Camelot Unchained pre-alpha testing goes smoothly

Camelot Unchained

We haven't heard much about Camelot Unchained since it came out of Kickstarter last year with more than $2 million. In fact, the last bit of news wasn't particularly good: An alpha test that was supposed to run in August was pushed into 2015 because of a shortage of engineers at developer City State Entertainment. But a 'pre-alpha' testing period actually took place a couple days ago, and according to studio founder Mark Jacobs, it went swimmingly well.

It's worth keeping things in perspective: The pre-alpha test was very small, peaking at more than 500 simultaneous players, and the action took place within a fairly tiny arena. But the servers ran through the entire test without a single crash, and while the battles didn't reach quite the scale the developers were hoping for, they say performance was rock-solid throughout. The game's server-based physics also performed "beautifully," and the character creation system reportedly went over very well.

"Major problems were non-existent, and while there were a number of issues with older video cards/CPUs and OS versions, these were in a tiny minority rather than the majority. We are actively working with the players to update our F.A.Q. with the known cards/OS version with issues, just as we did with the previous AMD card problems," Jacobs wrote. "However, we’re going to fix those issues sooner rather than later (as soon as we get some build machines up with the older cards). Now, this doesn’t mean you will be able to play Camelot Unchained with a 7-year old machine with Windows XP, but we are addressing any known issues with cards as a priority item."

The majority of complaints related to things like slower-than-expected movement, casting times, and other such issues, but Jacobs pointed out that the pre-alpha is intended to test the engine, not the design elements. Follow-up testing sessions are scheduled for today and Sunday.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.