The Open Beta is finally here!

We spent the past year on this update and it is now publicly available on the main branch - no more beta codes or beta branches!

What's new

The biggest new features are raytraced audio, weapon attachment system and falling block destruction, but there's so much more that's new. I listed out every new feature In the Closed Beta post, as well in video form below, so I won't repeat it all here. Instead I'd like to shout out some new team members that made this update possible!

Punch Deck

Punch Deck has been composing music for us for the past three years, with the last year focused on an in-game underscoring soundtrack. We discovered Punch Deck back in 2018 from his track Fallen, which we used as the main menu theme back when the game was called 'Marked'.

Audio is a huge part of this update and it makes the game feel more alive, with:

• All sounds travelling further, using a distance falloff model that mimics sounds in real life
  
• Raytraced audio, which muffles sounds that aren't important to you. Enemies firing guns in line of sight are loud and clear, and explosions/footsteps/gunfire on the other side of a thick concrete wall is muffled
  
• Underscoring, which subtly fills in the gaps and provides a rhythm that keeps the match moving. Everyone hears the same music at the same time, with more energetic tracks playing later into the match
  

So far Punch Deck has composed 21 underscoring tracks (totalling 53 minutes and 25 seconds!) with even more in the works. Some tracks are allegiance-specific and will only play on maps associated with that allegiance.

These tracks will be available on Spotify soon!

Juan Moreno

Juan reached out to us earlier this year and offered to create artwork for the game. He's based in Managua, Nicaragua and wanted to help bring some vision into the worlds we're trying to create.

We were blown away by what he made for us and ended up commissioning art for each map (with more in the works!)

All 800 hi-res SE artwork is available on Juan's ArtStation

Dusk

When we first launched in 2020, Matt (Dusk) sent me an email saying "Hey let me know if you need any help with marketing!". I was clearing out my inbox a year and a half later and saw his email - thankfully Matt was still happy to help!

Matt joins us from The Bonfire Project, a creative agency whose focus is on telling stories that are authentic and meaningful to creators and their communities. His involvement in esports and gaming-related campaigns as well as just enjoying Sectors Edge itself made him a natural fit.

Matt's helping us primarily with developing and sharing content, connecting with the industry, and getting the good word about SE out there. On the servers you'll catch him stubbornly trying to make himself known for using the grenade launcher with the impact attachment.

<picture of dusk doing dusky things>

Fora

In June 2019 I received a message out of the blue saying 'hey I hacked your game' and ever since Fora's been helping with security, servers, databases and more. He's automated server deployments, stress tested servers and set up metrics/logging/alerts. There's a lot that goes on behind the scenes and it wouldn't be possible without Fora.

Here's some fancy stress testing to make sure the servers won't burst into flames:

Community Mappers

This update has a few community maps in the official rotation, as well as a few more that are in the works.

• Ancient Crossing by Blade
  
• Soltec Plaza by Blade + Vhauss
  
• Cold Harbour by TotallyPorff
  

We purchased Ancient Crossing and Cold Harbour for $400 USD each as part of the Map Maker Program, and they will be in the official map rotation from now on.

Translators

I uploaded all phrases/words used in the game to a repository on GitHub and we've had a few players help translate them into different languages.

Shout out to DoomerCy, Witness, Tilitaliboss, Temeski, Realkill_1111, nemelex, Decrare, Susul, Reekta, SSahin, Dunkelheyt and Margarinoslav for their contributions!

Localisation settings aren't available in-game yet as there are many phrases to translate. Any help is greatly appreciated!

Agamans

Unfortunately we weren't able to get the Agamans working in the new animation system for this Open Beta (they have four fingers and different arm/leg proportions) so that's next on our list. Until then I've renamed the Engineer Pack to the Block Pack and reduced it from $15 to $5, and anyone who purchased the Engineer pack in the past will be given a character token to unlock the Human Renegade or any other character if they wish.

Launch Discount

For the first week of Open Beta, everything in the in-game store is 50% off!

It may not show on the Store page, but it will have the 50% discount applied in the Steam Overlay.

Throwing Knives

New sharp grenade type