2012/02/16, 06:32 by checker

A 11:47:53 pm, February 15th, 2012, the first SpyParty Early-Access Beta invitation was sent across the internet. I was typing into a laptop at my dining room table in Oakland, California. I typed the necessary commands into an ssh window, which was connected to a server in Texas. A perl script generated an invitation email which landed in Sunnyvale, Calfornia, in search of Jonathan Blow. Finally, Jonathan checked his email by clicking a button on his laptop, which was sitting on my dining room table, right next to mine.

He registered, and my PayPal account went from $0.00 to $14.26 and he was able to login to the private beta website!

Success!

And then the bug reports started. The login page didn’t restrict the case of the username. There was no link to the beta homepage page in the email. I forgot to upload a working build of the game before sending the invite. The server’s auto-detection of new builds was broken. And then, to cap it all off, PayPal decided to reverse the charge and put the payment on hold. I didn’t even have my $14.26 anymore!

Oh well, that’s what shipping software is all about, and I expected at least this many problems. The important thing is that I can now say The SpyParty Beta Has Started!

I live tweeted the whole thing from the @spyparty account:

Okay, I am switching my php from the paypal sandbox to the live paypal servers…

Feb 15, 10:58pm

PayPal balance: $0.00 USD

Feb 15, 11:03pm

This first invite is going to @Jonathan_Blow, who (hopefully) won’t mind if my paypal script accidentally charges him $15000 instead of $15.

Feb 15, 11:22pm

I said I’d try to start invites before 11111 beta signups, and I’m at 11101, so I’m going to make it. Also, @spyparty is at 3995 followers!

Feb 15, 11:29pm

I am sending the invite to @Jonathan_Blow…hopefully it will work…

Feb 15, 11:47pm

Invite away…he is sitting right next to me, so hopefully the email can make it that far…

Feb 15, 11:48pm

He’s in. Forgot to upload the latest build, oops. Plus a login bug…

Feb 15, 11:53pm

PayPal balance: $14.26 USD

Feb 15, 11:56pm

And, PayPal reversed the charges and has them under investigation. LOL Give me my $14.26 back!

Feb 16, 12:07am

Status: Being Reviewed By PayPal … they are really earning their $0.74 on this one…

Feb 16, 12:25am

Why the hell isn’t the lobbyserver finding the updated build on s3?!? That code used to work…sigh. Current new bug count: 8

Feb 16, 12:38am