Today we are sharing some important news on Jalopy: version 1.0 will drop on 28th March 2018, marking the end of the Early Access period.
Jalopy has been in development for over three years now, and debuted in Early Access nearly two years ago. Greg has been the sole developer of the project, but along the way we’ve had others help us, including Jeremy, who scored the fantastic soundtrack.
We would like to thank everyone who has purchased the game so far and has helped to support the game’s development for the past two years. We hope that you have enjoyed watching the game grow and have loved being a part of this road-trip.
Jalopy’s full launch on 28th March will also see the debut of full translation into 18 different languages. Thanks to the wonderful community translation project, 28th March will see Jalopy available fully translated into the following languages:
English
French
German
Italian
Spanish
Japanese
Korean
Russian
Brazilian Portuguese
Turkish
Hungarian
Chinese (Simplified)
Dutch
Norwegian
Finnish
Polish
Slovakian
Romanian
Croatian
At the beginning of Jalopy’s life, and throughout the Early Access period, a number of questions and answers have been present on Jalopy’s Steam store page – and now that we have almost reached the end of Early Access it feels right to revisit those questions.
Why Early Access?
“The instant feedback from Steam players allows us to reshuffle our priorities during development to make an even better game. During the Early Access period the game will most certainly contain a selection of bugs, glitches, and issues that can impact a traditional game experience. If you do buy the game and come across something odd, please tell us in the forums.”
Jalopy has contained many bugs and issues throughout the development period - we’re still ironing out just a few, but believe that the game breaking issues are gone (do let us know if you come across any game breaking issues, though!).
Most notably we saw the uncle removed from the game for a period and then eventually brought him back after we fixed some of the issues that were present because of his role in the game. He has since returned, new and improved, with a stronger emphasis on the narrative of Jalopy and has given the game an ending for players.
Approximately how long will this game be in Early Access?
“We are looking to release the full game towards the end of 2017.”
We are a little late on this estimation. It took a little longer for us to handle the localisation than we expected. Jalopy will launch as a full game on 28th March 2018.
How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version?
“In Early Access you will be able to drive, explore and trade throughout Germany & the CSFR. Already, the player can make changes to their vehicle with millions of combinations available to affect vehicle performance. As we progress through Early Access we plan to let the player drive through 1990’s renditions of Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey. Early Access will be an insight into the core mechanics of Jalopy and from here we plan to build around this core with feedback from the community.”
At launch we began with just the countries of Germany and CSFR. We have since added all promised countries including Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Turkey. During development we worked on improving the vehicle handling and have added new unlocks to the vehicle like an internal dashboard display, paint and a few other upgrades to the car itself. We also introduced the scrapyard, which allows players to scavenge for goods if they can figure out how to unlock the gate. Jeremy also created new pieces of music for each country as they released.
What is the current state of the Early Access version?
“The game contains all final countries planned for the final game. Players can upgrade their car, purchase new components, scavenge for items and drive back to the starting area once they reach the final destination.”
This section was adjusted throughout development in order to reflect the current status of the game.
Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access?
“The price may increase with significant content updates. We will let everyone know if the price is expected to rise before it increases.”
The game did increase in price slightly during development and we communicated the increase with players. With the announcement of the last price increase, we alerted players that this was the final time the price would increase.
How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process?
“Once we get into Early Access we’re going to be looking at the most important features within the first week or two of release. From here we will create a development roadmap so that everyone can visualise where the game is heading and can get involved. Of course, do say hi to us in the Steam forums and let us know your thoughts on the game.”
This may have changed a little since the beginning of Early Access. We responded to several bugs and issues, the largest of which was the uncle causing crashes. Our development roadmap was predominately based around the addition of countries. Greg had a Tumblr blog where he would answer questions directly and share progress and concerns during development. We often had pages of change logs for each update and worked on making these updates exciting events. We additionally set the Beta Branch accessible to all players during some testing phases so players would see advance builds before they were made public. This assisted in locating important issues as we prepared for builds to go public.
What We Could Not Deliver
Now this is an interesting but particularly difficult subject to discuss. However, I feel it’s important to speak about the elements which we were unable to achieve, despite us discussing them in the past or having hopes that these would eventually see the light of day.
Steering Wheel Support We managed to get the game running well on one type of steering wheel. We did release a build on Steam with the following disclaimer on 20th September 2017:
“The latest build adds steering wheel support, but there is a massive disclaimer we need to mention. We have been performing some tests internally and there are still issues with this. There are still many wheels that are not yet functioning correctly and is something that is being looked at. If you experience non-functioning pedals, or the view rotates without any input, we highly recommend that you continue to use a mouse and keyboard or a game pad instead.“
There were a few questions in the forum asking about steering wheel support over time, and I replied personally to some and said that if they wanted to buy the game because of steering wheel support, I highly recommend that they wait until a later date.
Unfortunately, we have been unable to make any progress on this area and there will be no steering wheel support for Jalopy. It is disappointing, and something we hoped would be in the game, but we were unable to truly support it and get it working for everyone.
Mac Support We were intending to support Mac early on in development – however, as we were looking towards a 1.0 release, we came across some issues that would make the transition from Windows to Mac much more difficult. In February, I posted the following in response to a thread asking for Mac support.
“Unfortunately porting to Mac would require the game to be rewritten in xcode and new shaders would need to be created. We are also suffering from ram issues due to the version of Unity we're running (Unity 4.6). So it seems like it will be very unlikely for a Mac version to happen.”
A little time has passed since that post, and unfortunately Mac support is not going to be possible for Jalopy, due to issues with the game engine.
So, there we go! Right now, we’re working on implementing translations and fixing any game-breaking bugs for the final release. If you do spot any bugs and can reproduce it 100%, send us over the details of what happens and how to reproduce it - we will look towards addressing any such issues.
We will likely have a launch discount for Jalopy on the 28th of March, so stay tuned for further information over the next couple of weeks.
Thank you once again for joining us on this Jalopy journey. It’s been a road trip like no other.
Build 0962 Is Now Live
Hello everyone!
We're still handling the localisation of Jalopy, of which 14 have been completed. Though there are also an additional half a dozen which are still being completed.
Today's update fixes a long standing bug where after a certain period of time you are no longer able to pick up objects. I'd like to thank everyone who gave us feedback and information on when it had happened. We were contacted by email with a 100% repro rate and in that case we have fixed and addressed. Thanks to everyone who has been waiting patiently for this fix.
The change log is below:
Build 0.962
Fixed wallet value 1 not showing correctly
Fixed Pushing and stopping car with keys not triggering uncle
Removed Notice Board on main menu
Fixed Performance issue caused by Uncle looking at you from afar
Fixed being unable to interact midway through games
Fixed crash caused from sleeping a second time
Of course, do let us know if you find any issues/ bugs!
Help us translate Jalopy
Hello everyone
Now that the uncle has returned to Jalopy, talking away and telling you his story. We felt it would be best to translate the game so more players are able to enjoy his ramblings and the narrative. Plus, we really would like to see what “OOOF!” looks like when translated to several other languages.
The community has been great in providing us with feedback and reporting bugs (Yes, we’re still on the case with some of those pesky buggers!) and we would like to continue the collaboration to help improve the game further. We’ve had several players offer to help us volunteer to translate the game into their language and we are at a stage where translation will make a lot of sense.
We’re looking for your help in translating Jalopy into as many languages as possible. We’ve handpicked 13 key languages but wish to add more in the future.
During the sign-up process, you can pick the language you wish to translate to. English will be the default language translated from.
Once you have signed up, and have been accepted by one of our team, you can then begin translating. The site itself should run through a small tutorial to introduce you to the platform.
You can then change, edit and proof-read translations or even mark current translations to say they are not 100% correct.
once each language reaches an almost complete state, we will then start to implement the language into the game and look for testers to help check the language within the game itself.
We also plan to set up a specific forum within the discussion so that people can communicate with each other about issues or questions they may have.
We will be rewarding those who translate a large portion of the text with some exclusive goodies! There will be news on what these will be in the coming weeks or months.
If you have any questions about translating the game, please contact us at support@excalibur-publishing.com. We have also added a small FAQ to our discussions post which can be found here - http://steamcommunity.com/app/446020/discussions/0/1483235412200557493/
DUE TO OVERSUBSRIPTION OR THE LANGUAGE BEING 100% COMPLETE WE CAN NO LONGER ACCEPT CONTRIBUTORS FOR THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES Portugues Brazilian Turkish Russian Spanish German Polish Chinese Hungarian Dutch Italian Japanese French slovak Finnish
Build 0.94 Is Live
Hello everyone
Build 0.94 is now live! It is mainly bug fixes. Check out the change log below:
Build 0.94
- Fixed engine shake not stopping when fuel tank removed or ignition killed
- Fixed fuel needle not setting to zero when fuel tank removed from engine
- Fixed soft lock when pushing the car with no fuel tank installed
- Fixed some Digital Dash missing reference issues which were causing problems
- Fixed roof rack description typo
- Fixed framerate issue on main menu
- Fixed license plate issue on main menu
- Fixed various hitches on the main menu and cleaned up a load of dodgy code
- Fixed interactions not working after talking with uncle when car was too far away
- Fixed window not winding down at border crossings
if you have any issues, do let us know how to reporduce it and contact us via the forums or support@excalibur-publishing.com
Build 0.93 Now Live
Hi everyone.,
Build 0.93 has just gone live. It contains a few fixes. See the change log below!
Build 0.93
- Fixed being players prevented from interacting with the world or picking up objects
- Fixed some bad logic with curtains
- Fixed issue where driving towards Germany meant waking up in Istanbul
- Fixed Motel spawning blocked off in Dresden
- Fixed another road issue in Dresden
If you come across any issues, do let us know!
Build 0.92 Is Live
Hello everyone,
Just a small patch to fix a few immediate issues that have been brought up. Thank you for reporting these! If you spot anything else, do let us know.
Build 0.92:
- There is now a language selection after the sting, with EN language only
- "Isn't it loud enough" grammar corrected
- Fixed soft lock where trying to push the use the steering wheel outside of the car when it had no engine installed would soft-lock player (especially prominent during the tutorial)
- The Bucket, Decal remover and repair kit are now removed during the tutorial as it was confusing players
- Fixed profit tracker outside of Germany not working
- "The city built along two continents." grammar fixed
- Fixed window unable to be rolled down
- Fixed briefcase opening to incorrect letters on driving back
- Fixed a load of send message issues
- Yugo now spawns sea correctly when driving back home
- Fixed graphical issues with some Istanbul Buildings
- Fixed road placement issue in Dresden
- Fixed shaking steering wheel
- Clocks in Motel now work correctly
- Fixed bug where you could interact with the main menu while in the options menu
The Uncle Update Is Live!
Hello Everyone,
Jalopy receives a pretty major update today which brings back the Uncle and introduces a narrative element to the game. I’ll go through some of the larger points included in this update, but there will of course be a large change log at the end of this post for you to read in more detail.
The Uncle Is Back
Your second travelling companion (of course, after the Laika 601 Deluxe) asks you to transport him to Turkey. Along the way, he’ll share information of the local area, warn you when your bonnet is open and may help you if you have begun running a bit low on funds.
There’s always been a divide of opinion on the uncle, some love him and his dimension shifting jacket, while others have a hatred that matches that of standing bare foot on a Lego piece. So with that in mind, once you complete the tutorial and complete your first route. When you load up the game you will be given the option to either have him accompany you on your journey or leave him behind.
Uncle may still be a little buggy. But do let us know if he begins to misbehave!
Of course, the narrative elements introduced via the uncle is something that you should discover yourself. We hope you enjoy the story!
Steering Wheel Support
The latest build adds steering wheel support, but there is a massive disclaimer we need to mention. We have been performing some tests internally and there are still issues with this. There are still many wheels that are not yet functioning correctly and is something that is being looked at. If you experience non-functioning pedals, or the view rotates without any input, we highly recommend that you continue to use a mouse and keyboard or a game pad instead.
Statistics
If you’ve ever wanted to know how many footsteps you’ve taken, how many tyres you’ve popped and what your top speed is, you’re in luck! The statistics screen now tracks many of your actions while playing. I’ll be personally curious to see who will be able to reach the highest speed in their Laika 601 Deluxe.
Achievements
Achievements have been added! There are some particularly easy achievements that ca n be obtained within minutes, but then there’s some tough ones for those staying for the long haul. Good luck everyone!
Trabant Car Challenge with Hat Films
And finally, we have been working with Hat Films to create a three part series where the guys from Hat films drive a couple of Trabants. The first episode is live now, you can watch it below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEOgev7e_Vw
So, there we go! This update helps to fill a narrative shaped hole which was in Jalopy. Of course, there are a few dozen fixes for some issues as well. If you experience any issues, do let us know in the forums! Thankyou everyone for the support and patience as we’ve been working on this update.
If you'd like to read the full change logs click the link below:
We must welcome everyone who has joined us over the last several days during the Steam summer sale. I'd also like to give a thank you to those who have been helping out our new players by answering questions in the forum.
I wanted to let everyone know that we are planning to increase the price for Jalopy slightly shortly after the Steam Summer sale. This will be the final price of the game and there will be no more price increases after this... This also means there will be no price increase for the games full game launch.
Of course, if you bought the game already, you of course don't need to pay any extra! I didn't think I would need to mention this but I believe I will still get this question via email a few times :)
There are several reasons to initiate a price increase, but one of the biggest reasons is to maximize the games presence when it does launch as a full game. It's all very boring behind the scenes strategy to help market the game and is part of the less interesting side of game development, but I hope that many of you understand as it will allow us to reach more players and hope to sustain a good future for us even after the games full release.
As promised in the Early Access questions, I said that I would let everyone know if a price increase was planned to happen. It's not an easy job to value and price your game (in fact this is the most difficult thing to do in order to value the worth of something you have worked on!).
Thank you to everyone who has bought the game so far and helped support us. We hope that you've enjoyed the game so far and continue to support us by leaving questions and engaging in the forums.
Now, regarding the actual development!
Right now Greg is working on bringing back the Uncle, but also looking at Steering Wheel Support as well. Sorry this post isn't very development heavy, it's more of an admin related post. We''ll get to the more exciting side of Games development very soon and show off new things within the next few weeks!
Update 7th July 2017:
The price Increase is now live.
22nd of June Update - Border Guard Issue Fixed! Sorry To Keep You Weighting
Hello everyone,
Some major fixes today which fix a progress stopping bug which was introduced in the last update. We'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to let us know about this and helped us locate it. You guys are awesome!
Other additions and changes have been based on the weight of the car, this includes fixes to the digital dash, weight effecting tyre grip as well as the acceleration of your vehicle.
I hope the awful headline now makes a bit more sense... Sorry about that
The full change log is below!
Build 0.83
Fixed index issue with the User Manual
Digital Dash now updates weight icon correctly
Digital Dash weight alert values increased
Fixed issue where more weight on the car actually made it accelerate faster...
Increased effective of total car weight on tyre grip by 10x (more tyre grip when carrying heavier cargo)
Car Weight reduction to acceleration increased by 10x (cargo weight now greatly reduces acceleration)
Car weight now affects acceleration performance incrementally, based on the base power of the installed engine (i.e. if you have an old, broken engine, weight will be even more of an issue than if you had a sweet engine fully repaired)
Fuel mix now affects engine audio
Engine condition now affects engine audio
Cursor off in the pause menu now works
Fixed issue with ignition coils going below 0 condition.
Fixed text delay on Motel owner
Fixed baskets leaving two items in the basket when trying to bulk sell
fuel can should now close it's lid after refueling it
moved 2-stroke, fuel cans, car jacks, crowbars, water & buckets over to the new pricing system
Fixed border typo : "you will be charged" to "You will be charged" (thanks "that guy")
Build 0.831
Removed old price tag for tyre repair kit
Fixed soft lock with border guards searching cars without a roof rack
Fixed some more delays in dialogue text
Fixed car shaking when failing to start ignition
As always, let us know if you spot any bugs! Thanks everyone and we hope you enjoy this update.
Jalopy Update: FPS improvements, Ignition Coils and Harassing Guests
Hello everyone,
A new update has just gone live which predominately fixes some of the low FPS some machines are having. Be warned, that if you have all effects on, high traffic, enabled mirrors, this can impact your performance. So if you are still experiencing low FPS, please do try changing the settings in the options menu.
There are a few changes to the ignition coil, border patrol and how you interact with the world with regards to bad driving and disturbing motel guests!
Full change log below!
Build 0826
- Ignition Coil ignition time increased by 5x
- Fixed issue with ignition coil damage not changing their performance
- Ignition Coil ignition time increased by 10x, 5x, 2.5x based on condition
- Improved top speed of squash engines
- Border Guards now search roof inventory
- Players now fined for taking stolen goods through border checkpoints
- Players now fined at border checkpoints for dangerous driving
- Fines no longer display on the car window
- Harrassing motel guests now increases the chance of border guards searching players vehicles
- Border Guards now search baskets
- Uncle Walk speed up
- Added Uncle footstep audio
- Fixed Uncle facial animation issues on lower graphical settings
- Added Car Registration details to the user manual (Reg number, reg location, reg date - all unique to each player).
- Fixed issue with home garage fuel tank fuel changing
- Fixed mesh misalignment of the replacement door
- Added lock shake when picking up wooden boxes
- Increased dialogue box size
- Fixed text issue in the User Manual
- Optimisation : moved car shadows to GPU
- Optimisation : Stored camera references in the new handling system
Build - 0.827
- Fixed falling through environment issue in Bulgaria (0-0_05)
- Fixed Uncle animation issue
- Fixed Uncle spinning during tutorial
- Cleaned up dialogue transitions
- Increased player mass to lower sliding
- Uncle now correctly leaves car at start of tutorial again
If you come across any issues, do let us know in the forums!
