Hi everyone!
It has been a long time since the Steam build of Project OutFox received an update, so we wanted to start with the important bit:
We are still here, development is very active, and OutFox is absolutely not dead.
In fact, quite the opposite has happened.
Our original plan was to update the Steam Playtest shortly before moving towards Early Access. However, the work completed during our recent pretesting changed that plan significantly. Beta 1 has progressed far enough beyond the existing preview builds that we no longer think spending time preparing another temporary Steam Playtest build makes sense.
Instead, we're moving directly towards bringing the Beta 1 mainline to Steam Early Access.
What's been happening?
Beta 1 has grown into one of the largest engineering updates in Project OutFox's history.
Over the last few years, and particularly during our recent development cycle, we've been replacing and modernising some of the oldest remaining StepMania-era systems inside the engine.
This includes major work across:
gameplay timing and input accuracy;
recordable playback and systems diagnosis;
our new audio architecture;
rendering and frame presentation;
hardware-accelerated video playback;
performance and memory behaviour;
game-mode compatibility;
debugging and validation tools;
and a large amount of old engine behaviour that has accumulated over more than two decades.
An important goal throughout this work has been preserving the gameplay people already know. Beta 1 isn't intended to reinvent how your charts play. Much of the work is underneath the surface, making the engine more consistent, predictable and efficient while retaining compatibility with the enormous library of content OutFox can already play.
Recent pretesting has also uncovered several very old engine behaviours that we now have the opportunity to correct properly before Beta 1 reaches everyone. We'd rather take that opportunity than rush an intermediate Steam build out of the door.
What happens to the Steam Playtest?
The current Steam Playtest will remain available while we finish this work.
We currently plan to end the Playtest at the end of October 2026.
The next step will then be Project OutFox Beta 1 entering Steam Early Access during November 2026.
Existing Playtest users therefore haven't been forgotten or abandoned. We're simply changing which build you receive next.
Rather than giving you another transitional preview, we want your next major Steam update to represent where Project OutFox actually is today.
Why Early Access?
Beta 1 is a major milestone, but Project OutFox is still an actively developed engine supporting a very large range of rhythm game styles, hardware, operating systems and content stretching back more than two decades.
Early Access gives us a much better environment to bring the current engine to Steam players, collect wider hardware and gameplay feedback, and continue improving it alongside the community.
There will inevitably be things to refine, and that's exactly what Early Access is for.
Thank you for waiting
We know that two years without a Steam update is a very long time.
Development did not stop during that period. Much of the work simply wasn't suitable for shipping piecemeal while fundamental parts of the engine were being rebuilt underneath it, and we wanted to keep you guys stable while we worked on rebuilding the foundations. we are aware, this is not the point of a playtest, but we did see a lot of folks that used the build for specific things, and we didn't want to ruin that.
We're finally reaching the other side of that work.
We'll have much more to show you about Beta 1, its new systems, supported game modes and the work that has gone into it as we approach the Early Access release.
For now, thank you for sticking with us.
The fox is very much alive.