Among much more, this update includes one of our most requested items...the Whip! Spur your horses to victory in a more visceral and engaging experience with this new interaction. Feel the rush of the race like never before with the new haptic feedback system. Faction racers are faster and meaner so be ready for a challenge with our improved AI! Relive the Circus your way with an array of new interface options and usability improvements. Tackle the new challenges of the Circus Maximus today!
Please find below a summary of items new, fixed or improved upon in this release.
Patch Notes
Gameplay
- Players are now given a whip in their off-hand to spur their horses to sprint. You can still press the touchpad buttons on either controller at any time.
- AI has been heavily rebalanced to provide for a more engaging race.
- Chariot + horse models have been updated to use standard lighting.
- Tutorial has been updated to accommodate for the new whip action.
- A timer has been added at the start of the race to help give a better sense of when the race will start.
- A full set of haptics has been applied across interactions in the game.
Improved Feedback
- All UI has been updated with a more readable font.
- The alloro ('wreath') that shows up at the end of the race has been moved up to the player's vision, making it much easier to see.
- New material changes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd places.
- Endurance bars for the player and AI now include animations to show how much damage is dealt in a hit.
- Player stamina bars have been updated to show how many sprints the player has stockpiled and when they can next sprint.
- Added in a new 'notch' representing the center of the steering zone regardless of deadzone size.
New Options
Interface
- Players can now decide where they would like the Player UI to be located (steering hand, whip hand, front of chariot, or off).
- Players can now toggle how they would like the AI UI to be displayed (always on, distance-based, or off).
- Players can now toggle on an FPS counter, which will appear on the top of the Player UI.
- Players can now toggle a race start timer to be displayed on or off.
Quality of Life
- Players can now reset themselves to the track if they become stuck for any reason. Note this will move you back a bit in the race to help you gather your bearings.
- The player now has the option to either return to the menu or quit the application from the pause menu.
Haptics
- Players can now update the intensity of haptic effects in the game.
Improved Audio
- Music in the game has been replaced with a new original soundtrack.
- Horses now grunt when you attempt to sprint without enough stamina.
- More variety in horses when chariots crash.
- All sounds in the game have been rebalanced to help draw better attention to the positioning of other racers.
Resolved Bugs
- Fixed a bug where a number of issues would occur when the game was unpaused from the menu.
- Fixed a bug where models + particle effects were obscuring the Pause Menu, making it hard to read.
- Fixed a bug where the estimated times for the AI was far off from expected amounts.
We are looking forward to hearing your feedback and ideas with this new update!