Closed beta, to be exact. Features are locked down for launch, and we are gradually opening up access to the public.

The client is stable and enjoyable enough that we can begin some actual testing. At the time of this writing, 75 bots are active and playable. All of them are taken from the SSCAIT ladder. As I expressed before, I intend to diverge from the SSCAIT bots after a while – that simply means that I’d like to see bots that are optimized against humans. (I still intend to work closely with the SSCAIT team)

I have set up a dedicated server, and registration is open – but user accounts are not enabled by default. So until open beta, you can just hang around, I guess.

What are the bots available?

I made a snapshot of the SSCAIT ladder, and at the time of writing this, 75 bots are available to play. Note that not all of them are thoroughly tested. I’ll try to contact all the authors, and get them to claim their bots, and provide a way for them to be able to update them.

Who participates in the closed beta?

• Bot authors. Goes without saying, but if you’re a bot author, you are automatically eligible for a beta tester status. In fact, I encourage you to do so. And of course, if you register, you can claim your bot on the ladder, and upload new versions.
• My patrons (including and above Bier Tier)
• Other than that, it’s invite-based. I can be convinced – if you are someone with verifiable credentials, I’m agreeable on providing you access – I just don’t want the project to get out of control, and get various half-done versions floating around.

There is a certain code of conduct about the whole thing, basically just the idea that this is something in progress, and should be treated as such. You are also allowed to stream, talk, or write about the project, but do not distribute it.

When it will be finally available?

Open beta should as soon as all the features are implemented. After that, it’s just testing and bugfixing until release. I can’t commit to any date, since the team is made up of volunteers. Currently not everything is done that I view as necessary for a public-facing project. To elaborate a bit, we have two major areas we need to complete: The website, and some kind of automated bot testing.

How do I claim my bot?

Register, then contact me, I’ll manually assign the bot to you, or delete it if you want. I’d much prefer if you’d keep them updating on SCHNAIL though.

What are the requirements for uploading a bot?

I’ve been drafting a bot code of conduct, mostly based on the SSCAIT rules. There are some other things too. Here are some additional concepts:

• Anyone can submit a bot. Maybe in the future we’ll have some classifications (Academic/Student, Hobbyist/Competitor, Company, etc) about the creators, but I don’t think it’s necessary so far.
• Your bot needs to provide an enjoyable gameplay experience. This generally means it should beat the stock AI, but not necessarily. I can imagine bots that can be used for training purposes, but otherwise not very good.
• Any kind of contact with a third party during gameplay is forbidden. Your bot cannot contact your remote server. We intend to provide a way for you to upload your learning data, and make use of your bot’s collected info, but it’s a security issue if we allow contacting unverified third parties on the player’s machines.
• Shallow forks of bots should be avoided.
• Any kind of cheating attempt will be harshly dealt with. I talked about this in my article about ethics, let’s not elaborate here.

Thanks for reading! I’m committed to make this happen as soon as I can. Until then, please consider supporting the SCHNAIL project, and MCDT on Patreon! You can also follow on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, or Twitch if you so desire.