Beta

Noisestorm will host a free testing period where people will be invited to participate in before Early Access release. To prepare for the game's release, bugs need to be filtered from various PC setups and gameplay needs to be tweaked based on pure community feedback. The feedback is best presented limited at first, and can expand over time to include a gradual increase in the audience of the beta.

Currently, there have been 3 possible ways to request access to the beta when it releases, including the beta mailing list, the game steam page, and a reaction count on discord (that soon was overrun by interested crabbers and crashed). This includes users on Discord and Twitter who have publicly shared their interest in active game testing.

The beta will be opened sometime in 2022 on a to-be-determined (TBD) weekend, which will kickoff the period. During this time, the beta will be semi-closed and only be accessible on weekends Friday to Monday. (exact start and end times unknown) The beta will initially start with around 50\* testers, including those personally selected by Noisestorm, each opening weekend more players will be added and granted access to the game: eventually exceeding over 600\* testers in its lifespan! The expectation is that the initial testers can catch game-breaking bugs first while later testers can report smaller issues.

Receiving a key if you have been selected is determined by the method you chose to get such. On steam, you will be contacted by the service to claim your key directly. By Discord, you will be directly messaged by Noisestorm with your beta key. Through the mailing list, keep an eye out for any message from the crab champions site, with keywords like "claim your key!" being possibilities.

Many users have already been hand-selected on Discord. These people include:

* Active Members
* Moderators
* Golden Crabs

**No keys will be given out until the beta period begins.**

Beta testers are expected to communicate bugs and issues; the official Discord server is a very easy way to do this! Once you've verified you have access to the beta, a special role will be given to you which can be used to communicate to other testers directly, and even play LFG sessions with them! Like the rest of the server, channels such as Releases, Bugs, Feedback, etc. are simple collections of information testers might find useful. These include discussion channels, feedback channels, and streaming voice chats. Testers may appear on the list of members, but hasn't been confirmed directly yet. Feedback text channels will be the only way to get updates from Noisestorm, as well as talking to him directly about your experience in the Beta, every bit counts!

When it's time for the Early Access period of the game, the beta will end and keys will be rendered useless. While the beta is free, the Early Access period will enable the game to be made available for purchase for the first time. If the game is worth your time and money, your can keep playing and helping support development by purchasing the game through Steam. Noisestorm has confirmed the best chance to get selected for beta is based on how much interest a user has in the game, in the game discussion channels on the Discord server.

Noisestorm is fully committed to a release track and needs some time to get the game in a working state for the beta period. Therefore, some unimportant elements, like perk and ability icons, will have placeholders.

Do note that there will be no NDAs enforced and **you can freely stream, record or post images of your playthroughs.**

\*These numbers could be subject to change