As you may know from my recent postings I don’t get much time to work on “Phase 2”. It’s progressing, a lot of stuff is already in, some of the new features are finished, some others are still being worked on and other new features right now only exist on paper. So judging by my current progress since “Phase 1” it’s still a lot of time to pass before “Phase 2” will be released, but reading comments and mails I think a lot of people are interested in seeing more of “Phase 2” than just the screenshots I post from time to time.
And although it would mean additional work for me (not that much, but still I have to compile the whole package each time and upload it) I thought it could be a good idea to upload a current beta of “Phase 2” in irregular intervals. On the positive side this would give all interested players a chance to get a glimpse at the current progress of “Phase 2” and let’s them see real progress (instead of just screenshots). The negative side would include most evident drawbacks of a beta like instabilites and crashes (although the current version is very stable), non-finished features and graphics and the fact that savegames between betas may not be compatible (meaning it’s mostly possbile that you’d have to start over). In addition to this it would give you the possibility to add feedback on the new features that I then can add to “Phase 2” so it would be in for the final release. Otherwise I’d have to wait for feedback on the final version and then (if needed) release a patch.
Since releasing the beta would be additional work for me and adds the risk of scaring away people that think a (possibly bad) beta represents the final game, ** “Would you download and test betas of “Phase 2” or would you like to wait for a final release instead?”. **If there is enough interest, I’ll get out a beta as soon as possible, otherwise I’ll stick with my plans to release “Phase 2” when its’ done.