Three weeks and 10 sessions later, the MixMob: Racer 1 Closed Alpha has come to an end. The experience of sharing our first game slice with the community has been incredible, and the feedback was invaluable. The game is already miles ahead of where it was 3 weeks ago in terms of functionality and aesthetics, and the positive reaction from the community has only fuelled our fire.
Challenges
Some adversity we faced during the 3 weeks of Closed Alpha was a product of the early game build. Others were related to factors outside of our control.
Congestion on the Solana network
We canceled afternoon sessions on both Thursday and Friday of Week 2 due to congestion on the Solana network which affected the performance of the game.
A solution from the SolanaLabs team is in the works and the improvements are expected to drastically improve the ability of the Solana network to process transactions in a predictable manner. Simultaneously, our team plans to roll out our own solution to address the effects of degraded network performance for those who have been affected by it.
Lag on Mac hardware variations
During the process of testing, some players found that they experienced lag on the arena track when accessing the game on certain Mac hardware. We are still investigating, but have confirmed that the issue is not related to the hardware, but rather something unique that happens with Mac architecture.
Transactions
One major area that required troubleshooting throughout Closed Alpha was the processing of TMP token transactions. This was most apparent when distributing either streak or tournament rewards, however, a few welcome transactions also failed. The development team is working to ensure that token distribution happens seamlessly in future game builds, and is working closely with the Solana network to find ways to process transactions even when it’s busy.
Successes
We consider Closed Alpha a huge success based on accomplishing the goals we set out to — ensuring that the game is safe, playable, and fun. You can find detailed summaries of the feedback and updates enacted on the game each week in our Learnings & Outcomes — Week 1 and Week 2 blogs.
While addressing bugs that came up during testing, our dev team also added a number of aesthetic improvements, including lighting, track neon lights, a dragon when the lap is finished, background building improvements, new camera improvements at the start and end of the race and when the player stops, as well as speed VFX camera improvement.
Community feedback
We owe our community a huge thanks for being so engaged and vocal about their experience playing the game. By the end of week 3, the majority of feedback we received concerned 4 areas.
- The game was much smoother than the first testing windows.
- A minimap of the arena track will elevate gameplay.
- The card/race game model is good.
- Most importantly, the gameplay was fun.
If you’re wondering what it was like to get a Closed Alpha game off the ground in 3 months, we interviewed our CEO and Game Producer Simon Vieira on the subject in the latest issue of Subdomain Magazine.
The team is taking the next few weeks to focus solely on game development. We have our work cut out for us and know which aspects of the game to prioritize for the unleashing of the next phase. More details coming soon!
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