We will be opening up our first of several beta tests in about a week.
Further details will be posted here when available. Get ready!

Standing ready

There is so much new stuff that we want to introduce with the new system.

First, however, we must reestablish a solid base system. This beta will start the path to replicate most things we support with the old system, and a few extras. Once we are confident things are stable we can progressively introduce the new features. The core game will be very familiar for established players, it is the new infrastructure around it that we have been focused on so far.

Goals for Beta Test Phase 1:

• User account creation via forum, avatars, etc.
• Account Email verification.
• Intro game.
• Solo games.
• Game gathering chat.
• In game mail and chat.
• Public multiplayer games.
• Membership purchasing and benefits.
• (premium) Scenario and map creation.

Some new things to enjoy:

• This nice forum.
• Chat is available in each game details page.
• (premium) Scenarios can be built using both custom and standard maps.
• (premium) Scenarios can now specify which force types to have available. This is much more granular than before allowing picking of individual force types.

Memberships:

• This beta test is open to everyone, not just premium members.
• To reward early adopters and to compensate for any hickups during the beta period, all 1 year membership purchases will automatically include a bonus year. That is 2 years for the price of 1. Grab it while you can and help us test out the premium features as well!

Beta Risks:

• This is the first of several beta tests. There is always the chance that we will have to flush the game database, resulting in loss of games and/or scores. We hope we do not have resort to this often, or at all, but would like to keep everyone informed just in case. Regardless, we will ensure to preserve and restore user account and purchased membership data.
• There are bound to be some bugs. If you find any, please report them in the Bug Reports topic. We will add them to our work queue and fix them up.
• Many features will appear rough, basic or even missing. We will be continually refining and enhancing based on your feedback. Utilize the Feature Suggestions topic in the forum to help shape the game.

Thank you everyone for starting this new journey with us. We hope it will be a fun one.

See you on the battlefield,
The BATTLE FORCES Team

PS: Less than a week to go. We will let you know when we open up the Beta in this thread.

Lets do this!

Beta Test Phase 1 is now open at:
http://beta.battleforces.com

Please have a look.
Thank you everyone for your patience.
It all starts now.
Feature Requests and Bug Reports are most welcome.

So no more free premium upgrade?
I don't mind paying $20 per year but I have to see a larger user base than what we currently have.

No.
Actually it is $20 for two years right now.
So less than 3 cents a day, we hope that is fair.
After the beta we will push harder to find new players.

I think a better promotion would be $10 for a year instead of $20 for 2 years.

Question(s): I see you've restarted all the rankings on the beta, as well as including a separate thing for "experience." What is experience and what does it go for? Is it just for versing the computer or is it for all games? Have you made any other changes to the ranking system? Where can we view the new leaderboards?

@BlindAssassin The ranking structure can be viewed by going to beta.battleforces.com and logging in with the same username and password that you use to log in here (there is a direct link to this on the home page here in the upper right corner). Once there, click on the chevron to the right of "Welcome BlinAssasin" and it will display the chart. Experience is now part of the ranking system along with score. Experience is earned by finishing games. You get more experience for games against actual players than for solo games. As for the current leaderboard, I do not think it is yet available for viewing, but I imagine it will be shortly.

Jacob, I think you missed one of your turns in WW2 game.
Is there going to be experience punishment for people who miss turns?

? I've got 9:42 left on the clock. No missed turns here.