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, and a couple of beta testers have it working in Wineskin!). 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.
Hah, signed up, I am willing to pay 15 bucks. This looks hilarious, to be honest, I have no idea what it really is, but I laughed out loud a good pack of times throughout the site. Count me in! :D Good luck with the game Chris!
Yeah. Fuck that. 15 bucks for a beta? What do you think you are, Minecraft? Get lost, you failure.
Are you serious Isaac? This looks like a beautiful gem of an indie game that is on the same quality level as Minecraft, and I think it’s going to be well worth the $15 I’m paying for it. Keep up the awesome work Chris!
Just to clarify, you’re slyly poking fun at people who said this exact thing about Minecraft, right? “omfg five bucks and it’s not even finished?? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE NOTCH”
On a related note, I’m glad there’s no “I’m paying for this so you’d better work on it 25 hours a day arararar” in the comments… but then again, you haven’t taken any vacations since announcing the signups. ;D
I’m strongly tempted to sign up for the paid-beta, but I don’t see this bit of info anywhere on the site: does the beta support mouse/keyboard control or is a gamepad required? (Likewise, since I’m already here, will the final game support non-gamepad play?)
Yep, good question! It’s mouse+keyboard or 360 usb controller right now, and unlike most player-skill games, neither really has an advantage. Maybe aiming for the Sniper is a bit easier with mouse, but it’s not going to be consequential to the result, which is great.
Ah, I was wondering exactly the same thing – was looking all over the site for some answer. Maybe should be in the FAQ?
Good point!
I’m curious, will there be any sort of NDA on the beta? Or can beta players post all the videos and pictures of game they want?
No NDA. If you love it, spread the word wide and far! If you hate it, well, I hope at least you’ll give me feedback on how to make it better. :)
$15? its a steal. This game looks excellent. I hope I get picked!
Looks Good
You say the beta will be internet only for a while, not LAN. Will there be a way for us to play with specific friends when the beta is released, or will that just be a feature later on?
Yeah, you’ll be able to play with your friends, no problem.
If we are in the beta, will we be able to play with our friends if they’re not in the beta? This strikes me as the kind of game that would be most fun in-person, and wouldn’t be very interesting if you couldn’t see the other person’s face (or hear their joysticks click, etc).
Basically, what I’m asking is: if I were in the beta, would I be allowed to install it on two machines, sit them across from each other, and play with a friend, or would they have to be in the beta, too?
At least as the beginning, they’d have to be in the beta too, but I’m going to work out some way to get them in without waiting for their number to come up.
That’s better than nothing, but it still means if you’re trying to show a friend how awesome it is (I know, I know, that’s not the point of a beta), it’s hard unless you can play multiplayer together. I expect out of my friends, I’ll be the only one in the beta (when my turn comes around =] )
Could that multi-monitor idea possibly make it into beta?
Another possibility… the original Starcraft had something called “spawned copies.” The idea was that you could install multiplayer-only on another machine that wasn’t yours, but that person couldn’t play at all unless they were playing with you. So while the game would sit on their machine, it was still wholly dependent on your license and your availability, and couldn’t spread.
Thanks for reading all this brainstorming! =)
I’m going to try to get the multi-mon thing into the beta, not sure when, though. And, I’m going to investigate the “spawned copy” thing, or maybe a discount for two copies like Portal 2, or something. Probably this stuff won’t be ready in the first batch of invites (I am in denial about the size of my todo list already :), but hopefully during the summer.
Awesome! Hah, yeah, I know your todo-list is huge. A one-man team means you’ll never run out of work =]
Thanks for being so responsive!
+1 for spawned copy. I like gaming with my siblings, and I hate having to buy 3 copies to do so. It’s a multiplayer game, so let me play it with multiple players in the same room! =)
I’m all for supporting indie developers, being a programmer myself, but only if I have cash in my pockets. How about a referral system? If player A bought the game for $15, he can give a ‘buddy discount code’ to a friend to buy the game for half-off? It might actually boost your sales, since people like discounts and feel obligated not to waste them.
I can’t wait to try it out!
I have been following SpyParty for quite some time now. I was hoping you would offer a beta!! I am incredibly excited now!!! I will willingly pay $15 for a beta, as long as we get the full game once it is released. Thank you so very much for this!
This page says nothing about EULA. When I get the Beta you have promised the full game. Will this full game be transferable to Steam? Is this the steam style “as many computers as you like/ forever license”? I just want to make sure I don’t get stuck when the time comes to upgrade computers etc.
I’m still trying to figure this stuff out, but I think it will be transferable to Steam with a normal license, yeah.
If you can make this happen count me in and a happy customer.
Preorder beta for SpyParty? Hell yes!
And this goes without saying, but don’t worry about Isaac. There’s no failure going on here. All I see is elbow grease and incredibly intelligent game design.
Just wondering, how will you manage who gets beta? Will it be the first X amount of people or will it be picking names out of a hat, metaphorically speaking.
It’s going to happen in waves, and mostly in order of signup, but I’ve been thinking I’ll randomize a bit, so maybe 75% in order, 25% random, or something like that. Something where it feels fair for people who followed the game closely and got in first, but not hopeless for somebody at the back of the line. :) Not sure yet. However, everybody who signs up will get in eventually. I will shut down signups at some point, but everybody who got confirmed will get in before I open it all the way up to the public at some point.
BETA?! BETA? We’re talking about BETA? Not a full game, full game but a BETA? Not the full game I want to run out and purchase, a game I want to LAN with friends but we’re talking about a BETA? I hear what your saying, you’ve got plenty of development left, you want a full game, but a BETA?
$15 is a steal! SIGN ME UP.
Keep up the great work Chris. It’s nice to see an independent dev do so well in this cut throat business. Best of luck.
ps. Sorry, I had to do it :)
Awesome, I signed up. Can’t wait to play the game!
Also, is there any where for us to give suggestions, or will we need to wait for the beta to start? ‘Cause I have a few ideas for the seduction mission that I wanted to share. (Great, now I sound really bossy. I think.)
There’ll be a private bugzilla installation for beta people to use for bug reports and suggestions, but for now, feel free to leave a comment on the post about the Seduce Target mission. Thanks!
How many people do you have so far, if you don’t mind sharing?
I’m going to do a stats post tonight!
This caught my attention the second I heard about it months back and I can’t wait to play it.
I’ve already signed up for the beta since I’ve been lurking on this website for a while and have been following the game closely since I heard about it a few months back. Can’t wait to experience it first hand, but as you said the game seems very skill-based, with as much as a few matches separating player’s skill at the game.
My brother and I will likely be playing on the same computer, so will we be able to have separate accounts on the same ‘copy’ of the game? It may be frustrating if one of us becomes more skilled than the other, leaving the less skilled player forced to play outside of his league when they take a turn with the game.
I need to figure out the accounts thing, since a lot of people have requested stuff in this area. More news as I get a clue!
Kind of in line with my other comment (though this is aimed at retail and not beta), it would be nice to be able to play with your friends in the same room with one license. I’d be willing to pay a bit more for that.
Mainly because I think I’d end up being one of only a small number of my friends getting this, and it’s really an in-person game, kinda like poker.
Perhaps you could enable that kind of thing on the same IP address, or over a local subnet?
In any case, I’m excited =) Been following this for years now…
Yeah, I want to figure something like that out, definitely. Maybe even multimon.
Following this project for a long time and all I can say is:
GIEEFF MAC OS VERSION NAO!
Meh… But other than that great news!
This depends when we pay. I’m saving up for a vacation to LA, so it can’t be before or during that.
Invites will probably start after E3, so mid-June.
Hey, a quick question; is the “name” in the signup supposed to be an account name, or our real names? ‘Cause I used a username, whereas my friend used her real name, and we’re kind of curious.
Thanks!
It’s just freeform input right now and used in the emails and whatnot; you’ll be able to pick your username when you get your invitation.
Okay, thanks!
This looks really cool. Sign me up!
Hi Chris, I’m a french game producer, thanks for offering people the opportunity to sign up for the SpyParty Beta. I did and will happily pay 15$ to help you ship this promising game. Will I be able to pay w an European Visa credit card ? or paypal?
Also I’m wondering how well will SpyParty play on laptop with a touchpad.
Keep up the good work Chris !
Nicolas
I’ll definitely be accepting PayPal, so that should work. I play it with a touchpad occasionally, but it’s definitely better with a mouse or a controller, but you probably expected that. It works. :)
I cant find it in the FAQ, but whats the current spec requirements (currently stuck with onboard graphics card)
Yeah, sorry, I need to update the FAQ with all the questions in these comments! It doesn’t have hefty requirements. Any relatively recent (past couple years) integrated graphics chips should run it fine, just maybe at a lower res because their fill-rate tends to not be very good. It runs on the heinous Intel GMA 950 okay, so you should be safe. :)
Yay, a beta! I definitely don’t mind paying $15 for this!
On a semi-related note: when the beta becomes available, would I be allowed to give the files to other people (i.e. putting them in my schools student share folder) for the purpose of playing over lan?
It’s going to require internet and an account per player. I’m going to try to figure out some kind of invite thing and/or paired accounts, but not sure what shape that will take yet.
i want to test this game please
Don’t worry! If you sign-up and pay for the Beta then everyone gets in! :D
I am so ready to pay for this, and I’m really jazzed about the whole early beta access thing. I want to sign up ASAP, but the only working machine I have for the foreseeable future is my Mac. :( The game sounds amazing!
I suspect that the game will be able to play with a PS3 controller using MotionInJoy?
Hmm, I might buy it… I want to… :I
Hmm, it looks like they finally got their driver singed so you don’t have to modify your boot.ini? Sony is still fired for not having a driver, so lame.
ALAS!!!! I have been waiting for ages for this :D
I played it for a round at the games convention in Nottingham and saw the presentation you did :D
oh I also forgot if we buy this will we have to pay the full game cost once that comes out?
You’ll get the PC version for free is the current plan. Hopefully it will be activate-able on Steam.
Also as a side thought I know this is going to be a later thought but have you thought of a double bundle? IDM but I bet some people would want to vs friends and so on?
Yeah, a lot of people have suggested that, and I’m going to try to figure something out.
You’re to generous, I know of a game that charged 30 bucks just for playing there beta (MoW: AS) which wasn’t very long either. Seeing you probably want to add at least a year? after the beta, I think it would be more then fair to charge 15 bucks for the beta only and perhaps the final game becomes so excellent and big that you feel confident enough to ask more then 15$.
Or perhaps create some sort of “premium” beta which is more of a way to allow people to support this game and you with a bit of extra cash, like Frozen Synapse did.
Thanks! I definitely am going to figure out some way for people who want to support SpyParty more to do so, have no fear! :)
Great! I’m very excited, after I’m done browsing your site I’ll probably make an hourly countdown calendar to mid-June xD.
Do we also get this on Steam even if we buy it this way?
That is the plan. I haven’t verified it with Valve yet, but other games have done this and it has worked, so I’m confident.
*Runs to the bank to fill up account with money*
No question in my mind that I want to play the beta.
Never got a chance to play at PAX Prime last year, but enjoyed watching.
I’ll get some more $15.00 peeps to throw your way if you still need beta funding.
The more $15 peeps the better, I have a long road ahead! :)
Playing this in Nottingham at GameCity also. Even came back a few hours later to play again!
My main question is…
Will the Beta players get that intense leaflet with all the rules, tips and tricks on ‘cos that was a pretty extensive read, or will it have been condensed since then?
Cheers
Yep, the Four Page Instruction Manual is pretty much required reading. It’s installed with the game, and it’s online, here: http://www.spyparty.com/2011/03/10/rtupdatedfm/ Eventually there will be tutorials and whatnot in the game, but not for a while, so read up! :)
Hmm, I tried to sign up, but I rec’d a notice that “This email is already subscribed and verified.” I’m pretty sure I hadn’t signed up yet though, and I didn’t get the confirmation email with approval link. Anything funky there? I do want to sign up.
You signed up back in March, when I secretly put the form up on the sidebar for testing the backend and didn’t tell anybody what it was for. So, you’re way towards the front of the line. :)
Heyyyy that’s not fair =]
Maybe he’ll sell his slot on ebay or something. :)
No chance I’ll sell it, lol! A spy game that I signed up for secretly without even knowing I was going to want to? Already one of the top games I’ve played on the internet. :)
Will the beta include a version for Mac when released?
The beta won’t support Mac for a long while, but yeah, I should be able to let you convert the beta purchase to a mac version when it’s finally ready.
I would totally pay the 15 bucks for it but I just have a Mac, any ETA on getting it converted?
Nope, no ETA yet. I’m still just trying to get it working on PC first! To be honest, it probably won’t be this calendar year, there’s just too much core gameplay stuff and server infrastructure to get working. I definitely want to do it, though!
THIS LOOKS AWSOME… one of the BEST indie games made by lone publishers. Very orriginal, but it would be a frenzy if it was a team vs team mode of some sort.. just giving iedas…keep up the exelent work.
I hope I’m not speaking before my turn, but team mode is most likely going to happen. The idea has been suggested before but for now Mr. Hecker is mainly focusing on the main gameplay in 1v1 mode and getting it as deep as humanly possible. After he feels that it’s perfect (;) he’ll probably branch out to other modes, etc.
Hi, i have a question. If i pay for this beta access do i get the full release for a discounted price?
The current plan is that all the beta folks will get the PC version for free when it’s released (hopefully activatable on Steam, maybe the Mac version if they choose that and it’s ready, etc.).
I’ve just signed up then left a message on Facebook wall… I can’t wait, I’ve heard about your game for too many months now, I want to play :D
I think when the game gets available for everybody it will be the greatest success ever… And of course I’m ready to pay 15$, or even more if we get more levels !
(Excuse me for my poor English, in France, English lessons are terrible)
I’ve heard of this awhile back, but I just happened to stumble on the article in Game Informer and decided to take another look. Looks complicated but promising. Nothing a little practice won’t fix, I guess.
So excited for this, just secured my place in line! Thank you Game Informer for showing me this awesome game!
Hi, read aboutthis a lot in certain uk magazine. I know the multiplayer thing has been done alot but I’m not massively tech minded and nobody else seems tohave asked quite what I’m after. If I have one copy-Beta for now- can I play with my housemates on a shared wireless network over 2 or 3 laptops/pcs?
The beta is going to be one player per account for a while, but I’m going to try to figure out something for LAN play and friends after that’s working smoothly.
I check this website everyday in hopes of a new post. SpyParty looks amazing, every new feature you add or think about adding or plan to add, sounds awesome. Clearly the work of a genius. SpyParty is going places and $15 is a humble price; I would give you my unborn child if you asked. Keep up the good work Chris Hecker, can’t wait for the release.
I’ll stick with the $15 and you can keep the baby, thanks! ;)
Make sure the baby can’t code before you pass
Don’t you know you can create babies into little spies, offering the opportunity to take the next step in game developing!!
Oops, had to do re-captcha and it reset the reply to this comment action.. I’m not being stubborn, just clumsy.
Hey! I’ve been following around your progress on Spy Party for quite some time. Is there anyway you can use Amazon Payments to pay for the beta? I really want to try this game out but I am very uncomfortable with using a credit card online (except with amazon and steam). Anyway to make this possible?
I’m going to add Amazon and Google once I get things working, but it’s going to be PayPal only for starters just because I’m drowning in stuff to do!
Awesome! Thanks for the reply! Will be sure to buy it when that option pops up!
Thanks to youtube user northernlion for mentioning this game during one of his (i think) Terraria LPs. Looks really fun.
Signed up.
Just signed up, this game looks like it is going to be a lot of fun!!!
Just signed up for the beta. I just hope my machine can run it! In any case, I am happy to support your project, Chris! Looking forward to seeing you at PAX in August!
looks good
Make it playable on the mac! This looks awesome!
I’m itching to play the beta, are you going to be releasing any more info on it anytime soon? Like if you have a rough date yet? (ie. Q4 this year? Q1 next year? etc?), how many people you are initially letting in, and what will be available?
I know I’m being impatient but I really can’t wait to play this game!
I’m going to start inviting people who’ve signed up in very soon (maybe a couple weeks, I’m terrible at estimating times), and hope to have everybody in who signed up sometime in late fall. Eventually I’ll open it up completely. It’ll be tens of thousands by next year, hopefully.
$15 is more than worth the tournament experience I enjoyed at PAX 2010. Count me in.
So I’ve read though all the comments, but I can’t find any info about the finished game requirements. I’m not worried about the current beta being able to run on my computer, but if the finished game is going to be super HD and ton of polygons I might not want to buy in to the beta. I understand that your probably still working out the type of art that the game will eventually have, but perhaps you could give me an idea about what the system requirements might be.
Thanks for making such an awesome game!
No idea what the final requirements will be, but two factors might reassure you: 1. I want as many people to be able to run it as possible, which means keeping the minspec low. 2. I develop the game on a two year old laptop.
3. It’s a one-men operation, although that’s not really that reassuring I guess.. knowing what magic he can pull-off xD … and of-course the time he intends to spent on polishing this game.. and the fact he might pull of notch-like sales …so yea nvm. I’m going crazy.. beta needs to be really, really soon!!!!