Behind the Scenes

Why Elite Dangerous sounded like a field radio after Delta Force

Switching games in EchoControl used to carry Delta Force's military radio into Elite Dangerous. Why every game now starts from its own defaults.

The Voice Command That Passed My Turn For Me

Playing Magic: The Gathering Online with a custom profile, something my wife said got picked up as a voice command and ended my turn right when I needed it most. The story, and why this isn't just a shooter problem.

For weeks we shipped builds with the microphone off, and nobody noticed

A cleanup meant to shrink the installer quietly disabled the microphone for weeks. How we found it, and why we now test on a fresh Windows install before every release.

Every game gets its own art in EchoControl. We almost broke that by putting the same icon on two

No EchoControl profile shares a visual template with another one — and the time we accidentally put the wrong icon on two games at once.

We redesigned this screen six times in eight days. The version with no background won

The screen where you pick which game to use is the first thing anyone sees. We overbuilt it, then spent a week undoing our own work.