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Golden Balloon 1.6.0 (beta)

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@akratch akratch released this 02 Sep 11:10
v1.6.0
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Golden Balloon 1.6.0 adds online multiplayer as a two-player beta — race a friend across regions with a private code or QR — alongside fixes for race-start T-posing, HUD glitches, and time-trial ghosts. Early access: feedback wanted.

Golden Balloon 1.6.0

Released 2026-09-01. Online multiplayer is a beta — see below.

Golden Balloon can now play online. Race a friend head-to-head over the
internet — private races with a six-digit code, single races or full
tournaments, across regions. This release also fixes T-posing characters,
wobbly best-time numbers, and several widescreen-HUD glitches.

Recommended settings: WebGPU, Restored, frame limit Original,
Motion smoothing Interpolated on 120 Hz displays or Off elsewhere,
gameplay tick rate Original, camera Authored.

WebGPU with Restored presentation remains the qualified native and browser
visual path. Interpolated draws presentation-only in-between images from
adjacent game ticks; your inputs and the simulation always run at the
authored rate.

Online multiplayer (beta)

Create a private race and share the six-digit code — or the QR code — and
your friend joins with it. Pick your racer, pick a track from the full track
list, and play a single race or a tournament. When you connect, both screens
show the same three groups of words; read them aloud to each other, and if
they match, you know you are linked to the right person.

  • North American and European copies of the game race each other. Online
    races run at the same speed for everyone; offline play still runs at your
    region's original speed.
  • Online races are for two players in this beta.
  • Tested so far on macOS only. We race on macOS ourselves. Windows and
    Linux have online too, but nobody has played it there yet — if you do, you
    are the first, and we want to hear how it went.
  • Both players need the same platform for now. Mixed pairs, like Mac to
    Windows, are declined when joining; cross-platform play comes in a later
    update.
  • Online play runs over Golden Balloon's free hosted service.

Online is early access and a work in progress. Please tell us what you hit —
good or bad — on the GitHub issues page. Your reports decide what gets
improved next.

Fixes

  • Characters no longer briefly appear unanimated ("T-posing") at the start of
    a race, at any Model Detail setting (issue #48).
  • The best time and best lap numbers in track previews no longer rock
    back and forth during the preview flyby (issue #59).
  • With the widescreen HUD on, the banana counter no longer overlaps a
    portrait in the banana challenge, and minimap markers line up with the map
    at the correct size (issue #57). With it off, nothing changes.
  • Added characters can now save Time Trial ghosts, kept separate from the
    original racers' records (issue #54).

Compatibility

Save data, settings, unlocked Magic Codes, and Time Trial ghosts from earlier
1.5.x releases carry over unchanged. The launcher is keyboard and gamepad
operable, but does not claim a VoiceOver, UI Automation, or other
screen-reader semantic tree.

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