PaintSquad Public Alpha Test Launch

Before we get to the news for today, we would first like to point out that we will not be releasing any monthly recap blog post for January. Instead, we will cover the development progress we've made in January in more detail at a later time. With that out of the way, let's get into the interesting news for today.

Playtest Launch

As previously announced in our last blog post in December, we've been working on getting PaintSquad into a playable state that allows us to host our very first public alpha test event. We are happy to announce that we managed to reach our goal, meaning that everyone will be able to try out PaintSquad for a limited time starting today.

To get into the game, simply start up Minecraft Java Edition Version 1.21.4 and connect to eu.playtest.xenyria.net. After downloading the resource pack, you should get to PaintSquad's title screen. The playtest is scheduled to end on the 7th of February 2025 at 23:59 GMT+1. During the first few days only two out of four maps will be available.

After connecting to the server & accepting the resource pack you should arrive at PaintSquad's title screen. Left clicking the "Play" button will teleport you to the training area which also serves as the match lobby. Unlike in previous versions of PaintSquad, you can use your weapons to warm up for the next match or kill time. In order to join a game, use the match menu and click on the "Queue" button. You can also use the match menu to vote for the next map or to change your equipment. 

Another thing to mention is that the kit system is not implemented at this time, meaning that you are able to individually pick which main, sub and special weapon you would like to use for the next match. 

Expectations

We realize that a lot of you are very excited to finally play PaintSquad again after such a long time, however there are a few things we need to point out regarding the current state of PaintSquad. This version of the game is still in a very early stage of development. A lot of features are still missing and only a fraction of the content from the previous version (2.1) is present.

On the technical side of things, PaintSquad 3.0 doesn't re-use a single line of code from earlier versions of the game. Although we've been able to test a majority of the systems that are required for operating PaintSquad, we haven't been able to test them with a considerable amount of users yet.

Our main goal with this event is to see how well all of PaintSquad's new systems work over a long time span with a lot of players. We expect some issues to arise during the playtest that could result in the game not being playable for some time. Fixing these issues is extremely important to ensure that PaintSquad's full release later this year will go as smoothly as possible.

This version of PaintSquad also lacks a feature that helps with reducing input delay for players that connect from the US or other countries that are located far away from the server. We are working on implementing this feature as soon as possible, meaning it will probably available during the next playtest.

Once the playtest ends, we will conduct a player satisfaction survey to gather feedback on the changes we've made to the game. However, you can also report bugs or just share your feedback on our Discord server.

Troubleshooting ("My game is glitching out" / "I cannot join the server" / ...)

We have created a short compatibility guide that should cover most cases. Alternatively, you can also ask for help on our Discord server. Please keep in mind that we might not be able to respond to every request since our team will mostly be busy with moderating players on the server.

Closing words

With that we have arrived at the end of this short announcement post. We hope that all of you will have a ton of fun during PaintSquad's first public test event. Keep in mind that this is just the beginning of a series of tests. Don't forget to check out our Discord server if you haven't already. That is all for today, have fun!