Hello everyone!
Version 0.9.0 is now live, this is a large update because we added player character customization!
Colorful! Players now have the option when selecting their favorite car to change the car's color to any RGBA value they desire. We are particularly proud of this, as we previously thought the task to be Sisyphean. However, in exploring Gamemaker's shaders and devising sprite covers, we were able to circumnavigate around the requirement of making multiple, multiple sprites to change colors for each animation, for each cutscene, for each character, and so on. Instead, we constructed a universal solution in the game's code, saving tons of time and resources! But again, this is something that only a game dev is really proud of, players will probably just look at this function and think "huh, neat!"
Combat changes! We've also revamped the combat, giving players the option to swap out special moves to 2 of the available 5 instead of having all 5 outright and relying on player exploration to discover them all. It is possible for anyone to go back to the old combat, simply hit esc 5 times on the title screen and type in Allspecials to revert to old combat. However, we believe the new combat is better, based on playtester feedback noting a lack of customization and too many available moves. Removing all special availability lets players focus more on combat with succinct inputs, all while maintaining player agency to choose which special moves they like the most.
Guns! Guns! Guns! A gamer once told me, put a gun in your game and I'll play it. I hope others share this sentiment, because we've added guns, 3 in fact! As part of the new combat, players now have a weapon attack, which can be a Machine Gun, a Missile Launcher, or a Grapple Hook. Guns add an extra juicy feature to combat, giving the player multiple options to engage even when at a distance. It's really satisfying to spam the machine gun, or snipe a distant enemy with a missile, or pull in an enemy with the grapple hook to begin a combo. Just about everyone I met during development who wanted to give unsolicited ideas has mentioned, you should put in guns or missiles! Mission accomplished!
As always, wishlist Roads of Rage, share with others, and thanks for supporting indie devs like us!
-Harness Games