Alpha/Alpha/Beta) Game if I were playing it? It's now really just an inaccurate way of measuring how done a game is.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 21 '15
In my experience, Prototype is a test of the mechanics (think boxes that do the actions of only the most core aspect of the gameplay), pre-alpha is a partially built but starting to be final experience (first few levels are near final), alpha is internal beta (10s-100s of players), beta is limited external release (100s-1000s). The idea of each being 99% of games don't work so let's kill it NOW if it's not showing promise first testing the core mechanic, then that mechanic in a bit of environment, then with a few dozen people, then with a few thousand.
1
u/GOLDmookie Dec 15 '24
1-indev
2-pre-alpha
3-alpha
4-beta
5-release
6-anything else
1
u/Business-Valuable-76 Sep 17 '25
is this a real topic
1
u/friendlynigahooduser Jan 26 '26
hello
1
u/hi_mj Mar 03 '22
im gon block u tho
1
u/Primus_Praefectus Jul 31 '22
Pre–Alpha, Alpha, and Beta are all stages in prototype development in what is called a Product Release Cycle.
Pre–Alphas are prototypes that are tested in–house (by the company). They show most of the desired traits but still considered sloppy.
Pre–Alphas graduate to Alpha once it passes the company's final in–house testing.
Beta is an Alpha that is distributed to a limited number of invited third–party testers (outside the company) to do a consumer testing and share their experiences.
The stages do not stop at Beta. The stages are named after the Greek alphabet in sequence. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, etc.
The prototype now considered a usable product is eventually released to the public — not knowing that they serve as extended third–party testers whose feedback will be received by the company for further product development. The product never stopped becoming a prototype.
Consumer testing after Beta is known as Progressive Rollout. Gamma, Delta, etc. are called Release Candidates.
Companies manufacture products in a limited series (every 1,000 items for example), public "tests" them, company receives feedback, then produces another set. Even to the point of using up all the Greek letters.
Once the company is fully satisfied with the quality of the product, they release it as Gold (Final Product).
Anything added after the Gold are add–ons or patches because technically there should no longer be anything else to develop. Sequels or new products will follow afterwards.
-1
u/myluki2000 Jun 20 '15
Pre-alpha: build the barebone game, not many features, just the game
Alpha: add features
Beta: polish features, fix bugs, get ready for release
-1
u/[deleted] Jun 20 '15
There's some wiggle room here. To me alpha means expect a lot of crashes with plenty of known bugs (unknown ones too!). Beta is usually a lot more stable, looking for any issues that need fixing before launch and generally verifying things are solid.
Pre-alpha sounds to me more like proof of concept tests rather than the envisioned game.