Scope of this page
A dated, attributed record of the first Beautiful Light playtests: what the studio tested, what players approved, and the two problems it reported.
The author and channel are part of the record: the post was published on the official Beautiful Light Steam News channel on 2023-05-31 under the channel account Matavatar, and the text itself is signed Aherys. Both are kept, because attributing to one what the other signed would be a false attribution even when the substance is right.
The post said the playtests were run with no NDA, which it described as rare in the industry and necessary for its own way of working. It named two test objectives: the game's feel, covering shooting, movement and atmosphere, and the game mode, covering pacing and balance.
On what worked, it reported that players appreciated the immersive atmosphere, the PvP mechanics and their fluidity, that time-to-kill seemed right and recoil was well received, and that audio design and spatialisation were approved — while adding its own reservation that players may not have had enough opportunity to test audio properly, and that it saw room for improvement internally.
On the network side, it reported the code held up beyond expectations, supporting up to 27 players per game in 9 teams, and said it was confident it could push that further. This is a statement about a 2023 test session, not a published match size for the released game.
The post named two problems plainly. Performance was described as rather mediocre despite high-end player configurations, attributed to the use of Unreal Engine 5, with a plan to hire an engine-optimisation specialist. And players naturally resorted to camping towards the end of a match, because at that date there was no advantage in being the first team to secure the artifact.
The source is a dated official announcement
The source identifies its author, its channel, and its publication date. Those three coordinates stay visible so the page cannot be read as an undated current status.
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Author / channel
Posted by Matavatar on the official Beautiful Light Steam News channel · the text itself is signed Aherys
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Published
2023-05-31
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Coverage
The studio's first playtests, their objectives, results and reported problems at that date
What the studio said it was testing
The post named its own test targets before reporting results, which is what makes the results readable.
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Game feel
Shooting, movement and atmosphere
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Game mode
Pacing and balance
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Conditions
No NDA; players were free to publish replays and be asked about their experience
What the post said players found
Player reception is reported as the studio summarised it. No metric, score or measurement is added here.
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Approved
Atmosphere, PvP mechanics and fluidity, time-to-kill, recoil
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Approved with reservation
Audio design and spatialisation, with the studio's own doubt about test coverage
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Network
Up to 27 players in 9 teams supported in that session
The two problems the studio named
A development update that names its own problems is more informative than one that does not. Both are kept, with the cause the post gave.
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Performance
Described as mediocre on high-end configurations, attributed to Unreal Engine 5, with a hiring plan in response
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End-game camping
Caused by the absence of any advantage for the team securing the artifact first
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Excluded
Current match size, current performance, current balance, route, statistic and build advice