We have reached the feature freeze stage on our next big update! That means all features we wanted to include in this update is complete and our focus is instead only on stabilizing everything until it is ready for ya'll, you know testing and squashing bugs and the like.
However, because this a MASSIVE update of our codebase even after WE think we are ready we can't be sure the game is in a good enough state for everyone unless more people test it (we don't have a fancy QA department, it is just us two little guys!). So this time we'll be running a beta release separately from the public build for a couple of weeks until we're more confident there aren't any game breaking bugs left. This means we'd LOVE to hear from you if you're willing to play the new stuff before everyone else and help us test this thing! Don't worry, we will make another post explaining how to play the beta when it is out (if you can't wait you can check the forums).
To give you an idea of what's coming, here are the highlights:
- Track Editor Beta with Steam Workshop support! Our main event for this update! This means you'll be able to create, share and play each others tracks for the first time! Very early beta, but it works! Your feedback is very appreciated especially in this area as we've been the only ones using these tools before.
- Basic modding support. You can create your own track objects with custom art, sounds and particle effects manually and import them into the editor, just by creating files. This makes it possible to create packages of your own additions and upload them to mod sites for others to enjoy. Many other parts of the game are easily modified as well by just changing files in the main folder. This will be an undocumented feature for a while but if any of you want to dive in immediately you can! (NOTE: Please be aware that modifications of the application folder will be overwritten by Steam when the game updates, so backup your mods!)
- Improved object system. We've rewritten most of the code related to the track and environment which gives several new possibilities for more dynamic tracks, as mentioned below:
- Destruction! Objects can now be made destructible so cars can slam into for example hay bales, crates and fences and they'll blow up to huge effect! This can also alter the routes of the more arcadey tracks over the course of a race.
- Environment sounds and trackside particle system support. Tracks can be made more alive by allowing sounds to be placed in the environment and particle systems to burn, smoke or enhance areas with other effects.
- Animated water! A new animated water layer backdrop has been added to enable more varied environments and give some more motion and life to the tracks.
- Menu animations. We have a rudimentary system in place to make more animated menus to give them more life and make them seem less static. This is very early yet and we will continue to improve this over time to find a good balance between snappy input and visual improvement.
- New skid sounds and particle effect for rough and loose surfaces
- Leaderboards will be reset in this update because the previous ones were only made for official tracks and now everyone will be able to make tracks!
- We now display which buttons are mapped to Back out from menus on the main menu. Further improvements incoming here as well.
- Control mappings are now displayed on the pause menu for faster reference during gameplay.
- Re-race event button now stores all settings so its easy to get back in if you accidentally quit out from a race you wanted to play again.
- Start sequence countdown speed increased to get into the action faster!
All of this just in the very NEXT update!
These new systems also enable us to create many more modes and enhancements to the game in the future which we're really excited about!
Hope it sounds cool! We'll provide more details as the release draws closer. This has been a huge undertaking during the course of the past 6 months (some even dating back 2 years in the making) in addition to all the updates and hotfixes we've released during that time so we really appreciate your support and help with testing and feedback going forward.