Hi everybody!
The player feedback on Star Drift Evolution has been great so far, and we've been listening to your suggestions!
We think it's the right time to let you know what we've been working on in this first week. Please find below the detailed list of changes, starting from the most recent.
TL;DR Summary of the recent changelogs:
- Addition of a ticker in the Main Menu to show incoming game events / tips.
- Addition of a broadcast message that lets all online player know that a new Multiplayer game has been hosted
- Engine sounds improved
- UI scaling option
- Constant balancing of AI and Lap Times to beat
- Constant bugfixing
But now, onto the detailed changelogs (most recent first)
Update 0.2.5 - 05-11-2020
UI:
- added a scrolling news and tips feed to the main menu
- added an option to scale the UI (should be useful for super widescreen resolutions, cropping the UI sometimes)
- added a tip message explaining the "quick restart" hotkey when crashing for the first time in a session and having less than 25 stars in total
AI:
- ramming the AI will push them away a bit more than before
Multiplayer:
- added new "random track selection" option
- exposed the "remote car delay" setting in the options menu (increased delay = smoother movement when lag spikes occur, decreased delay = more accurate positions)
- after a race has finished, the NEXT track is selected by default instead of the same one (so in case of confirming a track accidentally you will not play the same track twice)
- players leaving and then re-entering a lobby should now have their car positioned properly
- "picked same", "recommended same" and "pick from pool" modes now automatically activate "force different colors", because otherwise all/several players would end up with the same car model in white color
- "force different colors" should now work properly in all modes, let me know if you still encounter issues
- added an "end race" timer of 2.5 minutes when the first player finishes
- disabled track voting in multiplayer
Tracks:
- adjusted 2 checkpoints on canyonfall to not put you on a slope that will push you into the water
- fixed floating rocks in south africa farm
- improved AI line on shanghai docks
- egypt finish line height fixed
- varnek water distance fog now matches skybox
- everlong forest expert lap time increased to 3:05
Music:
- added new song 'turbocharger' by electroshark (if you like his songs, you can check out more of them here: electroshark.bandcamp.com)
Audio:
- did a pass on engine sounds (shorty, petite, thunderbolt, stylo, turbo, champion, super, rocket, falcon, el toro, nitro)
- added a new option slider to adjust the car engine volume
Graphics:
- added 144 fps framecap setting
Cars:
- did a pass on default car liveries and AI liveries
- car headlight range increased (to give a more frontal light cone)
Fixes:
- fixed a bug causing the "ghost livery solid color" option to override liveries permanently
- when in 3rd person, emojis triggered by other players should now also appear smaller to block vision less
- fixed the "jump time" achievements
Update 0.2.4 - 01-11-2020
Tracks:
- expert time on temple raceway adjusted
UI:
- added a new option (under misc) to disable liveries and just use solid colors for ghost replays (this way a ghost replay will always look different than you car if you use a livery)
- added a 30 fps cap option
- if you enter the car market from the campaign map, you will be brought back to it when leaving the car market
- the chat window will no longer close after the "idle" timer runs out while in lobby
- stars unlocked and skill rating are now hidden in the main menu settings
- credits updated
Multiplayer:
- "picked same" is now the default multiplayer car selection mode
AI:
- AI weakened slightly on tracks: #1 #2 #3
- difference between the best and the weakest AI driver as been increased (best driver unchanged)
- AI line improved on rainfall raceway and sandpit
- AI cars are now fixed for a given track
- red rammers AI no longer appears in the first 2 cups
Fixes:
- car selection camera angle fixed on tracks: 10, 27, 28, 35, 45, 47, 51, 53, 54, 55, 59
- fixed orange stars (from unlock animation) sometimes showing on wrong tracks when unlocking new stars in the campaign and changing tracks afterwards
- fixed the demo text overlapping with the stars unlocked text
Update 0.2.3 - 31-10-2020
Fixes:
- hotfix for records and replays not uploading to the steam leaderboard when doing endless time trial mode and lap count > normal race lap count
Update 0.2.2 - 31-10-2020
General:
- added the "new multiplayer game hosted" broadcast message, for when a player opens am online lobby
Tracks:
- expert time adjusted on #30 (grand canyon)
Fixes:
- fixed a bug with unlocked stars sometimes displaying incorrectly in the track menu
- cars should no longer spawn inside the ground on track #59