Thanks For An Amazing Early Access Launch, and What's Next!

Thank you so much for the successful early access demo launch on Patreon (you can still get in on this if you haven't yet)! I’ve been blown away by the amount of comments - both positive and constructive - as well as the sheer amount of excitement I’ve seen from everyone. Your support genuinely motivates me, and it also directly impacts how much time I’m able to dedicate to development.

The current version of Kaido Genkai was built through two and a half years of nights and weekends working around my day job, and I hope that with continued support and engagement I’ll be able to spend more and more time prioritizing development.

I also want to give credit to all Patreons specifically, because you’ve genuinely helped set Kaido Genkai up for a successful public/free demo launch by being such amazing beta testers! With your feedback and involvement in the Discord community, the game has already received a ton of quality-of-life improvements ahead of the public/Steam launch on June 9th.

Thanks to all of you, I’ve implemented the following changes over the last couple of weeks:

• Map markers now show objectives and differentiate between completed and incomplete objectives (such a good suggestion)

• Added the ability to re-race some completed races

• Improved the Machina R handling based on feedback

• Adjusted Hyper II shifting at lower-than-ideal RPMs

• Added Streamer Mode for music, which disables copyrighted tracks

• AddedExpanded Camera Modeadded regular and upscaled screenshot options, 90-degree camera rotation for phone wallpapers, and rewrote a large portion of the controller code

• Improved steering responsiveness overall

• Updated dialogue

• Physics updates: no more getting stuck in wheelies, and no more “beyblade mode” (if you know, you know...)

• Fixed cars sometimes turning invisible when exiting first-person mode

• Nerfed the hatchback race to the cave, which was a bit too difficult

• Various fixes for Silent to support a local multiplayer free-roam patch

• Fixed music not returning to the correct level after dialogue sequences

• Around 100 other smaller fixes and improvements

…and there’s still lots more to do.

So what’s on the horizon? I’m looking forward to releasing the free Steam demo on June 9th, which was moved because a large "AAA" studio decided to make a major announcement that day. Part of being an indie developer means learning how to dance around the giants of the industry, it seems.

After the public demo launches, I’ll also be pushing the Kickstarter very hard. This will be another major determining factor for Kaido Genkai. Having a larger pool of funding, alongside ongoing Patreon support, will directly impact how much time I can spend each week working on the game versus working a “proper” day job to keep a roof over my head.

The game will get finished regardless, but the level of funding will determine how big the game can become and how quickly I can complete it. More funding means a bigger scope, more features, and a faster development timeline. Even in a less-than-ideal scenario, any support from backers will go directly toward making the game possible and improving the final experience; so I hope you feel good about that.

Steam Next Fest is also coming up on June 15th, which I’m hoping will provide another boost to visibility. It’ll be my first time participating, and I’m really excited to see how the game performs there. Visibility / marketing is the hardest part of the project, I think, so anything that gets eyes on KG really helps. This means I genuinely appreciate every social media share you folks do, btw. Thank you!

With all of that said, I’ve also been thinking a lot about how to keep Patreon supporters engaged long term. What would you personally like to see from your monthly support? Are development updates enough because you simply want to help fund the game to fruition, or would you prefer incremental exclusive builds and content updates?

One idea I’ve been considering is releasing the game on Patreon in “chapters” as development continues, leading up to the full release. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Again, thank you again so much for your support and interest in Kaido Genkai. I’m incredibly grateful, and I hope to keep building something special for you all to enjoy. Karoshi Electric Company / "KG"