Releasing Daily Alpha Builds on Android?

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1 comment, last by NickAllain 13 years, 5 months ago
The last couple days, I've tossed around the idea of making daily/bi-daily semi-stable builds available in the market for free.

From what I can ascertain -

The upsides:

  • Exposure

  • Bug Testing

  • Feedback



Downsides:

  • Providing the public with a possibly unstable build

  • Incompleteness means poor reviews



If I make it clear that the game won't necessarily be stable (within the application with a notice and in the market description), would it be wise to make it available as a playable alpha?

Does anyone know if there are any rules in the market about getting kicked out for doing something like that?
Nick AllainBrainbox LabsHelp Support The Community Game: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badadvice/open-forum-game-design-a-defense-game-by-brainbox
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I would suggest against this. First, it will annoy people that you update the app that often. Second, the people that will be downloading it have no understanding of a development cycle, alpha builds, or anything else like that. All they will be thinking is "Why doesn't this work?".

If you really want it to be tested as you develop it, I would give it to family and friends to play.
Thanks Chadwell.

I think I've decided against daily builds. However I think I've decided to do weekly or bi-weekly releases with a video or audio journal that plays right off the bat explaining what the app is about and how it's been updated.

The major reason I think for not doing these updates daily is as you said - an annoyance to people. The secondary reason is that I've now become aware of a strange android bug that occasionally causes applications to get stuck halfway through updating.
Nick AllainBrainbox LabsHelp Support The Community Game: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/badadvice/open-forum-game-design-a-defense-game-by-brainbox

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