26 May, 2025
Tournament weekend at Emberfall
SOFIA MARCHETTI-6 MIN READ
What started as a routine community playtest turned into the loudest weekend in studio history: sixty-four players, three games and a double-elimination bracket that ran until midnight on Sunday.
Friday: open doors, open builds
We opened the studio at six with every station running preview builds — Neon Rumble's new fighter, the Drakehaven II siege beta and a first public taste of Aether League's ranked mode. Newcomers got a thirty-minute onboarding with our designers; veterans went straight to the bracket board.
Saturday: the bracket takes over
The Neon Rumble bracket was the headline act. Our balance team watched every match from the back row, notebooks out, because nothing exposes a broken matchup like a player with something to prove. Two fighters are already scheduled for tuning based on what we saw.
“I came to test a build and ended up in a grand final. The developers were cheering louder than my own friends.” — Rachel D., bracket finalist
Sunday: finals and patch notes
The grand final went to eleven games. Then, true to tradition, we published the weekend's balance findings live on stage — nerfs, buffs and all — before anyone had left the building. That transparency is the whole point of building games in the open.
Thank you to everyone who played, shouted and broke our matchmaking. The next tournament weekend is already on the calendar — see you in the bracket.