Playtester handbook
You’re in. Now break it.
Welcome aboard! We are eternally grateful that you want to help create this game by sharing your input and your ideas. Being a playtester this early makes you a pioneer, breaking new ground for what we can build together as a community. You are not a test rabbit — you are part of the founding family.
Pick the tab below that applies to you, so the rest of this page stays relevant: you either run the game on your own machine, or you play it in a browser against our server.
Choose your kind of playtesting
Local playtesting
What is this?
Local playtesting means that you install and run the game on your own computer. Once you have the file you do not need an internet connection to play.
Where do I get the latest version?
You will get a link to where you can download the latest version. That will later be replaced by auto-updates, both to simplify it for you and to keep your playtest build fresh.
Never install anything that did not come from us
Do not download or install anything claiming to be related to this project unless it comes directly from us. We always announce a new version in the news, and there is always a checksum for the game install.
Which systems do you release binaries for?
We build playtest versions of the game for Windows 11 and macOS on Apple Silicon.
- Windows 11
- Built and tested by us.
- macOS · Apple Silicon
- Built and tested by us.
- Windows 10
- It might run, but we will not target that platform, since Microsoft is sunsetting it.
- Linux
- It might run, but you would have to build it from source yourself — which a Linux user knows how to do anyway.
I have it installed. What should I do?
Play! Use it, try things out, go completely wild with it in any way you want — and try to break it. You will discover bugs, get ideas, notice features that are missing and come up with suggestions of your own. All of that is welcome, and all of it is the point of playtesting.
Just focus on the parts that interest you the most, and give us your feedback. It is invaluable.
How is useful feedback structured?
- Concise and to the point, in proper English. Avoid abbreviations.
- As specific as you can possibly make it. Two examples of what that means:
Which card, and when?
Vague“I don’t remember which card, but it was broken.”
Useful“Death Maiden’s ability doesn’t work on Zeus, but only when she is in a centre zone.”
Keep narrowing it down
Vague“Tokens are not created.”
Better“Broodmother sometimes fails to create her tokens.”
Useful“Broodmother fails to create her tokens if Sophii is in play.”
- Tell us which operating system and which version of the game you used. The version is especially important, since we patch bugs and add features all the time.
- If you have a replay file from the game where the bug appeared, check whether the bug reproduces in the replay — it usually does — and send the replay file along with your report.
- Copy the full game log and include that as well. The log and the replay matter more the less detail you are able to give yourself, since they let us analyse your particular match, the cards involved and the zones.
Where do I post bugs, ideas and feature requests?
On our tracker. No registration is required. Give it a good title, and use the dropdown at the top to say whether it is a bug or a feature request.
You may also email us instead, if you prefer that for some reason.
Can I talk or chat with you about the playtesting?
Yes, we would be happy to. Contact us for an appointment — live communication would be great.
Can I share the playtest files I downloaded with a friend?
Nobody can stop you, but for everyone’s safety it is better that this person downloads it directly from us.
May I stream my playtesting?
Yes, but please do not say or show anything that confuses this with another game, and be overly clear that this is a pre-alpha playtest and a work in heavy progress — not a finished, released game. We do not want people to judge the project by its earliest phase.
Can I get involved in other ways as well?
Yes, probably in any way you want — just contact us.
Somebody tried to sell me early access?
Do not buy it, and do not open that file
That is a scammer. We never sell the game in any state, since it is free — and even less so when we are asking people to help us by playtesting it.
Any special tools that playtesters get in the game?
Yes: all the developer tools that we use ourselves for “cheating” and for setting things up in specific ways, straight from the in-game dev menus. You reach them by pressing §. Please make sure to tell us whether you used them or not when you report a bug.
It is mostly a convenience, and not something you must use or fully understand in order to do the playtesting. Other, more specific playtesting tools and conveniences may be added as you request them — just tell us what you need.
Server playtesting
What is this?
Server playtesting means that you run the game in your browser. You do not need to install or run anything on your own computer beyond what you probably already have: an operating system, a browser and an internet connection.
What runs where, and what can it do?
The game itself runs on a Linux server, and it can only be modded by us — or by whoever else puts such a server instance online elsewhere.
Multiplayer, human against human, is supported. Bot play may be supported on the current test server, or it may have to wait for a better one further down the line. That depends on how many join the cause and actually playtest the thing…
Where and how do I sign up?
Registration is closed right now — to the public and to playtesters alike. It opens for playtesters soon, hopefully before November 2026.
The server is already up and running, but we want to strengthen both its security and its functionality further before opening it up.
How does my invite work?
Once it is opened up, you will get a special link to an account that was created specifically for you as a playtester. It will be associated with the email address you gave us, and you will get to choose your own nickname and password.
When you have used that link to finalise your account, it cannot be used again. Ask us for a new one if you need it.
Reporting, streaming and everything else
Those answers are the same whichever way you test. Switch to Local playtesting above for how to write a report that helps us, where to post bugs and feature requests, and what we ask of you if you want to stream.
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