Yes, we aren't dead. We deeply apologize for the lack of communication for some time- we should've just been honest about it and said that development had unfortunate had to break for a while. However, we have gotten back to business, slowly but surely. That's right, development has resumed, and as an example of that, we have a patch that's bigger than it might seem. A lot of our backend and how we originally coded the game proved...untenable for future updates, and a lot of what we've done helps fix that. We've adjusted several things in regards to how the game handles data saving and some mechanical functionality, and online functionality has basically been reworked from scratch in order to provide a smoother experience, hopefully. Here's a general list of what we've changed:
- General:
- - Performance improvements. We've improved on framerate stability while lowering the computational power necessary, allowing for a smoother game experience online and offline.
- - Saving race data in the cloud. This is primarily for future updates when character and story functions are released, but it DOES allow you to now save your best times and not have to worry about redoing it elsewhere.
- - Character stats have been remade. They have been redesigned to have more impact in races, allowing for a more diverse group of racing styles.
- - A number of backend changes have been made to facilitate easier implementation of future modes such as story mode, as well as further optimizations.
- Race Specific:
- - Online: Racer nameplates are now being occluded by geometry and are positioned on the racer correctly.
- - Racer nameplates now show in single player as well.
- - You can no longer back over the finish line to quickly complete a race. Yeah, that was weird.
- Weapons:
- - Homing Missiles now target correctly. The algorithm has been adjusted so that they no longer swerve as wildly and reach the target faster.
- - Now, if you're being targeted by Homing Missiles, a targeting reticle will appear on your bike to indicate that you are indeed being targeted.
- - Mortar Bombs are now easier to throw correctly. They are now lobbed from the bike, and should be thrown at a fixed angle, allowing better aiming and increasing their usefulness.
Known Bugs Specific to this Patch:
- - Iban Jungle is undergoing revisions. Currently, there is a bug where once you start a race on the track, it will continue past lap 3. We apologize for this silly regression and will fix it ASAP.
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This is by far not an exhaustive list of patch notes, nor is it all we've been working on. We are in the final stages of testing a new character for the game, and are currently working on getting Iban Jungle at a much more playable state, in addition to working on newer levels to play. There is consideration of perhaps implementing these stages in an unfinished state to allow public player suggestions, but we're unsure. We'd like feedback on this idea!
For anyone still with us, thank you so much! And again, we're clearly at fault for the lack of communication, and we humbly apologize. We will be more transparent about development progress (or lack there of) going forward.