Experiments

**Experiments** are a series of tests happening prior to the upcoming beta launch of *Box Critters.*

Experiment Five is currently in progress.

## Past Experiments

### Experiment One

Experiment One was officially made public on February 8, 2019 after RocketSnail debated the release date with fans two days earlier on Twitter. The main purpose of this experiment was to test a basic chat and movement system whilst seeing how many players the servers could handle.

Experiment One also was known by the name of 'Hamsters!' In the only available room, Tavern, players could move around and chat with other players as Hamsters.

The link for the experiment was originally located at https://rocketsnail.com/boxcritters/hamster and was only available to players who signed up to RocketSnail's mailing list. A link was added to the main Box Critters page February 17, 2019.

#### Updates

Throughout the experiment, RocketSnail made several improvements, such as

* Chat filtering system
* Room boundary fix
* Server stability
* Improved login with errors
* Away from keyboard detection
* Chat logging (only seen whilst using inspect element)
* Larger screen
* Update to the Hamster sprite sheet

The most noticeable update during the first experiment was an update to the Hamster sprites, which occurred March 17, 2019. This caused all the critters in the game to change from a smaller, open-mouth character to a new critter shown on previous artwork. There was also the introduction of items in the transition between the first and second experiments, the first one being the Red Viking Helmet, accessible via commands or item codes.

### Experiment Two

Experiment 2 was launched on April 10, 2019. Every week a new item was released. The Blue Toque was the first item to be released in this experiment. The first event in Box Critters, the Easter Egg Hunt 2019, commenced on April 18, 2019. The last weekly item in this experiment was Science Officer.

### Experiment Three

Experiment 3 was launched May 16, 2019. It introduced the Bridge, the Lizard and three new mascots. Experiment 3 also introduced more obscure features, such as the Cards (Quests).

### Experiment Four

Experiment 4 was launched with the Halloween 2019 event, which included the first room with a scrolling camera. It also saw the introduction of coins, the Raccoon and several snowman NPCs.

## Current Experiments

### Experiment Five

Experiment 5 was launched April 2, 2020. It introduced the Combat Card Game Test minigame.

## Upcoming Experiments

On December 2nd 2021 Box Critter's Twitter and front page of the website annouced that Box Critters will be moving into the first offical Beta Test next year with "new events, items, characters, and adventures!" Christmas 2021 is last planned update as they are plannning "the next phase" in the game's life it is also said that sign ups are now closed until the Beta launches but the Alpha Test will still be open

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/rocketsnail/status/1093257589289177088
2. ↑ https://rocketsnail.com/boxcritters/
3. ↑ https://twitter.com/rocketsnail/status/1087504119894405120
4. ↑ https://twitter.com/BoxCritters/status/1466473726124474369?ref\_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
5. ↑ https://boxcritters.com/