Sign Up for the SpyParty Early-Access Beta!
If you’d like to sign up for the SpyParty Early-Access Beta, you have come to the right place.
I’m really excited to finally open up SpyParty playtesting to people outside of my local friends and the few hundred folks who get to play the game at public showings! For me, this will mean I can balance and tune the game to the intense player-skill depth I’m striving for, using real data and feedback from a large number of players over a long period of time. For you, it means you finally get to play SpyParty without standing in line at a show, and you can have a real and meaningful impact on the game’s development; you will get to see and feel new features and changes to the game as they happen, instead of just reading about them on the blog or on a news site. I’m pretty sure we are both going to have a blast!
A lot of the details of how the Early-Access Beta will operate are still in flux, but I’m now accepting sign ups so you can reserve your place in line. I’ll start inviting batches of players into the program over the next few months as I scale the game’s backend servers to deal with the load.
This is going to be a paid beta program. It doesn’t cost anything to enter your email address below and confirm your sign up, but I need to figure out scalability and balance issues, so please only sign up if you’re planning on paying for the Early-Access Beta when your email invite arrives. I want to be able accurately predict how many people will enter the beta program from the number of sign ups I get and invites I send.
The current plan is it will cost $15 for beta access. (Update: I’ve posted the pricing for the beta here.) This will let you play the beta as much as you want as I update it over SpyParty’s development, and also get you a copy of the finished game when it’s released on PC. I still have a lot of work to do in figuring the details out, so this stuff could change, but $15 is what you should expect when you get your invitation. The game requires a Windows PC right now (but not forever). The hardware requirements are fairly low at this point in development, so any 3D graphics card from the past few years should be okay.
If you want to follow SpyParty’s development but don’t think you’d pay for the Early-Access Beta, that’s cool! Instead of signing up below, please follow the game on the blog feed, Twitter, and Facebook. This list will not be used for SpyParty news updates, it will only be used for beta invitations.
SpyParty is a long way from the finish line, so there are going to be lots of bugs, and balance issues, and your favorite feature will get nerfed, and there will be downtime, and resets, and the general misery that accompanies any game in development. That said, people seem to really like playing the game even in its current state, so I hope you will too!
Sign Me Up
You've read this page, and you want to join the Early-Access Beta for SpyParty! Great! Please enter your name and email below.
You will be sent a confirmation email from noreply@spyparty.com with a link you'll need to click to approve your sign up. Please make sure your email address is correct before hitting the Sign Up button.
Feel free to leave comments here if you have questions about the Early-Access Beta sign up or program. I also recently put up an FAQ, so check that out to see if I’ve already answered your question about the game and its development.
Update 2012-02-17: The beta has started…albeit slowly. Check out the first invite post and the beta rollout post.
Awesome! that’s sorta the best answer you could have given me. I’m signing up right now.
thanks again.
You say you’re planning on scaling the invites gradually, at what kind of rate do you see yourself sending out invites? Something like 200 people, then 200 more people after 2 weeks, 200 more the week after that? Or doubling the invites once per month? I’m not exactly at the front of the queue, and I don’t want to get myself excited when you begin the beta only to later find out I’d be waiting another 2 months for my ticket.
Good luck at PAX West!
Men.. am I happy not to be in your position right now.. waiting for the BETA just as it is right now is tearing me apart enough already.
PS. whatever time estimations he gives you, just add another month or 2 for safety reasons ;)
I’ll probably do the doubling thing, although no telling how often I’ll invite people in, since I want it to stabilize at each level first. I naively hope to have everybody in a few months after I start (which I haven’t even done yet).
I like this game. it looks promising. even though It’ll probably get boring for me surprisingly fast. I still think that it’s worth the money.
*sigh* Too bad I don’t got the money for this. XD
Haha, I’m only buying it because it won’t get boring super-fast.
MAN this game seems to be cool:D one of the most inovative things since The Ship:P I really looking forward to this… though I’m not that packed with money and don’t got a job ftm I don’t think I can buy anytinhg right now:( but pleace keep up the good work… I’m really looking forward to this:D i’t gona be for like 2player LAN right?
Yeah, initially the beta will require internet access for the lobby, but eventually I’ll figure out some kind of LAN thing.
I’m not expecting this early in the beta (we talked about this a few months ago, right here), but have you had time to think more about “spawn” copies? (That is, a limited version you can install on a second computer that can only play with the first machine, possibly only locally).
As an alternative solution (for the beta), perhaps there could be a matchmaking forum where people could set up get-togethers to play face-to-face with people in coffee shops, instead of “long distance”? This just strikes me as a “LAN party” kind of game, where whether you have a good poker face or not makes a huge difference.
The first thing I’m going to do is allow people who are in the beta to bump somebody else to the front of the line. I need to be careful, though, because I need to make sure things are scalable before I let too many people in. Eventually I hope to do spawn copies and all that.
I can understand why people would want LAN, but the more people play it and can connect with each other the more competitive it will likely get.
Face-to-face might at a new layer to the gameplay but it’s also quite niche, so I rather would have this taken out of the equation. If it’s there and it doesn’t hurt the online game in anyway sure, if the game gets designed or gets influenced for/by LAN-gaming then I think that would be somewhat of a pity for the overall competitive scene.
Granted, I haven’t played the game. But from all the previews I’ve read, one of the best things about this game is how players start metagaming. One preview mentioned how he started flicking the right joystick (which doesn’t do anything) to make the sniper think he was moving, when he wasn’t. You can’t hear sounds like that, and mess with each other as much, if you’re not in the same room. The part of SpyParty that most appeals to me is how the game goes beyond the game mechanics itself. If you can’t directly interact with the other player, play mind games, etc, then the spy (or the sniper) almost might as well just be another AI. That’s my opinion, anyway.
Don’t get me wrong – internet play is great. But unless there’s webcam/mic support (which would be cool), I doubt I’d ever want to play online.
I can see your point, but I believe that there will be plenty of meta provided by the game that can be utilized without playing Face-to-Face.
I think ultimately the game should provide the mechanics to deceive and perceive and not the face-to-face meta.
I can however remember vaguely that Chris mentioned he wanted to figure out away to get typical face-to-face meta things, like the pressing of a useless key, transfered to online play.
The in-person metagaming is definitely a lot of fun, but the game appears to work fine when the two people can’t communicate. I’ve tested this in a couple ways, both over the net itself, and also most of the PAX playtests happen with monitors that completely obscure the other person, and you can’t hear a damned thing on the PAX show floor. However, I’m definitely going to do voice chat (not initially in the beta, but soon, and initially you can use gtalk or skype or vent or something), and I hope to do webcam if I can.
Is the beta closed?
Whoops I’m Retarded.
Saw you on Giantbomb, the concept looks fantastic. I hope it sticks to being a browser game.
It’s not a browser game right now, it’s just ugly. :)
Chris, have you heard about Project Zomboid? They’ve used the ‘pay now for the demo, receive full game when it’s finished’ system to fund their development. They suffered a burglary last night and lost their most recent version of their game because they didn’t have an external backup, causing a major setback on their next update. You can read the reaction of the fans on reddit, and it’s very negative: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/ldkwg/the_indie_stone_project_zomboid_has_been_struck/d
Once money changes hands- for lack of a better phrase- shit gets real. In all likelihood you WILL get a percentage of fans complaining that they’ve paid for a game and it’s not being finished fast enough. I think it’s very important to make absolutely clear that any payment is for the game in its current state, and the game has no set release date. The universe does not hold itself accountable for meeting deadlines and any number of random events can hamper that.
Wow, that’s terrible all around, I’m sorry to hear about that. I will try to be clear about the payment being for the current thing, but I think the main problem they had was poor handling of the situation. Also, I will test my offsite backups. :)
The email that I got for the 707 got lost in a computer failure. Have you started the beta, and I lost the signup email? Or will the beta be starting soon, and you’ll send more out?
Nope, haven’t sent anything out yet, and you’re confirmed, so you’re good. I hope to send out the first batch in a couple weeks. Of course, I’m terrible at predicting, so there’s that…
Hello, Mr. Hecker, could you confirm whether I’m one of the 707? I’ve been keeping up with your progress for a good while (first commented back in June 2010) but I can’t remember if I submitted early enough. Would’ve asked earlier, but it was a rough summer and I didn’t have the $15 to spare at the time. Either way, still very much enjoying following your progress, and I can’t wait to experience the game first-hand.
If you didn’t get a reconfirmation mail over the summer, then you weren’t in that initial batch, but that’s okay, everybody’s going to get an invite.
Beta please :)
Is the the beta sign up? I need into this!!
This page is the beta sign up. You have to be running javascript to see it though, due to the dumb wordpress plugin I use. It’s up in the post.
I thought I already posted but whatever =D
I hope its awesome and I get an invite soon =P
OR ELSE! >=3
I have a fairly large gaming channel on YouTube, and have been really interested in this game when I read about it on Kotaku. Just wondering if I get invited to the beta would it be all right to post videos, help get the word out on the game perhaps?
Yeah, I encourage everybody to talk about it publicly, indie games need all the help they can get! I only ask that if you think it sucks and hate it, you take the time to explain why in the beta forums so I can make it better.
Is this game strictly PC at the moment, or is beta testing only to MAC as well? :) Best of luck with this game it looks amazing.
No macos yet, and it’ll be a while, I’m kind of drowning in tasks right now. But, eventually, yes! For now, hopefully you can dual boot!
This is looks so much fun! I’ve been looking for games with a original and awesome concept, like this.
And you’ll be waiting a whole lot longer if you have just signed up for beta or actually waiting for release!!!
I would advice you not to fall in love with this concept, because the waiting will tear you apart, limb for game-loving limb..
Don’t break their hearts like that, keep the love alive! :)
Haven’t been this excited to join a paid beta since Frozen Synapse. The game has so much potential. Can’t wait to start playing.
Looking forward to playing this. Just waiting on my beta key now heh. How long you think this will take?
Not sure, I’m really close to starting invites, but I have to scale slowly, so it’s going to be a while before everybody’s in.
You’re response speed for a game developer is scary…
Sadly, my development speed is scary in the other direction. :)
/rage
Do you think you are going to add game modes that are like those in the ship and acbh?
Right now I’m going deep on the fully asymmetric play, and once I tune that to perfection, then I can start experimenting with other more symmetric modes. I think the “Assassin” style gameplay (which is what AC:B and The Ship are) has been explored pretty well, but I still think there’s some interesting things about it, so once I start exploring the Sniper being able to attend the party, then I can play with stuff where the Spy can fight back a bit. But, I want to be careful, because Assassin style games tend to degenerate into pile-ons and knife fests, and I don’t want that. It’s really important to avoid mechanics that prevent you from really going deep on your role, that thwarts the subtle behavioral gameplay I want to explore…the Sniper having to watch his back all the time would make it so he couldn’t relax into the perception role, for example.
You could also experiment with “counter-spy.” Two spies with partially conflicting objectives.
Possible example: one spy needs to pick up an envelope, and the other spy needs to try and replace the envelope before the first one gets to it.
Yep, totally. Spy/Sniper teams competing at the same party, etc.
Just heard about SpyParty being at PAX and decided to finally peek into what’s going on. Glad to see somebody sticking with developing more intricate game mechanics rather than making a pile of shitty games. Can’t recall if I got the second e-mail but it seems like I had at least heard something about preparations for the beta. Either way, I’m ready to try out SpyParty ASAP.
A few more days he says four days ago.
I think he said soon a few months ago :p. Sometimes he’s a bit off, but that’s alright, because this game will be amazing, only I can’t WAIT CHRIS!! ARGHGHGHghghhg… I wish I could erase my memory like in the movie the eternal sunshine of the spotless mind.. I would forget about this game till it released..
First BETA invites will go to personal friends as well, so it probably will take at least a few more weeks?! :(
Welcome to SpyParty.
In order to look forward to the game without losing your mind, I offer this.
The closest correlation of estimated time by developer to actual; a.k.a. Hecker time translation.
1 day = approximately 1 week past the original expected date. So if he posts that he will post a new update on the weekend and it is Thursday, you can reasonable predict it will be two weeks later.
In the case of the beta, if Chris posts “Here we go…it’s SpyParty Beta time!” on May 10th and expects to be done “June 16th”. This gives you a 36 day estimate. Taking the 36 days and multiplying by 7 converts the estimated days into reasonable approximation of 252 days. Add this to the expected date of 6/16 and you get 2/23/2011. as a better approximation of beta invites starting to be sent.
Sorry that should be 2/23/2012
I’m buying you a round if that turns out to be correct!
I should add this algorithm to the FAQ!
I place my bet on March 20th. If I win, I want 708th place in the beta line.
Well looks like “phil” was wrong :(