Causeless wrote:Introversion aren't under any obligation to fix bugs. Think about it this way - it's not that they are working towards a release for us. Instead they are working towards the end game product, and every update we get is just a development snapshot every time they get a new feature to a workable state. Bug fixing comes later.
Anyways, I'm not sure why anybody cares. Alpha 1 and 2 were dramatically worse than this. Consistently, prisoners would get stuck and refuse to do anything and you could get money just through zoning an area. That was far far more gamebreaking.
I'm not too fussed about the current bugs in the game as it is an alpha, but I highly doubt this is how Introversion operate. Having a group of alpha testers who report bugs for them for free is a huge benefit, but the value they get out of that free testing is dependent on the existing game features being functional to some degree. Taking the clone tool as an example, by breaking it in a release build they're essentially losing three weeks of testing on that feature, so while they're not necessarily obligated to fix major bugs, doing so benefits development and keeps the game enjoyable.
Alpha build or not, I don't think it's fair to attack people who question the level of testing before each release, as getting the correct balance between progressing the game for the long-term and keeping it functional for the short-term is only going to benefit everyone involved.
The "bug fixing comes later" approach doesn't fit the development model being employed by the way.