Crumple Zone
Easter Special Discount + the state of things
Crumple Zone is on sale with a great discount this Easter, so if you are still undecided or you know someone who is, now is the perfect time to pick it up.
As far as development goes, I was able to update the game's engine which clears the way to work on online multiplayer and VR support. I actually started working on both but there is a lot of work still left to get it to a releasable state. Plus, in these times I have to take extra care for my family and find less time to work on the game. So I can't promise any ETA yet, but it's coming!
Stay tuned and - most importantly - stay healthy
Halloween Update including paintjob mod support (beta)!
But that's not the interesting part - they are actually show casing a new game feature: paintjob modding!
It's in "beta" state for now because of two reasons:
1) I haven't tested it thoroughly yet, so please let me know of any bugs you might find.
2) I haven't integrated it with the steamworks system yet, that's the next step, so you can easily share these paintjobs. For now you can start modding on your own at least.
I will post a more detailed guide in the community section soon but here is the quick version:
Put a PNG image with square dimensions into one of the folders in:
/Mods/Paintjobs/
All paintjobs can be selected for all cars but I added a compability hint that suggests which car it works best on. I will explain why that's the case later, too.
By the way can view the Halloween paintjobs as examples and there are also templates available in the paintjobs folder.
Credits for the Halloween graphics goes to:
"PhotoComix Mandala" on flickr
"stux" on pixabay
Have fun, give modding a shot, post screenshots and stay tuned for more info in the near future! ːInfectedHeadː
Photo Mode + Opponent Driver Profiles
Opponent Driver Profiles / Back Stories
Ramming into opponents is a lot more fun when you know who you are actually dealing with!
Now you can find out more about each character in the
Extras -> Opponent Profiles
menu.
Note: Any resemblances to real or fictional characters are purely coincidental! That being said, can you figure out all the "coincidences"? ;-)
Photo Mode
Now you can capture all those insane moments in Crumple Zone in all their glory! Simply open photo mode from the pause menu. If you want to take/share a screenshot, there are two ways to go about it:
1) Use Steam or another capture software (e.g. Fraps)
Press "H" to hide the Photo Mode UI and then trigger your capture. For Steam, the Steam in-game overlay has to be enabled. The default key on Steam is F12.
2) Use Crumple Zone's capture feature
You can press A/Enter to trigger a screenshot capture within Crumple Zone. The UI will be hidden automatically. All screenshots are lossless PNG and saved here:
\steamapps\common\Crumple Zone\CrumpleZone_Data
There are also a couple of smaller fixes/improvements in this update:
- support for 16:10 resolutions (cutscene texts are no longer cut off)
- improved camera manual spin control when reversing (no longer inverted)
- player 2 in split screen no longer has a blank avatar
- fixed a bug where sound controls in pause menu would stay on screen when exiting pause menu
Survey results + future plans + other news
Ok first off and better late than never - Crumple Zone now has a Twitter account @CrumpleZoneGame
The steam store page and community hub will still be the main focus for major updates but Twitter might be a cool place for everything else such as gameplay videos, off topic stuff etc. Also, if you like Crumple Zone and retweet the occasional post, it could help spread the word about the game.
Survey results
Anyways, now to the probably more interesting topic: The survey about the future of Crumple Zone is closed - thanks to anyone who took part!
I'll show the most important results and tell you what it means for the game's road map.
Major new feature
This one surprised me the most. I could have bet that online multiplayer wins but it actually came in last. Ok, it needs to be considered that there are probably some players who haven't bought the game because it lacks online MP and they did not participate in the survey. So I still think it's important but I find modding support very interesting too, so I will start with that.
More on that in the road map.
Minor new feature
Pretty close, but two features stand out, Photo Mode and Opponent Back Stories / Profiles.
Content
"Tracks" were leading here for quite some time but were overtaken by "Cars". Still quite close though, so I will try to add both in the future.
Platforms
This is quite interesting, Android is the clear winner, but Virtual Reality, although being a niche sort of thing, came in second. That's cool, I got a VR headset myself and enjoy the technology, so I might try something out. With both Android and VR though, it's more of an experimental thing - if I find the time, I'll check out how much effort is needed to port to those platforms and whether it's feasible at all, while updates for the regular PC version always have priority.
Development Roadmap
With the insights gathered from the survey results, I plan the following updates for Crumple Zone:
1. Minor update in September
I want to release an update this month which includes the 2 top "minor" features from the poll, a photo mode and opponent profiles + some smaller fixes and improvements
2. Workshop integration with custom paintjobs
After the minor update is done, I'll look into integrating the steam workshop API and as a sort of proof of concept, I will use it to allow you to upload and add custom paintjob graphics to the game. This will be a very simple use case that is perfect for getting the workshop system to run before adding more complex modding capabilities.
3. Track and/or car modding support
Once the workshop integration stands, I'll work on a way to integrate custom tracks or cars. This will be some time at the end of this year probably. Although cars got more votes, I might start with tracks because they are less complex and specific to the game, so they should be easier to do. I could even imagine an in-game track editor.
4. Other platforms and online multiplayer
I will start working on these but not before next year
I hope this gives you a rough idea about what to expect in the future, I will go into more detail when the time is right, so stay tuned and happy crumpling!
Take part in this survey and shape the future of Crumple Zone!
Ok maybe not the best idea to start this off with a Spice Girls reference, but then again it kind of fits all that 90s retro vibe, I guess?
Anyways, since release I collected feedback and ideas from the community and before I dive head first into working on the game after a little summer break, I want to make sure I focus on the things that you, the players, get the most out of.
So here's a little survey, quite short and totally anonymous of course:
Crumple Zone survey
It only takes about 2 Minutes to complete and would help me a lot.
So please give it a shot and thanks a lot in advance!
P.S.: You can always provide feedback and discuss the game in the community hub, too, if anything is on your mind.
Summer discount promotion!
The game is 30% off for a week, so if you're still on the fence about getting it, or know someone else who is, now is the perfect time to grab it!
See you all in the derby pit!
Community members in credits section + screen resolution fix
You probably know who you are if you're reading this, but have a look to make sure! :)
By the way, if you like to have a different name or maybe even your real name listed there, just let me know.
Of course, this section will be updated in the future and anyone who stands out in the community as very helpful and supportive of the game will join the hall of fame in the credits! You guys are great and I don't want to leave that unmentioned.
There is another small improvement in this update concerning screen resolutions, well more precicely "uncommon" screen resolution that aren't part of the basic set of supported resolutions.
Basically what it does is add the native desktop resolution in case it is not part of the default resolutions.
I haven't tested this extensively so I hope it works as expected and fixes some cases of players reporting they can't play with their native resolution on laptops (1366x768).
Screen ratios other than 16:9 aren't officially supported yet but I will try to make the UI responsive at some point so nothing weird happens in other aspect ratios.
There are more announcements coming at the end of the month, so stay tuned and happy car smashing! >:)
New patch including handbrake for all you show-offs out there!
Your wish is my command, and a couple of you requested a handbrake feature, so here it is!
Just tap it to provoke oversteering and get quicker around tight corners.
In arenas, you can use it to make quick 180s at slower speeds.
Use the "B" button on Xbox Controllers, right Control on Keyboard... or equivalent (?) on other controllers (too much to list).
There are also a couple of more "moving objects" added to some levels. I will not spoil anything, try to spot them on your own. I can only say... Yvan eht nioj! (No I'm not having a stroke)
Small patch just released - Windowed Mode and more
Notice something different in the image above?
Hi everyone!
Hope you're all enjoying the game. I just uploaded a small update containing these fixes:
- fixed a few typos
- shortened the first campaign cutscene
- added a fullscreen switch in the graphics section
- standard graphics level after installing the game is now "high"
... and as these are all rather unspectacular, I added a little gimmick as well: on the Hilltown Speedway, there's a plane cruising around now. I plan to add a few more moving objects to the levels to make them more lively, and this is the very first one (well technically the beach volley ball action was the first one, but these other ones will be much more spectacular...).
See you all later!
Get ready to Crumple!
For a very reasonable price, you can re-live the golden era of over-the-top senseless car smashing.
Please keep in mind that this is only the beginning. Don't worry, I promise you get a complete coherent experience when you buy the game today. But there's much more that can be added and improved if you support the game and it's development in the future.
So if you like the game, connect with other players and the devs in the community hub and spread the word about Crumple Zone in streams, chats etc.
Let's make demolition derby games great again!