This Beta Build Has EXPIRED.

[trog7]

I am one of the early backers.

I had received notification the game construct was finally completed and the download available.
I have played through all mages except Fire Mage - all during the First Week after the release of Mage's Initiation.

I have been rather busy since then, doing other things, besides having a day job ...
I today decided to crank up the Mage again and see what Fire Mage has to play with,

BUT,
I am greeted with a Black Screen stating "This Beta Build Has EXPIRED. The program will now exit!"

Like What the heck?!?!
Isn't this meant to be the Final and full game release of Mage's Initiation ??

The version I downloaded was the DRM free release.

I see there is now a version 1.1 update - of which I have Not received any notification yet about this update release ...

I trust this v1.1 release of Mage's Initiation WONT EXPIRE !?

I also see on the home page there have been several changes to the game play including the option where one may make it Easier to play through ... ?!?

... made it easier to play through - ha, come on, the game is Exceptionally Easy to play through in its original format - I played each mage, except as mentioned - not the fire mage yet, through at least twice to include the various side quests including smiting the Enchantress during the original Earth Mage run through, and then playing through and sparing her ... that is at least 6 times already - there are a couple of " slightly challenging " puzzles, and the "boss type fights" just need to work a strategy to beat them ...
... And I'm guessing that during the first week after release there would not have been any walk-through "help" available anyways ... so, as per "old-school gaming style" - get stuck in a puzzle - write down what you tried Until You Solve It, and some were simply "literal" keys, also keep returning to the forest and wastelands to get as many gems etc. to improve your battling skills and strength.
The first run through took me about a day and a half to complete the Mage [probably about 39 hours] - after that the next times averaged under 7 hours game play ...

As a backer - I had been notified my name would be in the "book", but I am not listed ( one of my friends who was also a backer, his name is in the book )

During the game play I encountered numerous glytches and crashes, which I may get around to reporting ...
... I as yet have not looked at the forum reports regarding crashes and errors Bug Reports ...

[GameDevChris]

Yeah, sorry about that. There was a line of code that was accidentally left in v.1.0 of the game (from the beta build) which had it set to expire at the end of February. This auto-patches when the game updates on Steam and GOG, but for the Humble Bundle DRM-Free version (which is the version I assume you're playing?) You'll need to download and install v.1.1 manually.

Just uninstall v.1.0 of the game (your savegames and settings files won't be affected), then log into your Humble Bundle account, go to your library, and download the relevant v1.1 of the game. Then just install it and run it, and you should be able to resume where you left off. And, you're correct, v.1.1 won't expire, as the line of code was removed.

... made it easier to play through - ha, come on, the game is Exceptionally Easy to play through in its original format

None of the puzzles were changed. We only made combat mode optional so that players who prefer to play through more like a traditional adventure game now have that option. Otherwise, if you don't disable combat, v.1.1 still plays exactly the same as v.1.0 did.

As a backer - I had been notified my name would be in the "book", but I am not listed ( one of my friends who was also a backer, his name is in the book )

Only backers at the $20 tier and above had their names added to the Book. We sent out a survey to backers as well as reminders in various Kickstarter updates for backers to submit names for the book before the game's release. Either way, if you want it included and you backed the project at $20 or above, please send us a message through the Kickstarter messaging system mentioning what you'd like your name to be in the book, and I'll get it added.

During the game play I encountered numerous glytches and crashes, which I may get around to reporting ...
... I as yet have not looked at the forum reports regarding crashes and errors Bug Reports ...

V.1.1 comes with a readme.txt file that contains a list of all bugs that were fixed since v.1.0. So that would be a good place to check if the things you noticed have already been addressed or not.

[Jet]

Sorry for your pain, and yes, I agree an email indicating that there was a v1.1 upgrade and how to access it - most especially for DRM-free users like us, would not only have been a nice gesture, but pretty much expected.

It's never a bad idea to let users know that bug fixes and improvements have been made. Just sayin ..

I also see on the home page there have been several changes to the game play including the option where one may make it Easier to play through ... ?!?

... made it easier to play through - ha, come on, the game is Exceptionally Easy to play through in its original format - I played each mage, except as mentioned - not the fire mage yet, through at least twice to include the various side quests including smiting the Enchantress during the original Earth Mage run through, and then playing through and sparing her ... that is at least 6 times already - there are a couple of " slightly challenging " puzzles, and the "boss type fights" just need to work a strategy to beat them ...
... And I'm guessing that during the first week after release there would not have been any walk-through "help" available anyways ... so, as per "old-school gaming style" - get stuck in a puzzle - write down what you tried Until You Solve It, and some were simply "literal" keys, also keep returning to the forest and wastelands to get as many gems etc. to improve your battling skills and strength.

Ok, this is where we say "to each their own". I'm glad you enjoy(ed) the game in your own particular style. But .. not everyone enjoys combat, and it's a welcome change to have the devs add a way to bypass it if that's what one prefers.

I'm not a skilled gamer by any means but I do play games with combat in them, so I was interested in learning the combat in this one. I'm also a fan of "pretties" that only drop in loot soooo ... :p That said, it took me some amount of time and effort to figure out how to survive while trying to find my way through the forest and wastelands. There were times (v1.0) when I desperately wished for a way to stop having to combat foes .. or running away and losing my place while I was mapping. I just wanted to get on with things! So for folks like me, the option to turn off regular combat was/is welcome.

As a backer - I had been notified my name would be in the "book", but I am not listed ( one of my friends who was also a backer, his name is in the book )

As GameDevChris said, they did send out a notification to backers, but I believe (not certain) you had to respond to it and tell them specifically what name you wanted to use.

Once inside the game it took me awhile to find my name in the book. I hadn't remembered (it *has* been years!) that I chose a favorite character name, one that I've used for decades, and not this forum name, which is what at first I assumed would be in the book.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the rest of your time in the game. I thought it was well worth waiting for and hope lots of new players get to enjoy it too!