Mega News: Slopecrashers Launching DECEMBER 4TH!!!
Save the date! We’re officially launching DECEMBER 4TH! Aaaahhh!!
I can’t believe it! After years of development/teaching animals to snowboard, it’s finally happening! While my veterinary bills may have skyrocketed and, well, I’m not exactly sure what I’m supposed to do now with my degree in Advanced Lemurology, I think it was all worth it. Slopecrashers, my baby, our beloved, is confirmed to launch December 4th. Snowabunga!!
To mark the announcement, we’re so excited to exclusively reveal our new trailer at Cozy Quest, which shows off our vision for this chaotic, ultra-satisfying arcade snowboarding game. Take a look and be sure to let us know what you think! https://youtu.be/VnN2V7wmlt8?si=T5i17QNRN4K7Q44L Thank you so much to the team at Secret Mode for the opportunity. We can’t wait to see you on the slopes (specifically, losing to us).
What can you expect from Slopecrashers 1.0?
Slopecrashers is an easy-to-play, exhilarating-to-master arcade snowboarder inspired by legendary kart racers and snowboarding games of generations past.
With its next-level physics engine fine-tuned for the most satisfying stunts, slams, drifts, and glides, grab a snowboard (or even a frying pan) and hit the slopes as a madcap crew of over 8 cartoon animals - nailing sick tricks, navigating ridiculous courses, and triumphing in local split screen and online multiplayer.
Solo players can also sink their teeth into campaign mode (featuring a globetrotting adventure to defeat a villainous hamster) and arcade mode (where you can tailor your experience and create the snowboarding tournament of your dreams) - though, on the subject of sinking teeth into things, please don’t eat the yellow snow!!!
Can’t wait until December 4th?
We hoped you’d say that! Whet your appetite for the full release with our FREE DEMO, available to download right now on our store page.
We’re so thankful for all your support so far - it truly makes my chilly heart all the warmer. If you haven’t already, please wishlist Slopecrashers and tell your friends to do the same! Every wishlist helps Slopecrashers reach awesome gamers like you who are itching for the triumphant return of arcade snowboarding - the kind we remember from back in the day - and we’re so pumped to continue building this community with you.
I’ve got some exciting news about Slopecrashers that I can’t wait to share with you!
#1 Gamescom - Indie Arena Booth
We’re absolutely thrilled to announce that Slopecrashers will be at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany! You’ll find us at the Indie Arena Booth, where you can get hands-on with the game and chat with the team. It’s the perfect chance to experience the game in person, grab some exclusive stickers, and maybe even catch a few surprises we’ve been working on. If you’re attending, make sure to swing by and say hi! We're on the Nintendo Switch stand at the Indie Arena Booth, Hall 10.2.
#2 Staying Home?
Don’t worry if you can’t make it to Gamescom—we’ve got you covered! The demo is live on Steam right now. This means you can start shredding those slopes from the comfort of your home. We’re super keen to hear what you think, so if you get a chance to play, please consider leaving a review. Your feedback is incredibly valuable as we continue to polish the game ahead of release.
Want to stay updated on all things Slopecrashers? Join our newsletter! You’ll get the latest news, updates, and insider info straight to your inbox. We’ve got a lot of exciting things in the pipeline, and the newsletter is the best way to make sure you don’t miss a thing
Whether you’re hanging with us in Cologne or playing from home, we’re so grateful for your support and pumped for you to see what’s next for Slopecrashers.
Dev Update: Big Milestone / Wholesome Games / Gamescom / Reviews / Release?
Hey shredders!
I have been hard at work finishing up Slopecrashers and today I wanna share a few things with you!
#1 Major Milestone
Today I finished designing the very last track of Slopecrashers. Since (in my opinion) the track designs are the most important thing in Snowboarding games (after the physics of course), I am super happy that I can finally say that they are finished. We are still testing them in the community but so far it has been going good and I think the game offers a big variety of courses when it releases. So I am hopeful you look forward to that.
#2 Gamescom - Indie Arena Booth
I am super excited that Slopecrashers was picked for the Indie Arena Booth at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. And not just that, but for the first time, visitors can get their hands on the Nintendo Switch version there, which I have been working on for quite some time recently to make it work great! So if you are at gamescom, come by, say hi, play the switch version and get some stickers!
#3 Wholesome Games Summer Celebration
Also super great, Slopecrashers is finally a part of wholesome games! And will be apart of the summer celebration starting August 14th. I tried to push a new demo for this celebration, but tbh I am very short on time at the moment because of all of the above and below.
#4 Steam Reviews
Steam also introduced a new feature: Demos now have their own separate steam pages. It would make me super happy if you could please leave a review on the demo page if you played the demo so I know if there are any more things you all want! Also if you wanna be involved more directly, feel free to join our Discord server for feedback / records / speedruns / chatting / etc...
#5 Release?
As mentioned above, the tracks are finished and currently being tested. This means I am currently polishing the remaining bugs, putting together the progression of the game, adding customizables etc... etc... So still a little bit to do for me before the release but let me say it this way: The release is basically in sight!
Stay tuned for more info on this soon!
That's it for now! Hope you enjoy the demo and look forward to the full version soon! -peek
Slopecrashers x ZLAN (Live now!! + custom ZLAN designs are coming)
ZLAN is happening right now! And Slopecrashers is a part of it! Check out the official tournament here: https://www.twitch.tv/zerator
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Also the game will get free ZLAN designs for boards and more soon! Stay tuned! Until then: Have fun watching players compete in Slopecrashers!
- peekstone
Last fixes before ZLAN!
ZLAN is quickly approaching! And I tried to fix all the issues you've been having! So here is the (hopefully) last patch before the event!
v0.6.4.5 - Item fixes: (It should not be possible anymore for the snowman to hit yourself) - also the items are not having these visual glitches anymore on clients (there is still a bit of sync starting jitter going on when shooting but afterwards it looks much better now) - the snowman (that is standing arround) cannot hit clients two times anymore - state of snowman and rock properly synced now - items have proper visual hit effects on clients now (explosions etc..) - bees properly synced between machines - Finishing at same time in a race should now correctly show both players having the same rank - plus no server bias anymore - best lap time now showing up correctly - spectator now has character sound - spectator stunt properly replicated - show end result on spectator - spectator ranking shows up when late joining - spectator waiting for lift to finish before attaching itself to character again
Old Patch notes from this week:
v0.6.4 - made the snowmanslope gliding shortcut towards the end visually more appealing (it feels like a shortcut now and not like a OOB area) - made the shortcut in snowy mountain around the fences less of a "try to remember where death barriers are" but instead make fences bigger so it is more clear where the barriers are. - neon city scenic route: construction shortcut made more visually stand out so it looks like an intended shortcut now - neon city construction: construction shortcut made visually better so it looks like an intended shortcut. - looking back in the lift doesn't restart the match anymore in offline mode when playing alone... - item alarm is reset once the player controller loses its character - fixed a lot of lods with fences - ready go sound now in effects category so you can mute music and still have that sound - removed possibility to start a stunt while getting ballooned - snowy mountain river sticking through the floor fixed - fix tunnel lod - fix landscape lod issues when boosting or splitscreen - made fence between gates a different color so it is more distinguishable from the gates - sync cars / lifts / helicopters to the "START" of the match to avoid a random unfair advantage in online or time attack etc... - fixed an execution order inconsistency when jumping and boosting - added the possibility to disable items in time attack (current mode will also be shown on end screen) - fixed camera for spectator when entering a teleporter - fixed an issue where a UI element could pop up on the spectator which wouldnt go away after - snowmen shouldnt hit you anymore if you shoot them backwards - train is now a snowboard-able surface - neon city sidewalk collision issue fixed - added red / blue explanation to guides - added super trick explanation to guides - changing helper tools in a race in online mode should now get carried over back to the lobby - added scenic route to progress view - fixed campaign progress - fixed a bug, that could cause the host to start the match, even though a player wasn't loaded yet, but a spectator took its place... Which resulted in the one player not being able to play. - fixed a bug in which reopening a lobby could result in the game not registering the amount of players in the lobby correctly - full lobbies now showing up in server browser - spectator UI refreshes now when you switch character - updated splash screens
v0.6.3 - fixing respawn at goal after going through lift - fixed an issue where the game is getting confused when shortcutting too much on snowy mountain and neon city and shows "WRONG WAY" - entering a shortcut while crashing doesnt automatically make you enter the shortcut anymore - fixed speed lines and camera speed effects not working online sometimes - start camera wrong direction fixed - fixed blue / red item box inconsistency when all of the items are disabled - fixed an issue where the camera was closeup when standing online on some machines - look back when entering lift has weird camera behaviour fixed - spectator left right inconsistency fixed - players need to wait for bot to finish race when player leaves and gets turned into bot fixed - respawn skip in neon city removed - spectator gets wrongly assigned to a player in full lobbys fixed - player join crashes game on host fixed - players dont get kicked anymore if they spam (A) at the end of a race in online mode
ZLAN Demo Update #3 & #4 Patchnotes
Patch Notes:
(There will be another update tomorrow that fixes the items online! (So that you cannot hit yourself anymore and that they just appear better))
v0.6.4 - made the snowmanslope gliding shortcut towards the end visually more appealing (it feels like a shortcut now and not like a OOB area) - made the shortcut in snowy mountain around the fences less of a "try to remember where death barriers are" but instead make fences bigger so it is more clear where the barriers are. - neon city scenic route: construction shortcut made more visually stand out so it looks like an intended shortcut now - neon city construction: construction shortcut made visually better so it looks like an intended shortcut. - looking back in the lift doesn't restart the match anymore in offline mode when playing alone... - item alarm is reset once the player controller loses its character - fixed a lot of lods with fences - ready go sound now in effects category so you can mute music and still have that sound - removed possibility to start a stunt while getting ballooned - snowy mountain river sticking through the floor fixed - fix tunnel lod - fix landscape lod issues when boosting or splitscreen - made fence between gates a different color so it is more distinguishable from the gates - sync cars / lifts / helicopters to the "START" of the match to avoid a random unfair advantage in online or time attack etc... - fixed an execution order inconsistency when jumping and boosting - added the possibility to disable items in time attack (current mode will also be shown on end screen) - fixed camera for spectator when entering a teleporter - fixed an issue where a UI element could pop up on the spectator which wouldnt go away after - snowmen shouldnt hit you anymore if you shoot them backwards - train is now a snowboard-able surface - neon city sidewalk collision issue fixed - added red / blue explanation to guides - added super trick explanation to guides - changing helper tools in a race in online mode should now get carried over back to the lobby - added scenic route to progress view - fixed campaign progress - fixed a bug, that could cause the host to start the match, even though a player wasn't loaded yet, but a spectator took its place... Which resulted in the one player not being able to play. - fixed a bug in which reopening a lobby could result in the game not registering the amount of players in the lobby correctly - full lobbies now showing up in server browser - spectator UI refreshes now when you switch character - updated splash screens
v0.6.3 - fixing respawn at goal after going through lift - fixed an issue where the game is getting confused when shortcutting too much on snowy mountain and neon city and shows "WRONG WAY" - entering a shortcut while crashing doesnt automatically make you enter the shortcut anymore - fixed speed lines and camera speed effects not working online sometimes - start camera wrong direction fixed - fixed blue / red item box inconsistency when all of the items are disabled - fixed an issue where the camera was closeup when standing online on some machines - look back when entering lift has weird camera behaviour fixed - spectator left right inconsistency fixed - players need to wait for bot to finish race when player leaves and gets turned into bot fixed - respawn skip in neon city removed - spectator gets wrongly assigned to a player in full lobbys fixed - player join crashes game on host fixed - players dont get kicked anymore if they spam (A) at the end of a race in online mode
Another one!
Little Update to the demo - Thanks to all the #ZLAN players that have reported these issues to me!
- fixed players getting stuck in or in front of the neon city elevator when a certain item was equipped (this was a weird one) - patched map barrier exploits that could result in skipping half the track (in all 4 current demo tracks) - fixed a section in neon city where people could get stuck and unable to move - added a new fix that triggers if the client loses sync to the server when searching for a respawn point - which could result in the player respawning in nowhere and falling endlessly... (If this still happens to anyone - please report it to me and describe what happened when it happened) - character select hover / order fixed - exit options menu ingame with ESC button - respawn button added to key bind (this should also make it possible for players with older savegames to use the respawn button now) - the majority of rails is now oneway -> cannot clip through the floor anymore - clients shouldnt loose connection to the track anymore if the server does and vice versa - respawn button disabled when the race is starting - shortcut detection should be more consistent online - fixed items being loaded from wrong level - items are refreshed when spectator changes view - mirror mode should be properly and fully synced to all players again - fixed neon city scenic construction shortcut respawn points - fixed an issue that could cause clients to respawn at an old respawn point - fixed an issue where the game didnt know what is forward on the starting line which could cause boost to be inconsistent and sometimes launch you backwards - ^this also fixes an issue where the character wobbles weirdly when you hold forward on the start - boost rockets are now mounted correctly in mirror races - fixed an issue that made items on clients online behave weirdly - fixed an OP spawn point on the scenic route shortcut - made the window of the scenic route construction shortcut more visible - fixed an invisible wall in scenic route shopping mall when exiting the arcade
Another Update
Hey there, I am still working on finishing up the game, and again there is a few bugfixes and enhancements, that I want to carry over to the demo, so here is the patchnotes:
fixed some artificial deadzone issues when holding the joystick forward (it is now easier to do some micro movements when pushing the stick forward and a little to the left/right)
neon city scenic route is back again
fixed an issue where super tricks can be triggered accidentally
fixed an issue where skilifts put characters within the same spot (resulting in one not being able to jump out the seat correctly)
fixed a material issue in character select where one character could get the skin of another character - sometimes resulting in penguin getting lemur fur for eyes... ngl this was some horrifying stuff
super tricks landings do not result in wipeouts when stunt safety is enabled
super tricks now showing in points UI as well instead of "flip or spin"
PB should show up correctly again (both in results UI and as Ghost you can race against)
pushing forward doesnt rotate you down waterfalls anymore and therefore made them more complicated to cross if you hold forward than if you would have pressed absolutely nothing
fixed results name overlap UI in online mode
fixed an issue with snowman slope tunnel where you crashed when driving on top
made some tutorials more clear
fixed an exploit where you could fill the boost bar on the rail by steering left right quickly
fixed a visual issue where the character jumps into the lift and starts flying in there for absolutely no reason
fixed an issue where the character jumps in the wrong direction on the starting line
fixed an issue that let the glider be opened right when hitting the ground which looked kinda weird
So yeah - lots of little updates - nothing major here. Stay tuned for more!
- peekstone
New Demo Update
Hey there, I have been quiet for a bit / have been working on finishing up the game (the release is only a few months away 🙌🙌). In the meantime I thought I push an update from the current devversion into the demo - nothing really big here but just a lot of polishing and bugfixes (A lot to the multiplayer).
Thanks to all the players who have provided feedback via the google form or discord! I tried to fix everything that was mentioned there in this version. Please let me know if you have more issues / suggestions / etc..
I will soon tell you about some more upcoming things, stay tuned!
Until then, here is the patchnotes:
Gameplay: - added steam input system -> now you can play with playstation controller (to show the right symbols you still need to change that within the settings of the game - to play with switch controller you have to enable that in the steam controller settings and also disable the automatic button swap for a better experience - I'll try to make this a better experience in the release but for now it works with this small workaround) - added respawn button (select / options button on controllers / R on keyboard - still need to expose it to key binding) - stunt tutorial better exploitation - lift exit jump now consistent - map progress bar in splitscreen - more consistent teleporter tunnels on neon city and snowy mountain - reduced wait time on lift in snowy mountain - glider can be unequipped - tail physics added <3 - Little helper feature that tells the player that gliding would be a good idea now
Multiplayer: - multiplayer menu camera fixes - replicate stunt rotation better in multiplayer - fixes to spectator mode - join as spectator - multiplayer join match less prone to errors - multiplayer joining during level transition doesnt cause character switch or even a character not being able to join the race at all - multiplayer setup carries over between lobby and match now more consistent - fixed options visibility in multiplayer - multiplayer ragdoll now has gravity - online items shouldnt result in shooting yourself anymore when ping is high - lift camera replicated to spectator - camera fov replicated to spectator - added option to not automatically stop online events - in lobby ranking - loading screen info on clients - show ping to players online
Art: - snowman slope lighting enhancements - character hit icons fix - character shaders enhanced
Menu: - character select menu fixes - menu design fixes - guides menu rework - switching between controller and mouse more consistently working - mouse counts as any button consistently - scrolling lists now better working with mouse being used - menu better designs
Level design: - snowman slope more billboards and level design fixes - snowman slope tunnel ceiling smoother (dont get stuck anymore when driving on the tunnel) - lift entrance better design - fixed gaps on snowman slope where player could get stuck - neon city construction lamps / fence gap fixed - better OOB declaration in neon city
Sound: - character hit sounds - more sfx
Bugfixes: - lap counter fixed - item particles fixed - glider opening animation fixed - entering lift animation errors fixed - player shouldnt be controlled anymore by AI after exiting lift - crashing at the start of the match shouldnt result in falling endlessly anymore
Demo patch that fixes a lot of things
Hey gamers 🤙
I have been working a lot on Slopecrashers since all the summer fun stuff - mostly on things that isnt in the demo and lots of exciting stuff that I cant show yet (cry).. But well.. the release is approaching.. soon-ish so it won‘t take too much longer to see what I‘ve been cooking!
Anyway, some of the things that I worked on also affect the demo, so I made a new patch for it that should make it all smoother! (Sorry for the big patch size there is actually a lot of under the hood changes). As per usual, let me know if you have issues / feedback / etc…
Stay tuned for exciting updates in the next couple of months!
So here is a wild potpourri of patchnotes:
- Items have better homing capabilities - Snowman behaviour is changed - it is now more of a throwable that spawns a snowman on impact (if you hit a character it still acts as a catapult as before) - Campaign structure changed - more race events and smaller challenge events. Not everything needs to be played to progress further (The demo campaign is only a glimpse of this). - More sound effects (items) - Bugfixes with camera in main menu and lobby - Main menu fixes when coming back from multiplayer or tutorial which could result in opening menues twice? It was a mess … but not anymore 🙌 - More character animation in character select - Select board and glider color in character select - Intro Text shows which game mode is being played - First time playing a game mode gives an explainer on what you should actually do - Fixed boss battle issues - Better ocean interaction when jumping into a wave (there was this weird snappy movement that i cant really explain but just believe ok) - Better OOB respawn volume placement in neon city construction - Fixed particle effects on water - Particle effects scale with scalability settings (low disables some) - 💚 Capybara 💚 can now be unlocked through campaign - Better Lift visibility with this like air ark thingy that says lift on top. - The game suggests using the glider when it detects that you are falling off the course or will likely crash soon. - Boost flames will show that the boost is still active if contact with floor has been lost for a bit - The AI cannot glide endlessly anymore which could result in them never coming back down to earth anymore. - Fixed ingame UI issue with side goals overlapping with progress meter. - Neon city bridges now have a better start that allows for simpler boardslides on them - it looked like you can boardslide them before but instead you crashed - now you can do the slide. - Gliders have a minimum opening / closing time - so spamming the glider doesnt look as weird anymore - its still weird but not as weird. - Reworked movement to be more stable - Fixed some animation priority settings -> stunt animations should not be interrupted anymore by other animations and then look like no stunt is active even though there is - Fixed some camera lag when driving slow which looked like the game is lagging although it was only the camera - Fixed a calculation issue which resulted in the character lagging even though the game isnt - it was weird - Fixed visual issues with trees - Fixed a shaderbug with snowtracks that could result in a pixel becoming a value of minus infinity which caused some graphic cards to render everything black as long as that pixel was visible. This was a wild one. - Mole dirt is getting removed from the floor as soon as any character drives into it - this also means you are not becoming as slow anymore as you did before (but I still suggest not driving into the dirt but jumping over instead) - There is a helper tool now that automatically accellerates the player if they forget to jump to accellerate when slow. You can disable that like the stunt safety but it doesnt really hurt having it on. - Made lots of optimizations on snowy mountain / snowman slope and neon city to run better on lower end hardware! - Fixed some respawn issues where shortcutting too much could break the calculationn on where the character actually is which could have resulted in resetting the player very far - Mole item cannot exist more than once at a time - this should remove that sometimes multiple moles make the whole map into a full on dirt track - Fixed an issue where helper tools are disabled on new savegames which is against the whole purpose - Fixed an issue with entering the next lap on pirate bay - Fixed an issue with loosing grip on the halfpipe wall - Boss battle is now added to demo campaign - Demo campaign has been restructured - Updated guide videos - Fixed videos to now be also shown on steamdeck and linux systems (through proton) - Fixed some tutorials to be phrased more understandable / understandably - i don‘t want to google whats the correct english form here - Changed visuals on the campaign menue to be easier understood - Fixed an issue where the game could get stuck when changing character selection to the almighty 💚 Capybara 💚 - Were rail tricks in the last patch? I think they were - but they are cool so here they are again woop - Thats all the changes that I tracked for the demo - there might be more that I dont recall sorry for not telling them - Reading this far? Thats cool! Hope you have a good day!
