What is the difference beta and prototype, or are they both the same thing?

[Ross PK]

Thanks.

Edited May 8, 2008 by Ross PK

[+Random Terrain]

Looks like they are the same thing:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_release_life_cycle

Beta version software is likely to be useful for internal demonstrations and previews to select customers, but unstable and not yet ready for release. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, a prototype, a technical preview (TP) or as an early access. As the second major stage in the release lifecycle, following the alpha stage, it is named after the Greek letter beta, the second letter in the Greek alphabet.

[Tempest]

Beta is a more detailed term. A prototype can be anything from your first line of code to the final version that you're testing. A Beta means that you've got most of the code in place, but you're tweaking things here and there and maybe finishing it up. Alpha means that you've got some semi-working code that you want to quickly test, and a Gamma is supposed to be final release testing (I think, you don't hear that term much).

 

So a Beta is a more detailed term for a prototype.

 

Tempest

[TheRedEye]

Gamma is supposed to be final release testing (I think, you don't hear that term much).

 

The more common term is "release candidate."

[madhatter667]

Damn Tempest.

I think anyone would be hard pressed to come up with a better description.

[spacecadet]

When I worked in game publishing, there was "alpha," "beta" and "master" and that's it.

 

I think "prototype" is either an older term from the cartridge days, and may have referred more to the physical implementation of the cartridge than the code, or it's just a collector community thing.

 

Now that everything is either on disc or a download, there's no need for a "prototype" of a game.

[Rev]

When I worked in game publishing, there was "alpha," "beta" and "master" and that's it.

 

I think "prototype" is either an older term from the cartridge days, and may have referred more to the physical implementation of the cartridge than the code, or it's just a collector community thing.

 

Now that everything is either on disc or a download, there's no need for a "prototype" of a game.

 

 

i think you are right.

[CPUWIZ]

When I worked in game publishing, there was "alpha," "beta" and "master" and that's it.

 

Always has been and always will be. The term prototype is still used today though, it is the equivalent to "a concept" or "a demo", to keep it short.

[Pixelboy]

It's true that both terms are often used interchangeably, but it's always been my understanding that a "beta" (within the retro-gaming/collecting community at least) refers to a WIP version of a game that was actually released in stores later, while a "prototype" refers to a WIP of a game that was never released.

 

I know not everyone will agree with this differenciation, but it would be a clear-cut way of distinguishing a beta from a prototype...

[DracIsBack]

I think it depends on the context. In classic gaming, we tend to any found game, at any stage of development, a "prototype". In software development, the software dev process has different phases and different meanings for "prototype", "alpha", "beta", "release candidate" and "gold master". These meanings do vary from company to company, based upon their market, their needs, their staff and which facet of the engineering team speaks the loudest. I know of one team that had a realy millitant QA team and demanded everything be "feature complete" for alpha so they could test extensively. I know others that are still adding features almost into release candidate.

 

In release software process, a prototype is often a "working proof of concept" to show that something can be done. It's not feature complete by any stretch. There's also an alpha which (depending on the company) tends to be a more robust release that really kicks off extensive testing by QA by the development team. Betas are usually (not always) feature complete builds that may (not always) get released to external parties for testing either in an open or closed beta fashion. Release Candidate is typically the final build that they pound on before going to manufacturing/public release. The final release is the gold master.

 

What's causing issue here is that we're calling all of the above "prototype".

 

To use some 7800 examples,

 

- Rampart would typically be a "protoype" in the software sense. Ditto for Pit Fighter or Gato. They aren't really "playable", but something's happening on screen.

 

- Can't think of any good "alpha" examples, but Tempest might.

 

- Chuck Norris: Missing In Action would be a beta release. It's feature complete but has some bugs that render it unplayable in spots (ie. the holes in the ground you can't pass).

 

- Klax would probably be a release candidate, as would Sirius or Plutos. They are complete from a design perspective but going through some final release pounding to get 'em "just right". Final tweaks might be some minor bugs in KLAX that cause it not to launch on certain 7800s or the difficulty level in PLUTOS.

 

- A gold master would be NTSC Sentinel. It was never released, but it was ready to go to manufacturing.

Edited May 12, 2008 by DracIsBack

[doctorclu]

I think it depends on the context. In classic gaming, we tend to any found game, at any stage of development, a "prototype". In software development, the software dev process has different phases and different meanings for "prototype", "alpha", "beta", "release candidate" and "gold master".