Ossu!
We announced the multiplayer and you showed up! Thank you for all the words of encouragement and the hype you’re building for the multiplayer in JDM! We truly appreciate it, thank you!
It may not sound as much, but building a multiplayer component from scratch in our small team was quite a big feat for us. When we were launching the game a year ago, we did not anticipate going this route, but the community has spoken and we were more than willing to oblige! Beginning this Thursday, you will finally be able to host or join in a multiplayer session and have fun doing real togue tandems or just cruising around Guntama, showcasing your favourite car builds. And this is just the beginning!
The multiplayer mode will be available to all owners of the game on Steam June 11 at 18:00 CEST / 9:00 am PDT / 16:00 UTC and on June 12th at 01:00 JST in Japan.
We’re already preparing to start building and testing Multiplayer for GoG and Epic - both versions should follow in Steam’s footsteps shortly. When available, you should be able to play cross-play between the PC platforms (still testing out our solutions, but everything looks promising at this time).
You can help us out during the multiplayer launch!
How?
By launching the game and joining us for the first official multiplayer game lobbies! Some members of our team will be joining the multiplayer fun and will be available to talk, using the built in VOIP.
We will also launch a small stream directly on Discord, while talking to the community on the voice channels. If you want to swing by, say hi and maybe ask some questions, we will be available for you.
The more of you join us in the game the more visibility JDM will have on Steam and hopefully that will help grow our wonderful community even further! It’s also a way for us to check how many of you remain an active part of our community - we had almost 4k people for the launch of JDM, maybe we can beat this number now? :)
What to expect on launch?
We are opening our Open World for now.
This will be a true test for the backend stability of our systems, while giving you freedom to drift, cruise or race around together however you want.
We know everyone wants to see specific Game Modes and Races present - they are coming and they are coming soon! We will give you a heads-up with details after they pass our internal tests and we will have more concrete information to share.
We can confirm that all of the features mentioned in the last devlog post will launch on Thursday, these include:
Player colour coding - each player in the lobby will be assigned a colour for a clearer outgoing communication.
Marking locations on the map - you will now be able to ping a location on the map. A colour coded marker assigned to you will appear on the map for all players in the lobby to see.
Quick text chat - using a dial system players will be able to send simple command messages via text chat for better in-game communication.
Opening the doors for the Tuning and Paint shops in multiplayer sessions - during the playtests, these actions were buggy and not working as intended. Now you will be able to visit the shops without being disconnected from the session.
Ghost Mode - when hosting a multiplayer session you will be able to turn this feature on or off. It disables car collisions, making it easier to roam around together and learn how to drift in a tandem.
What’s next?
On June 25th you will receive a few new licensed JDM cars, yay!
On the same date our second expansion The American Classics will launch for all platforms simultaneously. The new DLC gives you access to six non-licensed American cars for only 5,99 USD!
Expect Multiplayer to launch on GoG and Epic within the next few weeks.
Multiplayer for consoles is scheduled for a Q3 release this year.
We’re counting on you! If you show up to support multiplayer on launch, we will know how much you want us to continue supporting the game. We still have some big plans for JDM, including the next story expansion and the car livery system addition. We’re also eyeing even more JDM cars and a surprise car that will come later this year.
In the meantime, join our Discord server and share how you would like to see JDM evolve!
Let’s Drift Together!
The Gaming Factory Team