Formula XD
Formula XD 1.4.10
Formula XD 1.4.9 patch notes
Formula XD 1.4.8
1.4.8 addresses a bug which was affecting some players, on the Steam version, encountering a fatal error when the game tries to save after a race in Hard Mode. I'm sorry to those of you who have run into it already - since around the New Year I've been less attentive, trying to find work. Fortunately, someone sent an email to nitroglycerinltd@yahoo.com detailing the problem today, so I was able to issue this patch.
Please let me know by email if anything else comes up.
Formula XD 1.4 TURBO is here!
First things first: let me give you the essential details of what's new in this version. There are so many more items of content, major and minor features, and game balance adjustments in this update, that trying to list them all would be pointless. I will instead summarise most of them.
- A new and improved Career campaign that adds a Hard Mode.
- More Sandbox options, including a Sensible Mode for people who prefer not to have ridiculous things happen in their racing strategy games, and the capacity for much longer races.
- A small number of new Challenge campaigns.
- Opponents can now use Gadgets, in certain campaigns.
- The number of available seasons is 16, up from 10.
- The number of drivers is 76, up from 53.
- There are new driver Abilities.
- The number of circuits has risen from 30 to 40 (54, counting different layouts).
- There are three new Gadgets.
- Per-race qualifying is now an alternative to reverse-grid championships.
- Track temperature, and the Cooling attribute, is now a serious concern.
- Engine temperature and tyre wear now have (intentionally imprecise) visual indicators.
- Drivers help give feedback on whether they're keen to adopt an Attack pace.
- The GUI is a lot more swishy and whooshy.
- Smokescreen and Inflatable Sheep Gadgets have been buffed somewhat.
- There are some new measures against 'save scumming'.
- Slow pace has been rebalanced to be rather more useful.
- AI has been improved a little, here and there.
- The Global Wall of Fame updates all the time, not just when the campaign is completed.
There are more things, of course, but their relative importance is somewhat negligible. Rather, they all play modest roles in improving the quality of the whole game. That brings me to the next point.
Following the rushed initial release of Formula XD and its difficult post-release period, I felt a lot of pressure to learn from my mistakes, and make the final form of the game into something I could regard without feelings of regret, but rather, with some satisfaction. To that end, I have spent much more time testing, but I'm also sharply aware that I can't perceive everything.
So, while I'm making sure that the MacOS version is up to scratch, and planning my next project, I'll also be keeping an eye open for reports of bugs or other problems. The best way to send these is to nitroglycerinltd@yahoo.com since I'm much more likely to see those on the day they are sent. I'm strongly of the belief that anyone buying a copy of the game deserves the best customer service that I'm capable of.
The last thing I have to say about Formula XD Turbo, to wrap up, is that I have spent a good 8 years since university attempting to fulfil this personal dream of mine to make such a game, and at last I believe I have fulfilled this ambition, even if the road to it has been rocky and fraught with pitfalls. While there may be some further patches in the months to come, the game is, in essence, in its final form. The Turbo Career campaign and Steam's Global Wall of Fame are here from now to who-knows-when, and it represents the last and best challenge the game can offer.
So pick up the radio headset again. And go for it.
What The Hell Have I Been Doing All This Time
I'll come right to the point - at launch, Formula XD wasn't all that I'd hoped it to be in terms of content, polish, or stability, but the only choice I had at the time was to publish it or to abandon the project altogether. But because of those shortcomings, I resolved to spend as long as it may take, to develop new content, adjust the balance of the game as needed, and fix whatever bugs I could identify. That's what I have been doing over the last year and a half, producing new content for an expansion to the game.
This expansion content includes a great number of new circuits, new drivers, gadgets, challenges, and six additional years, stretching into the classic turbo era and the new turbo era. It has been a very large undertaking.
Originally I intended for the expansion to be sold as an optional extra, but later decided that it was far more important to do right by existing players, who have had to put up with some rather irksome bugs since launch. So, while I have to some extent shied away from feedback, it is not that I have put my head in the sand but that I have buried myself in my work. What I've been doing since 2018 has been for you.
Before long, I expect to publish the expansion as a major update - but in the meanwhile, I have just published version 1.3.9, which, under the surface, is a big improvement. It addresses a lot of issues that have been around since the game's launch, and other issues inadvertently introduced in my previous haste to deliver fixes.
And there you have it - all I can say now is that I very much hope you will enjoy Formula XD for what it is - my first commercial game - and that it will make up for its previous shortcomings, and give you something fun and unique in its own way.
Nick Heathfield
Formula XD 1.2.7 (sorry it's late)
I should also apologise for the time it's taken to issue this update. In brief, my Macbook (on which I had developed the game from the very very beginning in 2012) suddenly decided that it would no longer boot Windows 7. There was no update that caused this, it just decided that backlit black screens were much more interesting than the Windows boot sequence. That even includes the W7 installation disc, so I was completely stuck.
In fact, I had to choose between abandoning my promises to keep Formula XD maintained with updates on one hand, and spending all of the revenue it had made hitherto (and more besides) on building a new PC so that I could carry on. Because I wanted to eventually build a PC anyway, I took the latter choice, and so, after finally getting something put together on time and under budget, I was able to return to making Formula XD updates.
I still hope to make a more ambitious expansion for it in 2019, and of course there is the promised Mac version, and that's still a matter of 'when', and not 'if'.
Thank you all very much for bearing with me in my first commercial endeavour - I remain, as ever, determined to make Formula XD one of the most entertaining racing team manager games out there.
Initial Launch and the First Updates
I would like to extend a brief apology to those who have encountered bugs in this initial period; testing for the added Steam-specific features was more rushed than it should have been. I have been listening attentively for bug reports, and now with version 1.2.2, I believe that all the errors I've heard about are now addressed.
Please do let me know, either in a Community comment thread or by writing to nitroglycerinltd@yahoo.com, if you encounter any further issues.
Otherwise, I hope you can while away many a merry hour with this, my childhood ambition finally realised, my debut title Formula XD.