Alpha, Beta, and whatever releases

Since the advent of Kickstarter and me becoming an investor, of sorts, in various games that I'm interested in. I've been bombarded with various news about alpha releases and beta releases etc.

Now I'm pretty sure that I know what a beta release is and that is a release that allows qualified individuals to test the game and provide feedback.

But what is an alpha release and what is the final version release of a game called? When they tell me that a game is released my question is when will I be able to play the thing.

My life is complicated enough and I need uncomplicated things.

Alpha releases are very early test builds. They usually have chunks of the program that have not even been implemented.

The final release is the erm release version or sometimes RTM (Release to Manufacturer) or Gold, jargon varies somewhat between the types of programs.

Here is some more reading material on this topic:

Alpha, beta.....

In the 'good old days' (the 1990s, as far as I was concerned), an alpha release would never even have been seen in the wild - it would be a 'work in progress' to show the publisher how you were getting on with development. A beta would be given to the play testers, and perhaps a few favoured, trustworthy journalists, and shown at trade shows (not given to players to play, just shown!). The first that the public would see of a game would be the final release, which would have been pressed from the gold master sent by the developer to the publisher/distributor. (They were called gold masters because the early burnable CDs were always golden in colour; in these days of digital distribution, there's no need for such things anymore)

Thank you for the information. That does clear things up. So, after the beta release, maybe the game will be available to me in the not too distant future unless they find too many bugs that requires a lot of time to fix.

Gremlin how do you know all this stuff!

I know this stuff because I was a games developer (and a bit of design) for a few years in the mid nineties, but by that time I had a wife and two small children to support, so I had to get out of the business and into the Real World (TM). :(

"by that time I had a wife and two small children to support, so I had to get out of the business and into the Real World (TM). :("

Awwwwww !! Heck !! What have we been missing then all these years ????