Greetings Cygnus Community!

It has been a very long five months since our last game update, as we have been revising the entire structure of our game. When Cygnus Racing League first arrived back in April, it arrived in pre-alpha form with much playtesting needed for us to move forward with the project. We let our community play and help shape the game into what they wanted to see. It was around June when we synthesized this information into a plan to push CRL into becoming a complete game. We heard the feedback from the community. You all wanted better optimization, a more interactive physics system, more engaging tracks, a more refined and entertaining combat system, as well as aesthetic and visual changes. All of this feedback meant that we needed to rebuild the game from the ground up, so that the game you all envisioned and wanted could be achieved.

Our programming team started where we felt it would be most important, on the optimization side of things. The engine went through an entire rebuild, and was optimized to include support for two different graphics APIs, DirectX 12 and Vulkan. I am excited to reveal that after distributing some playtests this last week to our testing community, we saw massive gains in FPS. We also saw consistent FPS across a variety of GPUs, with FPS counts on average of 100 FPS. We believe that the engine changes made should finally rid the game of performance issues, including the inability to run on certain GPUs. It is also believed that the black screen issue has also been addressed. We feel confident that the performance issues that we experienced earlier this year will no longer plague the player experience.

Alongside the changes to the engine, the team also created an entirely new physics system. The initial system was limited, and left many with the desire to have greater freedom of movement. The new system allows players to take full advantage of the physics based movement, from flying, to falling, to flipping, to hovering on buildings, or going upside down. To highlight these new physics changes, we saw fit to ditch traditional track design in favor of something that would allow players to take full advantage of all of the potential actions. Track design now includes ramps, platforming, and cylindrical based track design that allow players to stay magnetically attached, and move fully around a cylindrical shape. Our playtesting team loved the new movement system, and became immediately obsessed with pushing the boundaries of the track with the new boosting ability. Giving players the option to fly through the air, offers even more ways to create shortcuts and cut time deficits. We are excited to see how players will take advantage of this new system, and are still refining it for an even greater range of movement options.

On top of track redesigns, we also have changed the visual and audio aesthetics of the game as well. In what was supposed to be a one-time event, we received so much positive feedback in support of the Vaporwave aesthetic. We made the decision to make this a permanent change. Gone are the retro arcade vibes, and now is the time of neon, bright colors, and a bumping soundtrack. All of our tracks currently, and in the future will reflect this change as well. Players can now race around densely packed cities, with neon lights, ultra reflections, and a synthwave soundtrack, channeling the vibes of the 80s to the fullest extent. Our new highways, and subway system are wrapped in a neon grid, creating a greater sense of speed and color. These visual changes are a desire to capture a vibe that players will hopefully get lost in.

Currently, we are working on rebuilding the combat system. We want something that feels more interactive, skill based, and engaging. New visual effects, sounds, and actions should create a much better feeling combat system, in which players will have 360 degrees of aiming movement. We feel that this new system, paired with the new physics, should create a far more engaging, and skill based experience. Skillful players should be able to fly upside down, hit ships that are chasing from behind, and pick up the extra energy to boost across the finish line for the win.

Alongside all of these changes and improvements, we are bringing in a new lap based gamemode. Players have been clamoring for a more traditional based racing mode, and with extended and variable track designs, we feel that this is achievable. On top of a lap based mode, we are also working on a new 5v5, class based gamemode. This new mode will put players into teams of five, in which teamwork will be critical to success. We are also retaining CRL’s original points based gamemode, so that fans will be able to play a plethora of options!

As you can see, the team has undertaken quite the rebuilding process. We felt, as much as our community did, that a massive overhaul was needed to make this game what we all envisioned. Although it has taken a tremendous amount of time and energy, we are so excited to share with you this new experience. We will be continuing to refine, and add even more during the life cycle of this game, including new tracks, new ships, new weapons, new game modes, and even a custom track parkour creator. We are so excited to see where CRL will go in the coming weeks and months, and we cannot wait for you all to play the new game very soon. Once combat is in a place that we feel comfortable with, we will be releasing the new Alpha version of Cygnus Racing League! So stay tuned for more information, and we will see you all out on track soon!