Wreckreation - Weekly Dev Update #9 - Changes
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We've taken all the bugs our playtesters have reported since we reopened the playtest last week and have already made a bunch of fixes.
Among other things, we've fixed some checkpoints and barriers that weren't behaving properly, fixed the distance-to-next-beacon display in Wreckonings, sorted a couple of camera problems in Car Select and Customisation, and fixed an issue where falling into the water during a race would put you back on track stationary rather than carrying your speed.
We've also fixed a couple of crashes, restored the rear-view camera button, fixed car appearance changes not always being saved correctly, and done some work on roads and junctions that weren't generating properly.
There are plenty of other smaller fixes going in as well. So thank you to everyone who's been reporting things. We are reading them, even when we don't reply individually.
However, we're not going to update the playtest build just yet.
That's because alongside fixing the bugs, we've already started making some more fundamental changes to Boost, traffic and the AI.
Boost, Traffic and AI Changes.
All three are currently work in progress, and we don't really want to give them to you half-cooked.
The biggest change at the moment is probably Boost.
At the moment you can earn quite a lot of Boost simply by driving around – near missing traffic, drifting, getting air and interacting with the environment. But we're making a game where battling with the other cars matters, and comparatively we weren't rewarding that enough (a separate issue is that the AI is also not around you enough to battle with - more on that in a moment. )
We're adding separate Boost rewards for things like Slams, Shunts, T-bones and Trading Paint. We're increasing the amount of Boost you get from battling and reducing comparatively the amount you get from things like air, drifting and near misses.
We're also working on the other side of Boost: what it actually feels like when you use it.
There's now a much bigger kick when you ignite Boost, which we're selling through the car itself, exhaust flames, controller rumble and camera shake. That effect scales depending on how full your Boost bar is, and we're doing more work on how it feels at higher speeds and when you're right behind another car.
That ties into the work on Sense of Speed. Ben has continued changing camera positions and field of view, as well as the way the camera behaves while you're boosting. We're trying to make Boost feel noticeably different from simply driving quickly, without just blurring everything on the screen.
Then there's AI. As mentioned above, we have not been happy with the AI for a little while. They're not around you enough and often just cheat too much!
Ethan is continuing to work on this. He has already made changes to their cornering, Boost use and crash behaviour, but there's a lot more to do to ensure they give you a good, but fair, fight.
Traffic is changing as well.
Phil has been working on what happens when you hit traffic. We're trying to get a better distinction between an impact where you can knock a traffic car out of the way and one where you've hit it hard enough that you should crash.
Vealy is looking at a different problem: those occasions where you come around a corner and find traffic somewhere that gives you no opportunity to react.
What else?
Meanwhile, the art team has been adding more routes through the City as well as dirtying up the Industrial area.
Finally, Basia is continuing to implement the UI style across all the elements we hadn't touched yet
So there's actually quite a lot changing underneath the build at the moment.
Rather than keep pushing builds out while those systems are halfway through being changed, we're going to let this work come together a bit more first. Then when we do update the playtest, you'll be testing something that gives us useful feedback on the direction we're heading in, rather than something we already know is halfway between the old version and the new one.
To set your expectations, that may not mean a build this week.
However we plan to leave the playtest open for 2 more weeks, and we hope to have a build with these changes in early next week. If you haven't yet signed up for the playtest you can still do that HERE.
For paid subscribers there's a little extra below
This week Paul is adding some new routes in the city and Russ has been adding variety in the Industrial area.
A new route here which feeds nicely off the train track.
A proper track around the park (also investigating how we can enclose this for a race)
We're going to connect these roads up a bit better as well - sketched in red
And in the Industrial adding more factory roof types to give more variety to the building silhouettes and added more smaller factory building blocks
We've taken all the bugs our playtesters have reported since we reopened the playtest last week and have already made a bunch of fixes.
Among other things, we've fixed some checkpoints and barriers that weren't behaving properly, fixed the distance-to-next-beacon display in Wreckonings, sorted a couple of camera problems in Car Select and Customisation, and fixed an issue where falling into the water during a race would put you back on track stationary rather than carrying your speed.
We've also fixed a couple of crashes, restored the rear-view camera button, fixed car appearance changes not always being saved correctly, and done some work on roads and junctions that weren't generating properly.
There are plenty of other smaller fixes going in as well. So thank you to everyone who's been reporting things. We are reading them, even when we don't reply individually.
However, we're not going to update the playtest build just yet.
That's because alongside fixing the bugs, we've already started making some more fundamental changes to Boost, traffic and the AI.
Boost, Traffic and AI Changes.
All three are currently work in progress, and we don't really want to give them to you half-cooked.
The biggest change at the moment is probably Boost.
At the moment you can earn quite a lot of Boost simply by driving around – near missing traffic, drifting, getting air and interacting with the environment. But we're making a game where battling with the other cars matters, and comparatively we weren't rewarding that enough (a separate issue is that the AI is also not around you enough to battle with - more on that in a moment. )
We're adding separate Boost rewards for things like Slams, Shunts, T-bones and Trading Paint. We're increasing the amount of Boost you get from battling and reducing comparatively the amount you get from things like air, drifting and near misses.
We're also working on the other side of Boost: what it actually feels like when you use it.
There's now a much bigger kick when you ignite Boost, which we're selling through the car itself, exhaust flames, controller rumble and camera shake. That effect scales depending on how full your Boost bar is, and we're doing more work on how it feels at higher speeds and when you're right behind another car.
That ties into the work on Sense of Speed. Ben has continued changing camera positions and field of view, as well as the way the camera behaves while you're boosting. We're trying to make Boost feel noticeably different from simply driving quickly, without just blurring everything on the screen.
Then there's AI. As mentioned above, we have not been happy with the AI for a little while. They're not around you enough and often just cheat too much!
Ethan is continuing to work on this. He has already made changes to their cornering, Boost use and crash behaviour, but there's a lot more to do to ensure they give you a good, but fair, fight.
Traffic is changing as well.
Phil has been working on what happens when you hit traffic. We're trying to get a better distinction between an impact where you can knock a traffic car out of the way and one where you've hit it hard enough that you should crash.
Vealy is looking at a different problem: those occasions where you come around a corner and find traffic somewhere that gives you no opportunity to react.
What else?
Meanwhile, the art team has been adding more routes through the City as well as dirtying up the Industrial area.
Finally, Basia is continuing to implement the UI style across all the elements we hadn't touched yet
So there's actually quite a lot changing underneath the build at the moment.
Rather than keep pushing builds out while those systems are halfway through being changed, we're going to let this work come together a bit more first. Then when we do update the playtest, you'll be testing something that gives us useful feedback on the direction we're heading in, rather than something we already know is halfway between the old version and the new one.
To set your expectations, that may not mean a build this week.
However we plan to leave the playtest open for 2 more weeks, and we hope to have a build with these changes in early next week. If you haven't yet signed up for the playtest you can still do that HERE.
For paid subscribers there's a little extra below
This week Paul is adding some new routes in the city and Russ has been adding variety in the Industrial area.
A new route here which feeds nicely off the train track.
A proper track around the park (also investigating how we can enclose this for a race)
We're going to connect these roads up a bit better as well - sketched in red
And in the Industrial adding more factory roof types to give more variety to the building silhouettes and added more smaller factory building blocks
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