More than eight years after work on it began, Switchcars just graduated to a full release alongside its biggest update so far! [previewyoutube=CNr88PQjQAw;full][/previewyoutube] Switchcars was rather polished at the time of its initial launch in 2016. I kept it in Early Access all this time, however, because I wanted to add more to it. An amount of 15 hefty updates were made in the meantime, and todays one is the biggest so far: It adds almost 200 new vehicles (totalling to 1305), an editor for players to create their own vehicles and props, a new Rally game mode and many smaller improvements and bug fixes. The game is filled with lots of content, polish and replayability. Full changelog of the 1.1 update is available here.
The biggest addition is the new editor. I hope to inspire you all to create your own vehicles and props and share them with other players! Switchcars is already in IGCD top 10 for its amount of road vehicles, so seeing it grow further would be awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROOP8Yx2rc With this update, Im also ending further development of Switchcars. Its been more than eight years and the time has come for me to let it go. A game can always be further improved -- I hear you say. I agree, but we must also consider this: Switchcars was the first game I ever programmed. It was the first game I ever released. Not many such products typically see the light of day. Yet, Switchcars did a lot more than purely exist. Its a fun, polished game with brutal replayability. It left a footprint in the local game development scene, as one of the first games to be released on Steam from Serbia. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmZrg6Eqtas Switchcars also helped slingshot Altfuture into a more serious, impactful and self-sustainable business that it is today. It helped us create Derail Valley. Jumping from Switchcars to a genre-disrupting train simulator was quite a massive step forward! It was exactly the thrust I was hoping Switchcars would produce back when it all started. With reviews at more than 92% positive each, our games are the two highest ranked Serbian games on Steam, and were only getting started.
It was a very ambitious vision back in 2012 when my work on Switchcars began, but here we are! I do wish I was able to do more on Switchcars, but for a small indie game that it is, it made a huge impact and it's time to let it go with pride. I look forward to focusing my energy on other prospective goals at Altfuture. If an opportunity arises, Id gladly do more with this title. If not, the game features the editor now, so that the community can keep adding vehicles and props for years to come. Last but not least, Id like to thank everyone for your patience, understanding and support over the years. There were some rather challenging times in Switchcars history, both personal and development-wise, and Im glad all that is behind us now. Im happy to have the game finally see the light of a full release -- and I hope you enjoy it for many years to come! -Slobodan

[ 2021-04-30 16:59:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

In about 7 hours from now, Switchcars will be released out of Early Access! With that you'll get a massive update 1.1, a new trailer, store page overhaul and some extra videos! Stay tuned for the second news post later today! In the meantime, I thought you'd like a tease with the update changelog below. Enjoy!
v1.1 - April 30, 2021 Customization: - Added Vehicle Editor - Used to create sets of vehicles, animals and props, in-game - Accessible as a game mode - Features simple icon-selection interface for most object parameters - Features colorized input fields for easy behavior overview - Features sprite browser - Features object operators (copy, delete...), with keyboard shortcuts - Features previewing of sounds (e.g. horns) - Features automatic paint-area and collider settings - Features simple descriptions for every setting - Made vehicle features into pre-installed passive powerups (e.g. Neon Light) - Added mod manager - Used to enable/disable mods, in-game - Accessible as a database category - Human readable data files, easy to edit directly - Created a color palette for modders - Menu controls can now be mapped too - This makes DirectInput controllers usable now Gameplay: - Added Rally game mode - Reach stage 5 in The Run to unlock - Player has 3 minutes in 3 rounds, to outrun previous record distance - Features no aliens and no grappling hook - Offers 4 categories, each set in a certain year - Doesn't spawn alien-related powerups (Spikes, etc.) - Added button to remove powerups (default Q) - Fuel is no longer being consumed in Safe Zones - Changes to draft - Increased intensity - Now only happens on racetracks - Prevented drafting if pushing object ahead - No longer works at low speeds - Added sound to draft effect - Has its own tutorial tip - Only happens after seeing the tutorial tip - Changes to wind - Increased intensity - Installing Helium Balloon makes you affected by wind on ground-level too - Storms affect wind power - In extreme weather (e.g. sandstorm), wind affects even vehicles on ground-level - Added two wind sounds, depending on direction - Has its own tutorial tip now - Only happens after seeing the tutorial tip - Increased powerup deck to 4 in Hardcore mode - Reduced chance to fuel leak by 25% - Reduced hitpoint loss induced by powerup installing - Drogue Parachute now activates when braking, no longer an active powerup - Removed Grapple Hook from most offroad vehicles, might find one inside instead - Merged Hull and Ballast Tank int oa single powerup - Added ability to hide in objects (e.g. entering a tree) - Hiding objects will remain in place when you leave them - Hiding objects don't replace vehicles in your inventory - Improved quality of powerups in Hardcore game mode - Removed Nuclear Reactor speed penalty and beefed up power - Removed Offroad Wheels speed penalty - Reduced top speed of Helicopter Rotor powerup - Nerfed acceleration of supersonic airliners - Doubled rate of alien soup health regeneration - Added Chauffeur powerup (same behavior Road AI, different art) - Added rare chance of naval battle area type to appear on sea free roam theme - Improved case of accidentally entering a vehicle behind player - EBS no longer works when diving/drilling or using Siren - Horn no longer uses stamina Content: - Added 195 new vehicles - Remade how props work, now having procedural paintjobs and production years like vehicles - Added 4 new engine sounds (old truck, old car, medium electric, old prop) - Added "vtolplane" air lift type, for winged VTOL vehicles - Added complex tags to all vehicles - Reduced pitch of SUV revving sound - Updated various vehicles' behavior and sounds - Renamed various vehicles - Improved future lane graphics (constrast) - Older vehicles now have yellowish headlights - Redesigned a few vehicles for size/style consistency - Renamed Alien Pollen to Alien Decoy - Renamed Laser to Ion Cannon Cosmetic: - Traffic no longer honks at player when using Siren powerup - Alien Decoy and smashing through Alien Cyst now paint player vehicle cyan Interface: - Updated main menu GUI - Current stage is now written in "Stage n/10" format when exiting Safe Zone - Added speedometer to HUD - Includes meter of wind and draft strength - Includes odometer (per vehicle) - Shows speed yellow when going over the top speed - Shows speed orange when below stall speed, if plane - When leaving Safe Zone, a notification stating current Stage pops up - Free Roam mode now allows choosing theme with Z/X keys both - Renamed "vehicle suggestion" option to "UI hints", with more descriptive choices - Some alerts no longer show, depending on the UI hints setting - End-screen vehicle history now spaces out based on amount of vehicles used - Unlocked vehicle is now listed at the bottom end-screen text - Prevented tutorial tips from showing during segment transition - Added to Rail Wheels powerup description that it increases speed - Lowered "warning: low framerate" threshold - Added limits to camera scroll option - Removed option for lane age variants - Fixed "press enter to remap" on unmappable buttons (autorun, back...) - Instead of "Enter", menu now shows the Menu Confirm key - No longer suggesting how to unlock database entries if all are unlocked - No longer writing "Stage progress will be lost" if on game over screen - Tweaked wording of win ending messages - Renamed Thruster powerup to Rocket Thruster - Changed Tutorial description to "Learn the basics in 2 minutes." - Removed black dither from logo on preloader posters - Fixed missing error sound when trying to change resolution in windowed mode Major Bugs: - Fixed going left in tutorial with a vehicle in slot 2 crashing the game - Fixed super-rare crash caused by alien jumping on player - Fixed rare crash caused by being a human character when slot lock tutorial activates Minor Bugs: - Fixed first segment in stage able to have unfitting weather - Fixed falling through abyss or underground passage buggy-ing player position - Fixed mine-resistant vehicles not being mine resistant - Fixed shield not lifting vehicles when out of fuel - Fixed animal EBS alert having no background - Fixed beating the game twice in a row unlocking the same vehicle - Fixed Rocket Thruster powerup not refueling pre-existing Rocket Thruster - Fixed Disposable Power Bank fuel being minimal when installed on fuelless vehicles - Fixed installing Helicopter Rotor removing Rocket propulsion - Fixed hover and flying vehicles unable to use Drill - Fixed glitching sound when holding left and right with Autorun turned on - Fixed vehicle not getting destroyed if exited during mine strike - Fixed parked vehicles sometimes spawning damaged - Fixed showing recharging glow when braking airborne with electric vehicles - Prevented alerts from showing on game over screen Code: - Converted all vehicle/prop data to a new format - Converter for old savegame to new format (for vehicles/props) - Overhauled data parsing and handling, for Vehicle Editor support - Overhauled how scenery props are handled, to be editable - Various code cleanups Other: - Optimized clouds to not render twice - Other minor tweaks

[ 2021-04-30 10:13:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hi everyone, It’s been a long time since Switchcars was last updated, so I want to let you know the current situation.

Beta update in development:

As many of you know already, the upcoming beta update has been in the works since late 2016. Some of its features and fixes were released in updates 13, 14 and 15, and the most difficult part of it (for me at least) was the integration of Steam API to the Switchcars engine. Being made in Pygame, this actually required some work that no other Pygame game ever did. That work was done by Damir, a friend of mine, over a year ago. One of the update’s major new features are many new vehicles, but also something that was kept a secret until recently - Switchcars will have a vehicle editor as well as Steam Workshop available from within the game! This will allow you to create and share your own Switchcars vehicles, making those original 1000 seem like a joke!
Some of the many new upcoming vehicles

Reasons for the super-delay:

While planning the beta back in 2016 it was already apparent that Switchcars was not making enough money to sustain development far in the future. In order to continue working on Switchcars I needed to look for an alternative source of income, which I wrote about in December 2016. If you haven’t, please read that news post. Stretched between looking for a side job, or starting another project prematurely, I was pressured to make a definitive decision. The whole basis of founding Altfuture and creating Switchcars was a stepping stone to creating revolutionary games that improve the gaming industry, and I wanted to stick to that plan. With a couple of friends we went for the most difficult ambition - develop the second Altfuture game and make it the best of its kind in the world. That game, which lets you drive trains in virtual reality, has been two years in development, known as Derail Valley. When development of Derail Valley began, for nearly a year I was able to work on both games in parallel with no downsides. Switchcars updates 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 were all made during that period. However, when our team unexpectedly shrank to two, higher involvement from my side became necessary. Then in the summer of 2017 an opportunity to get Derail Valley funded came around, but at the cost of taking literally all of my time devoted to Switchcars. There I was, after just having invested the last bits of money into Switchcars Steam API implementation, suddenly having to decide whether one game or the other will live.
First glimpse of the new vehicle editor It’s difficult to put into words how it felt at the time, but making the choice of which game to end was devastating. Any choice would define a different path for the rest of my (and not only my) life. The decision eventually boiled down to understanding that Derail Valley’s funding would definitely allow for the future of Switchcars, whereas Switchcars’ income wouldn’t definitely allow for the future of Derail Valley. A cut had to be made, and finally it was that Switchcars update was to be postponed, but I had no intentions of abandoning the game. Months later, after a lot of sweating, lack of sleep and nerve-wrecking decisions, Derail Valley made it to the top 10% of applied projects to the Serbian Innovation Fund, and after pitching in front of the investor jury, we eventually won the funding. Today Altfuture is a team of 4 members (soon to be 5) working on Derail Valley, funded for almost a year of development, and we remain focused on making it a truly revolutionary train simulation.

So when will Switchcars beta update be finished then?

For the many past months, I’ve been working on Switchcars every moment I can spare, admittedly mostly on weekends. I basically allow myself no spare time until the beta update is done. What’s already complete are the new Distance game mode, speedometer, improved wind and draft effect, nearly two hundred new vehicles, and most importantly the vehicle editor shown above, one of the most complex features of the beta update. Apart from that there have been huge code changes in order to make the vehicle editor possible, mod management system, vehicle editor documentation, support for multiple languages (made by Damir), the Steam API implementation (also by Damir), which will allow creation of Workshop, Achievements, and Trading Cards (being some of the last remaining things to do). I still can’t say when it will be complete, but I am working on it literally every moment I can. I hope you guys will love it when it’s finally out and that it’s going to be worth it. With this post I just wanted to apologize for the delay, and explain the situation. I understand many games remain in Early Access forever, especially if a second project takes over, and I definitely don’t intend to keep it that way. The only reason I was ever putting so much effort in all this was to make it possible for us to create more awesome games, and continue showing that great products can be made from nearly impossible conditions. Part of that is maintaining games when it seems impossible, too. On the other hand, if Derail Valley ends up being successful as we anticipate (and its market potential is notably greater than that of Switchcars), there's a lot more good stuff to come. This period has been super difficult, but I want to thank you all for understanding the situation and being more patient than I could ever hope for. I myself can’t wait for the day the Switchcars beta update comes out and see tons of new vehicles you made! Until then I will be working on it every moment I can! -Slobodan

[ 2018-06-02 15:08:27 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! A new update is here - this time primarily focused on your suggestions from the forum, mainly the Random ideas thread! Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestions - keep them coming! The update includes some not yet visible work too, but more on that in a later update.

Drafting effect:

Switchcars now features a relatively advanced simulation of drafting! It's an aerodynamics thing: if you tail a vehicle that is clearing air in front of you, you will reach a higher top speed due to reduced resistance. However, when you steer to the side to overtake a vehicle, hitting the air wave will slow you down again. This feature is very analog and varies from situation to situation, as it is calculated using both player's and traffic vehicle's speed, mass and height, as well as their mutual distance at every moment, so understanding it is mainly based on a feeling. Bicycles can take great advantage of drafting, but you'll see it most useful on racetracks due to high traffic speeds. Living beings are not affected by it. Drafting system deliberately doesn't include any accented special effects (apart from the strength of whoosh sound when you steer into the air wall), but the effect will be clearer once the speedometer is implemented in the next build.

New car sounds:

Two new engine sounds were added to the game:

• Sports Car - fast, aggressive
• SUV - powerful, expensive

In addition to that, vehicles equipped with ABS (2004+) got characteristic new tire-screeching sounds.

EBS (Emergency Braking System):

All road and rail vehicles introduced in 2018 and later come equipped with EBS. EBS will automatically apply brakes after having detected an imminent crash. It will not prevent high speed crashes, but at least their force will be reduced. When activated, EBS is accompanied by a beep sound and a speed limit icon. There are rare situations when this safety system can be irritating, deliberately giving older vehicles an advantage.

Fuel leaking:

Crashing a fuel-powered vehicle will now pose another potential threat - fuel leaking. The leak will, of course, quickly deplete fuel reserves, but can also set the car on fire if the exhaust backfires!

Wind force:

Each segment now comes with a wind parameter of varying intensity and direction. Like Drafting, the wind force is calculated with vehicle's mass and height taken into account. The wind has no effect in most situations, however if you are flying in the sky lanes or operating a sail-propelled vehicle (such as a Sailboat, or a Hot Air Balloon), it will affect your speed (and speed of traffic). The wind can be so strong, especially in storms, that it will keep an unpowered plane flying indefinitely. However, the wind is unpredictable - in the very next segment it might be blowing in the opposite direction. Currently there is no wind indicator, but it will come with the speedometer in flying vehicles, in the next update.

Win-based vehicle unlock:

Many of you had trouble finding the last few remaining vehicles to unlock. There is now an additional way to unlock them - beating The Run or Hardcore! Winning those game modes will always unlock one vehicle as long as there are any remaining, listing it the last on the end screen, indicated by a special medal icon.

More highlights:

• Added "City Dusk" background and lighting (shown above)
• Improved heavy rain (now with thunder!)
• Added EMP mine (damages all batteries, spawns 2029+)
• No more background noise spam while browsing database

Of course, there are many more small improvements and bug fixes, so be sure to check out the full changelog for more details:

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Draft Effect - Subtly increases top speed when tailing a vehicle - Calculated using player's and other vehicle's speeds, mass, heights and mutual distance - Changing lane while tailing will induce a slowdown as vehicle strikes air again - Doesn't apply to living beings - Added EBS (Emergency Braking System) - Available on road and rail vehicles introduced from 2018 - Slows down vehicle when a crash with another object is imminent - Shows a speed limit icon above vehicle and beeps when activated - Can be disabled with Manual Control powerup - Animals too will try to stop before crashing - Added fuel leaking - Induced by crashing a fuel powered vehicle - Causes fuel loss - Exhaust backfire can set the leaking vehicle on fire - Added wind force - Affects player speed in sky lanes - Calculated using vehicle's mass and height - Propels vehicles with sail propulsion (sailboats, aerostats...) - Varying direction and intensity per segment - Win-based vehicle unlock: - Beating The Run or Hardcore will unlock one remaining locked vehicle - The vehicle is indicated at the end screen with a special sound and medal icon - Added EMP mine - If activated by player, degrades batteries on all electric vehicles in inventory - If activated by aliens, degrades battery of player's current electric vehicle - Inflicts minor damage - Appears on Minefield starting in 2029 - Shield now lifts vehicle above ground while active - Drill and Ballast now work on flying vehicles - Internal combustion engines no longer work in vacuum - Rockets and Thruster powerup now have Disposable fuel - Rail Wheels increases top speed by 20% - Armor decreases mine damage (though no vehicle is immune to it anymore) - Doubled magnet vehicles' hit points for better upgrading usability - Junkyards can now spawn any vehicle - Slightly increased spawn rate of Gas and Repair station when needed - Slightly increased powerup spawn rate in Free Roam - Removed Grappling Hook from sail-powered vehicles - There can no longer be only Ice Forest or only Lava lanes - Slightly increased Manual Control spawn rate in later stages - Moved Graveyard from default to level 2 unlock lanes Content: - Added Sports Car engine sound - Added SUV engine sound - Added "City Dusk" background and lighting - Added new tire screech sounds for vehicles with ABS (introduced 2004+) - Reduced volume of diesel engine sound - Redesigned some powerup icons - Updated all lane images with current vehicle designs - Updated tutorial vehicles with current vehicle designs Cosmetic: - Improved heavy rain weather - New sound (distinct from light rain) - Features thunder - Plasma vehicles no longer glow when parked, damaged or out of fuel - Tailpipe backfire is now possible only on vehicles with rear exhaust - Quitting game with alt+f4 is followed by a fadeout effect (damir) - Renamed Ski Track to Piste Interface: - Gameover in Free Roam now changes year selection button to "Retry" - No more background noise spam while browsing sub-menus (e.g. Database) - Added animated arrow above Underground Passage when pursued by aliens - Vehicle suggestion option is grayed out until having passed tutorial - Main Menu button now informs that stage progress will be lost Major Bugs: - Fixed crash caused by picking up a contextual powerup far from start in Free Roam - Fixed alt+f4 leaving process active since 1.014 (damir) - Fixed white letterbox on some monitors - Attempted fix at FPS drop on certain machines Minor Bugs: - Fixed water battery degradation not stopping when it reaches end - Fixed magnet vehicles unable to lift off the ground when upgraded into aircraft - Fixed cable vehicles not working properly when having some specific powerups installed - Fixed wheel-equipped plasma vehicles still hovering after they run out of energy - Fixed electric boats with drill installed taking water damage - Fixed future hybrid LCV missing petrol engine sound - Fixed electric City Car having red brake lights - Fixed Shield staying stuck at ending sequence - Fixed battery degradation GUI being one pixel offset when completely degraded Other: - Game can be closed from OS now (e.g. via close window button) (Damir) - Various small tweaks and improvements

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2017-04-08 17:58:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys! A new update is here - this time primarily focused on your suggestions from the forum, mainly the Random ideas thread! Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestions - keep them coming! The update includes some not yet visible work too, but more on that in a later update.

Drafting effect:

Switchcars now features a relatively advanced simulation of drafting! It's an aerodynamics thing: if you tail a vehicle that is clearing air in front of you, you will reach a higher top speed due to reduced resistance. However, when you steer to the side to overtake a vehicle, hitting the air wave will slow you down again. This feature is very analog and varies from situation to situation, as it is calculated using both player's and traffic vehicle's speed, mass and height, as well as their mutual distance at every moment, so understanding it is mainly based on a feeling. Bicycles can take great advantage of drafting, but you'll see it most useful on racetracks due to high traffic speeds. Living beings are not affected by it. Drafting system deliberately doesn't include any accented special effects (apart from the strength of whoosh sound when you steer into the air wall), but the effect will be clearer once the speedometer is implemented in the next build.

New car sounds:

Two new engine sounds were added to the game:

• Sports Car - fast, aggressive
• SUV - powerful, expensive

In addition to that, vehicles equipped with ABS (2004+) got characteristic new tire-screeching sounds.

EBS (Emergency Braking System):

All road and rail vehicles introduced in 2018 and later come equipped with EBS. EBS will automatically apply brakes after having detected an imminent crash. It will not prevent high speed crashes, but at least their force will be reduced. When activated, EBS is accompanied by a beep sound and a speed limit icon. There are rare situations when this safety system can be irritating, deliberately giving older vehicles an advantage.

Fuel leaking:

Crashing a fuel-powered vehicle will now pose another potential threat - fuel leaking. The leak will, of course, quickly deplete fuel reserves, but can also set the car on fire if the exhaust backfires!

Wind force:

Each segment now comes with a wind parameter of varying intensity and direction. Like Drafting, the wind force is calculated with vehicle's mass and height taken into account. The wind has no effect in most situations, however if you are flying in the sky lanes or operating a sail-propelled vehicle (such as a Sailboat, or a Hot Air Balloon), it will affect your speed (and speed of traffic). The wind can be so strong, especially in storms, that it will keep an unpowered plane flying indefinitely. However, the wind is unpredictable - in the very next segment it might be blowing in the opposite direction. Currently there is no wind indicator, but it will come with the speedometer in flying vehicles, in the next update.

Win-based vehicle unlock:

Many of you had trouble finding the last few remaining vehicles to unlock. There is now an additional way to unlock them - beating The Run or Hardcore! Winning those game modes will always unlock one vehicle as long as there are any remaining, listing it the last on the end screen, indicated by a special medal icon.

More highlights:

• Added "City Dusk" background and lighting (shown above)
• Improved heavy rain (now with thunder!)
• Added EMP mine (damages all batteries, spawns 2029+)
• No more background noise spam while browsing database

Of course, there are many more small improvements and bug fixes, so be sure to check out the full changelog for more details:

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Draft Effect - Subtly increases top speed when tailing a vehicle - Calculated using player's and other vehicle's speeds, mass, heights and mutual distance - Changing lane while tailing will induce a slowdown as vehicle strikes air again - Doesn't apply to living beings - Added EBS (Emergency Braking System) - Available on road and rail vehicles introduced from 2018 - Slows down vehicle when a crash with another object is imminent - Shows a speed limit icon above vehicle and beeps when activated - Can be disabled with Manual Control powerup - Animals too will try to stop before crashing - Added fuel leaking - Induced by crashing a fuel powered vehicle - Causes fuel loss - Exhaust backfire can set the leaking vehicle on fire - Added wind force - Affects player speed in sky lanes - Calculated using vehicle's mass and height - Propels vehicles with sail propulsion (sailboats, aerostats...) - Varying direction and intensity per segment - Win-based vehicle unlock: - Beating The Run or Hardcore will unlock one remaining locked vehicle - The vehicle is indicated at the end screen with a special sound and medal icon - Added EMP mine - If activated by player, degrades batteries on all electric vehicles in inventory - If activated by aliens, degrades battery of player's current electric vehicle - Inflicts minor damage - Appears on Minefield starting in 2029 - Shield now lifts vehicle above ground while active - Drill and Ballast now work on flying vehicles - Internal combustion engines no longer work in vacuum - Rockets and Thruster powerup now have Disposable fuel - Rail Wheels increases top speed by 20% - Armor decreases mine damage (though no vehicle is immune to it anymore) - Doubled magnet vehicles' hit points for better upgrading usability - Junkyards can now spawn any vehicle - Slightly increased spawn rate of Gas and Repair station when needed - Slightly increased powerup spawn rate in Free Roam - Removed Grappling Hook from sail-powered vehicles - There can no longer be only Ice Forest or only Lava lanes - Slightly increased Manual Control spawn rate in later stages - Moved Graveyard from default to level 2 unlock lanes Content: - Added Sports Car engine sound - Added SUV engine sound - Added "City Dusk" background and lighting - Added new tire screech sounds for vehicles with ABS (introduced 2004+) - Reduced volume of diesel engine sound - Redesigned some powerup icons - Updated all lane images with current vehicle designs - Updated tutorial vehicles with current vehicle designs Cosmetic: - Improved heavy rain weather - New sound (distinct from light rain) - Features thunder - Plasma vehicles no longer glow when parked, damaged or out of fuel - Tailpipe backfire is now possible only on vehicles with rear exhaust - Quitting game with alt+f4 is followed by a fadeout effect (damir) - Renamed Ski Track to Piste Interface: - Gameover in Free Roam now changes year selection button to "Retry" - No more background noise spam while browsing sub-menus (e.g. Database) - Added animated arrow above Underground Passage when pursued by aliens - Vehicle suggestion option is grayed out until having passed tutorial - Main Menu button now informs that stage progress will be lost Major Bugs: - Fixed crash caused by picking up a contextual powerup far from start in Free Roam - Fixed alt+f4 leaving process active since 1.014 (damir) - Fixed white letterbox on some monitors - Attempted fix at FPS drop on certain machines Minor Bugs: - Fixed water battery degradation not stopping when it reaches end - Fixed magnet vehicles unable to lift off the ground when upgraded into aircraft - Fixed cable vehicles not working properly when having some specific powerups installed - Fixed wheel-equipped plasma vehicles still hovering after they run out of energy - Fixed electric boats with drill installed taking water damage - Fixed future hybrid LCV missing petrol engine sound - Fixed electric City Car having red brake lights - Fixed Shield staying stuck at ending sequence - Fixed battery degradation GUI being one pixel offset when completely degraded Other: - Game can be closed from OS now (e.g. via close window button) (Damir) - Various small tweaks and improvements

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2017-04-08 17:58:03 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! The new Switchcars update is up! While it's got a lot of small fixes and a ton of work that's yet to be utilized in the coming builds, here are some of the highlights: Note: Hardcore mode and database entries for four specific powerups will need to be unlocked again, due to changes in the savegame system.

Lane age variants:

Remember how, apart from vehicles, different eras all looked the same? Now, the year you're in affects the look of the lanes as well! Human-made lanes, such as roads, will look differently in 1950's compared to 2030's. Free Roam now lets you change the year during gameplay, which makes it easy to explore the new lane designs.

3 new "vehicles":

Switchcars now has a Mech (a military piloted robot) and two new animals, all animated and with new sound effects! More will be coming soon!

Volume control:

At last! Thanks to Damir (and this was no trivial task, mind you), Switchcars finally has volume control, allowing you to set the volume for sounds and music independently in options. Additionally, the game is now quieter by default as it always should have been.

Major bug fixes:

Some critical bug fixes have been made, such as:

• Plugging and unplugging your headphones will now work properly!
• Powerup unlock indicator is no longer stuck
• Fixed Space and Alien World biomes never appearing in the runs since 1.013 (!)

Various more bug fixes have been made, so please check the changelog for more details.

Autorun option:

If for any reason you'd prefer not to have to hold the right key to move all the time, now you can enable the Autorun option in the Controls Setup section. To go right just press the right key just once, and when you want to slow down, press the left key. This also comes with audio and UI cues.

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Autorun option - When turned on, press direction of movement to enable and brake to disable - Comes with visual and UI feedback - Found in Controls Setup - Free Roam now allows changing current year ingame - Added one mandatory electrified railway rule to Railway Free Roam theme - Animals no longer heal while set on fire - Reduced airport biome frequency - Cargo Ships, Flatcars and Semi Trailers now also give random powerups - Tweaked parameters of a few vehicles Content: - Added 2 new animals - Added a Mech - Added lane age skin system - Human-made lanes (e.g. roads) change appearance over time, depending on era - There can be up to 4 different skins per lane type - Affected lanes change skins at different years, so that overall environment evolves organically - Updated type names of a few vehicles - Updated oldest Go-Kart design and future Cargo Plane - Updated engine sound types on a few vehicles Cosmetic: - Brakelights are now visible in daylight too - Exhaust fumes are now white on 2-stroke vehicles - Questionmark above Powerups is now animated - Slightly improved heavy smoke graphics - Large NPC planes will no longer fall when stopped by Siren - Hybrid cars now cast red brakelights only instead of both red and blue Interface: - Added sound and music volume control (Damir) - The game is no longer too loud (default volume is 60%) - Vehicle suggestion set on "full" is no longer aggressive when the timer is not ticking - Joystick intro screen now lists number of detected devices - Nitrous and Grapple tutorials no longer appear while being chased by an alien - Having cursor on "auto" resolution setting now shows actual resolution at the bottom - Renamed some powerups to match their graphical name counterpart - Renamed some options - Removed redundant 1360x768 resolution - Removed redundant "Instantly save unlocks" option, off by default now - Upcoming biome icon now raises up immediately instead of gradually - Added Alien Ooze healing ability description to lane database - Added description about no speed limit in Space to lane database - Rephrased ending messages - Renamed "Laser requires fuel" alert to "Insufficient energy for Laser" Major Bugs: - Fixed audio driver not updating when unplugging headphones (Damir) - Fixed game process staying active indefinitely after unplugging headphones (Damir) - Fixed Powerup unlocked indicator stuck since v1.013 - Fixed Space and Alien World biomes never appearing in the runs since v1.013 - Fixed Tutorial having bugged snow section object spawning - Attempted fix at main menu dropping FPS sometimes - Attempted fix at letterbox being white on some monitors Minor Bugs: - Fixed Hardcore mode being unlocked when reaching stage 10 in The Run, even without beating it - Fixed Manual Control not working sometimes when installed, once again - Fixed animals having more friction after being revived - Fixed inventory color remaining red on animals after being revived - Fixed going too far right in Tutorial allowing starting vehicles to disappear - Fixed Low Acceleration never showing in vehicle database - Fixed "Grapple Up" tutorial being triggered by an invisible object - Fixed missing and miscolored pixels on some vehicles

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2017-02-20 20:47:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! The new Switchcars update is up! While it's got a lot of small fixes and a ton of work that's yet to be utilized in the coming builds, here are some of the highlights: Note: Hardcore mode and database entries for four specific powerups will need to be unlocked again, due to changes in the savegame system.

Lane age variants:

Remember how, apart from vehicles, different eras all looked the same? Now, the year you're in affects the look of the lanes as well! Human-made lanes, such as roads, will look differently in 1950's compared to 2030's. Free Roam now lets you change the year during gameplay, which makes it easy to explore the new lane designs.

3 new "vehicles":

Switchcars now has a Mech (a military piloted robot) and two new animals, all animated and with new sound effects! More will be coming soon!

Volume control:

At last! Thanks to Damir (and this was no trivial task, mind you), Switchcars finally has volume control, allowing you to set the volume for sounds and music independently in options. Additionally, the game is now quieter by default as it always should have been.

Major bug fixes:

Some critical bug fixes have been made, such as:

• Plugging and unplugging your headphones will now work properly!
• Powerup unlock indicator is no longer stuck
• Fixed Space and Alien World biomes never appearing in the runs since 1.013 (!)

Various more bug fixes have been made, so please check the changelog for more details.

Autorun option:

If for any reason you'd prefer not to have to hold the right key to move all the time, now you can enable the Autorun option in the Controls Setup section. To go right just press the right key just once, and when you want to slow down, press the left key. This also comes with audio and UI cues.

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Autorun option - When turned on, press direction of movement to enable and brake to disable - Comes with visual and UI feedback - Found in Controls Setup - Free Roam now allows changing current year ingame - Added one mandatory electrified railway rule to Railway Free Roam theme - Animals no longer heal while set on fire - Reduced airport biome frequency - Cargo Ships, Flatcars and Semi Trailers now also give random powerups - Tweaked parameters of a few vehicles Content: - Added 2 new animals - Added a Mech - Added lane age skin system - Human-made lanes (e.g. roads) change appearance over time, depending on era - There can be up to 4 different skins per lane type - Affected lanes change skins at different years, so that overall environment evolves organically - Updated type names of a few vehicles - Updated oldest Go-Kart design and future Cargo Plane - Updated engine sound types on a few vehicles Cosmetic: - Brakelights are now visible in daylight too - Exhaust fumes are now white on 2-stroke vehicles - Questionmark above Powerups is now animated - Slightly improved heavy smoke graphics - Large NPC planes will no longer fall when stopped by Siren - Hybrid cars now cast red brakelights only instead of both red and blue Interface: - Added sound and music volume control (Damir) - The game is no longer too loud (default volume is 60%) - Vehicle suggestion set on "full" is no longer aggressive when the timer is not ticking - Joystick intro screen now lists number of detected devices - Nitrous and Grapple tutorials no longer appear while being chased by an alien - Having cursor on "auto" resolution setting now shows actual resolution at the bottom - Renamed some powerups to match their graphical name counterpart - Renamed some options - Removed redundant 1360x768 resolution - Removed redundant "Instantly save unlocks" option, off by default now - Upcoming biome icon now raises up immediately instead of gradually - Added Alien Ooze healing ability description to lane database - Added description about no speed limit in Space to lane database - Rephrased ending messages - Renamed "Laser requires fuel" alert to "Insufficient energy for Laser" Major Bugs: - Fixed audio driver not updating when unplugging headphones (Damir) - Fixed game process staying active indefinitely after unplugging headphones (Damir) - Fixed Powerup unlocked indicator stuck since v1.013 - Fixed Space and Alien World biomes never appearing in the runs since v1.013 - Fixed Tutorial having bugged snow section object spawning - Attempted fix at main menu dropping FPS sometimes - Attempted fix at letterbox being white on some monitors Minor Bugs: - Fixed Hardcore mode being unlocked when reaching stage 10 in The Run, even without beating it - Fixed Manual Control not working sometimes when installed, once again - Fixed animals having more friction after being revived - Fixed inventory color remaining red on animals after being revived - Fixed going too far right in Tutorial allowing starting vehicles to disappear - Fixed Low Acceleration never showing in vehicle database - Fixed "Grapple Up" tutorial being triggered by an invisible object - Fixed missing and miscolored pixels on some vehicles

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2017-02-20 20:47:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys, As I wrote in December, something new has been cooking for about 8 months now. Today Im super excited to introduce you to our new upcoming VR game - Derail Valley! Before I continue, let me just say this - Derail Valley actually already helped fund further Switchcars development! Theres a ton of interesting things to share, but Ill try to keep it as short as possible and stick to the key points, so please bear with me:
https://youtu.be/p5PEKotBNfo

What is Derail Valley?

Derail Valley is a next-gen train simulation made for VR. You drive a train using your own hands in a virtual cab, tasked to reposition rolling stock between trainyards on time. Derailment is a big part of it and it also brings some advancements to the realistic train sim genre, such as decayed railway simulation. More info on its Steam page and announcement. If you have an HTC Vive, you can try the free demo!

Whos making it?

Derail Valley is made by a team of three developers: Nenad, Ivan and myself. As of now, we are all part of Altfuture! Youll find a bit more info about our history and roles on the website. I remain working on Switchcars in parallel of course, as I did in the previous 8 months, with Damir whos done work on the upcoming beta features. More on that soon!

Whats the plan?

Derail Valley is still in development, and planned to release in Early Access in Q2 2017. While still in early phase, the game is already playable and offers hours of playtime. Initial released version will introduce some new features compared to the free demo, such as procedural shunting missions, NPC trains and more car variety. We plan to regularly make news posts about all additions to the game, with a lot more to come. You can see more info about this in the Early Access section of Derail Valley Steam page.

How come youve made this?

Its a long topic, but basically all three of us are passionate about vehicles, game development and technology. Having experienced train sims and VR games, we simply saw room for improvement on both markets and wanted to do something about it. I wrote more about this in my new blog post.

Couldnt you have made Switchcars 2 instead?

Probably not at this point. As we are all working on this unpaid, we were brought together by passion and a collective idea around making a project that we saw ourselves the most efficient at making, which also had the highest chance of success. Based on what weve achieved so far Id say Derail Valley was a great choice. As I wrote in the past, the idea is that the potential success of Derail Valley will pave the way to more future projects.

How will this affect Switchcars?

Here comes the amazing news: Those of you who read my last blog post might know that Switchcars development days were limited due to finances. Thanks to Derail Valley, that is no longer the case! What happened, which is also the reason were announcing Derail Valley a bit earlier than we originally expected, is that among more than 600 participants on an international MSI VR Jam, our game won 3rd place! We were awarded with $15.000 and some extra prizes, which will be spent ensuring stable development of Derail Valley for months to come. Obviously, since Im working on both games simultaneously, this applies to Switchcars as well. The goal is to bring it to full release by the end of this year. If youre wondering if I can pull off working on both games at once, have no worries. In fact, updates 1.010 and onwards have all been made this way, and they were quite large. Lately Ive been slowed down by the contest and preparing for this announcement, but Damir has been putting a lot of work into Switchcars in the meantime. I am back working regularly on the upcoming 1.014 update now, which I expect to come out in a few weeks. - Finally Id like to express huge thanks to all of you for the support so far - revealing our second game is a big moment for us, and it absolutely wouldnt have been possible without you! If Derail Valley is your cup of tea, for all future updates and news you can follow it on these links: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Website You can also find @nothke, @_bgr_ and me individually on Twitter. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about Derail Valley, feel free to post on its Steam forum! See you all soon with another (Switchcars) update! edit: fixed mysteriously expired image link

[ 2017-02-08 01:48:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey guys, As I wrote in December, something new has been cooking for about 8 months now. Today I’m super excited to introduce you to our new upcoming VR game - Derail Valley! Before I continue, let me just say this - Derail Valley actually already helped fund further Switchcars development! There’s a ton of interesting things to share, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible and stick to the key points, so please bear with me:
https://youtu.be/p5PEKotBNfo

What is Derail Valley?

Derail Valley is a next-gen train simulation made for VR. You drive a train using your own hands in a virtual cab, tasked to reposition rolling stock between trainyards on time. Derailment is a big part of it and it also brings some advancements to the realistic train sim genre, such as decayed railway simulation. More info on its Steam page and announcement. If you have an HTC Vive, you can try the free demo!

Who’s making it?

Derail Valley is made by a team of three developers: Nenad, Ivan and myself. As of now, we are all part of Altfuture! You’ll find a bit more info about our history and roles on the website. I remain working on Switchcars in parallel of course, as I did in the previous 8 months, with Damir who’s done work on the upcoming beta features. More on that soon!

What’s the plan?

Derail Valley is still in development, and planned to release in Early Access in Q2 2017. While still in early phase, the game is already playable and offers hours of playtime. Initial released version will introduce some new features compared to the free demo, such as procedural shunting missions, NPC trains and more car variety. We plan to regularly make news posts about all additions to the game, with a lot more to come. You can see more info about this in the Early Access section of Derail Valley Steam page.

How come you’ve made this?

It’s a long topic, but basically all three of us are passionate about vehicles, game development and technology. Having experienced train sims and VR games, we simply saw room for improvement on both markets and wanted to do something about it. I wrote more about this in my new blog post.

Couldn’t you have made Switchcars 2 instead?

Probably not at this point. As we are all working on this unpaid, we were brought together by passion and a collective idea around making a project that we saw ourselves the most efficient at making, which also had the highest chance of success. Based on what we’ve achieved so far I’d say Derail Valley was a great choice. As I wrote in the past, the idea is that the potential success of Derail Valley will pave the way to more future projects.

How will this affect Switchcars?

Here comes the amazing news: Those of you who read my last blog post might know that Switchcars development days were limited due to finances. Thanks to Derail Valley, that is no longer the case! What happened, which is also the reason we’re announcing Derail Valley a bit earlier than we originally expected, is that among more than 600 participants on an international MSI VR Jam, our game won 3rd place! We were awarded with $15.000 and some extra prizes, which will be spent ensuring stable development of Derail Valley for months to come. Obviously, since I’m working on both games simultaneously, this applies to Switchcars as well. The goal is to bring it to full release by the end of this year. If you’re wondering if I can pull off working on both games at once, have no worries. In fact, updates 1.010 and onwards have all been made this way, and they were quite large. Lately I’ve been slowed down by the contest and preparing for this announcement, but Damir has been putting a lot of work into Switchcars in the meantime. I am back working regularly on the upcoming 1.014 update now, which I expect to come out in a few weeks. - Finally I’d like to express huge thanks to all of you for the support so far - revealing our second game is a big moment for us, and it absolutely wouldn’t have been possible without you! If Derail Valley is your cup of tea, for all future updates and news you can follow it on these links: Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Website You can also find @nothke, @_bgr_ and me individually on Twitter. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about Derail Valley, feel free to post on its Steam forum! See you all soon with another (Switchcars) update!

[ 2017-02-08 01:48:00 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Only a news update this time - but a rather important one: I made a blog post detailing some key information related to Switchcars, which was never posted so far. It's related to the game's success since release, how it almost never got made, as well as future plans for both the game and the company! Switchcars and Altfuture: a look at 2016 and future plans Just keeping you guys up to date - soon there will be more concrete news on the new features, can't wait to share those! Now heading back to work, and see you next time with another game update. As always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum! Happy holidays and have a great New Year guys!

[ 2016-12-20 16:01:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! Only a news update this time - but a rather important one: I made a blog post detailing some key information related to Switchcars, which was never posted so far. It's related to the game's success since release, how it almost never got made, as well as future plans for both the game and the company! Switchcars and Altfuture: a look at 2016 and future plans Just keeping you guys up to date - soon there will be more concrete news on the new features, can't wait to share those! Now heading back to work, and see you next time with another game update. As always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum! Happy holidays and have a great New Year guys!

[ 2016-12-20 16:01:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! Before diving into update details, I'd like to announce that I was temporarily joined by a programmer and a friend of mine, Damir Veapi, in solving some technical issues in Switchcars. He already did some notable work prior to release, but also in the previous update 12 and now, 13. His involvement with the project likely won't be long, but it's very meaningful already. In this update, and throughout next several ones our aim is to make the game as stable as possible, so that it will be able to leave alpha and have its development continue in a more mature beta state. This also means that, besides getting more stable, the game might get some awesome new features! I'm not going to announce them just yet - first we want to make sure they work. Now onto the update!

Resolution options:

Yes! The game now lets you run it at your monitor's native resolution, such as 1920x1080. Alternatively, you can change it to 1280x800 or 1366x768. You won't need to worry about the settings anymore. When the game is initially started it will automatically set up the resolution to the highest possible on your screen. From that point on you can change it if you want. Changing resolution and fullscreen mode is now applied instantly and no longer requires you to manually restart the game (for now this only works on Windows, and is being worked on for Linux). The underlying method works the same as the Fit Screen option did previously, so you might notice the same slight visual glitches at higher resolutions. This will be fixed in one of the following updates! For some people who have been experiencing a crash on startup due to incompatible resolution, this update should have that fixed. As this is a new system and is likely to stay as the final one, please let me know if you experience any issues! For now the game also supports 4k and 8k resolutions, so if anyone has such screens please let me know if the game works on them (the highest resolution I was able to test on was HD).

Free Roam themes:

Thanks to a forum suggestion Free Roam now features 12 environment themes to choose from, such as Railway, Arctic, Space, Alien World and City. If you would like to peacefully explore all the trains, or spaceships in a specific year, now you can. A theme called Mixed uses the same world generator settings as The Run and Hardcore do, allowing you to practice without time pressure or aliens on your back. Of course, for some themes to become available you will first need to unlock specific lanes. In other Free Roam news, if you would like to keep driving in the current segment without changes, Free Roam now lets you go to the left, infinitely! It also increases the powerup deck size to 4.

Improved input system:

When the game is started, if there are joystick devices available, the game will now prompt you to click a button on your preferred device before receiving input from other devices. We hope this will fix all the crashes and rogue inputs some people experienced. For example those who have steering wheels had to unplug them in order to play Switchcars, because they were sending constant input that couldn't be stopped. That is no longer the case. More work remains to be done in one of the following updates, so that gamepads using DirectInput will be properly remappable. If you experience any issues, please let me know! Details on what exact gaming devices you have plugged in would be very appreciated!

Fixed savegame corruption:

There were very few reports of a savegame being corrupted in the former months, however the cause of that should now be fixed, and preventively the game also creates a backup savegame file, and reverts to it in case of savegame failure. Losing a savegame due to corruption should no longer happen.

Slight traffic improvement:

Traffic generation was modified, resulting in slightly increased traffic density, and less situations in which you cannot find a vehicle. The build year tolerance was also tightened, so traffic is generally more bound to the era you are in. You're less likely to find oldtimers in running traffic, especially in later years. The change also results in much improved performance, which might remove previously reported stuttering on slow machines (please let me know if the change is noticeable on your system!).

Difficulty changes:

Aliens in the alien world will now be attracted proportionally to the time you've spent there. This means that going through it quickly is likely not going to add more aliens on your tail, but spending a long time there will. Difficulty in The Run has been increased in the higher stages and years. Like Free Roam, Hardcore too now has the powerup deck size increased to 4.

More useful powerups:

Due to another forum suggestion, contextual powerups spawning has been greatly improved (e.g. Rail Wheels, Skis). These powerups are now given mostly when truly needed, and are also giving more boost. Many other propulsion-related powerups were beefed up too. Installing any kind of engine on very slow vehicles will immediately make them faster. Many bugs related to installing powerups were fixed (see full changelog for details).

Some more highlights:

- Animals can now be revived by getting hit by a lightning! - Aliens now jump when you point rocket thrust or ion thrust at them. - There is now an option to reset controls to default.

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Free Roam Themes - Player can now choose an environment theme in Free Roam - There are 12 themes, including Railway, Arctic, Space, Alien World, City - Roads are no longer always present, except in "Mixed + Highway" and "Freeway" themes - Theme called "Mixed" generates the world as The Run or Hardcore do, which can be useful for training - Some themes are locked until the player first unlocks the needed lanes (e.g. Space, Alien World) - Player can move left in Free Roam now (however the segment will never change) - Traffic density was improved (and thus slightly increased) - Oldtimers are much rarer in traffic now as production year tolerance was changed - Improved contextual powerups system - Rail Wheels, Hull, Skis and Medikit are now more likely to appear when actually needed - Reduced contextual powerups spam - Animals can be revived by getting electrocuted (50% chance) - Alien spawn rate in alien world increases with time spent there - Spending a few seconds there is unlikely to attract aliens now - There cannot be more than 8 aliens attracted on alien world - Increased difficulty on The Run, in later years and stages - Free Roam and Hardcore now allow keeping 4 powerups in a deck - Improved acceleration and speed caps on all power source powerups - They are far more useful on slow vehicles now - Increased minimum top speed on Hull and Skis, also making them more useful - Increased Spoiler speed cap - Rocket and Ion Drive thrusts make aliens jump if pointed at them - Reduced UFO health by 1/2 Cosmetic: - Updated car types to a class-based standard - Mid-size Car was formerly Sedan - Full-size Car was formerly Estate Car - Subcompact Car was formerly Hatchback - City Car was formerly Minicar Interface: - Resolution options - By default, game will start with the highest available resolution - Resolutions other than 1280x800 and 1366x768 may create slight visual glitches for now - Changing resolution and fullscreen mode no longer requires a manual restart (thanks to Damir) - Resolution and fullscreen options will be grayed out when unavailable (e.g. ingame) - It's not possible to change resolution in windowed mode - Added option to reset keys to default (thanks to Damir) - Added intro screen for primary input device assignment - Tutorial tips for powerup swap and vehicle lock now appear later to reduce clutter - Tutorial tips for using powerups on vehicles no longer pause the game - Subnotes in changelog are now darker for clarity Code: - Savegame will now ignore missing vehicles, instead of crashing, for future use (Damir) Major Bugs: - Prevented unused joystick devices from sending input (Damir) - Should stop all kinds of crashes and weird behaviour that some people experienced - Prevented rare savegame corruption (Damir) - Optimized traffic spawning, improved performance Minor Bugs: - Attempted fix at electric vehicle's top speed dropping to 60 when switching vehicles sometimes - Fixed prop planes not getting a jet engine when having Wings installed - Fixed nonpowered aerial and naval vehicles not working when having a power source installed - Fixed non-hover thruster powered vehicles being able to hover on Earth after being used on a dwarf planet - Fixed Nuclear Reactor disabling helicopter flight - Fixed Refuel powerup not always fully refueling vehicles - Fixed Helicopter Rotor not becoming the primary propulsion on vehicles it can't lift - Fixed Helicopter Rotor not working on nonpowered VTOL vehicles - Fixed lightning setting an electric vehicle on fire, when it had room to charge - Fixed a bug with some internal timers running while the game is paused - Fixed replacement alien taking too long to spawn sometimes - Tweaked a few non-fitting vehicle production years - Fixed alien producing metal crash sound when hitting animals - Fixed "vehicle in range" indicator trying to make sound in space - Fixed Marina missing "Deep liquid" description in database - Fixed one Half-track using rubber sound for its tracks - Fixed some faulty pixels on two vehicles Other: - A few other tweaks

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-10-22 14:30:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! Before diving into update details, I'd like to announce that I was temporarily joined by a programmer and a friend of mine, Damir Veapi, in solving some technical issues in Switchcars. He already did some notable work prior to release, but also in the previous update 12 and now, 13. His involvement with the project likely won't be long, but it's very meaningful already. In this update, and throughout next several ones our aim is to make the game as stable as possible, so that it will be able to leave alpha and have its development continue in a more mature beta state. This also means that, besides getting more stable, the game might get some awesome new features! I'm not going to announce them just yet - first we want to make sure they work. Now onto the update!

Resolution options:

Yes! The game now lets you run it at your monitor's native resolution, such as 1920x1080. Alternatively, you can change it to 1280x800 or 1366x768. You won't need to worry about the settings anymore. When the game is initially started it will automatically set up the resolution to the highest possible on your screen. From that point on you can change it if you want. Changing resolution and fullscreen mode is now applied instantly and no longer requires you to manually restart the game (for now this only works on Windows, and is being worked on for Linux). The underlying method works the same as the Fit Screen option did previously, so you might notice the same slight visual glitches at higher resolutions. This will be fixed in one of the following updates! For some people who have been experiencing a crash on startup due to incompatible resolution, this update should have that fixed. As this is a new system and is likely to stay as the final one, please let me know if you experience any issues! For now the game also supports 4k and 8k resolutions, so if anyone has such screens please let me know if the game works on them (the highest resolution I was able to test on was HD).

Free Roam themes:

Thanks to a forum suggestion Free Roam now features 12 environment themes to choose from, such as Railway, Arctic, Space, Alien World and City. If you would like to peacefully explore all the trains, or spaceships in a specific year, now you can. A theme called Mixed uses the same world generator settings as The Run and Hardcore do, allowing you to practice without time pressure or aliens on your back. Of course, for some themes to become available you will first need to unlock specific lanes. In other Free Roam news, if you would like to keep driving in the current segment without changes, Free Roam now lets you go to the left, infinitely! It also increases the powerup deck size to 4.

Improved input system:

When the game is started, if there are joystick devices available, the game will now prompt you to click a button on your preferred device before receiving input from other devices. We hope this will fix all the crashes and rogue inputs some people experienced. For example those who have steering wheels had to unplug them in order to play Switchcars, because they were sending constant input that couldn't be stopped. That is no longer the case. More work remains to be done in one of the following updates, so that gamepads using DirectInput will be properly remappable. If you experience any issues, please let me know! Details on what exact gaming devices you have plugged in would be very appreciated!

Fixed savegame corruption:

There were very few reports of a savegame being corrupted in the former months, however the cause of that should now be fixed, and preventively the game also creates a backup savegame file, and reverts to it in case of savegame failure. Losing a savegame due to corruption should no longer happen.

Slight traffic improvement:

Traffic generation was modified, resulting in slightly increased traffic density, and less situations in which you cannot find a vehicle. The build year tolerance was also tightened, so traffic is generally more bound to the era you are in. You're less likely to find oldtimers in running traffic, especially in later years. The change also results in much improved performance, which might remove previously reported stuttering on slow machines (please let me know if the change is noticeable on your system!).

Difficulty changes:

Aliens in the alien world will now be attracted proportionally to the time you've spent there. This means that going through it quickly is likely not going to add more aliens on your tail, but spending a long time there will. Difficulty in The Run has been increased in the higher stages and years. Like Free Roam, Hardcore too now has the powerup deck size increased to 4.

More useful powerups:

Due to another forum suggestion, contextual powerups spawning has been greatly improved (e.g. Rail Wheels, Skis). These powerups are now given mostly when truly needed, and are also giving more boost. Many other propulsion-related powerups were beefed up too. Installing any kind of engine on very slow vehicles will immediately make them faster. Many bugs related to installing powerups were fixed (see full changelog for details).

Some more highlights:

- Animals can now be revived by getting hit by a lightning! - Aliens now jump when you point rocket thrust or ion thrust at them. - There is now an option to reset controls to default.

Full changelog:

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer! Gameplay: - Added Free Roam Themes - Player can now choose an environment theme in Free Roam - There are 12 themes, including Railway, Arctic, Space, Alien World, City - Roads are no longer always present, except in "Mixed + Highway" and "Freeway" themes - Theme called "Mixed" generates the world as The Run or Hardcore do, which can be useful for training - Some themes are locked until the player first unlocks the needed lanes (e.g. Space, Alien World) - Player can move left in Free Roam now (however the segment will never change) - Traffic density was improved (and thus slightly increased) - Oldtimers are much rarer in traffic now as production year tolerance was changed - Improved contextual powerups system - Rail Wheels, Hull, Skis and Medikit are now more likely to appear when actually needed - Reduced contextual powerups spam - Animals can be revived by getting electrocuted (50% chance) - Alien spawn rate in alien world increases with time spent there - Spending a few seconds there is unlikely to attract aliens now - There cannot be more than 8 aliens attracted on alien world - Increased difficulty on The Run, in later years and stages - Free Roam and Hardcore now allow keeping 4 powerups in a deck - Improved acceleration and speed caps on all power source powerups - They are far more useful on slow vehicles now - Increased minimum top speed on Hull and Skis, also making them more useful - Increased Spoiler speed cap - Rocket and Ion Drive thrusts make aliens jump if pointed at them - Reduced UFO health by 1/2 Cosmetic: - Updated car types to a class-based standard - Mid-size Car was formerly Sedan - Full-size Car was formerly Estate Car - Subcompact Car was formerly Hatchback - City Car was formerly Minicar Interface: - Resolution options - By default, game will start with the highest available resolution - Resolutions other than 1280x800 and 1366x768 may create slight visual glitches for now - Changing resolution and fullscreen mode no longer requires a manual restart (thanks to Damir) - Resolution and fullscreen options will be grayed out when unavailable (e.g. ingame) - It's not possible to change resolution in windowed mode - Added option to reset keys to default (thanks to Damir) - Added intro screen for primary input device assignment - Tutorial tips for powerup swap and vehicle lock now appear later to reduce clutter - Tutorial tips for using powerups on vehicles no longer pause the game - Subnotes in changelog are now darker for clarity Code: - Savegame will now ignore missing vehicles, instead of crashing, for future use (Damir) Major Bugs: - Prevented unused joystick devices from sending input (Damir) - Should stop all kinds of crashes and weird behaviour that some people experienced - Prevented rare savegame corruption (Damir) - Optimized traffic spawning, improved performance Minor Bugs: - Attempted fix at electric vehicle's top speed dropping to 60 when switching vehicles sometimes - Fixed prop planes not getting a jet engine when having Wings installed - Fixed nonpowered aerial and naval vehicles not working when having a power source installed - Fixed non-hover thruster powered vehicles being able to hover on Earth after being used on a dwarf planet - Fixed Nuclear Reactor disabling helicopter flight - Fixed Refuel powerup not always fully refueling vehicles - Fixed Helicopter Rotor not becoming the primary propulsion on vehicles it can't lift - Fixed Helicopter Rotor not working on nonpowered VTOL vehicles - Fixed lightning setting an electric vehicle on fire, when it had room to charge - Fixed a bug with some internal timers running while the game is paused - Fixed replacement alien taking too long to spawn sometimes - Tweaked a few non-fitting vehicle production years - Fixed alien producing metal crash sound when hitting animals - Fixed "vehicle in range" indicator trying to make sound in space - Fixed Marina missing "Deep liquid" description in database - Fixed one Half-track using rubber sound for its tracks - Fixed some faulty pixels on two vehicles Other: - A few other tweaks

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-10-22 14:30:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! The new update is up, bringing us the biggest Switchcars changelog yet, not only since launch, but since Switchcars development began in 2012! The shear amount of general small changes is enormous. Here are some highlights, although I recommend reading the full notes too. Note: this update will reset the "config.ini" file which contains your graphics, controls and other settings.

1000+ redesigned vehicles:

The update is mainly focused on vehicles. They were all revised, and most of their graphics updated for better consistency, looks and purpose clarity. Some received minor graphical changes, whereas others complete overhauls. For example, nearly all aircraft and future vehicles were remade from scratch, looking closer to how they might look in real life. Magnet and plasma vehicles are now easily distinguishable with featuring cyan or light purple glowing pads underneath, respectively. Car designs now more closely resemble the era they come from, particularly in the 1970s-2010s range. Redesign also includes replacing some redundant vehicles with completely new ones (e.g. two Tiltrotor VTOLs have become Maritime Helicopter and Light Attack Helicopter), and there are many non-visual modifications to vehicles as well. Trains, trolleybuses, mining vehicles, animals and some others have been made much more practical on their native lanes. The color palette of vehicles was improved, their shadows now conform to the size of the vehicle, and so do glows from the lights underneath if they have any.

Starting years 2040-2054:

Due to popular demand, you can now choose starting years later than 2040, for any game mode. However, they will have to be unlocked first, the same way the years were unlocked up to that point.

Improved vehicle lights:

Headlights have been redesigned, now also featuring more types (there are tungsten, LED and the rare yellow ones). Neon light modifications now come in different colors!

Gameplay balancing:

As with every update, there are tons of small gameplay tweaks. For example, Alien Younglings will be hurt more when using Teleport, but they (together with any other living beings) heal faster when on Alien Ooze lane type. Magnet cars now appear earlier, giving players more reason to use them. Self-driving Cars and Taxis can provide a Manual Control powerup, giving players choice to drive manually or not. Various powerups were tweaked (see changelog for details), as well as their spawn rate. Hardcore and Free Roam spawn more powerups now.

Difficulty tweaks:

Changes were also made to alien spawning and stopping power, resulting in subtle differences in The Run difficulty, and considerable increase in Hardcore difficulty. Player character now suffers considerable friction when rolling, depending on the material type, thus moving long distances with grappling hook only is no longer viable.

Improved end screen:

When beating the game, the end message will be picked randomly from a pool of many, revealing various final musings of the main character. End screen now also lists the game mode and starting year at the bottom, providing more complete information about the run.

Bug fixes:

There were many bugs fixed (see changelog for details), including missing light glow in caves from previous update, as well as an old crash that would occur if you alt-tab while the game is loading.

Full changelog:

The game features an ingame changelog viewer now, so you might want to read the full notes there. Alternatively, they are all listed below: Gameplay: - Human rolling is now affected by terrain friction - Reduced aliens' stopping power when touching player - Years 2040-2054 are now available as starting years (but need to be unlocked first) - Alien Ooze now heals living beings, including aliens - Increased alien spawn rate in Hardcore - Increased speed of various vehicles, previously not very useful - Trains, Trams, Trolleybuses and Cable Cars - Horses, Elephants and Cows - All mining vehicles, including Speeders and Handcars - Submarines, Solar Boats, Swamp Buggies - Battle Spacecraft - Rebalanced production years of all future vehicles (2016+) - Magnet vehicles appear earlier, giving players more of a reason to use them - Slightly increased chance of repeated railway biomes - Increased powerup spawn rate in Hardcore and Free Roam - Increased Teleport damage on living beings - Shortened Shield charge time from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds - Self-driving cars and taxis can give Manual Control now - Rockets can give Disposable Power Bank (simulating the second stage rocket) - Reduced underwater friction on submarines - Reduced friction of magnet roads - Reduced fuel consumption of Nuclear Reactor - Reduced acceleration penalty of Armor powerup - Reduced speed penalty of Offroad Wheels - Tweaked powerup spawn rate per type balancing - Increased Medikit spawn rate (for use on animals) - Lightning strike can no longer set an electric vehicle on fire, if it had room for charging - Using Shield will resurface player, if underwater - Refuel and Repair stations blow up if standing on them for too long - Light rain is no longer accompanied by Storm Clouds - Bright HDR flash when exiting caves is less intensive if the weather is bad (e.g. fog, rain) Content: - Redesigned 1000+ vehicles - Improved visual consistency, aesthetics and purpose clarity of all vehicles - Includes minor tweaks as well as complete graphical overhauls (e.g. all aircraft and future vehicles) - Car design better reflects the era it comes from - Magnet vehicles are easily distinguishable by cyan glowing pads underneath - Plasma vehicles are easily distinguishable by light purple glowing pads underneath - Guns are more noticeable on most armed vehicles - Most vehicles with offroad wheels are now visually lifted off the ground - Matched emergency light position with the light effect on all vehicles - Repurposed or modified some vehicles - Changed Plough to Dump Trailer - Changed Flying Taxi to Flying Car - Changed one Rocket Train to Jet Train - Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Maritime Helicopter - Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Light Attack Helicopter - Changed one Tandemrotor Helicopter to Transport Helicopter - Changed one Mobile Radar to Radar Truck - Changed one Handcar to Speeder - Changed one Gyroglider to Gyrocopter - Changed one Rocket Plane to Spaceplane - Changed one VTOL Attack Plane to Bomber - Changed one Private Jet to Regional Airliner - Changed one Sedan to Hatchback - Changed one Aerobatics Plane to Aerobatics Biplane - Modified UFO to be more useful, less reusable - Modified Battle Spacecrafts to have Laser instead of Rocket Launcher - Modified flying cars to not be able to float on water (except the Flying Float Car) - Modified one IFV to have Machine Gun instead of Cannon - Modified one Armored Car to have Cannon instead of Machine Gun - Modified unarmed GEV to have propeller propulsion - Modified one Limousine to be electric instead of a hybrid - Modified one LCV to be a hybrid instead of electric - Modified one Minicar to be self-driving - Modified one Self-driving Car to not be self-driving - Modified one Snow Coach to use tracks instead of skis - Modified one Snow Coach to use wheels instead of skis - Modified one Icebreaker to have nuclear power source - Updated some vehicle type names - Improved vehicle paintjob color palette on all vehicles - Updated all vehicle colliders [WIP] Cosmetic: - Emergency vehicles can spawn as being on duty (speeding with siren on) - Traffic emergency vehicles now have siren glow too - Long vehicles now have long shadows (or glows) - Neon lights now come in varying colors - Improved headlight graphics - There are three types of headlights now, tungsten, LED and yellow (rare) - Added stability control to vehicles entering production after 2011 (no tire screeching on them) - Added alternate explosion animation - Supercar racetrack layer now includes various kinds of sports cars and bikes (like an open track) - Underground environment is now lit by rocket and ion drive thrusts - Plasma hovercrafts are now lifted off the ground - Removed headlights usage from light rain weather - Electric road vehicles now cast blue brakelight spotlight, rather than red - Dirt no longer sticks to wheels of most vehicles - Installing Electric Motor to a light prop vehicle will change its sound to electric prop - Improved Laser graphics - Added a downwards arrow to an Underground Passage prop - Salt flats now generate dirt Interface: - Win screen now gives a random message every time (there are 13 currently) - Game mode and starting year are now listed at the bottom of the gameover screen - Tweaked lose screen message formatting - Precisely specified what Neon Light does, in database - Recharging icon and glow are now blue instead of cyan - Cripsier font in changelog viewer (thanks to Damir) Code: - Switched to a newer version of SDL2 (Damir) - Automatic generation of config file when starting the game for the first time (Damir) - Added available system resolutions readout, for future use in options (Damir) - Optimized terrain particle VFX texture usage Other: - Timer no longer starts counting after pressing any button, but when player starts moving - If browsing database or options on end screen, aliens will go away and stop spamming Major Bugs: - Fixed a crash with alt-tabbing during loading (Damir) Minor Bugs: - Fixed engine deceleration sound not playing when it should sometimes - Fixed biome-repeating becoming more likely the more it repeats - Fixed new aliens not able to spawn if existing ones have repositioned recently - Fixed cave lighting glow from previous update not working - Fixed electric submarines getting damaged by water - Fixed Manual Control not giving control to player sometimes when used on AI vehicles - Improved teleports not being triggered when going through them very fast - Prevented self-driving magnet cars from swerving off magnet roads for powerups and teleports - Fixed smoke not appearing above objects on fire - Fixed installing Swimming Belt disabling Drill ability - Fixed installing Wings to a GEV not making it able to fly - Fixed Shield sound not stopping when switching vehicles - Fixed two Snow Coaches not spawning on Snowy Highway and Ice - Fixed rain sound not stopping immediately when using Radar - Fixed broken vehicle getting unbroken when installing a powerup - Fixed dead animal getting up in inventory after using Repair - Fixed plasma vehicles playing metal friction sound when braking - Fixed Alien Youngling using wrong braking sound when not controlled by player - Fixed dirt not being applied to an entire vehicle sometimes - Fixed beating Hardcore changing the starting year - Fixed Disposable Power Bank not giving power to vehicles that were originally non-powered - Fixed missing "too scared to go there" alert when going left - Fixed presence sound on hovercrafts not being looped properly - Fixed clock sound being heard before the timer starts counting - Fixed player being able to go left in the first tutorial resulting in cars disappearing - Fixed installing Solar Panel not setting up the correct top speed - Fixed player character swimming in Sea Ice, which is shallow - Fixed a pixel-gap at the bottom of the screen in 16:9, visible when raining on gameover screen

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-09-24 16:02:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! The new update is up, bringing us the biggest Switchcars changelog yet, not only since launch, but since Switchcars development began in 2012! The shear amount of general small changes is enormous. Here are some highlights, although I recommend reading the full notes too. Note: this update will reset the "config.ini" file which contains your graphics, controls and other settings.

1000+ redesigned vehicles:

The update is mainly focused on vehicles. They were all revised, and most of their graphics updated for better consistency, looks and purpose clarity. Some received minor graphical changes, whereas others complete overhauls. For example, nearly all aircraft and future vehicles were remade from scratch, looking closer to how they might look in real life. Magnet and plasma vehicles are now easily distinguishable with featuring cyan or light purple glowing pads underneath, respectively. Car designs now more closely resemble the era they come from, particularly in the 1970s-2010s range. Redesign also includes replacing some redundant vehicles with completely new ones (e.g. two Tiltrotor VTOLs have become Maritime Helicopter and Light Attack Helicopter), and there are many non-visual modifications to vehicles as well. Trains, trolleybuses, mining vehicles, animals and some others have been made much more practical on their native lanes. The color palette of vehicles was improved, their shadows now conform to the size of the vehicle, and so do glows from the lights underneath if they have any.

Starting years 2040-2054:

Due to popular demand, you can now choose starting years later than 2040, for any game mode. However, they will have to be unlocked first, the same way the years were unlocked up to that point.

Improved vehicle lights:

Headlights have been redesigned, now also featuring more types (there are tungsten, LED and the rare yellow ones). Neon light modifications now come in different colors!

Gameplay balancing:

As with every update, there are tons of small gameplay tweaks. For example, Alien Younglings will be hurt more when using Teleport, but they (together with any other living beings) heal faster when on Alien Ooze lane type. Magnet cars now appear earlier, giving players more reason to use them. Self-driving Cars and Taxis can provide a Manual Control powerup, giving players choice to drive manually or not. Various powerups were tweaked (see changelog for details), as well as their spawn rate. Hardcore and Free Roam spawn more powerups now.

Difficulty tweaks:

Changes were also made to alien spawning and stopping power, resulting in subtle differences in The Run difficulty, and considerable increase in Hardcore difficulty. Player character now suffers considerable friction when rolling, depending on the material type, thus moving long distances with grappling hook only is no longer viable.

Improved end screen:

When beating the game, the end message will be picked randomly from a pool of many, revealing various final musings of the main character. End screen now also lists the game mode and starting year at the bottom, providing more complete information about the run.

Bug fixes:

There were many bugs fixed (see changelog for details), including missing light glow in caves from previous update, as well as an old crash that would occur if you alt-tab while the game is loading.

Full changelog:

The game features an ingame changelog viewer now, so you might want to read the full notes there. Alternatively, they are all listed below: Gameplay: - Human rolling is now affected by terrain friction - Reduced aliens' stopping power when touching player - Years 2040-2054 are now available as starting years (but need to be unlocked first) - Alien Ooze now heals living beings, including aliens - Increased alien spawn rate in Hardcore - Increased speed of various vehicles, previously not very useful - Trains, Trams, Trolleybuses and Cable Cars - Horses, Elephants and Cows - All mining vehicles, including Speeders and Handcars - Submarines, Solar Boats, Swamp Buggies - Battle Spacecraft - Rebalanced production years of all future vehicles (2016+) - Magnet vehicles appear earlier, giving players more of a reason to use them - Slightly increased chance of repeated railway biomes - Increased powerup spawn rate in Hardcore and Free Roam - Increased Teleport damage on living beings - Shortened Shield charge time from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds - Self-driving cars and taxis can give Manual Control now - Rockets can give Disposable Power Bank (simulating the second stage rocket) - Reduced underwater friction on submarines - Reduced friction of magnet roads - Reduced fuel consumption of Nuclear Reactor - Reduced acceleration penalty of Armor powerup - Reduced speed penalty of Offroad Wheels - Tweaked powerup spawn rate per type balancing - Increased Medikit spawn rate (for use on animals) - Lightning strike can no longer set an electric vehicle on fire, if it had room for charging - Using Shield will resurface player, if underwater - Refuel and Repair stations blow up if standing on them for too long - Light rain is no longer accompanied by Storm Clouds - Bright HDR flash when exiting caves is less intensive if the weather is bad (e.g. fog, rain) Content: - Redesigned 1000+ vehicles - Improved visual consistency, aesthetics and purpose clarity of all vehicles - Includes minor tweaks as well as complete graphical overhauls (e.g. all aircraft and future vehicles) - Car design better reflects the era it comes from - Magnet vehicles are easily distinguishable by cyan glowing pads underneath - Plasma vehicles are easily distinguishable by light purple glowing pads underneath - Guns are more noticeable on most armed vehicles - Most vehicles with offroad wheels are now visually lifted off the ground - Matched emergency light position with the light effect on all vehicles - Repurposed or modified some vehicles - Changed Plough to Dump Trailer - Changed Flying Taxi to Flying Car - Changed one Rocket Train to Jet Train - Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Maritime Helicopter - Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Light Attack Helicopter - Changed one Tandemrotor Helicopter to Transport Helicopter - Changed one Mobile Radar to Radar Truck - Changed one Handcar to Speeder - Changed one Gyroglider to Gyrocopter - Changed one Rocket Plane to Spaceplane - Changed one VTOL Attack Plane to Bomber - Changed one Private Jet to Regional Airliner - Changed one Sedan to Hatchback - Changed one Aerobatics Plane to Aerobatics Biplane - Modified UFO to be more useful, less reusable - Modified Battle Spacecrafts to have Laser instead of Rocket Launcher - Modified flying cars to not be able to float on water (except the Flying Float Car) - Modified one IFV to have Machine Gun instead of Cannon - Modified one Armored Car to have Cannon instead of Machine Gun - Modified unarmed GEV to have propeller propulsion - Modified one Limousine to be electric instead of a hybrid - Modified one LCV to be a hybrid instead of electric - Modified one Minicar to be self-driving - Modified one Self-driving Car to not be self-driving - Modified one Snow Coach to use tracks instead of skis - Modified one Snow Coach to use wheels instead of skis - Modified one Icebreaker to have nuclear power source - Updated some vehicle type names - Improved vehicle paintjob color palette on all vehicles - Updated all vehicle colliders [WIP] Cosmetic: - Emergency vehicles can spawn as being on duty (speeding with siren on) - Traffic emergency vehicles now have siren glow too - Long vehicles now have long shadows (or glows) - Neon lights now come in varying colors - Improved headlight graphics - There are three types of headlights now, tungsten, LED and yellow (rare) - Added stability control to vehicles entering production after 2011 (no tire screeching on them) - Added alternate explosion animation - Supercar racetrack layer now includes various kinds of sports cars and bikes (like an open track) - Underground environment is now lit by rocket and ion drive thrusts - Plasma hovercrafts are now lifted off the ground - Removed headlights usage from light rain weather - Electric road vehicles now cast blue brakelight spotlight, rather than red - Dirt no longer sticks to wheels of most vehicles - Installing Electric Motor to a light prop vehicle will change its sound to electric prop - Improved Laser graphics - Added a downwards arrow to an Underground Passage prop - Salt flats now generate dirt Interface: - Win screen now gives a random message every time (there are 13 currently) - Game mode and starting year are now listed at the bottom of the gameover screen - Tweaked lose screen message formatting - Precisely specified what Neon Light does, in database - Recharging icon and glow are now blue instead of cyan - Cripsier font in changelog viewer (thanks to Damir) Code: - Switched to a newer version of SDL2 (Damir) - Automatic generation of config file when starting the game for the first time (Damir) - Added available system resolutions readout, for future use in options (Damir) - Optimized terrain particle VFX texture usage Other: - Timer no longer starts counting after pressing any button, but when player starts moving - If browsing database or options on end screen, aliens will go away and stop spamming Major Bugs: - Fixed a crash with alt-tabbing during loading (Damir) Minor Bugs: - Fixed engine deceleration sound not playing when it should sometimes - Fixed biome-repeating becoming more likely the more it repeats - Fixed new aliens not able to spawn if existing ones have repositioned recently - Fixed cave lighting glow from previous update not working - Fixed electric submarines getting damaged by water - Fixed Manual Control not giving control to player sometimes when used on AI vehicles - Improved teleports not being triggered when going through them very fast - Prevented self-driving magnet cars from swerving off magnet roads for powerups and teleports - Fixed smoke not appearing above objects on fire - Fixed installing Swimming Belt disabling Drill ability - Fixed installing Wings to a GEV not making it able to fly - Fixed Shield sound not stopping when switching vehicles - Fixed two Snow Coaches not spawning on Snowy Highway and Ice - Fixed rain sound not stopping immediately when using Radar - Fixed broken vehicle getting unbroken when installing a powerup - Fixed dead animal getting up in inventory after using Repair - Fixed plasma vehicles playing metal friction sound when braking - Fixed Alien Youngling using wrong braking sound when not controlled by player - Fixed dirt not being applied to an entire vehicle sometimes - Fixed beating Hardcore changing the starting year - Fixed Disposable Power Bank not giving power to vehicles that were originally non-powered - Fixed missing "too scared to go there" alert when going left - Fixed presence sound on hovercrafts not being looped properly - Fixed clock sound being heard before the timer starts counting - Fixed player being able to go left in the first tutorial resulting in cars disappearing - Fixed installing Solar Panel not setting up the correct top speed - Fixed player character swimming in Sea Ice, which is shallow - Fixed a pixel-gap at the bottom of the screen in 16:9, visible when raining on gameover screen

Feedback:

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-09-24 16:02:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! A new update is out and brings a number of new things to Switchcars!

Hardcore game mode:

For all of you who've beaten the game many times a new mode is now available - Hardcore! Hardcore mode, which only becomes available once you've beaten The Run, features 3 stages rather than 10. They are very long and the timer ticks only 5 seconds before not one, but two aliens show up chasing you. The idea behind the game mode was to have a tough challenge from the very start of a round, without the usual build-up present in The Run, yet make it still possible to beat it. Right now Hardcore is quite fun and beating it is highly satisfactory, but it is also in experimental phase, meaning that some things could be changed over time based on your feedback. Please let me know your thoughts about it, and I'm looking forward to seeing hardcore gameplay videos and end-screen captures!

Ingame changelog viewer:

The game now lets you see what's new in every update, directly from the database. If the game was updated, a notification in the main menu will lead you to the latest changelog, where you can read about the update. Other than what's new, you can browse changelogs of every previous update, all the way up to 21st November 2012 when development on Switchcars started.

Battery degradation:

Based on a forum suggestion, recharging electric vehicles now reduces their battery capacity with 1/6 ratio. The more the vehicle is recharged, the less capacity it has, however repairing the vehicle will restore the battery to a new state.

Disposable Power Bank powerup:

Another forum suggestion is a new kind of powerup that effectively provides instant refuel which also changes the power source and prevents it from being refueled again. Disposable Power Bank is very useful as a last resort in very tight situations.

Drogue Parachute powerup:

This active powerup lets you brake hard by deploying a parachute behind the vehicle. It's particularly useful at avoiding obstacles at very high speeds, such as when in a Land Speed Record Vehicle.

New sound effects:

Electric propeller vehicles now have their own drone-like sound. The most common examples are the older generation flying cars in 2030's and 2040's. Crash sounds have been expanded with 9 new ones, making action moments feel more dynamic and less repetitive. Light and heavy jets got improved engine sounds, as well as heavy propeller vehicles, all having gradual acceleration rather than being maxed out immediately.

Lighting effects:

When entering or exiting dark caves, the game will simulate eyes adapting to a new brightness level. Leaving a cave will cause a bright flash, whereas entering a cave will make you see almost nothing but darkness for a moment. Shooting and explosions now light up caves slightly. Thanks to another community suggestion, all vehicles now turn on headlights (and brake lights when braking) in dark or foggy environments. Traffic can also flash headlights as a warning if you're in its way.

Alien Younglings got Teleport:

With Teleport found naturally in them, younglings have become a very tactical asset. As with vehicles, using the teleport will hurt the animal, however riding the animal itself will have it regenerate health. With calculated use they can be a life-saver, but at the same time the Younglings are very fragile. As usual, there have been many more smaller changes to the game of course (e.g. bicycles and mining vehicles are now faster), so make sure to check out the full changelog - except this time you can do it either here below, or in the game's own viewer if you so desire!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

Finally, I'd like to mention that RPS yesterday published an article about Switchcars. As I've been dreaming of having it for years, I'm quite glad about its existence :) RPS: Planes, Trains and everything else: Switchcars

Changelog:

Gameplay: - Added experimental Hardcore gamemode [WIP] - Unlocked by completing The Run - Timer is always set at 5 seconds - Two aliens appear at timeout - Stages are very long - There are only 3 stages - Late-game powerups can be acquired at start - No additional aliens spawn in alien world - Added battery degradation - Range of electric vehicles gets decreased by 1/6 of every recharge - Degradation is visible on the battery level bar - Degradation is fixed by using repair stations or powerups - Using non-waterproof electric vehicle in water will degrade the battery - Added Disposable Power Bank powerup - Provides energy to a vehicle, but cannot be further refueled - Found naturally in Gyrobuses - Added Drogue Parachute powerup - Instant braking - Useful on very high speed vehicles - Includes sound effects - Found naturally in Dragsters, Spaceplanes and more - Alien Younglings are now equipped with a Teleport - Increased damage of Teleport ability on living beings compared to vehicles - Increased speed of mining vehicles - Increased acceleration of bicycles - Radar and Horn are now present on more vehicles - Fire Extinguisher is now a human powerup (meaning it can also be used on non-vehicles) - Added back the possibility of having fogless rain (light rain) Content: - Added electric prop motor sound effect - Improved light jet, heavy jet and heavy prop engine sound effects - Added 9 new crash sound effects Cosmetic: - Added lighting effects - HDR effect simulates eye adaptation when entering or exiting underground environments - Shooting and explosions slightly light up underground environments - Added headlights and brakelights to vehicles - They turn on in bad visibility (visual effect only) - They stop working if vehicle's hitpoints drop to less than 80% - Traffic can now flash headlights in addition to using horn - Added light glow effect when using Siren Interface: - Added changelog browser - Accessible via Database - Shows what's new in the latest and all previous Switchcars versions - Features a timeline of updates since Switchcars development started - Timeline gives a quick overview of size of all changelogs ever made - Player will see a notification icon if the game was updated and its latest changelog not seen yet - Difficulty description is custom tailored per selected gamemode - Animals are no longer "broken down" but "incapacitated" - Added helmet icon to "life saved" notification - Added battery recharge lane-marker to recharge tutorial - Reduced footprint of "warning: FPS too low" text - Renamed "reset tutorial tips" to "re-enable tutorial tips" Major Bugs: - Fixed input accumulation during tutorial pause - Reduced repeating sound glitch when using grappling hook Minor Bugs: - Fixed engine sound stuttering sometimes - Fixed unequipped animal not updating in inventory when revived - Fixed Alien Younglings spawning on Earth - Fixed Explosives not damaging player - Fixed electric vehicles not being affected by water when submerged - Fixed installing a powerup on a very damaged vehicle blowing up the vehicle - Fixed a bug with oncoming traffic not blowing horn at high speeds - Fixed clicking noise on heavy prop engine sound effect - Fixed a sound glitch in recharging tutorial tip, when triggered by laser fuel consumption Other: - Entering vehicles equipped with unseen powerups will automatically unlock them in database - Various small tweaks That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-08-16 22:35:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! A new update is out and brings a number of new things to Switchcars!

Hardcore game mode:

For all of you who've beaten the game many times a new mode is now available - Hardcore! Hardcore mode, which only becomes available once you've beaten The Run, features 3 stages rather than 10. They are very long and the timer ticks only 5 seconds before not one, but two aliens show up chasing you. The idea behind the game mode was to have a tough challenge from the very start of a round, without the usual build-up present in The Run, yet make it still possible to beat it. Right now Hardcore is quite fun and beating it is highly satisfactory, but it is also in experimental phase, meaning that some things could be changed over time based on your feedback. Please let me know your thoughts about it, and I'm looking forward to seeing hardcore gameplay videos and end-screen captures!

Ingame changelog viewer:

The game now lets you see what's new in every update, directly from the database. If the game was updated, a notification in the main menu will lead you to the latest changelog, where you can read about the update. Other than what's new, you can browse changelogs of every previous update, all the way up to 21st November 2012 when development on Switchcars started.

Battery degradation:

Based on a forum suggestion, recharging electric vehicles now reduces their battery capacity with 1/6 ratio. The more the vehicle is recharged, the less capacity it has, however repairing the vehicle will restore the battery to a new state.

Disposable Power Bank powerup:

Another forum suggestion is a new kind of powerup that effectively provides instant refuel which also changes the power source and prevents it from being refueled again. Disposable Power Bank is very useful as a last resort in very tight situations.

Drogue Parachute powerup:

This active powerup lets you brake hard by deploying a parachute behind the vehicle. It's particularly useful at avoiding obstacles at very high speeds, such as when in a Land Speed Record Vehicle.

New sound effects:

Electric propeller vehicles now have their own drone-like sound. The most common examples are the older generation flying cars in 2030's and 2040's. Crash sounds have been expanded with 9 new ones, making action moments feel more dynamic and less repetitive. Light and heavy jets got improved engine sounds, as well as heavy propeller vehicles, all having gradual acceleration rather than being maxed out immediately.

Lighting effects:

When entering or exiting dark caves, the game will simulate eyes adapting to a new brightness level. Leaving a cave will cause a bright flash, whereas entering a cave will make you see almost nothing but darkness for a moment. Shooting and explosions now light up caves slightly. Thanks to another community suggestion, all vehicles now turn on headlights (and brake lights when braking) in dark or foggy environments. Traffic can also flash headlights as a warning if you're in its way.

Alien Younglings got Teleport:

With Teleport found naturally in them, younglings have become a very tactical asset. As with vehicles, using the teleport will hurt the animal, however riding the animal itself will have it regenerate health. With calculated use they can be a life-saver, but at the same time the Younglings are very fragile. As usual, there have been many more smaller changes to the game of course (e.g. bicycles and mining vehicles are now faster), so make sure to check out the full changelog - except this time you can do it either here below, or in the game's own viewer if you so desire!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

Finally, I'd like to mention that RPS yesterday published an article about Switchcars. As I've been dreaming of having it for years, I'm quite glad about its existence :) RPS: Planes, Trains and everything else: Switchcars

Changelog:

Gameplay: - Added experimental Hardcore gamemode [WIP] - Unlocked by completing The Run - Timer is always set at 5 seconds - Two aliens appear at timeout - Stages are very long - There are only 3 stages - Late-game powerups can be acquired at start - No additional aliens spawn in alien world - Added battery degradation - Range of electric vehicles gets decreased by 1/6 of every recharge - Degradation is visible on the battery level bar - Degradation is fixed by using repair stations or powerups - Using non-waterproof electric vehicle in water will degrade the battery - Added Disposable Power Bank powerup - Provides energy to a vehicle, but cannot be further refueled - Found naturally in Gyrobuses - Added Drogue Parachute powerup - Instant braking - Useful on very high speed vehicles - Includes sound effects - Found naturally in Dragsters, Spaceplanes and more - Alien Younglings are now equipped with a Teleport - Increased damage of Teleport ability on living beings compared to vehicles - Increased speed of mining vehicles - Increased acceleration of bicycles - Radar and Horn are now present on more vehicles - Fire Extinguisher is now a human powerup (meaning it can also be used on non-vehicles) - Added back the possibility of having fogless rain (light rain) Content: - Added electric prop motor sound effect - Improved light jet, heavy jet and heavy prop engine sound effects - Added 9 new crash sound effects Cosmetic: - Added lighting effects - HDR effect simulates eye adaptation when entering or exiting underground environments - Shooting and explosions slightly light up underground environments - Added headlights and brakelights to vehicles - They turn on in bad visibility (visual effect only) - They stop working if vehicle's hitpoints drop to less than 80% - Traffic can now flash headlights in addition to using horn - Added light glow effect when using Siren Interface: - Added changelog browser - Accessible via Database - Shows what's new in the latest and all previous Switchcars versions - Features a timeline of updates since Switchcars development started - Timeline gives a quick overview of size of all changelogs ever made - Player will see a notification icon if the game was updated and its latest changelog not seen yet - Difficulty description is custom tailored per selected gamemode - Animals are no longer "broken down" but "incapacitated" - Added helmet icon to "life saved" notification - Added battery recharge lane-marker to recharge tutorial - Reduced footprint of "warning: FPS too low" text - Renamed "reset tutorial tips" to "re-enable tutorial tips" Major Bugs: - Fixed input accumulation during tutorial pause - Reduced repeating sound glitch when using grappling hook Minor Bugs: - Fixed engine sound stuttering sometimes - Fixed unequipped animal not updating in inventory when revived - Fixed Alien Younglings spawning on Earth - Fixed Explosives not damaging player - Fixed electric vehicles not being affected by water when submerged - Fixed installing a powerup on a very damaged vehicle blowing up the vehicle - Fixed a bug with oncoming traffic not blowing horn at high speeds - Fixed clicking noise on heavy prop engine sound effect - Fixed a sound glitch in recharging tutorial tip, when triggered by laser fuel consumption Other: - Entering vehicles equipped with unseen powerups will automatically unlock them in database - Various small tweaks That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!

[ 2016-08-16 22:35:08 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! As of this update, Switchcars features a long-awaited new means of transport - animals! -- Animals Trailer -- The update includes 4 animals, and now that the system is on its feet, around 10 more animals will be added soon.

Here arethe main features of the animal system:

• All animals are rideable
• They have custom animations for moving on land, water and air, dead or alive
• Custom sound effects
• Different behaviorfrom traffic
• Can be manned or unmanned
• Animals have regenerative health &can be revived using Medikit

There are also some smaller details, such as that animals will be scared by noise or alien presence, or that they can slightly sink in the mushy terrain (which is also new for the human character), or that if they rest on grass or water lanes, they will heal faster. With this update, the alien world is also closer to the original vision of it teeming with life. You're now able to hitch young time whales! Also, more alien animals are coming. Becides animals there have been some other small changes and bug fixes. For full details, check out the changelog below.

Changelog:

Gameplay: - Added Animals - There are 4 new animals - Animals can be taken and used just like vehicles - Animals include animations for moving on land, water and air, dead or alive, manned or unmanned - Animals include sound effects - NPC animals use a modified AI, different from NPC vehicles - Animals can be manned or unmanned, visually - Medikit now heals and revives all animals in inventory, besides healing player - Animals' health regenerates over time, like player's - Some animals feed on certain lanes, which speeds their health recovery - Animals' lifespan can be seen in the database - Animals can charge - NPC animals can be scared off by aliens or noise - Animals cannot be upgraded, have only one color variant and don't collect dirt - Alien world now features Alien Younglings - Alien world appears in the first stages again, now that it's more fun - Decreased chance of additional aliens appearing Cosmetic: - Player character and animals now dip in mushy lanes, just like vehicles - Player character will rest shortly after physical strain - Gas stations will explode if going through them on fire (but will refuel first) Interface: - Recharging blue indicator now also shows lanes with overhead wires, if having a pantograph Bugs: - Fixed alien's shaddow clipping on lanes in 16:9 - Fixed non-powered vehicles going slow when equipped with an engine - Fixed a bug with vehicles older than 1996 not spamming horn when damaged - Fixed fast-scroll year change button for gamepads being wrongly positioned in 16:10 - Fixed alerts being drawn over tutorial's "Continue..." text - Fixed recharge suggestion blinking when game over - Fixed vehicle suggestion tutorial appearing immediately affter the minimap tutorial - A few more bugfixes and tweaks As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to make a post on the forum!

[ 2016-06-24 16:32:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! As of this update, Switchcars features a long-awaited new means of transport - animals! -- Animals Trailer -- The update includes 4 animals, and now that the system is on its feet, around 10 more animals will be added soon.

Here are the main features of the animal system:

• All animals are rideable
• They have custom animations for moving on land, water and air, dead or alive
• Custom sound effects
• Different behavior from traffic
• Can be manned or unmanned
• Animals have regenerative health & can be revived using Medikit

There are also some smaller details, such as that animals will be scared by noise or alien presence, or that they can slightly sink in the mushy terrain (which is also new for the human character), or that if they rest on grass or water lanes, they will heal faster. With this update, the alien world is also closer to the original vision of it teeming with life. You're now able to hitch young time whales! Also, more alien animals are coming. Becides animals there have been some other small changes and bug fixes. For full details, check out the changelog below.

Changelog:

Gameplay: - Added Animals - There are 4 new animals - Animals can be taken and used just like vehicles - Animals include animations for moving on land, water and air, dead or alive, manned or unmanned - Animals include sound effects - NPC animals use a modified AI, different from NPC vehicles - Animals can be manned or unmanned, visually - Medikit now heals and revives all animals in inventory, besides healing player - Animals' health regenerates over time, like player's - Some animals feed on certain lanes, which speeds their health recovery - Animals' lifespan can be seen in the database - Animals can charge - NPC animals can be scared off by aliens or noise - Animals cannot be upgraded, have only one color variant and don't collect dirt - Alien world now features Alien Younglings - Alien world appears in the first stages again, now that it's more fun - Decreased chance of additional aliens appearing Cosmetic: - Player character and animals now dip in mushy lanes, just like vehicles - Player character will rest shortly after physical strain - Gas stations will explode if going through them on fire (but will refuel first) Interface: - Recharging blue indicator now also shows lanes with overhead wires, if having a pantograph Bugs: - Fixed alien's shaddow clipping on lanes in 16:9 - Fixed non-powered vehicles going slow when equipped with an engine - Fixed a bug with vehicles older than 1996 not spamming horn when damaged - Fixed fast-scroll year change button for gamepads being wrongly positioned in 16:10 - Fixed alerts being drawn over tutorial's "Continue..." text - Fixed recharge suggestion blinking when game over - Fixed vehicle suggestion tutorial appearing immediately affter the minimap tutorial - A few more bugfixes and tweaks As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to make a post on the forum!

[ 2016-06-24 16:32:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! The new update is here, and it's quite exciting not only for its content, but also because it was the last scheduled update before I can start work on the animals! Some of the new things brought here have been suggested by you on the forums, like before, and some came from simply watching gameplay videos and streams, so I just want to express huge thanks for doing that and helping me shape up the game to be more awesome with every new version! Here are the main changes: Improved Tutorial: Tutorial tips now pause the game, requiring player action in order to continue. They're still not perfect, but at least a lot easier to process. Tutorial tips can now be re-enabled in the options, if you want to redo them. Radar can see through fog: We all hate fog in Switchcars, and now we're gonna hate the rain too as it was made foggy as well. However, we're also gonna love the Radar powerup more, because it helps us see clearly through all that bad weather, at a cost of a greenish "monitor effect". Accordingly, most airplanes are now fitted with radar. "Minimal" vehicle suggestion option: Vehicle suggestion flashing tended to be annoying, but turning it off completely was not adequate either. Now you can choose a third option, "Minimal", which still shows suggested vehicles and lanes, but without the annoying effects. Better visibility of used vehicles: Thanks to your screenshots of used vehicles (listed after game over), I realized that environment and HUD were making the screen too cluttered. Now, when a run ends, a grey "fog of death" appears in front of the game world, making used vehicles clearly visible on any background environment. A few new vehicles:

• Dumpster on wheels is now a vehicle, and entering it gives a random powerup just like the Shopping Cart does.
• A new tractor has been added
• Three very old vehicles that were in the game but never spawned, can now spawn (rarely)

Diesel engine sound: Accompanying most vans and similarly sized vehicles. Ion propulsion: New type of propulsion used by electric future spacecraft (instead of rockets). It includes new visual and sound effects. Better year scrolling on gamepads: Those of you using gamepads know how difficult it was to scroll through the years, as holding left or right just didn't do anything. Well, to be fair, it still doesn't (despite working just fine on keyboard), however you can now press A and the counter will jump 10 years forward. Starting difficulty indicator: The way the starting year affects difficulty has been made a bit clearer, by telling the actual starting difficulty level when scrolling through the years. Some more highlights:

• New font with better readability
• Lightning strike now recharges batteries
• Aliens now have varying friction based on terrain
• More difficulty balancing
• Better looking loading splash screens

Of course, as usual, there are even more changes! For more details make sure to check out the full changelog below. --- Full changelog: --- Gameplay: - Tutorial tips now pause the game (easier to follow) - Lightning strike now recharges batteries - Won't total vehicle if battery had room to be charged - Alien agility now varies depending on friction with terrain - Radar replaces all bad weather with the "monitor effect" - Increased chance to spawn alien if timer ran out and there is none - Super old vehicles can now spawn - All vehicles should be encounterable now - Three vehicles that were previously never spawning can now spawn (rarely) - Player character is less tolerable to small crash damage (note: still can't die from low speed collisions) - Added reset tutorial tips option - Added powerup selection tutorial tip - Added vehicle locking tutorial tip - Rain is now always accompanied by mist - Reduced chance of mist-only weather - Most advanced planes are now equipped with Radar - Reduced maximum speed on solar-powered planes - Increased hovercraft fuel consumption - Hovercraft maximum speed (when installed as powerup) is now more mass dependent - Slightly increased alien stomp damage when jumping on spikes - Increased spawn of Cooldown powerup in later stages - Various small Tutorial improvements Content: - Turned Dumpster prop into a vehicle - Gives random powerup when entered, like the Shopping Cart - Added a new tractor Juiciness: - Added ion drive propulsion - Used by electric future spacecraft instead of rockets - Includes new visual and sound effects - Added diesel engine sound - Used by vans and similar vehicles Interface: - New GUI font - Added "Minimal" vehicle suggestion option - Shows suggested vehicles/lanes, but without annoying effects - When the run ends, background fades to a gray "death effect" for better visibility of used vehicles list - Confirm key now cycles years by 10 on year selection button (for gamepads) - Year change description now tells starting difficulty - Brightened up loading splashscreens - Added "Tutorial Complete!" notification when completing tutorial - Added to Free Roam description that fuel consumption is reduced in it Bugs: - Fixed radar not working with vehicle suggestion switched off - Fixed maglev trains being able to steer on maglev tracks - Fixed some helicopters no longer being able to fly after being used in space - Fixed aliens making sounds when hurt in space - Fixed helicopter rotor not replacing solar power with fuel powersource - Fixed radar not pointing non-collidable objects as dangerous or useful - Fixed a recent bug with stage 2 lanes being unlocked by completing tutorial - Fixed starting year not going up to 2040 - Fixed Helium Balloon not working on fuelless VTOLs - Fixed vehicle lock working in main menu - Fixed alert icon overlapping with powerup deck - Fixed "alpha" note overlapping with vehicle info - Fixed yellow in-range marker not working (from previous update) - Fixed aerial radar marker not correctly positioned in 16:9 - Fixed Nitrous flame remaining stuck on player character at ending sequence - Slight performance improvement - A few more bugfixes and tweaks As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to make a post on the forum!

[ 2016-05-27 18:48:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey all! The new update is here, and it's quite exciting not only for its content, but also because it was the last scheduled update before I can start work on the animals! Some of the new things brought here have been suggested by you on the forums, like before, and some came from simply watching gameplay videos and streams, so I just want to express huge thanks for doing that and helping me shape up the game to be more awesome with every new version! Here are the main changes: Improved Tutorial: Tutorial tips now pause the game, requiring player action in order to continue. They're still not perfect, but at least a lot easier to process. Tutorial tips can now be re-enabled in the options, if you want to redo them. Radar can see through fog: We all hate fog in Switchcars, and now we're gonna hate the rain too as it was made foggy as well. However, we're also gonna love the Radar powerup more, because it helps us see clearly through all that bad weather, at a cost of a greenish "monitor effect". Accordingly, most airplanes are now fitted with radar. "Minimal" vehicle suggestion option: Vehicle suggestion flashing tended to be annoying, but turning it off completely was not adequate either. Now you can choose a third option, "Minimal", which still shows suggested vehicles and lanes, but without the annoying effects. Better visibility of used vehicles: Thanks to your screenshots of used vehicles (listed after game over), I realized that environment and HUD were making the screen too cluttered. Now, when a run ends, a grey "fog of death" appears in front of the game world, making used vehicles clearly visible on any background environment. A few new vehicles:

• Dumpster on wheels is now a vehicle, and entering it gives a random powerup just like the Shopping Cart does.
• A new tractor has been added
• Three very old vehicles that were in the game but never spawned, can now spawn (rarely)

Diesel engine sound: Accompanying most vans and similarly sized vehicles. Ion propulsion: New type of propulsion used by electric future spacecraft (instead of rockets). It includes new visual and sound effects. Better year scrolling on gamepads: Those of you using gamepads know how difficult it was to scroll through the years, as holding left or right just didn't do anything. Well, to be fair, it still doesn't (despite working just fine on keyboard), however you can now press A and the counter will jump 10 years forward. Starting difficulty indicator: The way the starting year affects difficulty has been made a bit clearer, by telling the actual starting difficulty level when scrolling through the years. Some more highlights:

• New font with better readability
• Lightning strike now recharges batteries
• Aliens now have varying friction based on terrain
• More difficulty balancing
• Better looking loading splash screens

Of course, as usual, there are even more changes! For more details make sure to check out the full changelog below. --- Full changelog: --- Gameplay: - Tutorial tips now pause the game (easier to follow) - Lightning strike now recharges batteries - Won't total vehicle if battery had room to be charged - Alien agility now varies depending on friction with terrain - Radar replaces all bad weather with the "monitor effect" - Increased chance to spawn alien if timer ran out and there is none - Super old vehicles can now spawn - All vehicles should be encounterable now - Three vehicles that were previously never spawning can now spawn (rarely) - Player character is less tolerable to small crash damage (note: still can't die from low speed collisions) - Added reset tutorial tips option - Added powerup selection tutorial tip - Added vehicle locking tutorial tip - Rain is now always accompanied by mist - Reduced chance of mist-only weather - Most advanced planes are now equipped with Radar - Reduced maximum speed on solar-powered planes - Increased hovercraft fuel consumption - Hovercraft maximum speed (when installed as powerup) is now more mass dependent - Slightly increased alien stomp damage when jumping on spikes - Increased spawn of Cooldown powerup in later stages - Various small Tutorial improvements Content: - Turned Dumpster prop into a vehicle - Gives random powerup when entered, like the Shopping Cart - Added a new tractor Juiciness: - Added ion drive propulsion - Used by electric future spacecraft instead of rockets - Includes new visual and sound effects - Added diesel engine sound - Used by vans and similar vehicles Interface: - New GUI font - Added "Minimal" vehicle suggestion option - Shows suggested vehicles/lanes, but without annoying effects - When the run ends, background fades to a gray "death effect" for better visibility of used vehicles list - Confirm key now cycles years by 10 on year selection button (for gamepads) - Year change description now tells starting difficulty - Brightened up loading splashscreens - Added "Tutorial Complete!" notification when completing tutorial - Added to Free Roam description that fuel consumption is reduced in it Bugs: - Fixed radar not working with vehicle suggestion switched off - Fixed maglev trains being able to steer on maglev tracks - Fixed some helicopters no longer being able to fly after being used in space - Fixed aliens making sounds when hurt in space - Fixed helicopter rotor not replacing solar power with fuel powersource - Fixed radar not pointing non-collidable objects as dangerous or useful - Fixed a recent bug with stage 2 lanes being unlocked by completing tutorial - Fixed starting year not going up to 2040 - Fixed Helium Balloon not working on fuelless VTOLs - Fixed vehicle lock working in main menu - Fixed alert icon overlapping with powerup deck - Fixed "alpha" note overlapping with vehicle info - Fixed yellow in-range marker not working (from previous update) - Fixed aerial radar marker not correctly positioned in 16:9 - Fixed Nitrous flame remaining stuck on player character at ending sequence - Slight performance improvement - A few more bugfixes and tweaks As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to make a post on the forum!

[ 2016-05-27 18:48:33 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, another update is here! After coming back from Reboot developer conference in Croatia (which was awesome by the way!), I made various improvements to the game influenced by the community feedback. Thank you all for your gameplay videos, forum reports, feedback and suggestions! Keep them coming! Note: This update will replace your config.ini. If you have custom graphics settings or a control scheme, they will have to be redone. Powerup Selection: Ever wanted to install a cannon, but you had rail wheels in your way? Now you can press a key to change the order of your powerups before using them. Powerup Tips: When a powerup is picked up or selected, a short summary of what it does will be displayed below the powerup deck. Many of you asked for this as database description just wasn't immediate enough. Vehicle lock option: Remember that time you had a rocket-powered tracked train with a big laser gun and spikes, but then accidentally replaced it for a mower? You can now lock a vehicle and prevent it from being replaced - based on another great forum suggestion. Locking and unlocking is done by holding the intended slot key. Fixed database crash: Some of you noticed that since update 1.007 there was sometimes a crash when browsing the database. This has been fixed. Recharging lane indicator: If you have an electric vehicle that can be charged, all recharging lanes will be shown with a blue indicator. Vehicle top speed and mass info ingame: Whenever you enter a vehicle, its top speed and mass will show next to its type name in the top info bar. As suggested on the forum, this immediate information can be useful to compare vehicles, or to measure better how powerups affect vehicles. Difficulty balancing:

• Removed fatal crashes at low speeds
• Must reach stage 3 once to silently unlock fire and flat tires
• Slightly increased difficulty in later years/stages
• Underground segments are now ~30% shorter
• Non-steering vehicles can now steer very slowly, unless they use rails
• 3 new electrified sceneries (because 7 was not enough)

More community suggestions:

• Setting a steam-powered vehicle on fire makes it super-powerful!
• Shopping cart gives any random powerup when entered
• Vehicle suggestion can now be disabled in options
• GUI selection has been redesigned

As usual, there are even more changes. For more details make sure to check out the full changelog below. --- Full changelog: --- Gameplay: - Added Powerup Select key - Allows toggling between powerups - Shows powerup tips (more below) - Includes new sound effect - Added vehicle lock option - Hold a slot key to lock/unlock a vehicle - Locked vehicle cannot be replaced (accidentally) - Includes new sound effects - Hitting things at low speeds is no longer fatal - Similarly to using helmet, health is dropped to a minimum instead - High speed impacts still cause instant death - Setting a steam-powered vehicle on fire makes it super-powerful - Shopping cart gives any random powerup when entered - Slightly increased difficulty in later years/stages - Can't get on fire or blow tires if not having reached stage 3 once - Destroying Alien Cyst does the same effect as Alien Pollen powerup - Reduced length of underground biomes by a third - Non-steering vehicles can now steer very slowly (except on rails) - Boats now steer faster on land (easier to get back to water) - Shield now protects from lightning strike and explosives - Increased friction when overspeeding with a feeted vehicle (for future use with animals) - No crash particles appear anymore if no damage is taken Content: - Added 3 new electrified sceneries - Subway Charger, Maglev Charger, Alien Charger Interface: - Powerup tips - Shown when getting a powerup, or selecting - Recharging lanes are now appointed with a blue indicator - Vehicle top speed and mass info ingame - Shown in the top bar when entering a vehicle - Vehicle suggestion can now be disabled in options - Powerup install key now wiggles when a powerup was picked up - Redesigned selection representation in GUI - Timer and stamina bar now flash white when updated (e.g. when using Icecream) - Grapple powered vehicles are now marked with a yellow in-range marker Code: - Control options now allow more controls to be added in the future Bugs: - Fixed a crash with database occurring since 1.007 - Fixed unknown track icons all showing on the bottom track - Fixed vehicle suggestion sound playing when in range of another vehicle - Fixed Skis not giving a fuel engine to human-powered vehicles - Fixed a bug with Back gamepad button automatically being mapped to escape control - Fixed Hangbike making sparks when used - Fixed badly positioned sort type text in database, when having a wide key sprite - Fixed a bug with grapple powered notification coming when no longer having grapple - Fixed icon above player being drawn in front of alert bar - Fixed outline on three ATVs and a tram - A few more bugfixes and tweaks That's it for now. As always, if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to make a post on the forum!

[ 2016-05-13 21:01:39 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's update time! A lot of work was put into bug fixing, as well as some gameplay improvements. - Fixed ending bug As you may have seen, the update was postponed for a week after unsuccessful attempts to fix the ending bug. Eventually I dug in and during the last two weeks rewrote parts of the problematic code, which caused not only that one, but numerous other issues that have now been fixed, or at least reduced, including:

• Wrong ending location
• Repeating stages
• Non-synced safe zone and world transition
• Wobbly safe zone gate

- Vehicle rebalancing There have been various changes with the vehicles, mostly with somewhat beefing up the formerly useless ones, while nerfing the very useful ones. Don't worry though, the changes aren't too drastic, nor they make the vehicles too similar. As an example, Speed Locomotive has been made a bit slower and rarer, so you will find yourself using Freight Locomotives or Electric Multiple Units more often when looking for a quick way out. There have also been slight changes with how some physical properties behave, so for example going too fast in a tracked vehicle will produce extra friction, while steering with helicopters will be less agile. Solar and Nuclear power sources now give more speed than before, and a lot more if stacked. - Database sorting [WIP] Vehicles in database can now be sorted by category. This will be worked on more in the future, hopefully also including more sorting types, such as by production years, production range, speed, or other parameters. - Street lane By mistake this lane was never present in The Run game mode nor the database, despite being in the game otherwise. It's only a road with overhead wires, but a nice "addition" nevertheless. - Many more changes, some more interesting being:

• Added images for all lanes in database
• Alien magnet now behaves like a solid surface, suitable to wheels
• Bushes can be grappled onto without popping
• Contextual powerup given only if not in deck already
• Fixed a bug with no vehicles spawning in Salt Flats
• Improved drill behavior
• Improved bottom lane visibility on 16:9

Full changelog: Gameplay: - Contextual powerups are no longer given if in the deck already - Slightly reduced chance of getting a contextual powerup - Helmet is more likely to be given in the first two stages - Rebalanced many vehicles - Changed availability and speeds of trains to make slower ones more useful - Increased speed and/or acceleration of some slow vehicles - Slightly reduced usefulness of too good vehicles - Formerly 2034-2055 Spaceplane now spawns later - Increased stall speed on Spaceplanes - Sailboat and Iceboat are now equipped with Grappling Hooks - Electric Bicycle now uses battery power source - Supersonic Airliners consume more fuel - Alien Magnet is now as easy to drive on as the Cobble Street - Increased strength of Small Bush and Dry Bush to be able to grapple onto - Increased friction when overspeeding with a tracked vehicle - It's now harder to steer in vehicles steering with propellers (e.g. helicopters) - Solar Panel no longer decreases speed of already slow vehicles - Laser and hovercraft skirt no longer work with solar power source - Swimming Belt no longer has mass limitation - Helium Balloon no longer has mass limitation - Traffic vehicle now reacts to alien attack as if it was crashed into - Road AI now avoids much lighter objects too (changed from 12x to 20x lighter) - Removed teleports from relatively flat alien terrains - Improved underwater friction Juiciness: - Vehicles with skis will no longer dip into water if going fast enough Interface: - Added vehicle categories to vehicle database - Added sorting by category to vehicle database - Added pictures to lane database - Slightly lifted world on 16:9 to make bottom lane more visible - Player character in inventory is now shown wearing a helmet, when having one Bugs: - Fixed ending not working properly sometimes - Reduced stage being repeated (still happens, but rarely) - Fixed too short or non-existent safe zone - Fixed safe zone gate wobbliness - Safe zone gate and end of the stage are now synced - Better minimap precision - Fixed prevention of objects spawning out of reach - Smoother vehicle entering - Fixed Street lane never showing up in The Run and Database - Fixed vehicles not spawning on Salt Flat in certain years - Fixed Solar Panel or Nuclear Reactor stacking not speeding up the vehicle - Fixed drill not going in the direction of orientation, but to the right only - Fixed drill not working with a Nuclear Reactor - Fixed flying vehicles getting stuck in moon sky lanes - Fixed ending music playing when music is turned off in options - Fixed crash caused by reaching end of the world in Free Roam - Fixed Tracks powerup reducing braking on vehicles which aren't using tracks to brake - Fixed installing Armor powerup also repairing a vehicle - Fixed recharge battery vehicle slot alert sometimes not blinking - Fixed minimap icons showing in tutorial, after having unlocked them - Added missing description on Airless Tires - Redesigned 1.004 Sports Car oldtimer to be smaller - Fixed pixels of some 1.004 vehicles - Fixed grapple stress sound being hearable in space - A few more bugfixes and tweaks Don't forget to post on the forum if you have any questions, comments or suggestions!

[ 2016-04-22 17:04:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! This is one of the bigger updates, mostly focused on gameplay balancing and bugs, while also introducing some new features.

• Nuclear Reactor has been added as a new powerup. Being an infinite power source, but inflicting constant damage, it's great when your vehicle is out of fuel but having a full hitpoints bar. Installing it will slightly decrease the vehicle's speed, but the more massive it is, the longer it will last. Nuclear Reactor is now natively found powering Submarines and Aircraft Carriers.
• Powerup leveling has been added. Installing the second Nitrous or Teleport will upgrade it to a Durable or Powerful variant. Durable variants will consume less action ability bar, while the Powerful will have stronger effect.
• Contextual powerups are a new addition, making certain powerups more useful. Rail Wheels, Hull, Skis, Fire Extinguisher and Medikit will be given when the game estimates you might actually need them. Also, speed of Hull and Skis has been increased.
• Radar has been improved with new features, marking objects with different colored brackets, based on their category. It will help you be able to tell locked from unlocked vehicles, and useful from dangerous objects.
• Spikes have been improved too. To further encourage players to bounce aliens without interruptions, their fall damage gets reduced the more they bounce (the faster they fall). Also, dead aliens will no longer cause any damage to a Spikes-equipped vehicle.
• Helmet no longer breaks if it didn't save player's life. However, it is no longer viable to try and hoard many helmets, as vehicles won't give you any once you have one equipped or in your deck. Regarding other vehicle-given powerups, chance of getting one that you already posses has been dropped to 25%.
• Aliens and alien world had some changes too, based on your feedback. Two aliens can no longer spawn sooner than 5 seconds apart, while alien worlds won't appear at all before stage 4, giving players enough time to prepare before encountering one. To make traversing the alien world a bit easier until rideable alien animals are implemented, teleport frequency in it was increased too.
• Alien Pollen got an alternative use. Sometimes you have it, but the time has already ran out, however it can now be used to force all present aliens to jump, giving you tactical advantage at the right moment.
• New player character damage screen effect has been added, now more visible on the edges and less obstructing the view.
• Upgraded vehicles look much cooler now, as new upgrade graphics were made for those that are long. For example a bus will get two sets of tracks instead of one, or a locomotive will get 8 offroad wheels instead of 4.
• 2 new rare oldtimers are now available in the game. They were added in update 1.004, but accidentally set to never spawn (and thus weren't counted in the database either). This has been fixed and they can be found in the game now.

There have also been various bug fixes, most notably making spaceships work in space, and being able to get into main menu after dying, even if your body is still rolling. Read on for a full changelog:

Gameplay:

- Added Nuclear Reactor powersource - Infinite fuel but inflicts constant damage - Added powerup upgrading - Installing the second Nitrous will create Durable Nitrous or Powerful Nitrous - Same with Teleport - Added contextual powerups - Given in moments when the game thinks they could be useful - Applies to Rail Wheels, Hull, Skis, Fire Extinguisher and Medikit - Improved Radar powerup with new features - Shows locked and unlocked vehicles in different color - Shows non-vehicles in different color - Shows useful and dangerous objects in different color - Improved Spikes powerup - The harder the alien falls on spikes, the less damage to vehicle (encouraging combos) - Dead alien does no fall damage to a Spikes equipped vehicle - Helmet now breaks only when saving life - Increased player health to 25%, after having life saved by helmet - Aliens can no longer spawn sooner than every 5 seconds - Alien world no longer appears before stage 4 - Increased teleport availability in alien world - Vehicles no longer give helmets if player already has one (in deck or equipped) - Reduced chance of getting a vehicle-given powerup to 25%, if already having that powerup in the deck - Using Alien Pollen causes all aliens to jump, making it useful after time has run out - Stacking more Solar Panels now makes vehicle faster - Limited effectiveness of Spoiler to 240 kmh - Improved speed of Hull and Skis upgrades - Brake regen on battery vehicles now only works with non-empty batteries - Can no longer hold throttle and brake at the same time, to prevent a rare regen exploit - Increased powerup capsule availability - Using Shield now puts out fire - Drilling now forces the player vehicle to move - Improved steering at low speeds on hovering vehicles (e.g. helicopters) - Set tutorial powerup to always give Nitrous - Added more powerups to specific vehicles - Rebalanced powerup availability - Increased speed of tracked motorcycle

Juiciness:

- Upgrades on long vehicles now use new graphics and look much better (new wheels, tracks, etc.) - New human damage indicator graphics (more visible on the edges) - Smoother representation of damage when dying - Added camera shake when using ship horn

Interface:

- All stackable powerups now have so written in the database - Vehicles that don't spawn in traffic are now labeled as "Rare" in the database

Bugs:

- Fixed two new oldtimers never spawning (and not being listed in the database) - Fixed being unable to get into main menu after game over, if being pushed by another vehicle - Fixed spaceships and plasma vehicles unable to fly on the moon - Fixed Cooldown powerup not refilling entire extended ability bar - Fixed helmets not being broken by falling aliens - Fixed Road AI not going for refuel and repair stations - Removed vibration from "Grapple powered!" message - Fixed used vehicles showcase not being centered on 16:9 - Fixed tutorial vehicles having newer dates than the year it's taking place in - Fixed rubble sound not stopping when briefly touching a crater - Fixed plasma vehicles making braking sound when out of fuel - Fixed "Laser requires fuel" alert coming up on fuelless vehicle, even if not trying to use laser - Improved some pixel art on a few recently added vehicles - A few more bugfixes and tweaks That's it for this week's update! As usual, if you have any questions or comments please post on the forum.

[ 2016-04-08 21:56:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

This week's update brings a lot of powerups changes, introducing some new ones as well as improving some of the previously less-commonly used ones! Note: This update may reset your config.ini file. Please back it up if you want to keep your old settings! Powerup changes: Spikes This new powerup will hurt aliens jumping on your vehicle Mad Max style, but it will also make them bounce higher with every consecutive hit. The faster they fall on the spikes, the more damage they receive! Spoiler New powerup that increases speed of any vehicle, regardless of propulsion type. Alien Pollen New powerup that delays alien arrival, by adding more time to the timer. Airless Tire Spare Tire was one of the not so useful powerups. This new iteration of it not only fixes flat tires, but also prevents wheels in general from ever going flat. Cooldown This powerup also wasn't very useful before, which is why it got improved to not only refill the active ability bar, but also increase its capacity by 10% with every use, allowing you to use all active abilities with a greater duration. This increase is essentially a player character upgrade, and is valid for the duration of the whole run, but is limited at 150% of the default value. Cooldown is now represented by an icecream icon, and can be found in vehicles with food, such as icecream trucks or motorhomes. Neon Light No longer only a cosmetic effect - now also makes aliens jump more frequently. Fire Extinguisher This is just a rename and new icon for what was previously called Car Wash. Powerups aside, I noticed that it wasn't clear to players that some of the non-powered vehicles are equipped with a grappling hook which can be used to propel them. Such vehicles now show a "Grapple powered!" message. Those are some of the bigger changes. You can check the full changelog below: Gameplay: - Added Spikes powerup - Added Spoiler powerup - Added Alien Pollen powerup - Cooldown now also increases active ability bar per use (and got a new icon) - Spare Tire has become Airless Tire (cannot be popped) - Neon light causes aliens to jump more frequently - Car Wash was renamed to Fire Extinguisher (and got a new icon) - Aliens jumping on player will no longer easily destroy the helmet - Alien can no longer kill/damage airborne player character - Increased chance of finding a rover on the moon - Spaceplanes now come equipped with radar - Ferries now give Swimming Belts Interface: - Non-powered vehicles equipped with grappling hook will now display "Grapple powered!" message - Notification pops out when a helmet has saved your life - Human powerups are now displayed with red background in the deck - Gameover message now displays stage and year (useful for screenshots) - Changed "Reconfigure controls" to "Remap controls" Bugs: - Fixed a bug with drill making sound on the moon - Fixed some missing pixels on new assets - Slightly improved Skip Loader graphics As usual, if you have any questions or comments, please post on the forum!

[ 2016-04-01 18:44:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Another Friday update is here!

Helmet powerup:

Many of you asked for a less harsh death by impact (usually from grappling hook). After discussing it in this thread, the new Helmet powerup was added. Wearing a helmet while hitting something hard will prevent death, but your health will drop to a bare minimum. However, the helmet will only withstand one hit - even if it was not a fatal one, after which it will disappear and you will have to look for another if you want to stay safe from impact. Note that the helmet only protects you from collisions, but not from other hazards, such as fire or being eaten by aliens. In general, the helmet is experimental and may be changed in the future.

Vehicle-given powerups:

How does one get a helmet? Aside from finding powerups in usual green supply barrels, a new way of obtaining them was added. Now certain vehicles have a 50% chance to provide a powerup when entered. For example, if you enter an ambulance, you may find a Medikit in it, or if you enter a tanker truck you may find a Refuel powerup in it. Helmets are most easily obtained in motorcycles or construction vehicles.

47 new vehicles:

Lastly, new vehicles have been added. There wasn't a lot of variety in the early years before, so a set of 47 road oldtimers have been added, ranging from 1890 to 1970. These are mostly cars, but there are also some new trucks, buses, and even a tram. A few of the new vehicles are rare and don't spawn in regular traffic. Preview of 6 vehicles: http://i.imgur.com/iWLs0rg.png Full changelog below: Gameplay: - Added Helmet powerup - Some vehicles now have 50% chance to give a powerup when entered - Drill no longer works if vehicle is broken down Content: - Added 47 new road vehicles (oldtimers) Interface: - Pressing non-used keys (e.g. F12, Printscreen) no longer brings up menu after gameover - Added a 1 sec delay before one can bring up menu after gameover Bugs: - Fixed a bug with traffic spawning (now has better availability when standing still) - Fixed "not powered" notification not going away even after player is moving fast in said vehicle - Fixed suggested lane indicator being positioned too high in 16:9 - Fixed missing upgraded vehicle indicator in 16:9 - Fixed red radar lane warning indicator showing too low in 16:9 - A few more tweaks That's it for this update! If you have any questions on feedback, please let me know on the forum. The next update will be focused on powerups, adding some new ones as well as updating some of the existing ones.

[ 2016-03-25 20:40:53 CET ] [ Original post ]

Update 3 is here! This time it is focused on bug fixes and some gameplay improvements. The most notable change is improved prop/vehicle spawning, which should lead to less situations with nothing to grapple to, or nothing to drive. It'll also make it slightly easier to avoid obstacles, as they will no longer appear in repetitive wall formations. Note that due to some changes with controls (adding d-pad on gamepad as default movement keys), settings will be reset. Please backup your old config.ini before updating if you want to keep them. Read on for more details: Gameplay: - Lessened lack of objects to grapple to or to drive on most terrain types - Improved prop/vehicle spawn positioning, now more scattered, less wall formation - Increased horizontal range for grappling up to flying vehicles - Slightly decreased chance of the second alien (after the first one was lost/killed) to appear - Reduced collision range on landmines and other explosives - Slightly increased chance of powerups spawning in free roam - Flipped airport staircase horizontally to look less like a jump ramp Code: - Added option to disable dynamic savegame (for slow HDDs) - Added gamepad d-pad controls to default movement controls - Implemented better identification of the unknown joy_axis input crash (issue #25[bitbucket.org]) by Nenad Interface: - Better explanation of how years affect difficulty in main menu - Years description now let's player know if they unlocked all years - Aspect ratio option can now be chosen using arrows too - After completing the tutorial, game mode automatically changes to The Run Bugs: - Fixed a bug with alien unable to reach edge of the world in 16:9 - Fixed plasma hovercrafts still gliding when out of fuel - Fixed loading screen being stretched in 16:9 - Raised position of database in 16:9 - Fixed upgrade notification text centering on 16:9 - Reduced camera shake imprecision build up - Fixed airborne cable vehicles from playing braking sound while falling - Fixed a super rare crash caused by train being derailed out of screen - Fixed tutorial tip appearing on damaged, or fuelless aircraft - Fixed powerup button being clickable while menu is active - Fixed areal radar beeping in space sky lanes - Added camera shake to grapple rope - A few more tweaks If you have any questions/reports about this update, please make a post on the forum! I'm starting work on the next update, which will include the new helmet powerup, among other things.

[ 2016-03-18 12:40:21 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone, I've been working non-stop since the release at solving some of the most pressing issues, obviously related to the screen size, fullscreen, and losing the window focus:

• Fixed fullscreen issues (please read more below) - In options, change "Aspect ratio" to 16:9 and restart the game - If this still doesn't help, try enabling the "Fit screen (beta)" option too - Note that "Fit screen (beta)" is incomplete and may cause glitches and performance drop, so use it only if aspect ratio doesn't solve the fullscreen problem.
• Fixed the game freezing when moving the mouse cursor out of window
• Attempted fix with OverflowError crash (by Damir)

Please backup your config.ini and savegame.ini. They should not be harmed by the update, but since this is the first one, that's just for precaution. This update was first released on a beta branch yesterday. Future updates will also be tested there before going live. You can read more about the update and how to opt in to the beta branch here. If you have any issues with this update, please post there too. Update 3 is already in the works, and is focused on various bug fixes, before moving on to new gameplay features. I will post about it soon.

[ 2016-03-11 20:45:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everyone! As most of you know, Switchcars launches on Steam Early Access today! I just wanted to say a word or two about it prior to release.

Launch time

The specific time of release is 13:00 EST / 19:00 CET, which is in about 3.5 hours from now.

Price

The game will cost 8,99 USD/EUR (or other Steam-suggested localized price, depending on your location). Make use of the -10% launch discount, which will be active for the duration of one week! The price will not change when the game leaves Early Access, apart from occasional special offers like this release week or Steam sales, so now might be the best time to get it, provided you'd like immediate access. Other than on Steam, the game will be available for purchase on the Humble Store and Playfield (via Steam keys).

Bug reports

I've been working day and night for this launch, and with amazing help of my friends, spent months ensuring the game will run as smooth as possible when it comes out. However, I want to emphasize that Switchcars is in alpha after all, and some issues should be expected. If you experience any issues with the game, please report them either to Bug Reports on Steam, or to the official issue tracker. I will look into these regularly.

Known issues

As bugs get reported, I will do my best to add and sort them to the issue tracker, with appropriate priority. Here you will be able to see all the issues (or suggestions!) and track their progress. - Note the potential screen size issue: Currently the game requires a screen that supports 1280x800 resolution on a 16:10 screen. On most screens we tried it there were no problems, but on those that don't support this resolution, the game appeared stretched or cut off. It is still playable, but doesn't look as intended. We are looking into fixing this, but if you encounter this issue, for now it may help to run the game in windowed mode (disable Fullscreen in options and restart the game).

Suggestions

As noted in Early Access information, please post your suggestions and just any feedback you have! You can do so on the General Discussions forum. It will greatly help shape up the upcoming updates. Just note that due to Switchcars being made by a single person for the most part, only so many suggestions can make their way into the updates. That said, all the suggestions will be taken into consideration, and if the revenue allows hiring more developers to share the load, so will the development speed increase. It's also important to note that many systems in the game have been made in such a way so that the project would be finished in time by a single person (and I was not even a programmer when it all started). For the last year more or less, due to lack of resources, I had a specific deadline by which the game needed to be released, and while I've done everything that I intended for Early Access, some compromises had to be made. Some solutions had to be rushed, and there's generally plenty of room for improvement. This mostly reflects in having certain limitations that will prevent immediate implementation of many "obvious" suggestions. I am hoping that during Early Access there will be more time and resources to fully dedicate into improving the specific bits of code that cause these limitations.

Gameplay

Despite being full of content, Switchcars has many layered emergent systems that stir up the gameplay. It's fun and highly replayable, and as someone who has been playing it nearly every day for over three years, I put a lot of balancing effort into it. You may find it difficult. If beating it is your only goal, it may even be frustrating at times. But, to some, losing is fun too.

Updates

So far I've been making a new build approximately every month, for my own development needs. In Early Access I will be looking into making them more frequent, currently aiming at biweekly. Currently considered future updates include more powerups, more music, more types of lanes, more backgrounds, more animals, Steam features such as leaderboard and achievements, perhaps new game modes (some have been in the plans for a long time), and of course, hundreds of new vehicles (it's already got a thousand)! Depending on the revenue and feedback, the scope of the game might change as well. Also please note that some of those things will take time! I'll keep you updated regarding their progress through the forum or the website.

Final word

It's just amazing that the game I've been working on for over three years will come out in only a few hours! For any questions or information please get in touch via the Switchcars website, or on Twitter and Facebook. I'm sorry that I cannot reply to all of the mail I get due to time restrictions, but I do read it all. I hope you will enjoy the launch, have fun, and have a great weekend! Thanks!

[ 2016-03-04 14:35:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Thrilled to announce that on 4th March 2016, after more than three years in the making, Switchcars will come to Steam Early Access, for Windows and Linux platforms! Announcement trailer In the meantime you can see the list of many Switchcars features in the Steam description, as well as information on its current state regarding Early Access. Don't forget to spread the word, start new discussions, and keep track of daily updates on Facebook and Twitter! For more information about the game you can check out the official Switchcars website and its pages. 10 days to go!

[ 2016-02-23 19:09:15 CET ] [ Original post ]