FO Blog – Why Funorb Needs Beta Testers

Jagex are well known for providing high quality games, but lately there standards seem to be slipping. As they experiment with new ideas and technology more and more bugs are slipping through into the final game releases. Also as the games get more complicated, they increasingly have design flaws that unbalance the game.

The most resent example of an unbalanced, bugged game is Armies of Gielinor. There have been major bugs when starting rated games, sometimes players don’t even get taken into the game, but still lose rating if they leave. There have also been problems with servers crashing.

The main problem with AoG is that it is majorly unbalanced. People are able to block their opponents portal, meaning they are unable to summon units, while this seems a legitimate tactic, it can be done before the opponent even has a chance to defend them-self.

There are also problems with the map layouts, everything is almost perfectly symmetrical, so who ever goes first has a major advantage, they can reach buildings before their opponent, and capture them. There is also a flaw where the first player gains victory points on a hidden last turn just before the winner is announced. This means in a close game, the player going first has a major advantage and will win.

AoG isn’t the only game to be unbalanced. Arcanists has had many problems with spells being overpowered, and players being unable to defend themselves from cheep tactics. Most of these are fixed eventually, but should never have made their way into the game in the first place.

Another annoying bug that appears across all games, is sometimes when you gain an achievement, when you log out it’s gone. This has happened in several games and needs to be checked before release, as some of the achievements affected are very hard.

Dungeon Assault also had problems when players logged out, some players found that their hard earned dungeon and stable were being reset back to the defaults. Hours of work was being lost until it was fixed.

TerraPhoenix also has many bugs, even though the game has now been out for 11 months, some have still not been fixed. Players progress and soldiers are not always saved correctly.

Having a closed Beta before release with trusted players will highlight some of the bugs in the game, allowing them to be fixed. Players will also be able to find anything that unbalances the game, such as spells that are too powerful and maps that don’t work before they reach the general public.

People don’t want bugged games, and players who experience bugs when they first start to play often never bother to come back. Swallow your pride Jagex, and let us help. It’s for the best.

~ by Raz on February 2, 2009.