In the latest edition of his periodic developer journals here on WarCry, Darkfall Associate Producer Tasos Flambouras talks about his company's philosophy on a range of issues, including: announcing a release date, the beta testing process and playtesting. He also reacts to some of the reaction to his last journal.
We prefer to do our testing this way so by the time we get to the playtesting, we'll have as close to the actual game as possible. We would like to let the playtesting carry on for a while uninterrupted just like the actual game would be instead of allowing access for a few days here and there. That's the best way to decide if the game is fun, something you really can't have an opinion on when it's not near-complete. In the playtesting phase, we're not looking for testers, we're looking for players, the same way most people enter a beta: to try out and play the game rather than help the developer with quality assurance.
Read more after the leap.