We’ve been asked many questions about alpha testing, so I’m going to try to answer them all in one shot, as best I can.

We’re aiming for March. We know many of you want a new game, like, 3 weeks ago, but there are some things we really must do before we can start. Some are technical/infrastructure things, like making an installer and setting up a place where you can download it. Fixing high-priority bugs is also important. No point in giving you something that we know is going to crash as soon as you do the very thing we want you to test. And there is some essential content that needs to be added.

We are trying to be ruthless about pruning features that aren’t absolutely essential in order to have something that is both playable and solid as soon as we possibly can. As we finish off different features, we’ll post more screen shots and videos. That way you’ll know we’re not just sitting around twiddling our thumbs (ha!), and we are making real progress toward the alpha. 😉

Mage Faire is designed for fantasy geeks (a term we use in the most loving way, since it applies to us!), and in our experience fantasy geeks can be any age. However, there are a slew of extra privacy and parental oversight features that are required to comply with COPPA. We don’t want to invest time or money into those features. So, in order to play Mage Faire at all, let alone alpha test, you must be 13 years old or older.

Mage Faire is not a browser game. In order to play, you’ll have to install client software on your computer.

We intend to take players in waves and assign them to groups. We’ll test, for example, world-building magic with Group A and avatar customization with Group B. We’ll fix bugs and make tweaks based on feedback, then swap groups and test again. This is to confirm that the tweaks did result in an improvement for new players. So, even if you aren’t in the first group to get in, you still could very well be among the first to try a particular feature.

We’ll also, of course, do tests where we increase the number of players, in the world anywhere, or all in one place.

We have always had the intension of supporting the Mac. But we developed for PC first, and we’ll have a learning curve to do the port. We’re going to get PC testers going first. Mac users who know how to run PC software on their Mac will follow. I understand there are a lot of helpful people out there. Maybe those who run Mage Faire on their Macs can help others who don’t know how.

We’re going to create a private section of our web site for those on our alpha mailing list. We’ll send you the link to a questionnaire to fill out, which will enable us to sort everyone into test groups. We expect to post the questionnaire by the end of January.

All you need to do right now is sign up for the alpha mailing list here and respond to the confirmation email. If you’ve already done that, there is nothing else you need to do.

At this point, no one is in or out. If you are confirmed on the alpha mailing list, you will be invited to fill out the questionnaire. When questionnaires have been filled out, we’ll start sorting.

We’ll try to let everyone know what’s going on each time we select new alpha testers. If you are selected, we’ll email you. If, for some reason, we know you will not be selected to alpha test at all, we’ll email you. If we take a new batch of testers, and you’re not selected, we’ll email you, just so you know you haven’t fallen through the cracks. We don’t want to keep people guessing.

As soon as I post this blog, I’m going to send an email to the alpha mailing list that starts out “Because you are on the alpha mailing list…” If you receive that message, you’re confirmed.

If you didn’t receive that message, look in your inbox and spam folder to see if your confirmation email (from magefai1@just140.justhost.com) is there. If so, click on the confirmation link. You’ll get back another email saying you’re confirmed (might have to look in your spam folder for that one too). We recommend you add magefaireonline@magefaireonline.com to your contacts to make sure emails don’t go into the spam folder in the future.

If you don’t have a confirmation message, either in your inbox or your spam folder, try one more time to sign up for the alpha list here. If even that fails to get you a confirmation message, send us a message here. We’ll sort you out.

Alpha testing will drive up our server and bandwidth expenses and generate the need to hire customer support personnel. As Gordon mentioned in the previous blog, Mage Faire is self-funded. So we’d be tremendously grateful, and be able to breathe easier, if some in-flow of funds began in time to help cover those additional expenses.

We plan to set up a Kickstarter- or indiegogo-like tiered support system, with different sweeteners for different levels of support. We’re thinking of some tangible goodies like the soundtrack CD, art, and t-shirts as well as in-world virtual goodies. We’re targeting February to make that available.

I’ve answered all the questions I can remember reading in emails and blog, forum, and Facebook posts. My impeccable thoroughness should result in absolutely no comments at all, right? 😀