How do I test my bot before a real match?

The Test arena is a practice field you set up yourself. Nothing you do there counts on the ladder or in tournaments.

Set up a test

1. In Brain code, write your bot's program and click Save. A test plays each bot's program as last saved, so unsaved changes aren't in it.
2. Click the Test arena tab. The field starts as plain soil inside the walls.
3. Drag a bot from the list on the left onto the field. A bot dropped on its own is a team of one. Drag a team from Teams to put the whole team in.
4. Add an opponent: another of your bots, or a second copy of the same one. Copies are allowed.
5. Drag a bot to move it. Click it to see an arrow for the way it starts facing, and drag the round handle at the arrow's tip to turn it.
6. Pick a Game: Last team standing, Infiltrate or Capture the flag. Infiltrate and Capture the flag are for two teams.
7. Click Run test.

A test takes up to 8 teams and 24 bots. Teams on the field, under the field, lists who's in, and says no program next to any bot that doesn't have one yet.

Add terrain

The Features menu beside the field has blocks, boulder fields, sand, mud, asphalt, oil slicks, tacks, mines, tunnels and bridges. Drag one onto the field, size it by its handles, and drag it off (or press Delete) to take it away. The Surfacer shapes the ground: drag to lower it, hold R to raise it, and press Esc to undo. Clear the field takes everything off.

Your setup is kept, so the same test is waiting next time.

Run it again

The test plays in the Arena. The Time limit box there sets how long tests run (4 minutes unless you change it; league matches are 3 minutes). After you change your code, click Save, then Restart in the Arena: it runs the same test again from the start with your saved program.