Ocala Update - Race Engine, Weather System, UI Overhaul

In the last devlog we talked about worldwide, road to owner, real-life schedules and race engine improvements on experimental version.

Race Engine

We published new race engine, which is still being improved and is currently around version 0.75 of the race engine.

The engine was partially rewritten in C++ along with some central daily simulation functions, significantly speeding up both race simulation and the daily sim.

Split times are now recorded and shown in the UI during races, alongside a target time and delta based on race history. A button in the race scene shows all horse stat cards at once without hovering over, and a toggle can hide results until every horse has crossed the finish line. Hotkeys were added to change race speed during live races.

Overtaking now prefers the inside line when possible, and horses handle side-by-side racing properly without clipping, pushing, or blocking each other. Player-controlled horses can perform a final spurt with corrected speed caps and deceleration logic. Stamina drain was smoothed out so horses no longer slow down almost instantly after running out.

Harness racing received multiple fixes and is still a work in progress. Harness race times are now shown as an average per kilometer or mile depending on the chosen measurement system.

Weather System

A weather system based on real-world climates was added. Horses have a weather preference for dry, wet, or all conditions that affect their temperament. Horses also now have a track preference for turf, dirt, or synthetic surfaces, which can change depending on where they race.

Weather affects how fast racetracks degrade, temperature information is shown in the race view, and new race track environments were added. A subscription system was added to the Financial page, with weather forecast and other services offering discounts on certain operations.

Steam post image Preview of some weather options

UI Overhaul

A new rounded UI style was introduced, with tabs as core new feature. Tabs can be opened by middle-clicking or pressing B on sidebar items, links, stables, and other navigable elements. All pages were reviewed for consistent padding. Filters were moved behind buttons and related controls grouped together to reduce cognitive overload. The tab bar position can be configured to appear at the top, bottom, or both.

A new pill UI element now gathers information that was previously floating in various places, such as the top section of horse details. The calendar was redesigned to fit the new theme, the inbox was simplified to reduce nested containers, sidebar categories are now collapsible with more room left, and sidebar width has a maximum on ultrawides. Visual trophies were added for yearly awards and G1 races, and round flag replaced the old style.

Steam post imageP review of tab functionality

Jockey Mode

A first version of Jockey mode was added to Road to Owner, players can now work as jockey and take freelance rides directly from owners and stables based on their relationship with player, and race outcomes affect that relationship going forward. In jockey interviews, the player negotiates a share of wins for assigned horses instead of a stable-wide percentage. Freelance tables show flags, distance to the race, horse rating, and the race type.

Steam post image Applying for a Jockey job

Trials and Hardcore Mode

Trials were reworked into their own sidebar item, and players can now watch trials of their own horses. A hardcore mode was added where ability, potential and stats are hidden and replaced with best times, encouraging players to rely on race performance rather than visible numbers.

Economy, Auction Houses and Prestige

Auction houses now can be bought, sold, and managed, following a similar pattern to racecourses.

New auction art with crowd hand animations was added, and summary email for hosted auction results and commissions is available.

Steam post image New auction art

A Championship page shows current season rankings, standings display prestige points, and prestige events are summarized yearly to keep data compact. Jockeys, trainers, caretakers and stables also receive G1 awards when a horse they work with wins.

Steam post image Preview of Championship page

Racecourses and auction houses can attract sponsors to name the venue or pay for races.

Financial tracking was tightened, with investments in their own category, injected capital and starting capital no longer taxable, and IPO and secondary offering proceeds going to the stable immediately.

Breeding and Horses

The breeding page now shows preferred distance for both dam and sire, includes breeding attempts as a table in pedigree tab, and a game rule controls how much genetic material is passed between parents, defaulting to 50%. Parent name blending produces foals with mashed names from both parents when enabled. CPU stables can now geld their horses.

Steam post image Preview of parent name blending

Pregnant mares can experience random events such as illnesses and abortions, with probability depending on vet level, feeding, care and stablehand assignment. Foal health was adjusted across several updates, with syndrome probability significantly reduced and restricted to foals only, straw mite probability lowered with a cooldown after trading or birth, and colic probability reduced with a higher surgery success rate.

Social System Update

Dating now precedes marriage, and NPCs can initiate both. Interactions with the spouse to have children were added, along with beatdown and kid interactions. A household system was added where the player chooses where children are born and assigns family members to specific apartments. An heir can be chosen from person options.

The 7-day global social cooldown was removed, allowing unlimited socialization, with per-event cooldowns lowered to 1 day for casual events and 7 days for all others. Gossip and other social activity that was too spammy was tuned down, and all social interactions generate emails. Praise emails now allow sending a small gift to the employee who performed well, and trade offers can receive an angry reply.

Steam post image Preview of social interaction

Scouting, Staff and Hiring

The scouting system was reworked so scouts can be given different assignments, the player functions as a scout, and previously scouted subjects are visible with removal through the context menu.

Steam post image Creating Scout assignment

Job openings can be posted from the hiring tab, staff gained ability and potential stars, and a staff revolt system triggers when socials are low. The year-end email lists staff in a table for raises and bonuses. In staff negotiations, lowballing too aggressively causes them to walk away, and the same applies when requesting too much as job applicant.

Sound, Accessibility and Performance

Some Accessibility options were added, including TTS annotation and a high contrast theme.

Accessibility options

Horse gallop uses positional audio, ambient sounds were added to interaction scenes, and music flows better between menu and gameplay. Approximately 50% of AI-written inbox content was rewritten for better quality, it's been an ongoing project for a while, since we have about 250 different emails sent by CPU.

Horse animations in the race scenes were optimized, shader and code optimization in live races should work better on older machines, and NPC stables now use a lighter travel system. Injury and illness checks moved from daily to weekly for performance, old races without participants are now purged automatically, and a manual purge option for older races was added to keep old saves performant.

What’s next

We are currently working on language support, a better tutorial experience, and expanding the encyclopaedia. Alongside this, we are rewriting the remaining AI-generated content, introducing new character art, and continuing to add more varied race track environments. Steeplechase is also in early development.

Once these areas are in place, we are approaching the final furlong of our roadmap, which will focus primarily on polishing, final balancing, bug fixing and some remaining items like Steam achievements and mod support.

Roadmap

Discord Server

We have member count of over 1300 already. If you have suggestions, ideas or something else you want to talk about, it's a great platform and an easy way to reach us. Join the server here!

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Development is ongoing, and we will keep you updated on our progress. We are continuously working to enhance Horse Racing Manager, and your feedback is invaluable. Our goal is to make this franchise the most realistic horse racing simulator in the world. Your support is crucial for us and greatly appreciated.

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