2019 Updates

So, it's been a while since we posted a development update here! Multiple game patches have been released (without posting any dev news) during January - April 2019, but these were mostly minor fixes and tweaks. As of the May and June updates, we're getting back into the swing of things with much more meaty change logs.

For May/0.34, we focused on game presentation, and explored some new UI styles. We're still experimenting and exploring UI options, but as a teaser, here's some of the "spectator mode" concept art that we commissioned from Chris @ Vyxl: Steam post image Steam post image Steam post image

For June/0.35 we've tried to put a bit of polish on the sim-racing / VR-arcade experience. Force feedback is greatly improved, driving the Akuna with a steering wheel is more fun, the "Bathurst" event has been re-tuned, the controls HUD updates to reflect your actual input mappings, and the controls configuration is a little bit more streamlined.

Engine development

The custom game engine behind 22, Revgen, is made up of several modular parts. The core graphics module, "GX" is in use by Big Ant Studios on the majority of their sports titles. At the start of this year, they asked for help to bring Cricket 19 to the Nintendo Switch, so I've spent the first quater of this year porting Revgen's GX to the Switch, and optimizing the renderer for Cricket 19.

22 is not currently in development for the Switch, but it's nice to know that our engine is now capable of running on the Switch if that becomes part of our future plans :)

Phantasma

https://medium.com/phantasticphantasma/phantasma-x-goati-entertainment-e5ba9af45283

Followers on social media might have noticed our partnership with Phantasma - a blockchain technology project. As well as using the Steam inventory service, we will be allowing players to choose to receive in-game cosmetic items on the Phantasma chain instead. These items will be tradable and marketable to other players directly, with no central authority controlling them. We hope to continue developing this partnership in the future to allow for other diverse ideas based on blockchain technology, such as tournaments funded by in-game currencies, incentivised community server hosting, post-race cheat detection, rewarding track creators, distributing mods, etc... Join us in discord if you'd like to chat about the possibilities of distributed in-game currencies.

eSports

http://trade-media.com.au/news/read/goati-entertainment-receives-innovation-marketing-grant-creative-victoria/

Our plans have always been to refine 22's eSports capabilities with closed beta tournaments before the main, public launch. Our local government's "Creative Victoria" agency has decided to back this plan by providing funding for an eSports series (yet to be announced).

Battle Arena Melbourne

https://www.facebook.com/22series/posts/1287639591389528

We showcased our game at BAM 2019, held another lap time tournament and gathered a lot of useful feedback. A big congrats to FC for taking out first place and taking home the AMD Ryzen CPU! Steam post image

Side projects

As well as developing 22, we're using the same core game/engine to develop driver training software: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTw7L5ouhy0 As this is all running on top of the same "platform" as 22, we're hoping that eventually 22's mod tools will allow the community to create any kind of driving/racing experience that they like, including realistic city driving such as this :)

Patch notes

2018/12/24 - v0.33

Vehicle physics improvements. Special event - "ponies take over the mountain".

2019/02/22 - v0.33a - hotfix

Improved Motion Blur. Fix HDR TV support. Fix OpenVR (SteamVR) support. Fix cars sliding when still. Fix cars sometimes using a different vehicle's physics config. Fix "Press back to reset" HUD. Tutorial improvements. Implement Open Interactivity System.