We just updated the build with some new features and fixes. Check out the image and info below!
CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS
- New match results stats: The game now show more stats after a race, like toasts (number of hovercrafts and blocks burned with the Afterburner and Flamethrower mechanic) and Fastest Lap raced. A list of more stats is being tracked now, viewable on your Profile page. We plan on using stats for different meanings, like the Trophy system (see Coming Soon).
- Smoother Time Trial mode: We removed unnecessary loading screens and the startup sequence + countdown in Time Trial. You can start racing immediately instead; your ghost will join you once you pass the finish line. Also, going back to the menu won't take you back to the main menu anymore.
- Improved Team Clash screens: The Desert and Mountain areas now have a new and improved Team Clash screen. Instead of a flat image, it's now a living 3d scene! The lightmaps and graphic settings aren't there yet, but we will update those soon. Expect more interactions and visual improvements to these screens in the future!
- Start/Finish slowmo fixes: The zoom at the start and finish of a race was quite intense and robbed the players' from a clear overview. We adjusted both the distance and smoothness to create a zoom in/out with better overview.
- Skidmarks & drift smoke: When drifting in corners, your hovercraft will now leave a mark in the ground with suiting smoke/dust effects. Drift away!
- Training tutorials: You can now train withtry out various game mechanics in the Practice menu. Available trainings are: Anchor mode, Blocks, Boost charge, Roadblock and Solo Boost. Practice away!
- Tooltips: The loading screens now contain useful tips on the game's mechanics and various strategies. We will add matching GIF images to them asap.
COMING SOON
- Afterburner training: The Afterburner is one of the latest game mechanics we added. When you press the accelerate and brake buttons simultaneously, energy will build up and your flames will overheat. This is the afterburner-state. Use your heated flames to toast opponents or blocks. Soon you will be able to master this mechanic in a brand new Training!
- Flamethrower training: An even newer mechanic will also soon be available as training. The flamethrower is a dual-mode mechanic, which means it requires two team mates to connect their hovercrafts. The flamethrower will burst an overheated flame from each side of the hovercraft, ready to toast all hover- or block-like objects around you. Stay tuned for this exiting training! (Spoiler alert: the flamethrower is already available in-game!)
- Trophy system: Trophies are coming to TRL! They will give you more reason to compete withbeat your friends than just beating them. You can win various Trophies and showcase them. In your face, random friend I just beat! We may use the Trophies in a later stadium in some sort of point/ranking-system, but that’s way-in-the-future-talk.
- Invididual win/loss ratio: We’re going to show each player’s wins and losses in the lobby screen so you can see who you’re up against and who you’re teaming up with.
- New background music: The Early Access version will contain three different background tracks for during the race, one title theme, one after-race theme and a win/loss version when the Best of Three is over. All music is composed and created for the game by our musician Jan Jaap Doeven. Stay tuned when everything is integrated!
- Mechanic balancing: While we are happy with all available mechanics and the way everything is balanced out, we are adjusting some minor things. A small change is that the afterburner and flamethrower will be more effective faster, with flames that will toast players slightly faster than they do now. Also, disconnecting enemy hovercrafts with your solo boost will have more impact.
FUTURE PLANS
- Twitch integration: We’re big fans of Twitch (as every game dev should be) and Twitchers and Youtube streamers helped us a bunch with gaining awareness for our other Steam title Turmoil. We believe it’s our duty as a game developer to help Twitch streamers engage and interact with their audience through our game. For the first version, we’re trying to implement Team Bet and Player Vote in the game. In short; Team Bet enables a Twitch audience to vote predict which team will win, and Player Vote will enable people to vote on their favourite player; their Most Valuable Player of the match. We will be testing this ourselves before sending it out so stay tuned via our Twitch channel. Are you a Twitch streamer yourself? Make sure to contact us!
- Team (clan) system: Team Racing League is - as the name says - a team-based game. We want people to form their own teams and play together with friends, as well as meeting new friends to play with through the game. Since most players already play team-based games, we want to enable them to form racing teams with their gaming friends. We’ll be working on a clan-system where people can form their own racing teams, invite their friends, add ranks and gather wins together. Further on in the future, we will add features like leaderboards, matchmaking and maybe even seasons. More on this subject later!
- 2v2 backup mode: We designed the game to be a 3v3 team racing experience. While we believe this is the ideal setup for the game, we are aware of the fact that a new multiplayer game doesn’t have a big player base from scratch. To make it easier to find a match, we will see if it’s possible to start a match with only 4 players instead, if you can’t find 2 more players after searching for x seconds. A 2v2 match obviously has less options regarding team tactics, but can still be a very intense one on one race with two blockers fighting for support.
- Forest setting: Currently there are two settings in place - Desert and Mountain - with three tracks each. Next up is a forest setting. The level design is already done, but the modeling and lighting aren’t quite there yet. We hope to implement the Forest tracks very soon after releasing on Early Access. And of course, there are even more exciting settings coming up!
Hopefully this will give you a bit of an idea of what we’re working on with this game. It’s very hard for a small indie developer to create a successful and popular new multiplayer IP, but we are confident that Team Racing League can be the game that fills up a gap for online racing on Steam. Help us develop this into a fun and great experience! Interested in joining the alpha? Let us know in the comments below or sign up on the TRL website.
Cheers!
Team Gamious