Three preparations, a finite quiver, damaged walls, a moving convoy, one support call, and a warning beacon that demands attention at the worst possible moment.
LANTERN ARCADE · EARLY-WORLD PLAYTESTING
Play before the map is finished.
You do not need to be an expert. You only need to notice when a world feels clear, surprising, frustrating, or worth returning to.
06OPEN WORLDS03INVITED TESTS5–45MINUTE SESSIONSDESKTOPFIRST PASS
Field Guild testers influence revisions. They do not receive a polished release disguised as a beta.
I
THE FIELD GUIDE
We are testing whether the world makes sense—not whether you can beat it.
Play naturally. Make the choice that interests you. When something works, tell us why. When something breaks, name the screen, the action, what you expected, and what happened instead.
INVITATION REQUIREDSTAGE 1 OWNER GATE
FEATURED FIELD ASSIGNMENT
The Last Wall
A nine-minute action-defense trial about choosing what to protect when one defender cannot save every approach.
- Session
- Three nine-minute runs
- Input
- Keyboard + pointer
- Record
- Browser-local receipts
Movement and aim, brace and repair clarity, whether fallback feels intentional, the beacon’s opportunity cost, peak-pressure readability, and whether you want another run.
Access is limited to approved testers. The game keeps saves and test receipts in your current browser.
SIX SIGNALS THAT MATTER
What should I pay attention to?
Specific observations are more valuable than a rating. These six signals help us turn your run into the next revision.
Clarity
What did you understand immediately—and what required guessing?
Control
Did the game respond the way your hands and attention expected?
Choice
Did two options feel meaningfully different, or was one answer obviously correct?
Consequence
Could you tell why the world changed after your decision?
Recovery
When something went wrong, did restart, save, or fallback feel fair?
Desire
At the end, did you want another run—and what would you try differently?
INVITATION REQUIREDDISTINCT FIELD BRIEF
SECOND INVITED ASSIGNMENT
The Underways
Descend below the city where route marks, lantern range, echoes, and retreat judgment matter more than speed. This assignment tests whether uncertainty feels playable instead of merely confusing.
EXPECT Subterranean route reading, limited light, remembered paths, risk marks, and deliberate retreat.TEST Navigation clarity, getting-lost fairness, lamp/resource tradeoffs, consequence tracing, and desire for a second descent.
Read the Underways field brief →INVITATION REQUIREDOWNER REVIEW
THIRD INVITED ASSIGNMENT
Waylines
Keep settlements connected through weather, maintenance, loading priorities, and route failure. This is deliberate logistical play: the question is not whether every delivery survives, but whether the plan and its consequences remain readable.
EXPECT Planning, route choice, service intervals, disruptions, and a portable evidence workbook.TEST Forecast clarity, meaningful tradeoffs, consequence tracing, recovery, and whether two routes invite different thinking.
Read the Waylines field brief →OPEN FIELD ASSIGNMENTS
Choose the kind of world you want to test.
These builds are publicly reachable. Guest play is available; connected identity and cloud features remain optional where noted inside each world.
01Playable beta
Volley Keep
A tactical defense campaign where fog, cards, artillery, and expanding terrain keep changing what the safest move means.
- EXPECT
- 5–15 minute waves
- TEST
- Can you read the battlefield, understand why a defense failed, and recover without the interface solving the fog for you?
02Playable beta
Emberwake
A naval command run about reading wind, signaling a companion, piercing fog, and bringing home a captured prize.
- EXPECT
- 25–35 minutes
- TEST
- Do navigation, wind, signaling, and consequence stay legible when the sea becomes busy?
03Fighter beta
Lost Realms
Escort a royal, break a Dominion patrol, test the Ember Gate, and carry a small journey record toward Steam Gate.
- EXPECT
- A compact adventure route
- TEST
- Does the route teach itself, do consequences feel earned, and is the choice to keep a cloud backup understandable?
04Three-age beta
Palimpsest
Govern Reedmere across three civic ages, where flood, drought, precedent, migration, and winter become one remembered history.
- EXPECT
- 30–45 minutes
- TEST
- Can you trace how an early promise survives into later judgments without the game assigning a hidden moral score?
05Playable beta
Lanterns Beyond
Rebuild a damaged constellation through hidden plans, route logistics, structured diplomacy, and deterministic simultaneous resolution.
- EXPECT
- Eight sealed turns · two local seats
- TEST
- Can both players form a plan, preserve private handoffs, understand the shared resolution, and see restoration or diplomacy change the next decision?
06Local-table beta
Courts at War
Choose Emberglass or Moonstone and play trustworthy standard chess on one shared device, with local save, replay, and skippable original capture performances.
- EXPECT
- One standard-chess match
- TEST
- Can you trust the rules and board while still feeling the personality of two inhabited courts?
BEFORE YOU PLAY
A beta is a lantern, not a finish line.
- Use a desktop first.Keyboard and pointer are the strongest-supported starting point. Touch and controller support vary by world.
- Expect rough edges.Copy, balance, pacing, saves, layouts, and integrations may change between builds.
- Protect your privacy.Do not place passwords, private records, or sensitive personal information in a field report.
- Report the path.Name the world, screen, action, expected result, and actual result. Screenshots are helpful but optional.
WHEN YOUR RUN ENDS
Tell us where the light held—and where it went out.
Return to Lantern Arcade’s field report desk. Your observation can be anonymous, or you can leave an email if you want a reply.