Ever wished you had just a little bit of vertical control as your vessel flies agonisingly over the track? This is the update for you.
Using the new pitch controls, you can now adjust your vertical trajectory whilst in the air, using the analog stick or up and down on the arrow keys. This change to handling opens up a whole new layer of strategy, allowing the player to finesse their landing for minimal bounce, make sure they land exactly on a gate, avoid obstacles, or simply rescue a bad shortcut attempt. Pitch control is designed to be powerful, but not overpowering - the effect is useful, but quite small.
The goal is to give you a greater feeling of control, but you still need to plan ahead and recognise what is and isn’t a good shortcut. Beginners will be able to land more shortcuts correctly, whilst experts will be able to manage their landings to maintain speed and momentum and press their advantage.
In addition, a new stat, "Bounce", allows you to build a vessel with more or less bounce, useful for keeping yourself grounded. Just be aware that reducing bounce may require you to compromise other vessel stats.
Vessel stats have been reorganised around these changes:
“Handling” has been renamed to “Steering”. This determines the rate of steering both on the ground and in air.
“Handling (Air)” has been renamed to “Air Control”. This determines your vessel’s pitch control speed, as well as how well the “Steering” stat works in the air.
“Bounce” has been added as a new stat. You can now outfit your vessel to minimise bounce, although expect to make compromises in other areas.
“Boost Speed” has been removed. This was redundant, as “Boost Capacity” largely determined boost speed due to the acceleration effect over time.
In order to accommodate these changes, vessel components now have new stat buffs associated with them.
This is the most significant upgrade to the game’s handling system since boost was implemented some time ago. Let me know what you think about the update below, or on the discussion boards. Enjoy!
The User Interface Update (v0.9.0) is live
Fresh from a sneak preview appearance at Unity's Unite 16 showcase, a new style for the user interface has been brought over to the Early Access build. This new look is designed to be modern, extensible, and fast. Yes, there are transition animations, but crucially these are background details and the menus remain fully responsive while they play out. There will be tweaks and additions no doubt down the line, but this is a good solid look at the final release interface.
As promised, I've also added a Controller Vibration strength setting to the options menu, for those of you with controllers which are responding too strongly, or simply for personal preference. The vibration code has been further refactored to reduce micro pauses it was causing on some controllers.
How's it going? Just thought I'd drop a quick note about what's going to be happening for SUPER IMPOSSIBLE ROAD in the run-up to 2017.
Fresh UI look
For the build I took to Unite 16's showcase in Hollywood last week, I updated the front end with a fresh new look, designed to be super clean and modern. The idea is that it should basically get out of the way as much as possible. I'll be spending a bit of time bringing this look over to the Steam version, so you should see this in an update soon. See the attached image for a mockup of the new main menu.
Handling
I've noticed that a lot of people are asking for pitch control in flight, and it's something I believe the game could benefit from, if done correctly. I see pitch control as being quite subtle - there will be no huge deviations, but it will allow you to adjust your landings a little and give you the feeling of greater control. I'll be experimenting with this locally at first, and depending on results I may push out either a beta version with this in, or simply make it toggle-able via the settings menu.
Another idea that I'm looking at is introducing bounce as one of the handling stats. This would be something else to consider during your vessel builds. Again, I'm not 100% about this yet until I experiment, but it's something I've been thinking about.
Sound off in the comments below, I would definitely like to get your opinion on these changes.
Sales
It has come to my attention that most people on Steam use the wishlist facility to wait for sales before they buy a game. Previously I've been against sales for SUPER IMPOSSIBLE ROAD, but this stance is hampering the push to grow the user base in time for online MP testing. And without enough users for online, matchmaking is going to be a terrible experience. Therefore, I'm changing my stance a little. You will see SIR in future sales on Steam in order to grow the player base, BUT there won't be any deep discounts during Early Access.
If you're currently sitting on the fence and you'd like to wait for a sale, go ahead and wishlist, we'll still be here later. It's all cool. Don't expect any huge discounts until well after launch though.
Controller Rumble
From your feedback, it seems that there are huge differences in the rumble response for different controllers. To this end, I'll introduce a rumble setting in the game's settings, probably with Off, Low, Medium and High settings to accommodate all the controllers (and personal taste). I've also heard from some users that some using PS4 controllers on PC are experiencing frame drops during rumble events. I'll take the opportunity while I'm digging around in this code to fix this.
The Start of Career
I'm not sure how much I'll get done in 2016, but work will start in earnest on the Career Mode. There might be something to show this year, but I'll only put it out there if there's something interesting for you guys to play.
That's about it for now. Looking forward to pushing out the new big update!
Cheers,
Kevin
Performance Update 2 (v0.8.0) goes live
As promised, v0.8.0 focuses on tightening the nuts and bolts, bringing up everyone's FPS counters and smoothing out micropauses. I believe that keeping an eye on performance all the way through the development cycle is the only way to produce a robust title with solid framerates, and from time to time it's necessary to put some concerted time into optimisations. There's still work to do in this area, but this update puts us well on track once more.
There are both CPU and GPU optimisations in this update, with the CPU load falling up to 50% on some configurations. The GPU side makes better use of multiple threads and dynamic batching to bring down the load on your graphics card.
Just thought I'd post something to bring you all up to speed with how development is going on SIR - what's coming next, what's happening with career and online etc.
Next Week The latest patch, dropping next week, will concentrate on optimisation. With the recent updates to environments, customisation and graphics, the nuts and bolts needs tightening up a little. Hitting a solid 60fps is really important with a game like SIR, and this next update will help people struggling with that. For those already hitting 60fps, but with the occasional micro hitch, this will help smooth out the bumps.
The Hub After this, work will shift to the map screen. This will be the new hub for the game, straight after the title screen. A map of the SIR solar system will be displayed, and you'll be able to select a location (e.g. Keres Lower Orbit) and choose your game mode directly from here.
The map screen will serve two important functions:
It will be the launch pad for the career mode. New events will be highlighted on the map screen, and location unlocks will happen here. The map screen will help the player visualize their progression.
It will contribute to the world building, giving SIR a sense of place and connectedness. Short descriptions for the locations will fill in the background and fiction for SIR.
Career Mode After the map screen is in the game, work can start in earnest on career mode. It is likely that you won't see career mode drop all in a single update, but over several updates, allowing me to integrate your feedback.
Online Multiplayer The next big piece after career is online multiplayer. This is the big one, and I've been waiting for us to get enough players into the game so that when we start testing this, we actually have a chance of finding a game. We're not quite there yet, and this is maybe something you can help with.
Growing the Game To increase the user base for multiplayer testing, we need more players. And for that to happen, SIR needs more reviews. At the time of writing, the game has 20 reviews, 95% (19 / 20) of which are positive. 95% is an amazing score, but the Steam store page doesn't show a rating above "Positive" before the game gets around 50 reviews. So if you would be so good to leave a review, it would really help the game grow.
Public Appearances Another way to grow the game is to get it in public eye, at conferences and conventions etc. I'll be stepping up this side of things, and to kick things off, SIR has been invited to be part of the Unity showcase at Unite 16 LA, on November 1-3 in the Loews Hotel, Hollywood. If you're there, drop by the booth, and I'll race you :)
Play the Original, Free, Right Now Did you know there was an IMPOSSIBLE ROAD? It was the Apple's runner up Best of 2013 game on iPad, but it also works on iPhone. It's more of a simple score attack game, but the shortcuts and procedural generation are there. If you want to see where the game came from, IMPOSSIBLE ROAD is Apple's Free App of the Week, so get yourself over there to download it for free.
Okay, that's just about everything for now. If you have any questions, do leave a comment below and I'll reply to you there.
Cheers,
Kevin
The Environment Update (v0.7.0) just went live!
Hello, good people, and welcome to another weekend of high-velocity racing!
This update is all about environments. There are two new locations - Rings of Cetea and Solar Precipice. In addition, existing location Keres becomes Keres Lower Orbit and gains a moon as well as some visual tweaks.
Keres Lower Orbit Keres is not just a bustling trade planet, it's also home to the V1 racing series, famous for its auto re-configuring tracks and huge shortcuts.
Rings of Cetea Cetea has a ring formation of naturally occurring luminescent micro dust, making it a popular tourist destination. The recent inclusion of the latest iteration on V1 track design is another good reason to visit.
Solar Precipice Creating a track this close to Athos was a massive undertaking. Extensive heat shielding and an experimental gravity dispersion field make racing possible; just about. The curved profile of the track means that falling into the clutches of this yellow dwarf is a real danger.
Sadly, Anomaly 249 has been dropped from the racing roster pending improvements. The stark white background, whilst stylish in its own minimal way, just doesn't fit the recent visual changes. Hopefully, it will be back one day soon, and look infinitely cooler for its enforced absence.
In addition to the work on environments, the HUD and the lighting model have undergone improvements. The new HUD should fit the richer backgrounds better, and leave room for further improvements in the future. The new lighting model improves both track and vessel lighting.
Hello all, and welcome to another important update for SUPER IMPOSSIBLE ROAD. Shortly after the audio update, this one brings the visual level up to something much closer to release quality.
The most noticeable change is the addition of a full background to Keres. The stars, nebula, sun and the planet of Keres are now visible in the background. All the other distinct environments in SIR will be similar in detail to Keres, featuring asteroids, black holes, lava planets and the like.
The existing stark white Anomaly 249 (previously called Athos) is an exception to this, taking place inside a subspace anomaly. This extreme environment reflects how late it will turn up in Career mode, with the environments ramping up in danger over the entire career.
The other big change is post effects. Vignetting has been added, which pulls the scene together visually. The game is now colour graded, with settings dependent on environment. Analog-style film noise has been added, which really helps to break up surfaces and tame gradient posterisation. I know that noise effects can be divisive, so you'll be glad to know you can turn it off in the settings menu.
On the optimisation front, post effects in general should be less GPU intensive now, since they're mostly done in a single pass rather than over several passes. It might be worth playing with your settings again to get a good balance for your PC.
OK, that's about it, but if you want more detail, see the release notes as always. Good luck!
v0.5.1, the Tiny update is here
Surprise! A very small update for your Sunday evening enjoyment. I've been working on new graphic assets for SIR's marketing, and part of this was creating the new title screen. So instead of waiting until the next big update, I thought I'd drop it right into the build. Enjoy!
Full patch notes (but it really *is* just that one change) can be found, as ever, here.
v0.5.0, the Sound and Music update is here!
Did you know that Kai Kennedy, the voice of the announcer in Super Impossible Road also voices Beowulf in Skullgirls? He’ll be glad of one particular change in this update, which pulls down the volume of all of the rest of the audio when he’s speaking. His voice is just so powerful, the rest of the mix gets out of his way.
Jack into your 7.1 audio system and dust off your headphones, it's the Sound and Music update! I’m aware that I probably say this every time, but I’m excited about this update. Nothing brings together that all-elusive commodity of GAME FEEL quite like sound. You’ll be able to hear the crunch of vessels hitting vessels, and bouncing off the track. Engine sounds are much improved, with distinct sounds for each of the three engine cores meaning you can keep track of each racer more easily when you’re jockeying for position. Even if you’re more into the endless modes, make sure you try the racing in this update.
Music takes a big leap in this update, with 3 more hard-hitting techno tunes playing in-game, bringing the total to 5. The game also finally gets some title music to set the mood.
There’s a notable bug fix in this update. Sound sometimes used to cut out when entering the pause menu. It doesn’t now. This was an annoying one, and proved really hard to track down.
And there’s a couple of non-audio changes there too. For example, vessel-on-vessel collision physics are much improved. Try bouncing other racers off the track!
As usual, the full release notes can be found here.
Enjoy!
Playing in 4K resolution
Hi all,
If you've just bought a 4K TV or monitor, you're probably looking for things to try on it. I'm happy to report that I managed to get the game running at 60fps at 4K on an Nvidia 970, with some tweaks to the settings. 4K is particularly nice for split-screen multiplayer, as it means each player gets their own 1080p display!
I've posted a guide on the discussion board, detailing a.) how to get the game running in 4K, and b.) which settings will typically improve the framerate at memory- and pixel-hungry high resolutions. You can get it here
There are also some 4K screenshots on imgur. You have to download the images for full 4K resolution. You can find them here.
