I know this is going to sound really stupid but I have to know. I have not been able to find a difinitive answer yet and was hoping someone could clear it up for me. What are the game stages and when do they apply(Alpha, Beta, ?Full release?). And how do you know when to increment the version number and which part of it do you change? (like v1.0 or v2.20.1) what do these numbers mean in the positions they are in. I would appreciate any light anyone could shed on this. Thanks. Also what is the best way to number your versions(I mean is there one way that is prefered in the gaming industry over the others, assuming there is more than one correct way to do it) SDB - If you are the only one that can fix it, why are you complaining to me?

alpha is generally the phase in which the program is played with in house, and stuff is fixed/added/whatever.
beta is generally when the program is played with by beta-testers, i.e. it is released (to a certain few sometimes, and sometimes to whoever is willing to download it and comment) and all those other people get to find bugs that the programmers missed.
full release is when it is done (except for patches, upgrades, and all that stuff).
as for the numbering, there isn''t any standard, the developer uses what they feel is right (it is only useful when someone finds a bug or something, or needs tech support, and you need to know exactly which version they have). i change the first number (major) for when i have a massive overhaul (a lot of re-writing, fixes, et cetera), the second (minor) for when new feature are added, and the last (revision) for bug-fixes to previously added features. but that''s just my system.

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)

Thanks guys, that helped a lot. I like the systems you use and will more than likely adopt it. Again thanks for the replys.

SDB - If you are the only one that can fix it, why are you complaining to me?