Beginners Guide

The Beginners Guide is a set of tutorials meant for people entirely unfamiliar with Space Station 13 as a game. This guide will cover the most basic concepts of the game to get you started using the BYOND engine and the game's interface. It's recommended to keep this guide open in another window as you learn.

A wise man once said, "If you can figure out the interface, you can figure out anything."

What even is Shiptest?

Shiptest is a variant of Space Station 13, a multiplayer roleplaying sandbox developed using the BYOND engine. As opposed to typical Space Station 13 which takes place on an immobile station, players of Shiptest take the role of astronauts on various space ships, all flying through space. There are many different jobs and roles available, and each player chooses and plays a role on the ship.

Rules

Yes, there are rules here, to ensure a positive experience for new players such as you. Please take a moment and read them (they aren't that long).

Joining the Server

To join the server, there are a couple steps involved...

1. Download the BYOND client from here. You'll need it to start playing
2. Register for a BYOND account here.
3. Open BYOND, log in with your account, click the cogwheel on the top right and choose "Open Location"
4. Add this server to your bookmarks, or just join manually with copy & paste: byond://join.shiptest.ga:41372

When you first join the server, the menu might not appear or you will not be able to click anything for a few seconds up to a minute or two due to BYOND downloading resources. You will know when it's completed by seeing the menu and the background splash image.

Other than that, you should be in! Before you can start playing though, you need to create a character first.

Create your Character

Character Setup

Here's where you'll set up your character's characteristics, name, and other miscellaneous attributes, such as their handicaps or abilities.

• Make sure the character you create is at least somewhat reasonable as per the IC rules dictated on the rules page. Shiptest is built to allow wide range in what can and can't be done with characters, but there are still some limits of reasonability that should be followed.
• You can write a flavor text of varying length that people can read when they examine you, if your face is visible. This can also be used for OOC notes, like anything you'd want other players to know about you as a player that might have some impact in-round.
• Duffel bags can carry a lot more than any of the other backpack options, but slow your movement down somewhat. All of the other backpack options are functionally identical to each other.

Occupation Preferences

This does fuck all on Shiptest, sorry! The jobs still exist, but currently you pick them when you join into the game, making the weighted preferences useless.

Character Appearance

This menu lets you set the appearance, species, and underclothing of your character. The various species have varying levels of gameplay differences to them, and some basic lore, most of which should be noted in the menu you select your species from. Eventually they'll have their own wiki pages that go into more detail, but don't feel worried about winging it. Species namegen shouldn't be followed too rigidly, either, as long as what you pick is reasonable.

Preferences

In this menu you'll find various settings that you can change later on in game, such as whether or not listen to admin-triggered MIDIs or hear the lobby music. You can enable "Runechat" by changing the chat on map for mobs/objects settings. This will display certain messages over mobs and objects instead of just in the chat window on the right.

On the right are the special role settings. Most of these don't currently do anything on Shiptest and can be more or less safely ignored. You might want to enable Xenomorph, pAI, and Sentience Potion Spawn, since these options only dictate if you are given an in-game offer to play these roles when they are available, and you can still hit "no" on that when it does show up.

Remember to click the Save Setup button to save your settings.

Everything else is currently not important and can be changed later when you are more comfortable with the game.

Help It's Asking Me Which Ship And Job To Join Onto Now

Once you're done creating your character you can just hit "Join Game", upon which you will be prompted to

Job Assignment

Because of the diversity and range of jobs available, there are many ways to play. A lot of these jobs, however, require a knowledge of the game mechanics, the layout of certain areas, and how to use in game tools and machinery. Because of this, the following jobs are recommended for new players:

• Assistant: The most basic of all occupations, the assistant has no authority and, generally speaking, no responsibilities. It's an excellent opportunity to learn the game mechanics — but your role is limited, so feel free to ask other people if you can help, and they'll usually be happy to show you around their workplace and help you learn the ropes. It also lets you practice roleplaying, if you're still unsure about it. This role is recommended for your first round or two to learn the controls and some basic mechanics since it has no responsibilities. The lack of responsibilities may bore you after some time, so you should try to learn some of the other easy jobs.

• Janitor: A simple, if menial, job that involves replacing lightbulbs, cleaning up messes, putting out wet floor signs, and then pointing them out to people who've slipped on the floor you just finished mopping. Your only responsibilities are to keep the station clean and well-lit, and it'll help you learn your way around the station and its various departments.

• Chef: A fairly simple job that gives you a good introduction to mixing ingredients, and there's even the possibility of cake into the bargain. Recipes are available here, to help kickstart a budding Chef's career.

• Bartender: Like the Chef, but with more alcohol. The Barman's job is primarily mixing and serving drinks to a thirsty crew. The recipes are also available here. You'd be surprised at some of the stuff you can make, so try it out! This role is also great to hone your role playing skills, since most patrons expect some kind of conversation.

If you're interested in other jobs, feel free to browse the Jobs and Roles menu. Try to avoid any Security, Engineering, or Command positions until you get a hang of the game. (Jumping into a position you're not prepared to do is a tried and true way of making people angry at you.)