The ember is the glowing gold ball. Push it away, pull it toward you, or hold brake to anchor it in place. Pull toward an anchored ember to lift yourself into the air. Add a jump and a boost, and see how far you can go.
Play a friend online, practice against a computer opponent, or learn at your own pace in training and free play.
Make your wizard your own.
A little cozy. A little strange. Entirely you.
Mix favorite pieces from different collections. Find a combination only you would wear.
Watch a saved match in Replay Theatre. Follow either player, follow the ember, or move the camera yourself. Slow down the action, choose a moment, and export a video to share.
Join early. Keep something that will never return.
The planned founding pack includes an outfit, a braided pull effect, a gold-diamond keepsake and a lasting title. Founding players receive every later early-adopter pack as it releases. Play and contribute to earn glowing upgrades.
Separate permanent recognition is planned for the first 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 eligible players. Signup alone does not reserve a place.
Your title begins at Common. Complete quests to earn Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary treatments. The title stays yours.
A place in the credits.
Earn a place through 100 completed matches against 10 opponents, five accepted feedback reports or $25 in optional support. Any one route qualifies. Your public name is optional.
Rewards and credits are not active yet. Enrollment will require a verified account and a completed match against another player. Read the reward rules.
The road ahead
Planned ways to play, with target dates. Each phase opens when its new features are ready.
September 2026 · Current phase
Founding alpha
About this phase
Challenge a friend to 1v1 or practice at your own pace. Rewatch your best goals from any angle.
Planned joining rewards: Founding outfit, braided pull, keepsake and title.
Includes every later early-adopter pack.
November 4, 2026 · Target
Community alpha
About this phase
Complete quests, earn titles and find people to play with. Keep your replays and share your best goals.
Planned joining rewards: Flight trail, lantern charm and title.
Includes ranked-alpha, beta and launch packs.
December 16, 2026 · Target
Ranked alpha
About this phase
Face players at your level and climb the ranks. Earn titles that show how far you have come.
Planned joining rewards: Goal celebration, medallion and title.
Includes beta and launch packs.
March 17, 2027 · Target
Beta
About this phase
Enter tournaments and compete for winner titles. Build your competitive record and review the matches that matter.
Planned joining rewards: Robe trim, enamel charm and title.
Includes the launch pack.
June 16, 2027 · Target
Release + Season 1
About this phase
Play the first ranked season and earn season rewards. Build your competitive record across future seasons.
Planned joining rewards: Launch ribbon and title.
September 15, 2027 · Target
Embercast Championship
About this phase
Qualify for the championship and compete for the title. Watch the best players face each other in the finals.
Participant, finalist and winner honors are earned.
Dates are targets, not deadlines to join. We will give at least 14 days’ notice before a joining window closes. Earlier players keep their rewards and receive every later joining pack. Competitive honors are earned separately.
What I’m trying to make
I want to make a game with a few simple rules that people could spend years getting good at.
What interests me is how a game can stay essentially the same while the way people play it keeps changing. Someone discovers a technique. Someone else finds an answer. Players teach each other, develop styles, build rivalries. Their understanding grows, and familiar situations become interesting in new ways.
Rocket League is the game that made me fall in love with that possibility. It’s soccer with rocket-powered cars: two goals, a ball, and vehicles that can jump and fly. You can understand the objective immediately. Learning what you can do with your car can take years.
I love that the game gives you so much room to develop. As your control improves, you begin to see opportunities that were always there but that you couldn’t recognize or act on. Watching a better player can change your understanding of something you thought you knew.
A decade in, its basic premise still holds. The players keep finding reasons to care. That’s deeply inspiring to me. I think more games should trust a simple core enough to let a passionate community spend years exploring it.
That’s the ambition behind Embercast. I’m trying to make a small set of physical interactions that feel good, respond clearly, and give you freedom to experiment. I want the game to get out of your way. If I can get that core right, I’d love for it to remain essentially permanent while the techniques and strategies around it evolve.
But that requires accepting something a little uncomfortable: in Rocket League terms,
I’m currently bronze at my own game.
When a move feels awkward, I have to ask whether the controls need work or whether I need practice. I can change the rules whenever I want. That makes it easy to simplify something before I understand what mastering it might make possible.
Sometimes the right thing to do is leave it alone and keep playing.
Berkeley
Development notes
What I’m learning as I make and play Embercast.
New notes will appear here as the game develops.
Release notes
The small steps that make the next round feel better.
