What We Learned From the Open Beta?

Alright, now time for the big, cruiser-sized part of the dev log. What we learned from the open beta.

During Steam Next Fest, we hosted an open beta for Airframe Ultra for the week, where racers could beat each other into a puddle along the different race tracks while testing the new circuit system. Everyone had a ton of fun and are already asking for a beta 6– which means I’m already losing track of what beta version we are on. I’m glad the community is keeping up with it.

Circuits

The new circuit system was the big change that we showcased in this beta. Circuits are 3 races where your points carry over and the person with the most points after all three races win. Now, there is a caveat to this, you must have won at least one race. So, you may be 50 points ahead of everyone but still lose the circuit because you didn’t win the race. The podium is for winners!

It seems overall that people did enjoy this change, however there were a few reports that people were leaving before the end of the circuit so near the end, there would only be a couple people left. There wasn’t much incentive for people to stick around if they were just so far behind in the third race. This is something on our minds and we do have a few ideas for incentives, so rest assured that the issue is well in hand.

I also noticed some people wanted to do single races or only had time to do one race and that this beta didn’t have an option to play only one track. We wanted to focus the feedback and playtesting on the circuit itself so that is why single races were removed from this beta. You won’t need to worry– single races and lobbies will return for launch.

Voting System

Also in this beta we introduced a new voting system that players can use to vote on one of two randomly different tracks.

The community loved to vote on which track they play although the biggest feedback I saw with this is that it would be nice to have a menu for people to vote from. If you are on the other side of the warehouse and voting starts there was no way you’ll make it to the voting pads to cast your vote. Great feedback!

The Hopper

Guys, I promise. I heard you. The hopper was so bad in this beta. This was actually the first thing in my notes to tell the team. You made sure I knew that and that I told the team. I banged that note like a drum, believe me

Host Controls + Moderation Tools

In the warehouse, we also added a room for host controls. So instead of waiting in the menus for the host to start, people can hang out in the warehouse while the host changes the settings in the control room.

While this had many positives we noticed that it did take 30 seconds to a minute for the host to walk up to the controls to start the vote each time. While this might be okay for setup and stuff as you do more and more races, that becomes more and more time just waiting for the host to start the vote. Overall, this was a sticking point for a lot of players who really dove into the beta and played many, many circuits and races. We have a few ideas for