Mindball Play news & patch notes

Due to new circumstances we can no longer use the SDK for Muse headbands in the app Mindball Play Bridge. Playing Mindball Play with the Muse headband now requires that you have Windows 10 on your PC and use the Muse Direct app. It will no longer be possible to play Mindball Play with the Muse headband on Mac. We are sorry for the inconvenience that might cause our Mac users. Unfortunately the circumstances are out of our reach. We hope that you will enjoy Mindball Play played with other input methods or by using the BrainLink headband.

https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/27021116/e04921f597bf567120e9ed5edc1f6b4d04d9354f.jpg Mindball Play is in Yogscast's Jingle Jam Bundle this year! (Check it out here. 100% of the proceeds go to charity, $2,870,601 has been donated so far!) Hi and Welcome to all jingle-jammers! Thanks for checking out our game while supporting a great cause! You're awesome! We're giving everyone the Jingle Ball skin to celebrate!

Hey everyone! We have now launched Mindball Play 1.1! Campaign Chapter 3 – Celestial Spheres The aliens are attacking in our 3rd campaign chapter – Stop them from leeching on our power supply before they lay more eggs! Finishing the 3rd campaign mode will grant you an achievement and a new skin! (And the eternal gratitude from the world of Mindballs - just don't expect McCheaty to admit it) Spectator mode You asked and we listened – You can now spectate players in online and LAN games! You can join a game and decide to be spectator from the beginning or start spectating other players after you have finished your race! In spectator mode you can choose to stalk a specific player or fly around the track like a crazy person! Have fun! Changes in version 1.1:

• Spectator feature added. Players can now spectate network games.
• New Campaign chapter added.
• One new skin and achievement added.
• Fixed some track issues.
• Optimized particle effects.
• Removed podiums from finish in online Time Trial.
• AI-balls now reverse a little if stuck on track.
• Limited collision particle effect spam for wedged balls.
• Fixed wrong finish order in network games with lag.
• Fixed position bugs when restarting network games.
• Fixed missing rolling sounds when lots of balls are nearby.
• Fixed reset issue on track Emerald Flow in network games with laps.
• Fixed lag spike on race finish.

Hi! This update to Mindball Play signals the end of our Early Access period. We can't thank our early players enough for testing the game and giving us feedback! Thank you, and to new players, WELCOME! We are now releasing two brand new racing tracks, Emerald Flow and Binary. Emerald Flow is a more traditional race track, with focus on taking corners and optimising your line. Binary is the complete opposite with multiple ways to get from start to finish, and many obstacles on the way! Both tracks have support for multiple laps! We have cleaned our Time-Trial leaderboards by removing times set before ghost balls were implemented. This should ensure all leaderboard times have a correct ghost ball replay. Our new Campaign mode has been tweaked and should be more interesting from the get-go! We have also updated our achievements and added lots of new unlockable skins! While we were on it, we also took the opportunity to add Steam Trading Cards and a short tutorial! Last, but not least, we have now added support for eye tracking with Tobii! This means you can steer your ball 100% with your eyes! You can also combine headband with Tobii eyetracking for a totally unique, handless experience! As always, we deeply appreciate any feedback and bug reports. Find us on social media or on the Steam forums! See you on the tracks! Changes in version 1.0:

• Support for Tobii eye-tracking added.
• 2 new tracks added. Binary and Emerald Flow.
• 14 new skins added.
• New Steam achievements added.
• Lots of changes to campaign missions.
• Playable tutorial added.
• Star times in Time Trial tweaked.
• Player names added to minimap.
• Changed default Brake key from B to Left Control.
• Changed default Use pickup key from X to Left Shift.
• Laser duration increased to 2 seconds.
• Grip power-up has more grip.
• Running into oil with grip active cancels grip but doesn't apply oil.
• Players can get pick-ups when in ghost-mode.
• Some tweaks to sound volume and attenuation.
• Added a bindable shortcut-key for fast race restart. Unbound by default.
• Max number of network players increased to 20.
• Searching for network games only finds games of the same version.
• Problems with using non-ascii characters in username or password fixed.
• Ball skins are now used in split screen.
• Lots of smaller menu changes.
• Some track issues fixed.

Get excited! Mindball Play will officially leave early acces on July 11th! We here at the Mindball team would like to thank you early adopters for your tremendous support. With the release of Mindball 1.0 we'll give you two brand new tracks: Emerald Flow and Binary. Emerald Flow is a more traditional race track, with focus on taking corners and optimizing your line. Binary is the complete opposite with multiple ways to get from start to finish, and with many obstacles that stand in your way! You’ve all been waiting and now it’s almost here! Race with your hands, eyes or brain! The upcoming 1.0 version will give you the opportunity to play Mindball with almost any input mode out there. Tobii Eye Tracker which is now built into the new version adds to the already stacked input list, combine it with a brain sensing headband for a completely unique handsfree experience.

Hey there! This update to Mindball Play brings a heap of new features: Online Time Trial, ranked online games and two campaign chapters. Online Time Trial works like normal Time Trial, each player race alone on the track vs the clock. Since it is a network game you can also see other players as ghost balls; not just ghost ball replays, but live ghost balls. Online games can now also be ranked. When you play ranked games your rating will go up or down depending on your final position in the race. There is also a new leaderboard where you can see the global rankings. The two campaign chapters contain a set of missions, where each mission has a custom set of goals, rules and conditions. Each mission can give a number of stars and when enough stars have been collected the harder “boss” mission is unlocked. Defeat the “boss” mission to unlock the next chapter. For network games the host can now change track, as well as set passwords for network games. The game can now also be played using only the mouse. As always we appreciate any feedback! Please let us know what you think of the campaign difficulty or how the new online features work! Changes in version 0.20:

• Online Time Trial added.
• Two campaign chapters available.
• Ranked online games added.
• Quick-race added for network games.
• Host can change track in network games.
• Network games can now be password protected.
• Required star-times for Time Trial tweaked.
• Pointer steering input-mode added.
• 3 control-presets added.
• Camera setting changes.
• Some track-fixes.
• Can join network games with double-click.
• Ghost-ball particle effect optimizations.
• Reduced sfx sound volume in menu.
• Fixed issue with sending headband statistics for Time Trial games.
• Fixes to in-game chat.
• Fixed some incorrectly rotated lights.

Hi everyone, We have just added Mac support to Mindball Play! Mindball Play requires macOS Sierra 10.12.6 or higher. p.s. Curious about the new campaign mode? Take a sneak peek and try it out on our new experimental beta! News post about the beta can be found here. All the best from us at Mindball

Mindball Play 0.19.1 has just been released! While fixing all the problems that sometimes come from updating to a newer version of Unreal Engine we have also spent time improving the lighting on all tracks. On the high and max settings you now have a nice and soft volumetric fog around most of the lights in the game. We have also gone through the LOD- and lightmap-settings for many many objects, and as a result some tracks now take less disk-space and should run a little faster. The long-standing bug with minimap-indicators getting stuck has finally been squished, as well as a recent bug that sometimes stopped ghost replays from downloading correctly. For our headband-users we have also added a new focus-indicator that is displayed around the ball instead of in a corner of the screen. Finally we have added an option for mouse look, for those of you who prefer to control the camera directly with your mouse. We hope you enjoy the update! As always, all feedback is welcome! Changes in version 0.19.1:

• New on-ball focus indicator available when using headband.
• All tracks have been optimized to look better and render faster.
• Volumetric Fog added in high and max graphics settings.
• Advanced graphics settings added.
• New death-animation when ball is reset.
• Made some tracks take less disk-space.
• Mouse look added.
• Nicer looking message when running into oil.
• Updated to Unreal Engine 4.19.
• Lots of LOD and lightmap resolution fixes.
• Some track-fixes.
• Fixed ghost-balls sometimes not downloading correctly.
• Network issue with stuck minimap-balls fixed.
• Faster and more robust timeouts if joining a network game fails.
• Fixed camera twitching slightly when following smooth curved tracks.
• Fixed ghost-balls shaking in low fps.

Starting today a new beta-branch is available in Steam: experimental As the name suggests it is meant to provide a way to share the latest of what is happening in development with those interested. If you want to try out the newest features then you can now switch to experimental. For those who prefer a more stable and bug-free experience I would recommend staying with the default branch. It is also possible to switch back and forth between stable and experimental at any time. Some warnings about experimental:

• Progress and setting are kept separate between stable and experimental, so any skins and stars you unlock in experimental will not be unlocked in stable.
• Experimental and stable uses different time-trial leaderboards, so any fast times you set in experimental will not be visible in stable.
• Experimental may be updated more often meaning more patches to download.
• Experimental may contain unfinished, unpolished or broken features.
• Not everything you see in experimental is guaranteed to make it into the stable branch.

To switch to a different branch in the Steam client, right-click on Mindball Play from the library page and select "Properties". Among the available tabs will be the "BETAS" tab. Select branch in the dropdown menu under "Select the beta you would like to opt into:" Available now in experimental is a sneak peek at one of the campaign chapters we are working with. There is also a new focus-indicator for those of you with headbands, more advanced graphics settings and an option for in-game mouse-look. If all goes well you should also have an updated stable version soon, but without the campaign sneak peek. Hope to see you in experimental!

Hello ballers! In this new patch we've added tons of stuff for headband players! You can now see how well you performed after a race, and keep track of how your focus scores (hopefully) increases over time! If you have a Muse headband and Windows 10, you can now use Interaxons new Muse Direct app which simplifies connecting your headband to Mindball Play. Keep in mind this function is in early beta so make sure to report any bugs you come across to us! We now have support for the Brainlink headband which is a simpler headband without built in gyroscope, which makes it a bit more affordable! It can also be used without any bridge app! Check it out in our shop. You can now also try our new game mode where you play with both a controller and a headband! The headband will, as usual, keep track of how well you focus, but now the focus will decide how well YOU can control the ball with the controller instead of AI-steering the ball. Activate the new game mode by changing Input Mode to Controller+Headband before you start a race! We've also improved the physics of the game, meaning the general jumpiness of the balls should be much better, and the balls rolling much smoother. In the next few weeks we will focus on upgrading our version of Unreal which should improve performance and fix some bugs. Keep your eyes out for the next update! Good luck everyone, hope you have fun with this new update! Changes in version 0.19:

• Support for BrainLink headbands added.
• Support for Muse headbands via Muse Direct for Windows 10, an alternative to the bridge-app for Android or iOS.
• Focus-graph added at end of games when using headband.
• Development over time graph added to profile when using headband.
• Faster connections to headbands and bug-fixes when using the mobile bridge app.
• Headband name now shown when starting split-screen games.
• New input-mode for playing with both gamepad and headband simultaneously.
• Physics tweaked to stop the ball from bumping from false collisions with flat parts of the track.
• Pendulums now weigh less when playing using headband.
• Added secondary color for use with some of the ball skins.
• A few track-fixes.
• Minor fix for AI-opponents when using headband.
• Power pickups are now picked up when you come back from ghost mode after a respawn.
• Ghost particle effect color tweaked.
• Small menu fixes.

Hello ballers! In this new patch we've added tons of stuff for headband players! You can now see how well you performed after a race, and keep track of how your focus scores (hopefully) increases over time! If you have a Muse headband and Windows 10, you can now use Interaxons new Muse Direct app which simplifies connecting your headband to Mindball Play. Keep in mind this function is in early beta so make sure to report any bugs you come across to us! We now have support for the Brainlink headband which is a simpler headband without built in gyroscope, which makes it a bit more affordable! It can also be used without any bridge app! Check it out in our shop. You can now also try our new game mode where you play with both a controller and a headband! The headband will, as usual, keep track of how well you focus, but now the focus will decide how well YOU can control the ball with the controller instead of AI-steering the ball. Activate the new game mode by changing Input Mode to Controller+Headband before you start a race! We've also improved the physics of the game, meaning the general jumpiness of the balls should be much better, and the balls rolling much smoother. In the next few weeks we will focus on upgrading our version of Unreal which should improve performance and fix some bugs. Keep your eyes out for the next update! Good luck everyone, hope you have fun with this new update! Changes in version 0.19:

• Support for BrainLink headbands added.
• Support for Muse headbands via Muse Direct for Windows 10, an alternative to the bridge-app for Android or iOS.
• Focus-graph added at end of games when using headband.
• Development over time graph added to profile when using headband.
• Faster connections to headbands and bug-fixes when using the mobile bridge app.
• Headband name now shown when starting split-screen games.
• New input-mode for playing with both gamepad and headband simultaneously.
• Physics tweaked to stop the ball from bumping from false collisions with flat parts of the track.
• Pendulums now weigh less when playing using headband.
• Added secondary color for use with some of the ball skins.
• A few track-fixes.
• Minor fix for AI-opponents when using headband.
• Power pickups are now picked up when you come back from ghost mode after a respawn.
• Ghost particle effect color tweaked.
• Small menu fixes.

As the new year is upon us we've removed all the christmas specials and went back to our original 11 tracks. As of today the Mindball Cup has also ended and we once more want to congratulate Retouu on finishing on top! That's it as for now and keep ballin' //The Mindball Team Changes in version 0.18.3:

• Mindball Cup has ended.
• Seasonal content removed.

As the new year is upon us we've removed all the christmas specials and went back to our original 11 tracks. As of today the Mindball Cup has also ended and we once more want to congratulate Retouu on finishing on top! That's it as for now and keep ballin' //The Mindball Team Changes in version 0.18.3:

• Mindball Cup has ended.
• Seasonal content removed.

Mindball Play 0.18.2 has now been released and the track Xmas Ballroom has returned! In true Holiday spirit we've brought back the Xmas Ballroom track joint with a seasonal ball skin. The new laser effects visualized on our social media accounts are also included in the update, together with some sparks upon collision with solid objects. Additionally some visual customization is included to ensure that our graphics look crisp for some holiday gaming. Happy holidays everyone //The Mindball Team Changes in version 0.18.2:

• Track Xmas Ballroom is back.
• New default seasonal ball skin.
• Added new laser visual effects.
• Added ball collision sparks.
• Pickups are now picked up if they respawn inside the ball.
• Quicker fade-animations when switching maps.
• Animated track buttons.
• Animated time trial stars.
• Mouse buttons can be bound to input actions.
• Small menu bug fixes.

Mindball Play 0.18.2 has now been released and the track Xmas Ballroom has returned! In true Holiday spirit we've brought back the Xmas Ballroom track joint with a seasonal ball skin. The new laser effects visualized on our social media accounts are also included in the update, together with some sparks upon collision with solid objects. Additionally some visual customization is included to ensure that our graphics look crisp for some holiday gaming. Happy holidays everyone //The Mindball Team Changes in version 0.18.2:

• Track Xmas Ballroom is back.
• New default seasonal ball skin.
• Added new laser visual effects.
• Added ball collision sparks.
• Pickups are now picked up if they respawn inside the ball.
• Quicker fade-animations when switching maps.
• Animated track buttons.
• Animated time trial stars.
• Mouse buttons can be bound to input actions.
• Small menu bug fixes.

First off, thank you for trying out Mindball Play. We really hope you’ll like it! Right now we’re holding competitions where you can win your own Muse headband (worth around 300€)! You can use the headband to play this game just by focusing! What, just by focusing? Watch our trailer to get a better understanding of what it does! We promise, it’s pretty cool! The first competition is a regular race. Go as fast as you can in Time Trial-mode on Skyscraper to win! The best, legit, time when the clock strikes midnight (CET) on the 8:th of January 2018 wins. You can keep track of your current position and the current leader in the Mindball Cup leaderboard. It will only show times that's set within the competition window. The other competition is a feedback contest. Simply play our game, and leave us your honest feedback! We’ll select a winner who we decided gave us the most valuable opinions or tips. You can leave your feedback by pressing the new "Feedback" button in the main menu bottom bar. The winner will be decided on the 8:th of January 2018, and everyone who have sent in feedback until then are competing! Winners will be contacted through the e-mail adress provided in your account information, so make sure you set it up if you're interested in winning a headband! Don’t worry, we will never share your e-mail with anyone. Good luck to all players, and we hope to get feedback from you soon!

First off, thank you for trying out Mindball Play. We really hope you’ll like it! Right now we’re holding competitions where you can win your own Muse headband (worth around 300€)! You can use the headband to play this game just by focusing! What, just by focusing? Watch our trailer to get a better understanding of what it does! We promise, it’s pretty cool! The first competition is a regular race. Go as fast as you can in Time Trial-mode on Skyscraper to win! The best, legit, time when the clock strikes midnight (CET) on the 8:th of January 2018 wins. You can keep track of your current position and the current leader in the Mindball Cup leaderboard. It will only show times that's set within the competition window. The other competition is a feedback contest. Simply play our game, and leave us your honest feedback! We’ll select a winner who we decided gave us the most valuable opinions or tips. You can leave your feedback by pressing the new "Feedback" button in the main menu bottom bar. The winner will be decided on the 8:th of January 2018, and everyone who have sent in feedback until then are competing! Winners will be contacted through the e-mail adress provided in your account information, so make sure you set it up if you're interested in winning a headband! Don’t worry, we will never share your e-mail with anyone. Good luck to all players, and we hope to get feedback from you soon!

Mindball Play 0.18.1 has now been released! It features lots of fixes, menu improvements and the ability to race vs other players ghost ball replays in Time Trial! We have listened to our community and understood that the headband key has generated some hang-ups. We have now removed the necessity of a headband key. Anyone can now use our game with a Muse (2016) headband! We will refund those of you that have already purchased a headband key. Changes in version 0.18.1:

• Headband license key check removed.
• Can now play against other players ghost ball replays.
• Many menu changes. News section added.
• Feedback can now be sent from in-game.
• New start and goal appearance.
• Improved headband code.
• Opponent skill adjusted when using headband.
• Held pick-ups can now be replaced by picking up a new pick-up.
• Medals on finish removed.
• Random loadscreens added.
• Small fixes to many levels.
• Small sound fixes.

Mindball Play 0.18.1 has now been released! It features lots of fixes, menu improvements and the ability to race vs other players ghost ball replays in Time Trial! We have listened to our community and understood that the headband key has generated some hang-ups. We have now removed the necessity of a headband key. Anyone can now use our game with a Muse (2016) headband! We will refund those of you that have already purchased a headband key. Changes in version 0.18.1:

• Headband license key check removed.
• Can now play against other players ghost ball replays.
• Many menu changes. News section added.
• Feedback can now be sent from in-game.
• New start and goal appearance.
• Improved headband code.
• Opponent skill adjusted when using headband.
• Held pick-ups can now be replaced by picking up a new pick-up.
• Medals on finish removed.
• Random loadscreens added.
• Small fixes to many levels.
• Small sound fixes.

Mindball Play version 0.18 has just been released, with brand new menus! Leaderboard times can now only be posted in Time Trial, where Pickups and AI-balls are always disabled. Changes in version 0.18:

• New menu style.
• Better gamepad support.
• Time Trial always have Pickups and AI-balls disabled.
• Leaderboard times can only be posted in Time Trial.
• Leaderboard summary visible before and after race.
• New in-game HUD style.
• New Pickup-icons.
• Fixes to control remapping.
• Fixed checkpoint issue on track Coil.
• Removed debug menu.

Mindball Play version 0.18 has just been released, with brand new menus! Leaderboard times can now only be posted in Time Trial, where Pickups and AI-balls are always disabled. Changes in version 0.18:

• New menu style.
• Better gamepad support.
• Time Trial always have Pickups and AI-balls disabled.
• Leaderboard times can only be posted in Time Trial.
• Leaderboard summary visible before and after race.
• New in-game HUD style.
• New Pickup-icons.
• Fixes to control remapping.
• Fixed checkpoint issue on track Coil.
• Removed debug menu.

The main news in version 0.17: *We have added pick ups (casual power ups) to all tracks but the two specific headband tracks (Warm Up Highway and Pluto Infinity). *Pluto Infinity is now also available when you play single player. *A feature longed for is the controls mapping possibility which is now enabled. *We removed the Xmas Ballroom track in version 0.17 - it was time now. Of course you will have an updated version of it to next Christmas!

The main news in version 0.17: *We have added pick ups (casual power ups) to all tracks but the two specific headband tracks (Warm Up Highway and Pluto Infinity). *Pluto Infinity is now also available when you play single player. *A feature longed for is the controls mapping possibility which is now enabled. *We removed the Xmas Ballroom track in version 0.17 - it was time now. Of course you will have an updated version of it to next Christmas!

*Dedicated headband menu added. All you need to know about playing with headband is now found under one button at the main menu. *Two new tracks; Trainer (will be renamed to Warm Up Highway in the next version) is intended as a get-to-know-how-it-works-track. It's straight forward and have no Power Ups. Pluto Infinity is a an infinity track, but for now set to four laps. A bit more tricky training before you launch to the ordinary tracks found under Time Trial. *New headband in-game help messages when you seem to need them. *Headband focus indicator improved, hope you'll find it useful. Go Focus!

*Dedicated headband menu added. All you need to know about playing with headband is now found under one button at the main menu. *Two new tracks; Trainer (will be renamed to Warm Up Highway in the next version) is intended as a get-to-know-how-it-works-track. It's straight forward and have no Power Ups. Pluto Infinity is a an infinity track, but for now set to four laps. A bit more tricky training before you launch to the ordinary tracks found under Time Trial. *New headband in-game help messages when you seem to need them. *Headband focus indicator improved, hope you'll find it useful. Go Focus!

Mindball Play escapes outside! Two new tracks - quite different in layout from the previous ones; Skyscraper up on the roof of a skyscraper and Solar i a hot race in the desert. Major parts of Conveyor is redesigned. Slipstream speed boost added. We have also added a Speedometer. The AI ball is harder. Specific headband updates; Major changes to the code that runs the (AI) ball's response of the input (your focus). Headband key is required. You'll get the key if you buy the headband at our web site (only). You'll find a new focus/relaxation indicator down to the right by the new speedometer. See the community forum for additional info about this version.

Mindball Play escapes outside! Two new tracks - quite different in layout from the previous ones; Skyscraper up on the roof of a skyscraper and Solar i a hot race in the desert. Major parts of Conveyor is redesigned. Slipstream speed boost added. We have also added a Speedometer. The AI ball is harder. Specific headband updates; Major changes to the code that runs the (AI) ball's response of the input (your focus). Headband key is required. You'll get the key if you buy the headband at our web site (only). You'll find a new focus/relaxation indicator down to the right by the new speedometer. See the community forum for additional info about this version.

An update to Mindball Play has been released. The update includes the new track with Christmas theme - Xmas Ball Room - Enjoy! Other updates of Mindball Play Version 0.15 are:

• Menu graphics improved.
• Ball skins added.
• Previous debug skin functionality removed.
• Profile settings now a separate menu.
• Help section added to menu.
• Menu gamepad support improved.
• Ball-effects like oil etc now work in a new skin-compatible way.
• Changed friction-boost ball appearance.
• Some bugs in maps Coil and Accelerator fixed.
• Player names now displayed in network games.
• Minimap now work in network games.
• Position indicator display bug fixed.
• Ball now reset if stuck on track.

An update to Mindball Play has been released. The update includes the new track with Christmas theme - Xmas Ball Room - Enjoy! Other updates of Mindball Play Version 0.15 are:

• Menu graphics improved.
• Ball skins added.
• Previous debug skin functionality removed.
• Profile settings now a separate menu.
• Help section added to menu.
• Menu gamepad support improved.
• Ball-effects like oil etc now work in a new skin-compatible way.
• Changed friction-boost ball appearance.
• Some bugs in maps Coil and Accelerator fixed.
• Player names now displayed in network games.
• Minimap now work in network games.
• Position indicator display bug fixed.
• Ball now reset if stuck on track.