Continuity vs Draft Review vs In Progress

Game Development
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In the Upcoming Hosted Games and Upcoming Choice of Games topics, the phrases Continuity, In Progress and Draft Review are used to refer to the progress of the game. What is the difference between them?

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Games still being written/developed/planned/that are in an incomplete state.

A working draft is a type of technical report that is a work in progress, a preliminary form of a possible future document. Several revisions of the working draft may be issued before the final document is written, or the document may be made obsolete by future developments.

It usually means a draft of the game has been taken in for reviewing/feedback and that it probably isn’t the final version of the game just yet.

I am unsure about Continuity.

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So that would mean that In Progress comes before Draft Review?

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It is my understanding that a Draft Review is being worked on by the editors and authors before being pushed to beta state.

I believe so.

Continuity is usually tested in betas.

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So the three terms… aren’t like three stages, rather like very similar
terms which can be inclusive of each other?

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I believe CoG uses them as exclusive stages … but each company use is different.

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It seems like the stages go:

  1. In Progress - the story is still being written.
  2. Draft Review - the first draft of the story is written and undergoing a preliminary check.
  3. Beta - getting its first check from beta testers; entering this stage means the story has been listed as open for beta testing.
  4. Continuity - the final stage; the story is being checked for any last continuity errors and put through final editing.
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*creeps in to the room

BTW, I’m changing this topic category to normal Game Development, as Meta is supposed for topics that related to Discourse features itself.

*creeps out through the door

(if you’re unsure about it tho, I’d prefer to avoid clicking the word Meta, as confusing as it is)

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Ok, now this question is answered.

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No, not quite.

In Progress means the game is still being written, yes.

Draft review means we’re at full draft of the game. That means it’s receiving an extensive review by an editor, and we’re effectively entering the production stage for the game. (Draft revision would mean the author has the notes from that review and is implementing them.)

Beta means we’re running the beta–playtesters are sharing feedback on playing the game.

Continuity means we’re running continuity seeds; this is usually done in, during, and after the beta. In particular, it often continues for a while after people have stopped submitting beta feedback.

After beta, the game goes to copyedit, the final stage before being released.

Note: we try to update that Upcoming Games post semi-regularly, but it isn’t always completely up to date.

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Oh, ok, thanks for the information