Tester guide

Before you start

The playtest is invite-only, and builds aren’t downloadable from this site. Your facilitator sends you three things:

• the game, as a zip for your computer (its name says windows, macos, linux or web),
• your tester code, such as S07, which links your play data, bug reports, and feedback without using your name,
• a link to the feedback form for afterwards.

Install and run

The first launch

Playtest builds send anonymous play data to the Helldesk team from the moment you start, so we can see where players get stuck and what crashes. On the first launch, a notice says so and asks for your tester code: enter the code your facilitator gave you.

The build label in the corner of the main menu shows a session ID while sharing is on. If you report a problem by message, include it.

You can switch sharing off at any time with the “Share playtest data” switch on the main menu or in Settings. We’d rather you didn’t: crash logs only reach us while it’s on.

Keys worth knowing

On the floor: click a free port, then another, to run a cable. Drag gear to move it. Right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom. Delete puts the selected device back in the stockroom.

While you play

• Don’t look things up. Use what the game gives you: the questions you can ask the person who filed a ticket, the three hint levels, and the Grimoire. We want to know when those aren’t enough.
• It’s fine to be stuck. Notice where, and what got you moving again. That goes in the feedback form.
• Stop when you’d stop at home. If you get bored, that’s data too.
• In Greed (Circle 4), fire-sale purchases are final. That’s on purpose.
• In Wrath (Circle 5), the firewall’s window has a packet tester: it shows where a test packet stops and which rule stopped it. Use it before you change rules.

Reporting a bug

1. Press F8 as soon as something looks wrong, while it’s still on screen.
2. Say what you did and what you expected. One or two sentences is plenty.
3. The game saves a zip in its reports folder and opens that folder. If your build has a bug form, it opens that too; otherwise send the zip to your facilitator.

The zip holds a screenshot, your save, and your recent actions, so we can replay exactly what happened. If the game itself notices something went wrong, it shows a message asking you to press F8: please do.

After you play

Fill in the feedback form your facilitator sent. It takes about five minutes and asks:

• how long you played and which circle you reached,
• what you did after your first ticket closed,
• where you were most stuck, and your most satisfying moment,
• whether anything felt unfair or wrong,
• what you learned that you could use on a real network,
• in Greed, whether you planned before the fire sale,
• in Wrath, whether the firewall window and its packet tester made sense,
• and whether you’d play again.

What we collect

Unless you switch sharing off, the game sends what you do in it: tickets opened and closed, hints and questions used, commands that failed, terminal lines it didn’t understand, purchases, errors, frame rate, and your computer’s OS, CPU, GPU, and screen size. It also sends a random player ID and your tester code. If the game crashes, the next launch sends the end of that session’s log, with your user folders removed.

It never sends your name, files, or anything outside the game. Bug report zips stay on your computer until you send them.