The Ember Sword Ultra Deep Alpha Playtest ended several weeks ago, and the team at Bright Star Studios (BSS) has recently released the winners of the Leaderboards, doling out the prizes for making it to the top. The developers showcased the results of the top two teams to complete the Speedrun, outlining a series of glitches and unintended mechanics which led to the quick completion of the dungeon.
The Ultra Deep Alpha Playtest was considered a critical phase in the development of Ember Sword. The team touted tens of thousands of players that joined, and although the short 3 day test was a whirlwind of activity, the participants certainly pushed the limits of the game in ways the developers didn’t intend.
In response to this, BSS put out a statement while awarding the prizes to the top ranking leaderboard players.
“We understand and regret the - at times - poor communication and rule clearance on our behalf during this hectic weekend, we were completely taken aback by how dedicated this turned out to be We will take measures and actions to ensure this is handled and facilitated better in the future!
A special shoutout to the speedrunning teams that lead the charge in the competition - you know who you are
The Game Team has decided - defaulting to the base terms of the tournament - to allow everything that made it onto the Leaderboard whether it was more finesse-or shortcut-based, and this was done in the spirit of recognizing our alpha state, the development and QA benefit and the sheer time and dedication that went into even being able to find these efficient shortcuts. The Game Team finds this to be the most fair to the competition at large.” -BSS Team, Official Discord
Despite facing challenges in communication and rule clarification, the game's community remained undeterred, utilizing every aspect of the games Alpha State to defeat what BSS believed to be an overwhelmingly difficult boss. Speedrunners were able to glitch through walls to make their way almost directly to the end boss Shauk. They had previous outlined some stats, noting how few players actually made it to the boss, let alone defeat it. With only a 1% rate of completing the dungeon, the speedruns almost trivialize the work that many players put into to find a way past all of the challenges.
As Ember Sword continues its journey towards full realization, the Ultra Deep Alpha Playtest stands as a monumental milestone, with both the team itself completing a full party dungeon playtest, but also outlining some major problems that the game needs to focus on. It's also a celebration of the community that put in the work to find these off-the-beaten-path exploits that can then be hammered out for future competitions and the ongoing development of the game. With plans to release into full Early Access next year, BSS has their work cut out for them. We look forward to more testing in Early 2024.
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