Playtest Applications
Thanks to everyone who applied to be part of our behind-the-scenes playtesting. We've had a really strong response and it's great to see so many people wanting to get involved.
It's actually a holiday here in the UK today, so we're not going to start working through the applications until tomorrow. If anyone meant to apply and missed the opportunity, we'll leave applications open until the end of today.
Here's the link: https://forms.gle/j17M4qFH5R7BVi2M8
We'll be in touch with everyone who applied by the end of the week. For those who are successful in this first round, we'll then start sending out NDAs and getting things moving on behind the scenes access from there.
Next Update
We've also submitted a new update build to the publisher and we'll let you know as soon as we have news on when that's going live. UPDATE: It is now Live!
As a reminder, here's what's included in that build:
Added finish times onto race results screens regardless of whether you beat your best time
Fixed audio muting in online games when someone uses Voice Chat
Fixed crashes caused by swapping events on the map if you remix a public event while your vehicle is also in the trigger
Remapped the Rate button to prevent accidental ratings when swapping events
Fixed incorrect reporting of "Other Stats"
Optimised shaders to help reduce stalling
Added warning not to remap arrow keys
Removed "Experimental" label from LiveMix buildings
Fixed broken HLODs on Lanois Bridge and Observation Towers
Physics / AI
Reduced glitching when AI hit the player car during takedown camera
Fixed AI getting shot forwards when grazing the side of your vehicle
Fixed a bug where AI vehicles could drive inside one another (although we've found another version of this when they respawn in Road Rage, so that's on the list)
Fixed an issue where traffic could fly around at extreme speeds or move laterally across the road
Made AI slightly tougher against walls and each other so the slightest touch doesn't immediately result in a crash/takedown
One final thing from me.
I’ll be at a funeral tomorrow and I wanted to take a moment to talk about Ed who tragically died recently.
He was one of the very first people I met when I joined Criterion in 1997. Along with Craig and Omar, we formed a really close bond very early on - we were all new to the company and thanks to our boss Mike King we got the chance to go to the E3 show in Atlanta that May. We then then went on to make the Dreamcast launch title Trickstyle together, which was actually where I first met Alex, as he signed the game for Acclaim.
Ed was the creative force behind Trickstyle as well as being the Art Director. Originally trained as an architect, he moved into games for a period before eventually returning to architecture. He was just one of those people you remember immediately. A big guy with a big smile. Calm. Inspiring. Fun to be around, someone you're just incredibly lucky to have on your team.
People often think Burnout was the beginning of Criterion Games as we know it, but for me the real foundation was the Trickstyle team. Those early years, those friendships and that experience of building something together really shaped everything that came afterwards.
Making games is one of the best, weirdest, most hard to explain team experience you can have. You spend huge amounts of days, months and years with this often small group of people. You work through stress, impossible deadlines, problems that feel unsolvable at the time, and somehow you get through it together and at the end of it, if you're lucky, you have a game you can be proud of. Those experiences create bonds that stay with you long after the game is finished.
Ed was a huge part of that journey for me and I'm sorry I didn't see him again more recently. You always think there will be time.
Here is the Edge magazine article from that time.
Our thoughts are with Ed's wife and family.