Download and run the game

Objective: Run the game as far as the main menu

Go through the instructions on the download page to download and install the game, get it to start up, and access the offline user interface.

Two download methods are available, manual download, or 'easy install' script. In the case of manual download, you'll need to extract the game archive and unblock or unquarantine the game executable.

For the security conscious, if you have Windows 11 Professional, I recommend manual download and install within a Window Sandbox.

(From here you can move on to either step 2, or step 3.)

Connect to the server

Objective: Get in to the multiplayer UI and see a list of players on the server (which might be just you)

You'll need a credentials file for this, and you'll need to put it in the right place in the installed game folder.

(See Credentials setup for more information about this step.)

At this point, if you name is shown as 'Beta3' or something, you can change this through the 'Name change' tab..

Play through the Neon Swarm tutorial

Objective: Get the UI to show 'completed' for all tutorial levels

The tutorial can be played offline, so no need to have completed step 1, for this.

You could read the getting started page, first, for a full list of controls, or just read the instructions in the tutorial menu, or don't read anything and see if you can work out what is going on as you go..

Play an online game

Objective: Play any game, in online mode

(You *will* need to complete step 1, before doing this!)

Once connected to the server, create a game room, click in as ready, and start the game.

Note that some game types require more than one player, so choose a friendly or single player challenge game type.

Get onto a high score table

Objective: Get your name on one of the high score tables

Actually, you may just need to choose a single player challenge, start, and end, for this, so..

Bonus objective: Get on one of the high score tables, with some swarmers exited

Play a multiplayer game

Objective: Organise a game with someone else

Play a multiplayer game.

One way to do this is to get a friend to play as well, and connect to the server at the same time.

Another possibility is to connect to the Lockstep Arcade discord and posting a message about organising a testing session there. (The discord is kind of quiet at the moment, but we can change that!)

A third (less sociable) possibility is to start two instances of the game client and play against yourself. :) (Note that this doesn't work for ranked matches, though, which require unique player IDs.)

Since you are playing a multiplayer game, why not try selecting 'Pilots' for game (since this currently only works in multiplayer).

Additional challenges

Objective: Get to the top of a highscore table (and stay there)

Objective: Get a rating for Neon Swarm

Objective: Get a rating for Pilots

Objective: Get to the top of one of the ratings tables!

Objective: Post some feedback on discord

Objective: Find and report a bug!