14 DAY TRIAL // Bungie has talked a bit about the recently ended alpha test phase for Destiny, confirming that the trial has helped not only test out the infrastructure of its servers but also with valuable feedback from fans and a lot of insight into player behavior.
Destiny is set to debut this September, and developer Bungie has confirmed that it's going to hold a beta stage in July that will be available for all those who pre-order the game.
However, last week the studio unveiled a surprise alpha test phase on the PS4, allowing all owners of the new Sony console to try out a brief portion of the game, which included story content, major areas to explore, the core Tower hub world, and even the Crucible player-versus-player experience.
Besides letting players have a go at the multiplayer first-person shooter, the alpha has given Bungie plenty of data to work with as well as lots of insight into what players are doing in its online title.
"We’re already making adjustments now – in a lot of ways visually but we’re also balancing things out a little bit. It’s a great way for us to interpret all of the data that goes into our systems," Bungie's Jason Sussman told PS blog.
"We’re not only monitoring our networking systems to see how we can handle so many players in the game but we’re also monitoring what players use, where they like to go and what people like to do in the crucible."
According to the Bungie developer, the beta test will offer participants new environments and adventures, so they shouldn't worry about retreading the same old content from this recent alpha.
"The beta test later in the year will contain different content – there will be a difference but what’s key is that every bit of information we’re gathering and the tweaks and adjustments we’re making will carry through to the Beta test."
What's more, Sussman has also emphasized that the current version of Destiny has been drastically improved as opposed to the old alpha build, so fans should certainly look forward to seeing improvements in the beta and even more enhancements in the final version of the game.
"What’s really cool for me personally as an environment artist is that the game is already looking better than what people are playing in the alpha, which is really cool. It’s like, hey guess what? This is only going to get better."
Destiny is set to debut this year for PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.