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Join the new Test Program
We've been working on the new Windows x64 version for some time, and we're building up a Test Program around it.
We're previously announced how the 32bit Windows version is going away, and this new Test Program is partially to help with that migration to 64bit (which may happen relatively soon).
But, there's a much larger goal here: We're going to start doing some pretty major changes to the game client, and this Test Program will be where people get to try things first.
As I mentioned on the RFC thread on Suggestions, there are a number of "housekeeping" and fundamental runtime changes around how the client works, along with an all-new (re-written) game "Launcher" app to keep things up to date (which is a lot faster and more efficient, and will eventually have more advanced capabilities):
(This is a mockup in Photoshop, not a screenshot. Although, the actual prototype app looks pretty close).
The broader point of my inviting people to join this "Test" program is for changes that will be far more significant than the basic Windows x64 release. Like:
- Major renderer and engine updates.
- Changes to game client architecture.
- Graphics, sound updates, interface updates, etc.
- Plus other things covered in the Game Direction Goals sticky thread.
What are the downsides of running the Test version?
- Things may be broken more often (if so, report the issue and then just use the Production version)
- We may be more aggressive about changing things, leading to more downloads. (But, really, not much compared to most modern games).
Why is this Windows-specific?
- We've historically done a lot of test rollouts on non-Windows platforms. We used Android to test filesystem changes, because of the widely varied flash memory in cheap Android phones. We used Quest to first test the new Launcher prototype, to retain Quest 1 support.
- This time, a lot of the changes we're doing make sense to try on Windows first. It's where the primary development will be taking place internally, where our in-house testing will be happening, and it's easiest for us. Some graphical features, like HDR display support, are problematic or unsupported on non-Windows drivers.
Will the improvements eventually come to other platforms?
- Yes, as we've always done (within platform technical limitations). The features will need to go into full production, and then be back-propagated to other platforms.
- This particular development cycle is just Windows-first, for a variety of technical and development-convenience reasons.
How does one join this Test program?
1) You need a native 64bit Windows machine. Preferably Windows 10 or 11, although theoretically it may run on older versions (not guaranteed).
2) You need to be willing to report bugs and problems back to us, and perhaps run test-versions and such if needed to replicate issues.
3) You need to be on our Discord Server, and you need to have the "Verified Pilot" Role.
4) You need to ask Luxen to join the Test program.
We're doing this on Discord, because we've been having problems getting emails to go through Gmail of late.
Originally I posted about this on Discord back on October, as we were planning to push something in early November. But, that ended up being pushed back, as broader internal testing showed the prototype needed more work.
At this time, I can't say exactly when the first "Test" release will happen. Probably in January? But really, this isn't really about that? It's more about putting together a group of people who are willing to try stuff over the "longer haul".. probably at least the coming year. Rather than just about testing "one x64 pre-release", this will be about a whole series of major changes.
To put it another way, the plan is that the "Test Program" will keep going long after we release the Windows x64 version to the public, because there's going to be a lot more to test.
Why is this Test Program necessary?
We go to a lot of effort to keep the Production game "working" for everyone. Maybe not always perfect, but, fundamentally functional. This isn't always easy to do.
The amount of testing and time that goes into rolling features into Production is prohibitive if one is doing a lot of "major" changes. The probability of breaking something significant becomes much higher.
To put it another way, shipping the same features on one platform in Production could take several times as long as doing it into a dedicated channel where we're more willing to break things and "try new stuff" (and users can just revert to a concurrent Production version if something does break).
To be clear: this is still pretty challenging, compared to regular game development that happens in a "closed room"; we still have to maintain full compatibility with the production game and server, and patch concurrently. We're still basically "building the plane while in flight". But, it's a lot easier than doing it in a Production channel, and we're more likely to have a stable result if we're testing broadly across a variety of players and hardware.
We're previously announced how the 32bit Windows version is going away, and this new Test Program is partially to help with that migration to 64bit (which may happen relatively soon).
But, there's a much larger goal here: We're going to start doing some pretty major changes to the game client, and this Test Program will be where people get to try things first.
As I mentioned on the RFC thread on Suggestions, there are a number of "housekeeping" and fundamental runtime changes around how the client works, along with an all-new (re-written) game "Launcher" app to keep things up to date (which is a lot faster and more efficient, and will eventually have more advanced capabilities):
(This is a mockup in Photoshop, not a screenshot. Although, the actual prototype app looks pretty close).
The broader point of my inviting people to join this "Test" program is for changes that will be far more significant than the basic Windows x64 release. Like:
- Major renderer and engine updates.
- Changes to game client architecture.
- Graphics, sound updates, interface updates, etc.
- Plus other things covered in the Game Direction Goals sticky thread.
What are the downsides of running the Test version?
- Things may be broken more often (if so, report the issue and then just use the Production version)
- We may be more aggressive about changing things, leading to more downloads. (But, really, not much compared to most modern games).
Why is this Windows-specific?
- We've historically done a lot of test rollouts on non-Windows platforms. We used Android to test filesystem changes, because of the widely varied flash memory in cheap Android phones. We used Quest to first test the new Launcher prototype, to retain Quest 1 support.
- This time, a lot of the changes we're doing make sense to try on Windows first. It's where the primary development will be taking place internally, where our in-house testing will be happening, and it's easiest for us. Some graphical features, like HDR display support, are problematic or unsupported on non-Windows drivers.
Will the improvements eventually come to other platforms?
- Yes, as we've always done (within platform technical limitations). The features will need to go into full production, and then be back-propagated to other platforms.
- This particular development cycle is just Windows-first, for a variety of technical and development-convenience reasons.
How does one join this Test program?
1) You need a native 64bit Windows machine. Preferably Windows 10 or 11, although theoretically it may run on older versions (not guaranteed).
2) You need to be willing to report bugs and problems back to us, and perhaps run test-versions and such if needed to replicate issues.
3) You need to be on our Discord Server, and you need to have the "Verified Pilot" Role.
4) You need to ask Luxen to join the Test program.
We're doing this on Discord, because we've been having problems getting emails to go through Gmail of late.
Originally I posted about this on Discord back on October, as we were planning to push something in early November. But, that ended up being pushed back, as broader internal testing showed the prototype needed more work.
At this time, I can't say exactly when the first "Test" release will happen. Probably in January? But really, this isn't really about that? It's more about putting together a group of people who are willing to try stuff over the "longer haul".. probably at least the coming year. Rather than just about testing "one x64 pre-release", this will be about a whole series of major changes.
To put it another way, the plan is that the "Test Program" will keep going long after we release the Windows x64 version to the public, because there's going to be a lot more to test.
Why is this Test Program necessary?
We go to a lot of effort to keep the Production game "working" for everyone. Maybe not always perfect, but, fundamentally functional. This isn't always easy to do.
The amount of testing and time that goes into rolling features into Production is prohibitive if one is doing a lot of "major" changes. The probability of breaking something significant becomes much higher.
To put it another way, shipping the same features on one platform in Production could take several times as long as doing it into a dedicated channel where we're more willing to break things and "try new stuff" (and users can just revert to a concurrent Production version if something does break).
To be clear: this is still pretty challenging, compared to regular game development that happens in a "closed room"; we still have to maintain full compatibility with the production game and server, and patch concurrently. We're still basically "building the plane while in flight". But, it's a lot easier than doing it in a Production channel, and we're more likely to have a stable result if we're testing broadly across a variety of players and hardware.