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Hello, MiLE HiGH TAXi enthusiasts and Steam Deck gamers!
I'm Cassius, the solo developer behind MiLE HiGH TAXi, and today I'm reaching out for your support in a very special way. As the Steam Autumn Sale unfolds, there's an opportunity to celebrate the games that have transformed our handheld gaming experiences - and MiLE HiGH TAXi is right there at the forefront.
Hello, fellow gamers and fans of MiLE HiGH TAXi! I'm excited to announce the release of the "Race Mode" DLC - a brand-new expansion that introduces a whole new dimension to the game. As the solo developer behind this futuristic arcade-style taxi game, I've crafted this DLC to bring you even more excitement. Get ready to hit the skyways at breakneck speeds and compete against other NPC taxi drivers in 5 races that will test your skills and reflexes to the limit. The expansion transforms the bustling, futuristic city into your personal racetrack, offering plenty of opportunities to prove your mettle and claim the title of the fastest taxi in Mile High City. What's New:
Quality of life, fixes, and game enhancements update for Release v1.1.5 For further details on these fixes and more, please visit https://steamcommunity.com/app/1366560/discussions/0/3790381090380658049/ [olist]
Fixes to the Linux build's Player Selection scene load.
[previewyoutube=af5-yRUaZ2s;full][/previewyoutube]
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi/
Don't miss your chance to try MiLE HiGH TAXi for free at the next Steam Game Festival, starting October 3rd 2022. There will be a free playable demo and I also plan on doing a couple of live streams throughout the festival. More information about the exact dates will follow, so stay tuned. I'm VERY excited to share this first public release with the community! Help me by spreading the word! Oh, and make sure to Wishlist the game so you don't miss it! Cheers, Cassius
MiLE HiGH TAXi - it's "The Fifth Element" meets "Crazy Taxi" Hello there. I'm Cassius John-Adams, creator of MiLE HiGH TAXi. I will be playing and live streaming for about an hour as part of the Steam Game Festival 2022. Be sure to come by and watch me play. Steam Next Fest runs from October 3rd to 10th 2022. See you Friday, October 7th, 11:00PM EDT (8:00PM PDT)
MiLE HiGH TAXi - it's "The Fifth Element" meets "Crazy Taxi" Hello there. I'm Cassius John-Adams, creator of MiLE HiGH TAXi. I will be playing and live streaming for about an hour as part of the Steam Game Festival 2022. Be sure to come by and watch me play. Steam Next Fest runs from October 3rd to 10th 2022. See you Monday, October 3rd, 9:00PM EDT (6:00PM PDT)
For today's screen shot (below), I show some of the work I've been doing to further fill out the city. Some of the recent work this week includes street signage, traffic lights, more billboards, and pedestrian skywalks. The black billboards are place holders for now. I also turned on the temporary cars for visual effect again. Most of the last week's work has focused between John Street on the east, Spadina Ave on the west, King St West on the south and Queen St West on the north. The game is still running over 60fps on my low-end (for gaming) laptop, however with all the additional objects I have seen a 5fps frame rate drop. This means in my next round of profiling and performance streamlining I will need to look at options for loading objects on-demand in anticipation of player's actions. That should easily recover the lost 5fps when the time comes. As always, these are development screenshots and they do not represent final game play or visuals of the game.
Today I present a screen shot of one of the key intersections I have been working on (Queen St West & John St). I'm mostly doing infill of billboard advertisements, traffic lights, and street signage. I also decided to turn on the temporary cars for visual effect. As always, these are development screenshots and they do not represent final game play or visuals of the game. See an animated GIF of this scene on Twitter
Hi, I'm Cassius John-Adams, solo indie game developer of MiLE HiGH TAXi. I'm pleased to announce the first official trailer for my game is now available on Steam. MiLE HiGH TAXi takes place in the 24th century when 250 billion people live on Earth. Mile high skyscrapers litter the landscape (think "The Fifth Element"). Your job as a taxi driver is to pick up and deliver paying passengers as fast as you can in a race against time. Click play on the trailer below, sit back, and enjoy the next 60 seconds. If you think the game looks like fun, be sure to add it to your wishlist. Hundreds of hours of game play for just $4.99.
Today I decided to capture a quick video while testing out some early work on pedestrians. I also dropped in a bit of traffic to help the scene along. Neither the pedestrians or vehicles are final. As usual for my development logs, this does not represent any final game play or visuals. Let me know what you think in the comments section. [previewyoutube=sji4IO1esXw;full][/previewyoutube]
I'm happy to announce that MiLE HiGH TAXi, described as "The Fifth Element meets Crazy Taxi", has just surpassed 100 Wishlists on Steam - without any advertising. When I posted the game's store page to Steam, I didn't expect people would take time from their busy day, check out my game, and show their support by Wishlisting it on Steam. At least not without advertising or a little arm-twisting. Seeing the support of over 100 people to date - people I don't even know - makes me feel good about what I'm doing and encourages me to make MiLE HiGH TAXi the absolute best it can be. It makes me feel less alone through all the tireless nights I've been working on it these last 8 months. Look, I know there are games that have thousands, or even millions of wishlists on Steam. But this is my game. It's important to me and I want to share it with you. To that end, special thanks and appreciation is owed to those individuals who have posted into the community forum or contacted me directly with their ideas, feedback, and suggestions. They have been invaluable. I've always found self-promotion to be... awkward... But if you're reading this and haven't already Wishlisted MiLE HiGH TAXi, please do that now! It would mean so much to me and it helps Steam's algorithms know that there is genuine interest and support for the game. That's all for now, but I'll finish up by saying a HUGE THANK YOU to the first 100+ Wishlisters and supporters. For those who are Wishlisting now; thanks and welcome to the family! Sincerely, Cassius John-Adams
While developing an #indiegame, or any game really, it's necessary to go into Play mode and test things out. This usually happens dozens of times every day. This time I decided to do a video capture of one of my testing sessions and post it here. Please keep in mind that this does not represent any final game play or visuals. For example, there's a lot of visual "popping" where a distant building quickly shifts to a different brightness value as we get closer. Some buildings are space-fillers as another example. Let me know what you think in the comments section. [previewyoutube=EtgT2ZIO-OM;full][/previewyoutube]
One of the most important aspects of game development is making things performant. I'm happy to announce that I've just completed my second round of performance optimizations, resulting in a 250% frame rate increase! As of right now MiLE HiGH TAXi delivers up to 110 fps (frames per second) on my non-gaming test laptop. Gaming machines will do a lot better too!
The increased performance allows me get back to world-building the game, which I haven't gotten to do much of over the last few weeks. First on the agenda is the continued build-out of the city layout (1) - basically where the buildings are positioned. Once that's done I'll get back to adding skywalks, public transit, skyway traffic lights, and signage. Pedestrian activity isn't likely to happen until after round three performance optimizations.
(1) - I have included a screen shot from Unity showing part of the city layout I'm currently working on. It contains the first 100 floors of the mile tall high-density buildings.
