Tactical Breach Wizards News

This being May, you might reasonably assume that if you didn't hear back about the "February" Beta yet, you didn't get in. But that's small brain thinking. Not only has the February Beta (launched in March) not ended, multiple other betas are being juggled recklessly around.

What's going on, you ask? You will regret you asked. Because it takes slightly longer to explain than anyone's interest level in this topic really warrants.

[h3]'February' Beta[/h3]
500 people admitted, 2,500 more will be let in

Really, this is an ongoing beta that'll last until we think the game is ready. However, we admit people in batches, and we're doing that very slowly so far. The point of batching is to fix stuff, then get fresh eyes on the fixes. But we've had very little time to fix stuff reported by the first 500 people we let into this beta in March, so it hasn't made sense to let in the next batch yet.

If you wanna be in on a future batch, you need to be on our mailing list and check the appropriate box.

The Feb beta comes in two parts: you get the first 3 acts of the game right away, then if you give us feedback on those, we invite you in to the full beta featuring the final act.

Why have we been busy? Because of the...



[h3]Demo Beta[/h3]

For Reasons, we need a demo ready by a certain deadline, so we've been scrambling to make that and get it tested fast. If you played the Gunpoint demo way back in the day, you know we like to add something a little extra on the end, so it wasn't as simple as just truncating the game. We've done two rounds of testing here:

Demo 1 test
We let in 1,500 mailing list members who'd signed up to test the full game, and bribed them to test the demo first, by pledging to jump them straight into the full version of the February beta if they gave us feedback. Lots of them did!

Unfortunately, this feedback revealed that my wildly high-concept idea for the 'something extra' was confusing and frustrating a great many players, so we had to rethink.

Demo 2 test
For this, I re-opened our old Steam Playtest - that's the thing where you were able to sign up on our store page and get let in automatically, rather than having to redeem a Steam key. So around 3,000 people who played the game a few years ago suddenly got access to the demo beta, and a few of them even noticed and played it.

Now that we've checked it didn't completely break, and early feedback on the new 'something extra' is great, I've let in another 1,000 new folks who signed up for that long ago, so we'll see where that gets us. If it all goes well, there won't be any further demo testing.

We won't be using Steam Playtest for anything else - we're not ready to give the full game to 4,000 people, and you can't remove testers you let in via the public Playtest signup system, so it's sort of a dead end for us now.



[h3]What's Next?[/h3]

If you're on our mailing list and opted in to the beta, you're still in the running to be included in a future batch of the Feb Beta - no action needed. It might be a while before we get to you, though, since the demo 1 testers who gave us feedback will form the next batch of folks we let in.

If you don't get in, the above mentioned Reasons mean it shouldn't be too long before you get to play a chunk of the game anyhow, and maybe a little something extra.

We've just sent out the first 500 keys for the increasingly inaccurately named February Beta!

If you're not on our mailing list or haven't opted in yet, there's still time. We plan to send out 2,500 more keys, in batches, over the next month or so.

Just sign up and make sure to check the relevant boxes. If you're already on there, we won't add you twice.

The full game is ready to test now, but we're doing things a little differently this time. If you get an invite, you'll first get access to the first 75% of the campaign. We'll then wait to see who fills in their feedback forms on what they've played, and periodically invite those folks into a beta that includes the game's final act.

Most testers don't give feedback, so we just wanna make sure we don't give the full game to too many people without getting what we need in return.

Cheers!

Tom

For anyone who didn't see our recent tweet yet, here's how you opt in to our new beta:

https://twitter.com/BreachWizards/status/1538198269524049921

This next batch of testers we let in will be the last, and it might be a long time before our next beta.

We've also recently released a new trailer, and updated our Steam page to better reflect what you do in between missions.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Cheers!

Tom

Wizards are cool, there's no denying it. But we have so much wizard content to choose from, what sets Tactical Breach Wizards apart? Wizard with a gun, alright, I've put down my newspaper, you have my atten—Wizards with guns that shoot non lethal bullets, rebelling against an oppressive society in a Shadowrun-style mashup of fantasy and tacticool? Alright, now we're cooking with gas...
Read more.

We have a new beta ready for testing, and this time it should be extra-easy to sign up and get playing. We're using Steam's new Playtest feature, where you just click a button on our store page to tell us you're up for it, and when we're ready we click a button to let a random selection of you in.

The beta's ready now and we plan to let a small batch in first, to make sure our analytics stuff is working OK, then we'll open it up to about 1,000 testers.

If you fancy it, head to our store page now and click 'Request Access'. When we start letting people in, Steam will choose folks randomly and notify them. You won't need a Steam key, it'll just pop up in your games library if you get in.

If you're on the fence, here's a new trailer! If you've already decided you want in, you might want to skip it - we don't spoil any story, but we play through some puzzles you'll face.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

As mentioned, we're looking for a composer - here are the details if you're interested.

[h3]When does the beta end?[/h3]
In about 3 weeks' time!

[h3]I haven't heard anything, did I not get in?[/h3]
We'll be letting people in in several waves, so if the beta hasn't ended yet, you still might!

[h3]Will it work on Mac or Linux?[/h3]
Windows only I'm afraid.

[h3]Can I stream/video/screenshot/talk about the beta once I'm in?[/h3]
Yep! You also have our permission to monetize the video content you make.

[h3]I was on a previous beta, do I need to sign up again?[/h3]
Yes, if you want in! This is separate.

[h3]Is Jen not a cop anymore?[/h3]
That's right, she's a private investigator now. Jen's the one we previously referred to as 'Witch Cop', though she was an ex-cop from the moment the game began. There's never been a version of the game where your team are working for any kind of enforcement organisation, but the name and look of that character were making it hard to get that across.

The cop version of her story had other problems: if her issues with her department had no bearing on real world ones, it felt evasive and uncritical. If they did relate to real world issues, it became an unpleasantly real reminder of traumatic stuff that felt out of place with the lighter elements of the game.



So in the latest draft of the story, she's a PI who's never worked for the police, and she has a new backstory about how she got into that line of work. The job change affects a few things about where she is emotionally at the start of the game, but aside from that she's the same character: the one you don't know or love because we never actually showed any story stuff before now.

Obviously there's been a million other changes, but since this one relates to something visible, we thought it was worth giving the full context for it.

[h3]When's the game out?[/h3]
Dunno! Make sure you've got it wishlisted, then you can be as chill as we are about the towering cloud of uncertainty looming over our working lives.