Hi TouchArcade community! Recently, I started iOS game development and have been wondering how to do a closed beta test of a game? Because all the certificate stuff it seems impossible (unless jailbreaking of course) to manually distribute a test version of the application. Still I could install it on my iPhone and pass it around... but well that's my iPhone so I do not want to do that Is it possible to release a 'private' App on the iOS market? Or do you simply release a public 'beta' version of the game. I'm not even sure Apple will accept an App marked as 'beta'.
that's what ADHOC build are used for. You'll need to create a profile with ID devices of all your beta testers. JC
We use Testflight It's pretty easy to recruit tester, distribute test build and collect feedback. Give it a try and you'll like it
Another big thumbs up for testflight. We did our first game without it, and it was a pain to manage... our 2nd game has been a breeze comparatively.
Testflight is probably the best service/app i've found/used this year. Luckily i found it before i started the beta testing process, because it surely has made things easier. I would actually pay upwards of $30/month for their service. (luckily it's free!
yup, testflight works like a charm. I think you just need the testers' emails. and btw, make an upcoming thread and ask for testers here on TA. there's tons of beta testers here that are experienced and willing. me included.
since i don't want beta tester to jump through hoops with just another service i use beta builder http://www.hanchorllc.com/category/ios-betabuilder/ i also don't like the image of an service collecting huge amounts of ipas from games.. that just cries for hacker to knock their pitty defenses and just grab everything.. nahh.. and in the end they have the udids and mails of my beta testers and what not.. nahh.. i rather use beta builder and host my files on my server of course you have to collect the udids and send emails out by hand.. but i actualy enjoy interacting with the testers and sometimes even write individual mails to them.. later i point them to a download page and they just press download and its gets downloaded.. you can customize the html pages you point them to.. show screenshots, manual whatever you desire.. you just have more control over things..
Hey that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing. Those were my concerns as well, but I figured what's the worst that could happen if they got a hold of a UDID? I honestly don't know... I didn't like it that the data would be passing through their servers either, it's cool to have another option so thanks!
well last time i checked they host your ipas not?.. not only your beta testers udids and mail adresses.. maybe that changed.. but when i first checked them the hole service was wonky at best.. can't speak for the current state..
Currently beta testers have a 3 step process. 1) create an account 2) click a link on the device 3) click a link in an email to install the game. Pretty straightforward, if someone can't do that then I question their value as a beta tester The ipa hosting is/was worrisome. We were wishywashy about doing that until we decided to only host half finished ipa's on testflight. Who cares if someone steals a half finished game with none of the beta testers feedback on glitches and/or improvements required. We stopped using external beta testers for our last builds to hedge our bets.
You don't need to use a 3rd party for this... If you own a website: *download this file: http://www.ovogame.com/IPhone/beta/index.zip * create a folder on your website: MyLovelyBetaFolder uncompress and copy the index.php file into this folder. * In XCode, create your ipa (obviously it is signed with you ADHOC profile containing your testers id): Product/Archive Then open the organizer: Window/Organizer in organizer, select the SHARE OPTION: select the ipa option, and pick your adhoc profile... then select next A window open so you can save your ipad: setup the right saving folder (somewhere you'll find back, and make sure you save it with a convenient name: my_game.ipa for exemple) tick the Save for Enterprise Distribution type the right URL: in my example it would be something like: http://www.ovogame.com/MyLovelyBetaFolder/my_game.ipa type a title, click save. now, you should have 2 files saved in your saved folder: my_game.ipa my_game.plist copy both files on your website (same place as the index.php) file. that is it, send an email to your beta tester with the link: http://www.ovogame.com/MyLovelyBetaFolder they just need to click on the link from their device. JC
beta builder creates you exactly such nice easy html page based on your signed ipa.. and also creates a downloadable zip version with seperate provision file for iOS 3.x user who can't use the online deployment path (since its not supported in ios 3.x beta builder ontop of that is open source.. so you don't need to worry about some wonky crap going on you have no control over.. its also avaiable on the mac app store for a buck or two if i recall right.. if you don't want to compile it yourself (and make adjustments)
I also use testflight and all, but one problem is the limited amount of UDIDs (100 slots/year/license). Another approach to that is to submit your app to the appstore, get through the approval stuff, but don't publish your app on the appstore. You'll get 50 promocodes just by doing that, which you can then give to your beta testers. There are many benefits from that : - you already have your app approved, so you can better time your launch - the testers don't have to use testflight or other stuff, they just do as usual with the appstore (promocode) - they'll be able to keep their app after the release (and scores and progress) - you'll be able to test iAP if you have that (which is not really feasible with an Adhoc, or not really fair at least) - you don't use UDID slots Then, after your beta, you update the app and you launch the update. The limits obviously are the 50 promocodes (not much) and the time: you have 2 approvals to go through instead of one, before launch. Anyway, that's an option that some might be interested in. cheers. m
thats an option if you want go give people prerelease previews of an finished product.. for beta testing this is not really feasible if you want to wait for the approval process to deploy a new version to them.. as for the 100 slots.. well best is if you try to gain a pool of testers who you can reuse for your hole line of games.. and if you don't need the devices anymore.. delete them right away.. else you won't forget it after the year is up and your stuck with thoose
Actually I'm doing both : a pre-beta with "facebook" friends with a real "developper beta". Aim is to tweak the game more than get actual feedback from users. And the version is crappy. I use testflight for that. Then I plan to submit to apple, and do a true "beta test" with actual players, with a cool version, and listen to their feedback. update and ship.
