No software is completely free of bugs, and a lack of volunteers can make the difference between a solid market launch, and its disappearance. The concept of “Early Access” appeals to the desire and wallet of the potential user-player to help a title or application reach its stable version on time, but the huge number of failures makes us wonder if it might not be more convenient to “turn the equation around”, and that is what Betafy aims to do: a platform that offers to unite developers with volunteers, with the latter receiving specific benefits.
The Problem with Early Access
I'll begin this text with a personal opinion, a feeling, if you will. NeoTeo is a space for information, specifications, and the most precise data possible, and if I wanted to express my opinions I would do so on a personal blog or a Twitter account; however, I believe many of our readers share the same sentiment, and I ask you to excuse the small asterisk in my record: I do not like Early Access. In recent years, what seemed to be a magical solution for software and “indie” game development became a source of frustration and disappointment. Of course, history tells us of great Early Access successes, like Minecraft, Don't Starve, RimWorld, and the formidable Kerbal Space Program from the Mexican team Squad, but there are ten failures for every one of these games. The wound of Spacebase DF-9 is still open. I was very interested in We Happy Few, and after watching 6 hours of gameplay (those are the things a sore ear does over the weekend), I found a game at 30 percent. With four months in Early Access and a gigantic amount of feedback from players, the remake of Master of Orion barely reaches seven points. If you take someone's money, that person expects to get “the value” of their money. This idea does not change under any condition (whether prior to or after the project), and when a title in Early Access does not fulfill its part, the idea breaks down. There is something wrong.
How Betafy Works
That is what brings me to the Betafy platform. How exactly does it work? Its goal is to unite startups and beta testers in a more coherent way. Startups create their profile on Betafy, which analyzes their needs and then suggests certain testers. Each startup then evaluates and invites those testers, and if they agree and are interested, they join the development. On the beta tester's side, they create a profile on Betafy and go through a similar analysis to that of startups, which offer exclusive benefits and advantages to the volunteer, such as discounts on the price of the final product or its subscription, premium features, and why not, a free license of the program-application-service. For now, the number of projects on Betafy doesn't reach two dozen, but I must admit that volunteering with rewards sounds better than “pay me 30 dollars and help me turn this skeleton of a program into a viable option”.
Something I should highlight about Betafy is that I haven't seen any games in its project list, but the usage parameters aren't exactly incompatible. Betafy also allows the participation of startups that already have a finished product on the market, and that seek to optimize their development or gain greater visibility. Betafy will offer an SDK for developers to implement in their projects, but it will be optional. And to close, campaigns can be marked as “private”, and they won't appear in the general list. We'll keep a close eye on Betafy for a while, and see how it evolves.
