Exo Rally, State of the Game - May 2024

Welcome to the May 2024 Exo Rally update, here's what's been happening!

Demo Incoming

Super excited to share we will be releasing a demo soon! Exact date is still TBD, but it'll feature the start of the ‘story campaign' on Dhool (the meteor/dust world). You’ll be able to drive one rover class on one planet, and you’ll be able to race in daily stages and rallies and compete via online leaderboards. The dailies will be generated every day, so you'll have new stages to race and compete on for a long time to come!

Dust/element accumulation work nearly finished

Depending on Dhool's weather, this invasive nano scale dust will either clear off (rain) or build up (dust storm) and effect almost every system on your rover

The main challenge with dust is accounting for degraded steering speed, RCS thruster strength and brake strength. This makes it much harder to react to sudden threats. Frequent use of these parts can temporarily clear them out again ready for use...

Also highly dust related!:

• Repairing/cleaning progress

• Build up rates based on weather and surfaces driven over

• More dust particle visuals

• Rovers now visually build up dust and dirt over a stage

Updated waypoint visuals

We've been slightly ho hum on the waypoint visuals for a while so we've given them an overhaul:

This makes it obvious which side to pass on, and includes a cross-filled 'plane' where you pass through it, so even if you are miles from the waypoint emitter, you'll know exactly where you need to be to clear the waypoint.

Solid ‘posts’ have been removed and replaced with orbs that are sunken into the ground. In some instances, these solid posts will be replaced by the natural environment itself - waypoints will get placed on top of rocks or bushes or stumps or monoliths or other structures.

New planet orbit visuals, for planet arrival/drop cinematics

Obstacle scanner update

This scanner will now see properly (illuminates rocks/structures) through any level of dust

Tutorialised drone controls

You'll be led through a tutorial for your first time controlling the survey drone:

Large bushes

Added large (slowing) bushes to Dhool in some areas

Rover visuals updates

Sponsorships and numbers glow in the dark:

Rover dirt levels build up over a stage and entire rally. Clean: Dirty:

Rover setup options

We've been asked about exactly what setup options you'll have to play with, so I've included everything at the end of this update.

New menu screen

Added story ‘backdrop’ as the menu screen. The short version of the story is the protagonist was a top contender for the Exo Rally Championship title, but suffered a near fatal accident, sidelining you for years. Now you are beginning your triumphant return.

Rhys wrote some new menu music to go with as well, check this tweet: Menu Screen Video/Music

Here's a list of everything else we've done!

• In-Stage Race Engineer First Pass - "Bennet" appears/talks to you at the start of and eventually throughout stages.

• UI updated

• Tires: Slick tire art in, tire failure art (shredded tires) and sound

• Performance upgrades: Dhool at 4k res was 45-60 fps now more like 70-85 on a 3080.

• Damage balancing

• Staged headlight destruction. If main headlights are destroyed, “backup” lights activate on the rover’s roof, which can also be damaged.

• Rover physics tuning

• Backstory/story/campaign work

• New audio for gear changes, camera changes, engine damage, tire damage, ambience, etc

• Camera change FX

• Terrain scanner changes: no longer renders behind terrain + keep scale consistent/normal instead of dynamic scaling = easier to read where challenging terrain is

Rover Tuning Image Dump!: