Happy New Year Everybody! It's been quite sometime since I've been active on here, a lot has happened in my personal life that has affected the amount of time that I've been able to put towards development. Some of those things were wonderful, I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science back in May from UNC Asheville and got my first full-time position as a remote Software Engineer/Unity Developer for a small company in Asheville. But, I also lost two very close family members within months of each other and I've been left to pick up the pieces and deal with the grief that has come along with it. However, I've still managed to find chunks of time here and there to continue working on Corona. My research on CoronaAI is still in progress so the AI system is the only main ticket item remaining for the update. Rather than delaying the update even more, I have decided that I will enable Beta testing for the latest version without any AI while keeping the current 2018 Alpha version with AI live on the store. More details will be coming this week, but in the meantime, thank you for all your support throughout all these years! It's meant the world to me. Warm regards, Luke Japaridze Lead Developer
Corona MotorSport Beta Playthrough
[previewyoutube="z3DQjhHZcRY;full"]
Beta 1.0.0 Nears Completion
Hey everyone! It's been quite a while since I've posted anything on here. Actually, it's been about 9 months or so. The world has changed drastically, and in the darkest of times, I want to bring some joy into it. It may not be much, but maybe some good ol' Corona MotorSport could cure some of your Coronavirus blues. I've been quite busy taking a few odd jobs and various contract projects to help out my family along with juggling coursework for my third year of Computer Science, which meant that I had to put less time towards Corona (MotorSport). BUT, I'm happy to announce that the first beta is finally close to being complete.
Some of you may be wondering why this update has taken over two years to complete, and frankly, I have the same question. To put it simply, I've had quite a hectic life during my first two years of college, and on top of that, I basically scrapped a majority of the code and assets in the current version from March 2018 and decided to rebuild the game entirely. I've reused maybe three or four scripts from the old version and had to rewrite thousands of lines of code to fix/replace deprecated features and for the sake of quality, I had to redesign a majority of the vehicles and tracks in use. Here's what's new (so far):
Beta 1.0.0 Feature List
Vehicles
New vehicle - Eagle Liberator
Upgraded all vehicles with new interiors and more detailed exteriors
Option to change interior trim and color
Complete overhaul for physics engine - switched to NWH Vehicle Physics
Forced induction simulation (turbo/supercharging)
New driver avatar - improved steering IK and added shifting IK
New 3D tire model
New Camera System
Improved performance of damage system (mesh deformation will have little to no CPU overhead, damage now affects handling and engine performance)
Optimized and improved vehicle sounds
Improved AI - collision avoidance, faster lap times, dynamic behavior for drivers and less bugs
Tracks
New track - Dubai International Circuit
Redesigned Monza and Barcelona Circuits
20+ additional tracks planned for release during the beta lifecycle - I'm aiming for at least one per update!
Engine Specific
Updated to Unity 2019.3.0f3
New Graphics pipeline overhaul - HDRP 7.2.0
Improvements to NVIDIA PhysX calculations
Improved framerates and performance
New environment and vehicle shaders
New Post-Processing stack (Improved SSR, SSAO, Color Correction, etc)
UI Overhaul - Controller support, cleaner look
This isn't really the full list of what to expect, I'll be dropping a trailer and a update on my YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/lukejaparidze
I also want to give Shinyodd and his community a special thanks for accidentally catapulting this game back into relevancy and giving me a platform to share my work and plans for the game (and a chance to redeem myself haha)! Thank you for everything!
To those of you that have been here since Corona first launched back in 2015, thank you as well! You have all helped me grow from an angsty teenager with a pet-project racing game into a young adult with the drive to succeed in this industry!
Stay safe and keep gaming! Warm regards, Luke Japaridze LucasGame Studios
Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Hey Everyone! Just wanted to wish all of you a (slightly late) Merry Christmas from the Philippines! I'm on vacation and away from my work computer till the 12th of January, so the update will be completed a little later than I expected. Right now, I'm working on a more intuitive UI and I have been fine tuning the AI for each vehicle in the game to complete the fastest laps with the fewest amount of errors. I have also been doing a few touch ups on the lighting for the new Dubai Circuit. A new car will also make it's debut for this update! I'll post some game dev pics when I return home, but for now, here's a drone shot of my girlfriend and I at Subic Bay in the Philippines.
P.S: Corona is 50% off right now in case you haven't picked up a copy!
Here's to another year of having the privilege to develop on Steam! Luke Japaridze LucasGame Studios
20+ New Tracks and Locations Planned for Release during Beta
Hey guys, I have some exciting news to share! During the course of the Beta cycle of Corona MotorSport, which is still scheduled to begin in December, over twenty new tracks and locations will be added to Corona MotorSport for your driving pleasure! I'll be posting some teasers soon, but for now, here's a list of what to expect:
Redesigned Locations
Monza, Italy
New Locations
Dubai
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Baku
Belgium
Brazil
Canada
China
Germany
Great Britain
Hungary
Japan
Malaysia
Mexico
Monaco
Russia
Singapore
Spain
and last but not least, good ol' USA!
The first Beta release will feature Barcelona, Monza and Dubai. The rest of the tracks will be released either one by one or in small clusters with each subsequent update. I'm really looking forward to December! Luke Japaridze LucasGame Studios
Corona MotorSport Beta Set to Release Q4 2019
The wait will soon be over! After over 19 months of development, the first Beta version of Corona MotorSport will be ready for the public! Here's a list of what to expect so far, I may add more features:
Physics
The driving force and foundation of Corona MotorSport have been the vehicle physics, which are now regarded as flawed, unstable and largely obsolete. That is about to change.
Replaced vehicle physics with a combination of proprietary and new third-party solutions.
Vehicles now have a lower performance overhead (thus increasing game performance), are more responsive and handle more realistically.
3D tire simulation
Forced induction simulation (turbo and supercharged vehicles)
Improved damage system with performance degredation
Graphics
The visual fidelity of Corona MotorSport is now at an all time peak, without sacrificing performance.
Upgraded to HD Render Pipeline framework
New photo-realistic shaders for environment and vehicles
Remastered environments and lighting - lighting is now precomputed for maximum performance and quality
Vehicles
The centerpieces of Corona MotorSport, reimagined.
All vehicles have been painstakingly re-modeled and re-textured with more detail
Users can now change the interior colors
New Content
Dubai International Circuit - Day and Night
New main menu and environment
Stay tuned guys! Luke Japaridze LucasGame Studios
Corona MotorSport Beta Preview
https://youtu.be/3nlc9sKPxs4
Hey Guys!
Here's a little preview of what's to come for Beta 1.0.0, this just showcases the new HD render pipeline and a refreshed design for the VX Storm, I'll post some actual gameplay footage shortly, I'm currently busy optimizing performance with a goal of having a minimum of 50-60fps running at 1080p, more on this shortly.
Anyway, Enjoy this 4k 60fps preview!
Luke Japaridze
LucasGame Studios
Literal Eye Candy
Hey Guys!
I've been busy upgrading all the scenes to the new HDRP system and in the process of doing that, I created a new main menu scene to showcase all the cars, here's a few screenshots...
I'll keep everyone posted with all my progress here, cheers!
Luke Japaridze
LucasGame Studios
HD Render Pipeline Preview
Hey Guys!
I'm in the middle of upgrading Corona to use Unity 2019's new rendering system, just wanted to share a preview of what's to come for the beta release. This scene runs at a smooth 70+ FPS on my machine at max settings (GTX 960 4GB) and looks absolutely gorgeous. This system features entirely new shaders and lighting specifically designed for automotive rendering. This is very close to the level of graphical fidelity I always dreamed of having in Corona MotorSport and I cannot wait to finish this update and mark the beginning of Corona MotorSport Beta. I'll keep you guys posted on my progress at least once a week if not more.
Let me know what you think in the comments and as always, thanks to those of you who continue to support my game and I.
Cheers!
Luke Japaridze
LucasGame Studios
Graphics Overhaul
Hey Guys!
Just another quick update on the beta build, I've decided to make the switch to Unity's new HDRP rendering system, which uses entirely new shaders and a whole new method of lighting. This should bring Corona's graphics up to par and make photorealism achievable. Massive framerate and performance improvements will also be a result of this change, as lighting will be baked into the scene data rather than calculating it each frame with a dynamic sky. Each track will feature different times and weather scenarios that are pre-rendered to choose from as opposed to just cycling through them in realtime. The old method hurt in-game performance and sacrificed render quality in exchange for constantly changing lighting and weather. I'll be posting a few screenshots as soon as I have the scenes and vehicles reconfigured for HDRP.
Cheers!
Luke Japaridze
LucasGame Studios
