Hello again, Pool fans! 👋
It’s been a little while since our last Dev Diary. Ahead of the festive period, we wanted to take a moment to cover what we’ve been busy refining behind the scenes ahead of our Q1 2026 Launch. Many of the changes below are a direct result of your feedback from the Demo and Closed Beta - others are improvements we’ve been itching to tackle now that the foundations are locked in.
Let’s dive in.
One of the most consistent bits of feedback we’ve seen is that the rails in both the original game and our Pure Pool Pro demo felt a little…dead.
You were right.
After digging into the data, we found that, even at full power, too much energy was being absorbed on rail contact, resulting in rebounds that didn’t quite mirror real-world table behaviour.
What we’ve changed:
We’ve rebalanced rail energy retention and rebound response, bringing cushions much closer to how a real table behaves. There’s still tuning to do (cue ball is now retaining a little too much energy), but the difference already feels far more natural - and satisfying.
Bank and kick shots live and die on your ability to read the table. In the original game, limited camera controls meant that these were super difficult to pull off at the best of times - and near impossible if playing with no aim guides.
We’ve been expanding and refining our Lean functionality to give you more freedom when lining up these shots, letting you better judge angles, contact points, and ball paths.
What we've changed:
Eyeballing tricky banks and escapes now feels far more intuitive - especially in tight situations.
On gamepads, this ‘Lean’ function will be tied to the left trigger. Holding this, then moving the right analogue stick will allow you to move the camera. You can use it to get super low to the cue ball and eyeball your shots.
On mouse and keyboard, the same function is achieved by clicking and holding the mouse wheel, and then moving the mouse to find your angles.
We’ve now freed the cue to allow for far more cueing angles.
You can cue much higher or lower on the ball than before, opening the door to dramatic follow, draw, side spin - and yes, even jump shots!
Don’t worry: these shots are appropriately difficult to pull off. They’re powerful tools, but they demand precision and lots of practice to be able to use them consistently.
Our arena venue, The Tetradome, has now reached full visual parity with Rackhaus.
Lighting, materials, crowd presence, and atmosphere have all been brought up to par - and recently, we shared a full frame played entirely within the arena to show it off in action.
This venue is built for pressure, spectacle, and big moments in 8-Ball and 9-Ball career events, and it’s now looking the part.
'Power Feather' has seen some meaningful iteration.
For those unfamiliar, this feature limits the range of your draw-back, giving you finer control over shot power - especially helpful on short to mid-range shots where heavy-handedness can easily ruin your intent.
The latest tweaks make Power Feather feel far more impactful and reliable, and it’s quickly becoming a go-to tool during play for us as we test.
Another common note from the Demo: break spreads could feel uneven or inconsistent, with balls often gathering at the far end of the table.
We’ve revisited the underlying physics and made adjustments to encourage more balanced, believable spreads off the break.
It’s still pool - nothing’s guaranteed - but breaks now feel more realistic and readable.
Leaderboards have landed!
For Daily Clearance and Challenge Modes, you’ll now see:
The top-scoring players globally
Your own position and those around you
Whether you’re chasing bragging rights or just trying to beat your personal best, there will now always be a clear benchmark to aim for!
Pure Pool Pro’s soundtrack has grown to feature 80+ tracks across multiple genres, but we know many of you loved the laid-back jazz and bossa nova vibe of the original game.
Good news: you’re in control.
You can now easily toggle individual music genres on or off in the settings menu. Want to recreate that classic Pure Pool lounge feel? Switch it to jazz-only and settle in.
We’re continuing to polish, tune, and respond to your feedback as we move toward launch. As always, thank you for your passion, your patience, and your incredibly detailed input - it genuinely shapes the game.
More to share soon. In the meantime, please consider sharing your feedback and telling others about our game - every little bit gives us the best chance of creating a thriving Pool community at launch!
If you haven’t already:
🎱 Wishlist Pure Pool Pro
💬 Join the community on Discord
💡 Keep the feedback coming in the comments!
Until next time,
– The Ripstone Team