Stampede: Racing Royale News

Hey everyone :)

We hope all players of our second Steam Playtest have enjoyed the experience so far. To help us continue Stampede: Racing Royale's development, we're asking all players to fill out our shiny new survey for this playtest. You can find it via the link below!

https://bit.ly/47CVYEY


This survey includes questions on new features and changes, as well as more general queries. The results of our first survey were hugely useful to our team, so we encourage all players to get involved once again. It won't take long, honest!

As well as the survey, feel free as always to share your thoughts across Steam Discussions and our official channels. Thank you

Hey everyone,

Big news today for Stampede: Racing Royale! Drum roll please... or, start your engines? That's more appropriate. Anyway. We're here to announce Early Access on Steam will begin on November 2!

Revealed during the Gamescom Into The Infinite Showcase, the free-to-play, thrilling 60-player online kart racing game from our teams at Sumo Leamington and Secret Mode shifts into another gear on November 2, with Early Access bringing new experiences, content, and ways to play.

Check out our brand new gameplay trailer announcing the news, first shown during Into The Infinite:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Early Access is the next major milestone for Stampede: Racing Royale, following our early Steam Playtests. A massive thank you to all playtest participants, survey respondents, and everyone who gave their feedback during these work-in-progress stages, which are helping shape Stampede’s plans for Early Access and beyond.



The game will remain in development throughout Early Access and we'll be bringing you lots of fresh content including themed Seasons, new cosmetic items, maps, limited-time events, challenges, and more. All the new stuff is built around our core chaotic gameplay: Be first to the finish line in wild races and be the last kart standing in battles, over three rounds, with 60 drivers competing to be champion!



Between now and November 2, we’ll share more details on what’s coming in Early Access and keep you posted on our development plans. Make sure to Wishlist Stampede: Racing Royale and follow our official social channels to stay up to date. Let’s gooooooo!

Hey everyone,

Time to put those race suits back on - the second Steam Playtest for Stampede: Racing Royale is rolling out now on Steam!

If you've requested access, or played our previous playtest, keep an eye on your Library to see when the 'Stampede: Racing Royale Playtest' is available. Yet to sign up? Head to our store page and hit the green 'Request Access' button.

This updated version of the game remains very much a work in progress, but includes community-requested changed and additions, including an early version of our Friends and Party features. Full patch notes are here, Friends and Party details are here, and our Trello board is updated with all key information on hot topics.

The playtest kicks off an exciting week. We're also bringing Stampede to Gamescom, where you can find us in Hall 6 all week long to try the playtest, meet our team, and maybe even cop some merch. Alongside that, tune into Level Infinite's Into The Infinite Showcase, this Wednesday night on YouTube or Twitch, where some special news for our chaotic 60-player kart racer will be revealed!

Hey folks,

The second Steam Playtest for Stampede: Racing Royale includes the ability to connect with Steam friends and create parties, so you can jump into lobbies with your pals!

This is a super early version of the friends and party system that we invite you to try out, as we continue to expand and improve the feature. This first iteration allows up to five players to connect with each other in a party, either via invite or inputting a player’s unique Friend ID code.

In the bottom left corner of the main menu, you’ll find the Friends feature, where you can start parties, view friends, send invites, and input those Friend ID codes.







This feature is a work in progress, so we wanted to make you aware of things you may experience when using it, which we’re already investigating:

• If you remove a player as a Steam friend, they may still appear in the in-game friends list
  
  
• After inputting a Friend ID code, controller users can’t navigate to the ‘Search’ button, unless you navigate downwards, then back up
  
  
• The in-game friends list can take multiple attempts to populate, via your Steam friends list
  
  
• When in a party, all players appear on the main menu, but the layout of the users can appear strange, which is not final
  
  
• Invites can be sent to players in-game, but not from the Steam overlay
  
  
• Re-adding a friend can cause them to actually be removed as friends, and both have to accept the friend request
  
  
• After changing settings in the ‘Friends’ area, the ‘Privacy’ menu has navigation and slider issues
  
  
• If any member of a party leaves a lobby before the event begins, the whole party will be returned to the main menu
  
  
• When in a party, the customisation selections of other players do not show in the main menu (they do appear correctly during events)
  
  
• After readying up in a party, in a non-party leader navigates to a different menu, they will not join the lobby with the party. Stay on the main menu to ensure all friends enter a lobby together
  

As always, you can use our official reporting form if you come across something you want our team to investigate, or drop a message in Steam Discussions, if you have any feedback. Our Trello board will also be updated with known topics and their status. Thank youuuu!

Hey everyone!

The second Steam Playtest for Stampede: Racing Royale begins August 21, including changes and improvements across all areas of the game, built around feedback and suggestions from our community. Here are some notable fixes and additions...

[h2]Features [/h2]

• Friends and Party systems added. Players can connect with Steam friends in-game and create parties of up to five players, using invites and friend codes to connect
  
  
• Nitro force curve effect added. When a player uses the Nitro power-up, nearby players can be pushed aside
  

[h2]Gameplay [/h2]

• Updated default control schemes for controller and keyboard. Players can manually assign inputs to different keys/buttons of their choice in the Settings menu
  
  
• Changes made to kart collision effects and physics, making kart behaviour more predictable when making contact with other drivers
  
  
• Fixed intangibility delay when striking opponents with a power-up. Drivers will now be immediately intangible when struck, meaning players can drive through them as intended
  
  
• Fixed issue causing rolling blockades to teleport, creating invisible collisions for players
  
  
• Removed the possibility of the same map featuring twice in a match. Each map selected over the three rounds of a match will always be different to each other
  
  
• Additional VFX for multiple areas of the game, including power-ups and slipstream
  
  
• XP rewards and Player Level progression has been rebalanced, to be better paced across a longer playtest
  
  
• Kart handling tweaks made, and minor kart performance changes made for Battle events
  
  
• Improved AI kart behaviour on Battle event map (Royale Island)
  
  
• Updated audio and logic for countdown timer at the end of races
  
  
• Further balance changes to deployment of power-ups
  

[h2]Performance [/h2]

• Resolved instances of CPU spikes when navigating the main menus, causing crashes or frame rate drops
  
  
• Resolved performance issues caused by user changing the display resolution
  
  
• Resolved some issues causing players to be unable to connect to a lobby. It’s still possible for this to occur, but multiple fixes have improved this area
  
  
• Default game volume has been decreased. It shouldn’t be so loud when you first boot the game!
  
  
• Players can be placed in more populous server regions, to ensure they enter lobbies with as many human players as possible. Players will see the server region they are in via on-screen text, and can select their ‘Preferred Region’ in the Settings
  

[h2]Visual[/h2]

• Fixed issue causing the player’s character to be blurred on main menu screens
  
  
• Achievements screen removed, as we continue to finalise ways for players to earn additional rewards
  
  
• Further improvements to the profanity filter for display names
  
  
• Visual updates to multiple areas of the game, including maps
  
  
• Fixed instances of erratic camera motion while boosting
  
  
• Pop-up text for when you strike an opponent with a power-up, or have been struck by a power-up, is now larger
  
  
• UI changes for the homing projectile power-up
  
  
• Fixed instances of reward item images appearing on top of each other on screen
  
  
• Images for the three kart archetypes on the Garage menu are now correct
  

As always, you can use our official reporting form if you come across something you want our team to investigate, or drop a message in Steam Discussions, if you have any feedback. Our Trello board will also be updated with known topics and their status. Thank youuuu!