Good news everyone: We're expanding the alpha with more players, and servers will be open 24/7!
Tomorrow, we'll be inviting a huge wave of new testers into our alpha. This means that if you haven't gotten in yet, this might very well be your time. And if it's not, don't worry - we will have another big wave next week. Also, the invite-a-friend program is still open: Every tester can invite one new friend per week (see the #invite-a-friend channel in Discord).
Up until now, the servers have only been open over the weekends, but when they open tomorrow afternoon (PST), they'll be staying open and moving to 24/7 operations. We will continue inviting new testers every Friday.
Casual Mode
We are also introducing a new feature: Casual Mode. In addition to our regular game mode (now called "Ranked"), we add a new mode which is less focused on winning. Actually, you can't win at all, because it's an infinite game mode without a winner.
Casual mode supports 2-10 players and is accessible from the "Multiplayer" tab. Same as in the Ranked mode, you will switch sides every three rounds. While you will play the same maps twice in Ranked (once as attackers, once as defenders) this is not the case in Casual. Instead, maps are chosen randomly every round. You will not get the same tile-set twice per set, though.
This is not working yet, but we plan to let you switch teams in the future. You will be able to do so via the scoreboard (default keybinding: \). This will allow you to balance teams and make it easy to play with your friends.
As mentioned above, there is no winner. While the number of rounds is being tracked, the match will not end when one team reaches a certain number of wins. Instead, it will just continue to switch you back and forth between attack and defense. For technical reasons, however, the server will shut down after 30 rounds. Afterwards just queue up again - maybe for Ranked mode this time.
Casual mode is a good way for you to learn the ropes (after you completed our training course) and have fun with your friends. It's an opportunity to play the game without the pressure that comes with a regular match of Ranked mode.
We hope you enjoy this new addition!
-th_pion