GOLD Master ......

[calius 0]

Wonder if GRIN fellows can help.

I know its gone GOLD so I assume thats the final master to be duplicated off of (imaged) at pressing plants / duplication plants etc etc.

What stages does that go through before gold?

Also ... whos the people who keep the single official very first master copy? Is it like a gold disc for music where you frame it in the office? Or is it just terminology?

Is it created packaged and burned in-house as a standard DVD-R and who does that go to first out of the office?

Whos responsible to burn it correctly (gets fired for messing it up ) ... do you courier it to the destination (is that UBI) or upload the image over a secure network and let UBI get on with putting the wheels in motions for distribution and diplication?

Can I have one ?

I get the feeling as I post this GRIN may not be able to say .... just a thought realy.

[CiASpook 0]

My guess would be that it works like this:

GRIN uploads a build of GR:AW to Ubi who distributes it to their betatester team, they report bugs. When the bugs Ubi has found and wants corrected has been fixed Ubi says OK, we are done. Ubi packages (sets up installer, implementes copyprotection) and sends of a master for replication (without having any leaks, Ubi is very good on not having leaks).

Thats my take on it, lets so how wrong I am

EDIT: Is it me or is GRIN very quite today Can anyone say "Demo on friday!"? Hehe...

Edited April 19, 2006 by CiASpook

[Deosl 11]

The CD that will be sent to the CD manufacturers to be reproduced. So named because of the CDR burnable CDs are gold backed normally.

Well thats what I found after a little "googling", however the process should be similar with most games...

Wouldn't mind anyone giving a detailed description on what goes on when a game is labeled "Gold Master".

Oh & now that GRAW is done, where's Ulf?

[=warcloud= 0]

Pre-alpha

Sometimes a build known as pre-alpha is issued, before the release of an alpha or beta. In contrast to alpha and beta versions, the pre-alpha is usually not "feature complete". At this stage designers are still determining exactly what functionalities the product should have. Such builds can also be called development releases or nightly builds.

Alpha

The alpha version of a product still awaits full debugging or full implementation of all its functionality, but satisfies a majority of the software requirements. It often lacks features promised in the final release, but demonstrates the feasibility and basic structure of the software.

The alpha build of the software is the first build delivered to the software testers.

In the first phase of alpha testing, developers test the software using white box techniques. Additional inspection is then performed using black box or grey box techniques. This is usually done by another dedicated testing team sometimes concurrently. Moving to black box testing is often known as the second stage of alpha testing.

The name is derived from alpha, the first letter in the Greek alphabet.

Beta

A beta version or beta release usually represents the first version of a computer program that implements all required features although additional features may be added. It is likely to be unstable but useful for internal demonstrations and previews to select customers, but not yet ready for release. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, as a technical preview (TP) or as an early access.

Often this stage begins when the developers announce a feature freeze on the product, indicating that no more features requirements will be accepted for this version of the product. Only software issues, or bugs and unimplemented features will be addressed.

Beta versions stand at an intermediate step in the full development cycle. Developers release them to a group of beta testers (sometimes the general public) for a user test. The testers report any bugs that they found and sometimes minor features they would like to see in the final version.

For example in September 2005, Microsoft started releasing regular Windows Vista Community Technology Previews (CTP) to beta testers. The first of these was build 5219. Subsequent CTPs introduced most of the planned features, as well as a number of changes to the user interface, based in large part on feedback from beta testers. Windows Vista was deemed feature complete with the release of build 5308 CTP, released on February 22, 2006, and much of the remainder of work between that build and the final release of the product will focus on stability, performance, application and driver compatibility, and documentation.

When a beta becomes available to the general public it is often widely used by the technologically savvy and those familiar with previous versions as though it were the finished product. Usually developers of freeware or open-source betas release them to the general public while proprietary betas go to a relatively small group of testers. In February 2005, ZDNet published an article about the recent phenomenon of a beta version often staying for years and being used as if it were in production-level [1]. It noted that Gmail and Google News, for example, had been in beta for a long period of time and were not expected to drop the beta status despite the fact that they were widely used; however, Google News did leave beta in January 2006. This technique may also allow a developer to delay offering full support and/or responsibility for remaining issues. Recipients of highly proprietary betas may have to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

A release is called feature complete when the development team agrees that no new features will be added to this release. New features may still be suggested for later releases. More development work needs to be done to implement all the features and repair defects.

As the second major stage in the development cycle, following the alpha stage, it is named after the Greek letter beta, the second letter in the Greek alphabet.

Release candidate

The term release candidate refers to a final product, ready to release unless fatal bugs emerge. In this stage, the product features all designed functionalities and no known showstopper class bugs. At this phase the product is usually code complete.

Microsoft Corporation often uses the term release candidate. Other terms include gamma (and occasionally also delta, and perhaps even more Greek letters) for versions that are substantially complete, but still under test, and omega for final testing of versions that are believed to be bug-free, and may go into production at any time. (To many software testers, Gamma testing is an informal phrase that refers derisively to the release of "buggy" or defect-ridden products. It is not a term of art among testers, but rather an example of referential humor.) Gamma, delta, and omega are, respectively, the third, fourth, and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Some users disparagingly refer to release candidates and even final "point oh" releases as "gamma test" software, suggesting that the developer has chosen to use its customers to test software that is not truly ready for general release. Often, beta testers, if privately selected, will be billed for using the release candidate as though it were a finished product.

A release is called code complete when the development team agrees that no entirely new source code will be added to this release. There may still be source code changes to fix defects. There may still be changes to documentation and data files, and to the code for test cases or utilities. New code may be added in a future release.

Gold/general availability release

The gold or general availability release version of a product is the final version of a particular product. It is typically almost identical to the final release candidate, with only last-minute bugs fixed. A gold release is considered to be very stable and relatively bug-free with a quality suitable for wide distribution and use by end users. In commercial software releases, this version may also be signed (used to allow end-users to verify that code has not been modified since the release). The expression that a software product "has gone gold" means that the code has been completed and "is being mass-produced and will be for sale soon." Other terms for the version include gold master, gold release, or gold build.

The term gold anecdotally refers to the use of "gold master disc" which was commonly used to send the final version to manufacturers who use it to create the mass-produced retail copies. It may in this context be a hold-over from music production. In some cases, however, the master disc is still actually made of gold, for both aesthetic appeal and resistance to corrosion.

Microsoft and others use the term "release to manufacturing" (RTM) to refer to this version (as in, "Build 2600 is the Windows XP RTM release").

I want the gold copy, lol.

[CiASpook 0]

The way applications and games are developed are basiclly the same, but they have some differences testing phases.

Could someone from GRIN take their mind of the demo for a couple of minutes and answer us? Hehe...