Launching the beta for a new game is a really exciting experience. It is impossible not to feel a buzz of excitement as for the first time, lots of people get to download, install and start playing the game you’ve spent months, sometimes years working on. It really does provide a thrill!
Then one patiently awaits the first feedback… will players love it, or…
Fortunately, our testers are not shy in saying what they think, and so we have been literally bombarded with feedback!
Fortunately, the feedback has also been overwhelmingly positive, and it has exceeded all our expectations. Yes, there have been issues to resolve, but surprisingly quickly, the conversation has largely moved on to discussing balance and minor details.
The Beta Testers are Fantastic!
The quality of feedback has been excellent, with many playing both sides before providing detailed reports and commentary.
We even have AARs on our forums with numerous screenshots enabling us to see what strategies are being followed, what mistakes made, how victories are being won, and most importantly, what we need to do in terms of adding advice to help new players.
Below is a screenshot from an AAR of a PBEM game of our Marianas campaign that is being fought by Old Crow Balthazor:
Of course, players have also noticed a few oddities that we had missed, such as the wrong theme tune playing when clicking on a Capital. Or of the wrong icon appearing on Free Indian units.
There is so much detail behind the scenes that these things do happen – and it’s great that these small details are noticed and picked up on.
Landing on Henderson Field
Successful betas require good teamwork between testers and developers, and innumerable discussions have been taking place on all kinds of aspects of the game.
To take our Guadalcanal campaign as a single example of how the beta team have helped, the detailed feedback provided here has enabled us to adjust the AI so that it will provide a much greater challenge for future players.
This is especially relevant in two areas: firstly in helping the Imperial Japanese Navy to better avoid coast watchers.
Secondly, it has really helped us to resolve an issue with Henderson Field, a victory objective that is also in the front line. This caused some initial problems, with some even working out how the Japanese could take the airfield in the first turn and win the game – whoops!
New Georgia Sound aka ‘The Slot’
Speaking of Guadalcanal, the importance of naval battles in the area has been emphasised in the main 1941 Day of Infamy campaign. One of our beta testers has this to say about it:
‘I think your choice was the best one for this map. In my PBEM game for this campaign, my US forces are bitterly contesting control of Guadalcanal and the Slot. It plays out very well, with Japanese carriers limping away having suffered damage, and two US carriers now at the bottom thanks to enemy air attacks’.
Clarity of Information
Players have also been reading the Strategy Guides. And when we say reading the Strategy Guides, some have gone through them with a fine tooth comb, providing innumerable suggestions to help create more comprehensive, clear and useful documentation that will benefit everyone when the game is released!
We have also improved in-game information, with the addition of more symbols and text on the map where appropriate, making changes based on forum comments as the initial versions of some were not as clear as they could have been.
These improvements are making the gaming experience even better for everyone, and will especially help new players.
To highlight just one example: the blue star showing next to Agana on Guam in the screenshot below shows that this is an ongoing National Morale objective.
Every turn that Japan owns this place, US National Morale will be penalised – so the US had better make sure it doesn’t lose too many locations like this!
Will there be any Pacific DLCs?
We have been simply amazed at the number of people asking for extra campaigns to be added in DLCs. This is a sign of the great enthusiasm there is for this release, and the hope to have more and similar. All we can say for now is that we have been noting down ideas.
We would like to thank all our beta testers who have provided feedback, please continue doing so as we move forward towards the next exciting milestone: release day!