Beta Ray Bob: The stages of our Beta Testing

by Jared Brague - Posted 4 years ago

Welcome to the Vigilante Suporsieum. Today boys and girls, we are discussing the various beta testing stages, and the roles we all play with them.

Get caught up

If you haven’t read the “Origin Story” check it out, it will give you a good idea where we come from. Anywho, Some would say that we are not ever going to launch this marketplace, fear not, it is all apart of the plan.

Closed Beta

Don’t worry there is a method to our madness. First, we had to start with Closed Beta. This phase was all about the Creators and Publishers. We started inviting them into the marketplace a few months before April of 2019. It was insane. We had planned to launch our website prior to #FanXSpring, but things seldom go as you plan when building websites. We worked feverishly through the months leading up to FanX Spring, but to no avail. 

We launched our website the night before the event, and we were up until 3 am fixing bugs and broken links. I know this sounds crazy, but we are pros and we handled it as such. We had prepared for over a year at this point; building, testing, taking everything back to the drawing board, rinse, repeat. To see it finally go live, well it was glorious! We had great fun telling people about our marketplace and they had great fun playing our dice game to win signed prints. 

 After FanX was when everything got real! We released the reader and the uploader so that Creators and Publishers could start uploading and viewing comics. Their participation has been crucial in the refining of the reader and uploader. Due to the amazing Creators and Publishers, we have had the privilege to work with and their feedback, we have developed some really great features. Audio and Zoom Scroll are just 2 of the many features that resulted.

Early Beta

Recently we just attended #FanXFall. At this event we launched Early Beta phase. The development team informed us that we needed to increase the load on the system. Little by little, during the Closed Beta we had increased our user base with Creators and Publishers. Now they wanted some buyers. I know what your thinking, these guys are crazy cool, and yes, we are, but not for the reasons you are thinking. Bringing Fans into the marketplace had some incredible challenges, like how do we keep control of the growth and not lose participants due to bugs and the like.

Referral Rewards Program

The solution to our dilemma was the referral rewards program. We created an invite system so that only a person who has received an invite can create an account. There is some really neat things about this program that I will cover in another blog, so keep your eyes peeled. Now that we had control of the growth we started inviting people in. It has been amazing. We are getting feedback and the platform is holding its own. 

The reason that Early Beta is so crucial is that we are testing the marketplace before we hook up the publishing and sales to the blockchain. At that point, everything is final, so you best be ready. Mock purchases will only last through Early Beta phase. Before we connect the smart contract, we will delete all test purchased inventory in every library. This means anything that you have purchased but did not buy will go back into the system for you to actually purchase in Open Beta phase. 

I plan to buy a bunch of #1 issues of some really cool comics already in the system. Ssshhhh, don’t tell my partners or they will try to get them first.

Open Beta

This is the final phase before Full Launch. Live transactions will start to occur in this phase. We will need a massive inventory for Full Launch, so it is hard to say when that will be, but our goal is January 16th. This will be the true test, with all the pieces in place. We thank all those who are and will be participating. Your patience and perseverance with us is exemplary.

The Future

The future holds so much for this industry with CryptoComics Marketplace forging a new path. Come participate in an empowering experience. Creators self-publishing their comic and art books into digital assets, which means that Fans own what comic and art books they buy, so they can sell them too, and the Creator gets paid on those sales too! WHAT!?!  

What can I say, we will never stop working to the best marketplace in the world. We have been pro-creator from the beginning and we will be pro-creator to the end, and pro-collector too!