April Development Update & Vehicle Customisation Preview

Since the last update I've been deep in development of the Steam-exclusive features -- in particular traffic, IC engines, and vehicle customisation, all of which I'm planning to include in the upcoming demo. Today I finished the major components for the vehicle customisation feature, which also involved an overhaul of the vehicle art, so this feels like a good time to share a little progress update.

First, a few angles of the upgraded Coupe, which has been given a few more polygons and some shader adjustments. After some experimentation I managed to set up a simple environment reflection system, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I've also finally added (working) wing mirrors and indicator lights, by popular request.

Vehicle customiser

There are two parts to the customiser: a style config, which lets you play with how the car looks, and a tuning config, which gives you control over various parameters for physics and handling. These menus are easily extensible and can vary per vehicle; different models may have different editable elements.

Style config

For the coupe's styling you can set colour, gloss, and metallic properties for the body paint and wheels, and choose from a set of options for rim designs. Aside from colours, there are sliders for details like the window and metal tint, and eventually you'll be able to edit the license plate (not included in the demo). Longer term this menu would be where you could add details like spoilers and decals if/when they're added.

Steam post image

Tuning config

The tuning config lets you tweak the physics feel to your liking, with controls over suspension, tyre properties, and more. You can turn any vehicle into an off-roader by widening the axles, increasing the ride height, and softening the suspension. Like the Style config, this set of options can easily be extended as needed to support new features or vehicle types. You'll also be able to adjust engine properties like power and sound, once those features are finalised.

What's next?

Next up I'll be back to work on traffic and IC engines, aiming to have the demo ready later in April. Traffic is now fully functional, but still needs final artwork. IC engines and manual transmissions are also mostly functional, with the major remaining task being sound design. Aside from that, everything is pretty much demo-ready - the UI has been rebuilt for controller and language support, and the new off-road road styles are already finished. If everything else goes smoothly, the demo should be out by the end of the month.

Note that these traffic models/materials are rough placeholders and will be reworked

When release?

It's still too early to judge the release date for the full game, but at this moment it's looking like late May/June. After the demo is finished, the remaining tasks are mostly the development of new locations and vehicles, which will be a lot of work but shouldn't bring any surprises. I'm hoping to have at least two new locations (one US-based and one EU-based) and two new vehicles for the initial release, with many more of each to be added in future updates. The locations are the core of the project and I can't wait to finally get to work on them - looking forward to sharing more as I go.

Thanks again for following along!

Anslo