Update: Beta Coming Soon, Bug Fixes, Optimizations
Since the last update a few weeks ago, I've been focusing my time on preparing MiLE HiGH TAXi for beta testing. Originally I was targeting the 1st week of February but that is likely to slip into the 2nd week.
Realistically, I should be calling this an Alpha release, but "beta" seems to be the catch-all term these days. There will be a number of things missing in the beta build. Speaking of which, I still need to figure out Steam's system for releasing betas to people. So bare with me on that. The following are the biggest components that are either problematic or likely won't be ready in time for the beta build: 1. Windows only for now (sorry Mac users!) 2. No score page presented at the end of game play 3. No ability to restart the game without killing the app and restarting it. A time-consuming adrenaline-killing cycle :O 4. Booster packs won't be available 5. No vehicle traffic. I'm fixing and optimizing the traffic system. 6. No ability to use right-analog stick to manually move the camera view 7. No Navcom AI (3D minimap) 8. There will be bugs. It's bug-hunting season! 9. Large areas of environment mostly empty - limited number of passengers, pedestrians, bridges, skywalks, etc 10. Memory usage is currently way over budget (it skyrockets up to 12GB sometimes and my memory budget for the final game is 4GB). This is likely to cause crashes for some beta testers. 11. Steam achievements. There's only 1 so far. 12. Each vehicle currently handles exactly the same. Also, the handling definitely needs work on the up/down rotation timing. 13. Multi-language support not fully implemented. Current performance is about 120fps-160fps on my gaming machine. Occasional drops to 80fps when memory usage is high. On my potato, it's unusable - 35fps but with countless drops below 10fps. I believe this is due to high memory consumption, likely pushing some of the game into swap/paging on-disk (see below). It's an 8GB laptop, Intel UHD-640 integrated graphics, Intel i3; so a crappy machine anyways. If you're interested in participating in the beta, please let me know.
I'm currently working on pooling the pedestrians and passengers, which is proving to be more complex than I anticipated. The end goal is, of course, performance! Pooling them should help me in three ways. First, a bit less memory used. Second, less computational power (CPU) required overall. Third is it brings me closer to being able to implement "restart game" without reloading the entire scene. The biggest problem factor right now is RAM usage. As mentioned, it goes up to 12GB occasionally and I want to keep it to 4GB or less. Not sure how much improvement I'll be able to squeeze in prior to beta - so player beware! :)
I'm not going to itemize the bugs I've been fixing here because that would take too long and, let's be honest, nobody cares! :) But in short, I have fixed approximately 50 bugs over the last week or two and there's still a bunch more to get fixed up. I'm fairly certain they won't all be remedied prior to the beta launch. That's all for now. I'll try and post one more time before the actual beta test news/announcement.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi
[ 2022-01-26 00:48:37 CET ] [ Original post ]
Update
Since the last update a few weeks ago, I've been focusing my time on preparing MiLE HiGH TAXi for beta testing. Originally I was targeting the 1st week of February but that is likely to slip into the 2nd week.
Beta Details
Realistically, I should be calling this an Alpha release, but "beta" seems to be the catch-all term these days. There will be a number of things missing in the beta build. Speaking of which, I still need to figure out Steam's system for releasing betas to people. So bare with me on that. The following are the biggest components that are either problematic or likely won't be ready in time for the beta build: 1. Windows only for now (sorry Mac users!) 2. No score page presented at the end of game play 3. No ability to restart the game without killing the app and restarting it. A time-consuming adrenaline-killing cycle :O 4. Booster packs won't be available 5. No vehicle traffic. I'm fixing and optimizing the traffic system. 6. No ability to use right-analog stick to manually move the camera view 7. No Navcom AI (3D minimap) 8. There will be bugs. It's bug-hunting season! 9. Large areas of environment mostly empty - limited number of passengers, pedestrians, bridges, skywalks, etc 10. Memory usage is currently way over budget (it skyrockets up to 12GB sometimes and my memory budget for the final game is 4GB). This is likely to cause crashes for some beta testers. 11. Steam achievements. There's only 1 so far. 12. Each vehicle currently handles exactly the same. Also, the handling definitely needs work on the up/down rotation timing. 13. Multi-language support not fully implemented. Current performance is about 120fps-160fps on my gaming machine. Occasional drops to 80fps when memory usage is high. On my potato, it's unusable - 35fps but with countless drops below 10fps. I believe this is due to high memory consumption, likely pushing some of the game into swap/paging on-disk (see below). It's an 8GB laptop, Intel UHD-640 integrated graphics, Intel i3; so a crappy machine anyways. If you're interested in participating in the beta, please let me know.
Optimizations
I'm currently working on pooling the pedestrians and passengers, which is proving to be more complex than I anticipated. The end goal is, of course, performance! Pooling them should help me in three ways. First, a bit less memory used. Second, less computational power (CPU) required overall. Third is it brings me closer to being able to implement "restart game" without reloading the entire scene. The biggest problem factor right now is RAM usage. As mentioned, it goes up to 12GB occasionally and I want to keep it to 4GB or less. Not sure how much improvement I'll be able to squeeze in prior to beta - so player beware! :)
Bug Fixes
I'm not going to itemize the bugs I've been fixing here because that would take too long and, let's be honest, nobody cares! :) But in short, I have fixed approximately 50 bugs over the last week or two and there's still a bunch more to get fixed up. I'm fairly certain they won't all be remedied prior to the beta launch. That's all for now. I'll try and post one more time before the actual beta test news/announcement.
Don't miss launch day savings. Wishlist Now!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560/MiLE_HiGH_TAXi
MiLE HiGH TAXi
Cassius John-Adams
Cassius John-Adams
Coming Soon!
Indie Casual Racing Singleplayer
Game News Posts 36
🎹🖱️Keyboard + Mouse
🎮 Full Controller Support
Mixed
(64 reviews)
https://www.milehightaxi.net/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1366560
[288.22 M]
MiLE HiGH TAXi is The Fifth Element meets Crazy Taxi.
In this 24th century scifi game you're the driver of a flying taxi cab in a race against time to transport as many paying customers as you can before the meter runs out. Earn enough cash, experience and respect to work the upper floors and skywalks. The higher you work the cleaner the air, richer the customers, and the more cash you can make!
You'll play as Kyle, Emma, or Skyler, a down-on-your-luck citizen relegated to the polluted airs of the city's sub-100th floor level. Your new career as a taxi driver is an opportunity to get out of the slum, the smog, and the eternal shadows, earn money and promotions, and make it to clean air. As you drive through 24th century Toronto, pick up passengers from mile-high super skyscrapers and deliver them to their destinations as fast as you can. Do it fast enough and you'll earn bonus time and make happy customers. Happy customers are well paying customers. Use the GPS to help you navigate, and Driver App mode to find hidden customers. But keep your eyes on the sky - especially when using your Hyper Drive Boost! You're not the only one driving the Skyways and other cars and traffic obstacles will slow you down. Once you get a handle on your new job and learn the city, start using narrow back alleys to navigate the city faster. As you progress, expect to be promoted to the city's higher floor levels where you can earn more money. Become an expert and experience sunlight for your first time as you blast through Skyways at the 600+ floor levels.
MiLE HiGH TAXi is a single player, game controller or mouse-keyboard arcade game that you download and play on your PC (Windows, Linux) or Mac. It isn't about customizing your car or public achievements. There are no save points. Just start it up and get playing!
In this 24th century scifi game you're the driver of a flying taxi cab in a race against time to transport as many paying customers as you can before the meter runs out. Earn enough cash, experience and respect to work the upper floors and skywalks. The higher you work the cleaner the air, richer the customers, and the more cash you can make!
You'll play as Kyle, Emma, or Skyler, a down-on-your-luck citizen relegated to the polluted airs of the city's sub-100th floor level. Your new career as a taxi driver is an opportunity to get out of the slum, the smog, and the eternal shadows, earn money and promotions, and make it to clean air. As you drive through 24th century Toronto, pick up passengers from mile-high super skyscrapers and deliver them to their destinations as fast as you can. Do it fast enough and you'll earn bonus time and make happy customers. Happy customers are well paying customers. Use the GPS to help you navigate, and Driver App mode to find hidden customers. But keep your eyes on the sky - especially when using your Hyper Drive Boost! You're not the only one driving the Skyways and other cars and traffic obstacles will slow you down. Once you get a handle on your new job and learn the city, start using narrow back alleys to navigate the city faster. As you progress, expect to be promoted to the city's higher floor levels where you can earn more money. Become an expert and experience sunlight for your first time as you blast through Skyways at the 600+ floor levels.
MiLE HiGH TAXi is a single player, game controller or mouse-keyboard arcade game that you download and play on your PC (Windows, Linux) or Mac. It isn't about customizing your car or public achievements. There are no save points. Just start it up and get playing!
MINIMAL SETUP
- OS: LinuxMemory: 8 GB RAMStorage: 10 GB available space
- Memory: 8 GB RAMStorage: 10 GB available space
- Storage: 10 GB available space
- Memory: 16 GB RAMStorage: 10 GB available space
- Storage: 10 GB available space
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