Want to be the first to see what's coming for Spiral Knights, and help provide valuable feedback on content before it reaches live servers?
You are in luck -- Spiral Knights players on steam now have access to special test servers! Here's all the information you'll need:
Access and Rules
The Testing Feedback forum is for players who can access the Test Server.
While all players are able to read and post here, only players with current access to the Test Server should be posting. We need feedback that is up to date and can't make changes due to feedback provided from our normal "Production" servers, or older versions of the Test Server.
This is critical, so abuse of this will have consequences for individual forum access.
Access to the Test Server where players can experience upcoming content is a special privilege limited to players with a combined total of purchases of $9.95 or higher in the last 30 days.
Installing the Test Server client
The Test Server is installed from this location:
http://www.spiralknights.com/play.xhtml?preview=true
You can choose to click on the option to download there as well, and the client will be installed in a different folder than the Production client.
Steam players may access the test server at steam://install/99920. Also of note to Steam players:
The above Steam link works with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari, but not Chrome. If the link does not work for you:
+Safari users can use the Open command to open the link: % open "steam://open/downloads"
+Windows users can also bring up the run command dialog (Windows-R or in Vista/7, Start/All Programs/Accessories/Run) and enter the URL there.
+We are actively working on hooking Steam players up with forum access, but it's not quite ready yet. In the meantime, you will need to create a non-Steam Spiral Knights account in order to post your feedback. We apologize for this inconvenience, and we'll let you know when this feature is ready!
How is Test Server different?
This section may change over time as we optimize the process for testing.
Currently Test Server differs from Production in the following ways:
+New knights created will be brought past the Introduction and Rescue Camp to Haven
+Haven will have no active gates. We will add custom gates as needed when testing specific content.
+Accounts have an unlimited supply of Mist Energy.
+New knights created will often be set up to receive a specific selection of items upon creation, needed for current testing. So we will often require knights to be recreated in order to receive those items.
Sharing video & screen shots
+Please refrain from recording video and taking screen shots.
+Many assets and features will change by launch.
+Please respect our request to not make them public.
Feedback
Please follow the guidelines for specific feedback requested in forum posts by developers.
If you are part of the test servers, you can offer feedback at the Three Rings forum for testing feedback, located here:
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/forum/62
Be aware the Test Server will only be accessible at certain times specified on this forum, when testing has been set up and feedback is needed.
Thanks to all who help with the testing, we very much appreciate your effort to help make Spiral Knights a great experience!