For the release of Vivify, we decided to hold a live event to increase hype for the mod. This event was called Extra Sensory II, the sequel to the original Extra Sensory event. For this event, I was a project lead, the lead developer, and a mapper.
The first run of the event on January 18, 2025, saw around ~900 participants, and videos covering the event garnered hundreds of thousands of views. The second run on January 26, 2025, managed to double that, peaking at around ~1900 participants.
After that, all the maps from the event were made available as a Beat Saver playlist, where they continue to garner more downloads. Additionally, all the mods and additional info are available from the website. For a detailed analysis of the chart I created, see 42-flux.
EXSII WebsiteTo facilitate running the event, I developed Synapse. Synapse is both a game server and a Beat Saber mod that connects to the aforementioned server for chatting, leaderboards, and synchronized play. Both are written in C# and the game server in particular makes extensive use of asynchronous threading.
Through the server, the host/coordinators can moderate the lobby chat and leaderboards, as well as synchronously start maps for clients. Hosts can customize the experience with banners, lobbies, and even cutscenes, like we did for Extra Sensory II.
Synapse is my first foray into networking at scale. Despite having no experience, I developed all the networking infrastructure myself, which held up perfectly even with ~1900 concurrent players, who were actively playing and chatting.
GitHub RepoTo help promote the event, I developed a simple website with all the information for the event available at https://exsii.totalbs.dev. For the month leading up to the event, the website featured a live countdown at the top that counted down towards the event date.
In the body of the website are both trailers produced by Mawntee and then all the information about the event. This includes a description of what it is, a download for the mods and setup instructions, an FAQ, and finally the names of the team.
The website was accompanied by an in-game menu takeover, which also has a countdown. From the main menu, there was a new button that unlocked after the countdown and also allowed pre-downloading the mods before the event started. Lastly, there were rainbow notifications, which would warn that the event has started.
on Twitch.tv
Events were held on 1/18 and 1/26
Promotion was successful, and we managed to get peak ~900 and ~1900 players for the initial run and encore, respectively. Both times, these numbers astounded our internal team and exceeded our expectations. During the event, the Twitch.tv category for Beat Saber was completely covered in Extra Sensory II coverage.
The event was incredibly well received by the community and even those outside of the community. Everyone on the team frequently gets positive messages, and videos covering the event are filled with supportive comments. Additionally, the maps and mods used in the event have quickly become important in the community.
On a more personal note, Extra Sensory II was my biggest project, and seeing its completion and success has been emotional. For me, this project has been the culmination of hundreds of hours of programming and asset development. I am incredibly grateful for everyone who helped make this a success and proud of everything about the project.