Disney Speedstorm News

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The starting line is in sight and the moment you’ve all been waiting for is finally here! Disney Speedstorm races into Early Access on April 18 on Steam.

As part of Early Access, players will have the opportunity to be one of the first to race as Founders on racetracks inspired by Disney and Pixar worlds and receive exclusive rewards they will keep when the Early Access period ends.

Taking into account players’ feedback during the Closed Beta, we realized we needed a bit more time to add game elements and polish before moving forward with the full free-to-play game launch that we envisioned. However, we have decided to allow players to experience the game now in Early Access as Founders.



On April 18 you will be able to purchase and download your preferred Disney Speedstorm Founder’s Pack. Purchasing any of the Founder’s Packs is the only way to be granted Early Access to the game alongside a set of exclusive Founder’s that you will keep when the game moves out the Early Access phase.

For more details about Early Access and Founders Packs, we encourage you to visit our FAQ page.





The exclusive Donald Duck cosmetics will be available to players that purchase on Steam during the first week of Launch as a First Week Bonus. which is why it is recommended to Wishlist the game now on Steam as a reminder and be first in line to get the game when it launches on April 18!



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As we’ve been gearing up towards the launch of Disney Speedstorm, one of the new things our team has been working on is the addition of some fresh game modes in order to give all racers a more varied and fun racing experience. We’ve already revealed Boss Mode, and now we’re ready to share more!
Today’s Dev Diary digs into the new modes that will be available at launch, so let’s check them out!



In Floating Objects races, all the skill boxes and speed boosters can be found up in the air, with players needing to hop in order to reach them. Players must time their jumps perfectly to acquire the skills or touch the boosters, putting their race craft and dexterity to the test. Jumping from booster to booster will also result in some amazing chain jumps!

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In Fog Challenge races, the track will be covered in fog, making it difficult to see the track ahead. The Mini Map will also be removed, making it harder for players to figure out the shape of the track and where they are located on it. This mode will reward dedicated players who know the ins and outs of each track!

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In Single Skill races, skill boxes award all players with the same skill for the entirety of the race. For example, all players will pick up the Fire Skill every time they hit a skill box. The skill you will be using is determined before the race starts and there’s even the possibility that Unique Skills are the only pick up possible. These races will test your creativity on the track and teach players all about each specific skill and its uses (regular, charged, and backwards activations).



These fun new game modes will be waiting for you at launch, and more of them will be added in the future so keep an eye out for more news soon!

Don’t forget to follow us on our social media channels for all the latest news and make sure you to wishlist the game if you haven’t already!

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We received a lot of feedback during our PC Closed Beta on how various visual and HUD (Heads Up Display) elements could be improved. In today’s Dev Diary, we will showcase several of the visual changes that are in the works for Disney Speedstorm. Please keep in mind, some of the visuals we showcase in the Dev Diary may change slightly between now and when the game launches, but we’d like to give you an early look at what we’ve been working on.





There’s been a big focus on making improvements to both the visuals and HUD, to give players an overall more immersive and accessible experience.

The above GIF showcases the same pre-race animation that you know and love from the Closed Beta, but with one key improvement. AI Racers will now always be sporting different kart liveries and parts rather than the default set up, so now you’ll be able to view different cosmetic items in action on the track before you may have unlocked them yourself!

The post-race animation has also been given an upgrade with the top three racers now being showcased on-screen at once. You’ll also be able to brag about your place on the podium with your Victory Animation of choice. Check those out in this video if you missed it previously.





In the above GIF you can catch a glimpse of the new and improved Skill Boxes that you can crash through to pick up your racer’s unique and common skills. We feel they are super pretty [Arbee! Do we really have to write that?]

Racer Billboards are also a new addition to the mid-race visuals in Ranked Multiplayer that will provide you with some key information about your rival racers. As long as you are within a certain distance of a rival racer, a billboard will be shown containing their username, current race position, game platform as well as their player avatar. We are still working on the exact design but don’t worry, your Racer Billboard won’t show when using skills that make you invisible like Cloak!

In case you missed it in our last Dev Diary on drifting, we have also improved the visual indicators of when your Drift Boost is ready to activate. Read more about it here.



The Manual Boost Bar is also receiving an upgrade, in order to make it more impactful and visually appealing. Another small change from the Closed Beta will be that when you have your racer’s Unique Skill available, it’s now much more clearly visible in the HUD thanks to some cool new artwork.
There you have it! Just some of the small but important improvements we have made to the race experience for launch. We can’t wait for you to see the final versions and what else we have in store in upcoming Dev Diaries.

Don't forget to follow us on our social media channels for all the latest news and make sure you to wishlist the game if you haven’t already!

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© 2023 Disney. © 2023 Disney/Pixar. © 2023 Gameloft. All rights reserved. Gameloft & the Gameloft logo are trademarks in the US and/or other countries.

We remain fully committed to providing you with updates on improvements being made to the game, and today’s Dev Diary is no different. In addition to going in depth on the drifting mechanic itself, we also want to highlight key visual improvements we have made to the drift boost mechanic based on feedback from the PC Closed Beta.

What's drifting in Disney Speedstorm you ask? Well, the simple explanation is that it's the most effective, efficient and straight up coolest way to round corners during a race. But if you're not catching our drift, our game designers have a more technical definition for the racing enthusiasts as well.

"When drifting in our game, a player oversteers in a particular direction by pressing and holding the drift button which results in the tires losing traction while maintaining a level of control over the arc trajectory of the vehicle."

Drifting is an absolutely crucial mechanic that players will need to master if they hope to find themselves on top of the podium. In this week’s Dev Diary, we’ve once again enlisted the expertise of Game Designer Hunor Vizi to explain this key mechanic in detail.



“With the drifting mechanic we wanted to empower our players to handle all the tight twists and turns that the game’s tracks have to offer.

Drifting makes the gameplay feel more fast paced in general, and the drift boost mechanic that enables karts to accelerate out of curves, gives an even greater sense of speed to races.

We wanted drifting to not only feel amazing, but to be easy to execute. The mechanic is very accessible, but the real challenge lies in getting the most out of your drift through timing and precision steering”
Before we get into the more advanced drifting techniques, Hunor will briefly explain the basics of how to drift in Disney Speedstorm.

“During a race, holding the drift button while turning left or right will make the kart start to drift. While drifting, the player has control over tightening or loosening the curved path along its trajectory with the directional buttons.

The tighter the drift, the more speed a kart loses and at the loosest possible drift trajectory, a kart will accelerate at a rate equal to that of normal forward acceleration.”

The drifting mechanic has many layers to it and while it’s certainly something that’s easy to pick up, it will take skill and practice to master, so take notes as we peel back some of those additional layers below.





Drifting isn’t just a way to look cool while you race, it’s also absolutely critical to filling your Manual Boost Bar. While you are drifting, your manual boost bar will start to fill up, giving you a quick and easy way to get a timely speed boost when you need it.

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Drift boosting is a slightly more advanced element of the drifting mechanic and really benefits racers who hold longer drifts.

“Drift boost activates after around 1.5 seconds of continuous drifting and is indicated by your wheels glowing. A successfully charged drift boost will grant an instant speed boost as well as extra manual boost fuel.”

Being in the air or hitting walls and obstacles will cancel a Drift Boost charge so be wary when starting a charge when close to ramps and obstacles.

We saw the feedback during the Closed Beta that it wasn’t visually clear when drift boost was charging or ready to activate. Now, your wheels will progressively start to glow as the drift boost charges and sparks will start to fly. When your drift boost is fully charged your entire wheel will be fully glowing so you won’t miss your chance to leave the competition in your dust anymore!

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If you read our previous Dev Diary on Racer Classes, you’ll know that Trickster class racers have an advantage over other racers when it comes to drift boosting.

“Trickster class racers get double the amount of manual boost fuel upon a successful Drift Boost compared to other classes.”

We mentioned earlier how the tightness of a drift’s trajectory influences the rate of speed loss while drifting. In addition to this, another key factor to take into account is the handling stat of individual racers.

“Maneuverability & speed loss rate during drifts are dependent on the handling stat of each racer.”

If you are using a racer with a lower handling stat, it’s a good strategy to equip them with a Crew member that will boost their handling. We covered Crews in a previous Dev Diary so be sure to check that out as well if you missed it.

Well, there you have it! If you’ve reached this far, we can assume you haven’t drifted off and hope you enjoyed our deep dive on drifting in Disney Speedstorm. We look forward to sharing our next Dev Diary with you all soon!

Finally, don't forget to follow us on our social media channels for all the latest news and make sure you to wishlist the game if you haven’t already!

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© Disney. © Disney/Pixar. © 2023 Gameloft. All rights reserved. Gameloft & the Gameloft logo are trademarks of Gameloft in the US and/or other countries.

Today’s Dev Diary is all about the crew system. We’ll not only explain crews in detail, but we’ll also reveal an additional layer of depth that had been added to the system, as well as User Interface (UI) improvements that have been made since the Closed Beta. We remain committed to providing you with regular updates on what the team has been working on to provide the best Disney Speedstorm experience possible, so keep an eye out for more in the coming weeks!

Every successful racer has an amazing crew to support them and it’s no different in Disney Speedstorm. You can equip each of your racers with up to 4 crew members in our game to improve their stats and give you an edge over your rivals. There’s a bunch of Disney & Pixar crew members to collect when the game launches, so gather the crew as we explain this key racer upgrade system works below.


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From Mushu & Cri-Kee, to Boo & Roz, there’s a whole host of Disney & Pixar crew members for players to unlock. You can unlock new crew members from reward boxes earned simply by progressing in the game. Equip them to the corresponding racers to help improve their stats.

Each racer can equip one crew members at star level 1, two at star level 3, three at star level 4, with the possibility to equip a maximum of 4 crew members at star level 5. Like racers, you can also use shards to increase the star level of your crew members to make them even more effective.
During the Closed Beta, crew members could improve different combinations of the following stats:

Top Speed: Maximum speed of a racer.
Acceleration: How fast a racer accelerates.
Handling: How well a racer turns & drifts.
Boost: How long a racer’s boost lasts.
Combat: The duration of stun applied when hitting or being hit by rival racers.

We wanted to add an additional layer of depth to the crew upgrade system to make crew members even more impactful. We are happy to reveal that at launch, some crew members will also enhance your racer’s unique and common skills, in one of two ways.

The first enhancement will allow racers to begin a race with a common skill already equipped so you’ll be able to get an edge on your rivals right from the start line.

The second enhancement will increase the overall power level of your racer’s unique skill or a common skill that they pick up during a race.



The final topic we would like to touch on in this Dev Diary is the improvements we have made the game’s UI, based on the feedback from the Closed Beta. Navigating the menu & UI systems in the game was one of the main feedback topics we received from the community on our social channels and Discord server.

In our video you can see the improvements we have made to the crew system UI to make the whole experience of browsing and equipping crew members more visually appealing and smoother.
It’s not the only aspect of the menu and UI systems in the game we are improving however, keep an eye out for further improvements as we get closer and closer to launch.

Finally, don't forget to follow us on our social media channels for all the latest news and make sure you to wishlist the game if you haven’t already!

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© Disney. © Disney/Pixar. © 2023 Gameloft. All rights reserved. Gameloft & the Gameloft logo are trademarks of Gameloft in the US and/or other countries.