Launch Checklist

Launch week moves fast, and small gaps — a missing logo, an unattached key pool, a Discord bot without the right role order — are what generate confused player emails on day one. This checklist covers the pre-flight in the order most studios tackle it. Each step links into the full guide; use this page to confirm nothing was skipped.

1. Brand your player experience. Upload your logo, key art, and favicon, and pick a theme so sign-up pages and emails feel like your game rather than a third-party tool. Follow the branding guide — and send yourself a test invite email to check how everything renders in a real inbox.

2. Start your custom domain and sender email early (Pro, optional). If you want your player site on your own domain and emails sent from it, kick this off first: provisioning, DNS records, and verification are coordinated with our team and often involve whoever manages DNS at your studio, so it takes more calendar time than any other step. See Custom Domain.

3. Set up your homepage and pages. Your homepage is the landing page players hit before signing up — make sure it says what the game is and why the playtest matters. See Homepage.

4. Review your flows. Walk through your sign-up questions, eligibility rules, and the messaging on every step — each screen is a chance to set expectations. The flow setup guide shows worked examples per audience, and the flows reference covers every step in detail.

5. Have your first survey ready. Don’t wait until players are already in the game to build one — have it live so feedback starts flowing from the first session. See Surveys.

6. Upload keys and attach them to roles. Keys only distribute automatically when a key pool is attached to a role. Upload via Key Management, and check the full access chain in Getting Players Into Your Game.

7. Check Discord. Confirm the bot is connected, the bot’s role sits above the roles it needs to assign, and your welcome message is set. See Discord Setup.

8. Do a dry run. Test the entire flow with a sample account before going live: sign up, get invited, onboard, redeem a key, receive the Discord roles. This catches broken steps while the only player affected is you. See the pre-launch checks in the playtest guide.

9. Go live. Enable sign-ups and open the doors — see Getting Sign-Ups. Then keep an eye on sign-ups, key redemptions, and survey responses as the first players arrive.

This checklist is the condensed pre-flight version. For the full walkthrough of planning and running a playtest end to end, see Setting Up a Playtest.