The Stage 2 of the Totem Tribe II: Jotun Alpha test is over and we have successfully started Stage 3. We are currently inviting new testers into the game. If you are invited into Alpha 3, use the link below to join the game:
http://www.totemtribe.com/alpha/
If it says you don't have permission to access it, don't be upset, the Alpha 4 will come later on and we will be sending out a new wave of invites. Sooner or later everyone will have their chance to play.
Regarding invites - Alpha 3 world map is pretty small, just as it was in Alpha 2, but this time we plan to invite as many people as it will be necessary to fully populate the world map. I know some people do not like to be crowded, but this is a testing period. If there was ever a time to do all kinds of crazy stuff, it is now. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it is the price of being among the first :)
Our conclusions on Alpha 2
It is time to sum up our thoughts and experiences of running Stage 2 of the Alpha test for almost half a year with a little bit more details. It took much longer than expected because Alpha 2 was a stage of fundamental decisions:
- Codebase. We figured out our codebase was pretty bad and it was difficult to implement tweaks promptly. Testers found so many bugs and filed many suggestions, but when we tried to apply them it appeared that necessary changes took too much time to implement. We had a choice - either to continue to implement changes slowly or to take a break and seriously rework our codebase hoping that eventually it would make things easier. We decided to do the latter, and this resulted in a serious delay releasing Alpha 3 without many visible changes. We are not done yet on our codebase redesign, but at least we do see the whole picture and things will be simpler as time goes by.
- Interface. Even during Alpha 1 the majority of our testers criticized the game interface as being inconvenient and obscure. It was a priority feature, but due to situations mentioned in the previous section we failed to change the interface in Alpha 2. However we completed the necessary preparation programming and are about to redesign the interface in Alpha 3 updates.
- Community. The Alpha 2 community of testers was slightly larger than Alpha 1, but we were still able to keep the warm "family" atmosphere, although there were a few people that tried to ruin it. Most of the credit goes to the testers themselves though - they were great at keeping the right mood despite the presence of several upsetting situations. Guys/gals - you are awesome! :) It will be a challenge to keep it that way as more and more people come here, but I think sustaining the proper atmosphere is a key point to the game's success.
- Story. I know story and quests are very important to Totem Tribe folk and we really tried to release at least one new quest location with Alpha 3, but we were unable to do so without causing further delays. However, we have made all the necessary preparations that will allow us to release a new quest location at a later date. This will be done during an update, not during a wipe.
- Donations and premium items. Some people were very excited about Cash Shop and helped us with donations, and so we took steps to benefit those people by introducing various bonuses like Enkord Cash. However, refunded Enkord Cash spent during Alpha 2 resulted in too many premium items right from the start of Alpha 3. This skewed the results of early testing a little bit, and therefore we have made the decision not to refund bonus items on future Alpha wipes (Alpha 4 and so on) - only Enkord Cash will be refunded. This will prevent further skewing of the results during future Alpha testing. The bonus items will be refunded when the game reaches more stable stage - like Beta.
- War. Another important issue of Alpha 2 was battles. Some players felt uncomfortable when they were attacked unexpectedly for no reason. We analyzed those cases with proper attention and made some changes (like adding Shelter for units) to allow players to deal with those attacks. Some players asked us to create a separate mode or server for peaceful players alone, but unfortunately I must admit this will not happen. Totem Tribe is not a farm game or a city builder, and warfare was a crucial part of original Totem Tribe game. It will also play an important role in Totem Tribe II: Jotun. However we do realize the warfare is a very sensitive issue and we will always keep an eye on it, trying to figure out how to make it less stressful and more fun, providing more means to deal with damage.
Your conclusions?
That's my thoughts about Alpha 2, but I would love to hear about your experience while playing Alpha 2. Please tell us about your best and worst experiences and about all those "aha" and "bummer" moments. It will be interesting to share.
