Team Racing League cover
Team Racing League screenshot
Genre: Racing, Sport, Indie

Team Racing League

The Roadmap

Alpha Update #3

Hi all,

We just updated the build! It took longer than we expected and hoped for. Due to a necessary Unity update and us releasing the single-player demo. Sorry!
The biggest additions include Roasting (a new mechanic) and a complete Tutorial. More details on the update below.





In preparation of the Early Access launch and our visit to Gamescom in Cologne, Germany this August, we’re working on getting the final features into the game that we believe are required before launch. These are Twitch integration, a Team system (similar to Clans) and Trophies to show off your skills.

Besides the major talking points below we changed a bunch of small stuff. We hope you enjoy the update!

Gameplay

  • Roasting - We’ve added a new mechanic to the game that can be used in two ways:
  • -The Afterburner is a solo ability, which lets players overheat their flames in order to roast blocks or opponents.
  • -The Flamethrower does the same, but can only be activated when two teammates connect. The double flames will burn stuff even faster.
  • Solo Boost - Solo Boost got even more powerful. Boost into other players to make their vehicle go totally berserk or use it to disable enemy abilities, like anchor mode or roadblock.


Game Content

  • Training - You can now practice and experiment with the game’s mechanics in Training mode, our Tutorial.
  • Lighting - We’ve upgraded some visual effects, like drifting, smoke, flames and explosions, to make ‘m even more sexy and shiny.
  • Menu - The menu got a complete overhaul. The homepage now contains news, social buttons and we’ve added new backgrounds everywhere.
  • Music - We’ve added a new background music track, bringing the total to 3 different tracks. A win or loss tune was also added, depending on your race results.
  • 2v2 race - In this build, the game will also start with 4 players in the lobby, should you not be able to find 6 players in total. It may not be as fun and complete as a 3v3 race, but it’s a whole lot better than waiting!

DEMO out! New Trailer in!

Hi all,

We’ve been a bit secretive, but the team has been working hard to get the game ready for Early Access release AND bring you something extra.



First off, we are bringing you the Team Racing League single player demo. The demo will provide players with an opportunity to WIN KEYS for the main game. Secondly, for the first time ever the Tutorial will be playable. You will be able to try all the multiplayer game mechanics in your own time. Finally, you will get a glimpse of a new setting, Forest, and three new tracks. As an Easter Egg you can also find the new Trailer inside the demo. But we won’t spoil it by telling you how to find it.



A bunch of these features will also make it to the full game of course, as we continue updating the game towards Early Access release. We expect that release to be in July! So, sit tight and let your friends know about the Demo.

Wishlist the full game in the meantime to stay updated on its release.
Gamious

Alpha Update #02

We just updated the build with some new features and fixes. Check out the image and info below!





CURRENTLY IN THE WORKS

  • New match results stats:
    The game now show more stats after a race, like toasts (number of hovercrafts and blocks burned with the Afterburner and Flamethrower mechanic) and Fastest Lap raced. A list of more stats is being tracked now, viewable on your Profile page. We plan on using stats for different meanings, like the Trophy system (see Coming Soon).
  • Smoother Time Trial mode:
    We removed unnecessary loading screens and the startup sequence + countdown in Time Trial. You can start racing immediately instead; your ghost will join you once you pass the finish line. Also, going back to the menu won't take you back to the main menu anymore.
  • Improved Team Clash screens:
    The Desert and Mountain areas now have a new and improved Team Clash screen. Instead of a flat image, it's now a living 3d scene! The lightmaps and graphic settings aren't there yet, but we will update those soon. Expect more interactions and visual improvements to these screens in the future!
  • Start/Finish slowmo fixes:
    The zoom at the start and finish of a race was quite intense and robbed the players' from a clear overview. We adjusted both the distance and smoothness to create a zoom in/out with better overview.
  • Skidmarks & drift smoke:
    When drifting in corners, your hovercraft will now leave a mark in the ground with suiting smoke/dust effects. Drift away!
  • Training tutorials:
    You can now train withtry out various game mechanics in the Practice menu. Available trainings are: Anchor mode, Blocks, Boost charge, Roadblock and Solo Boost. Practice away!
  • Tooltips:
    The loading screens now contain useful tips on the game's mechanics and various strategies. We will add matching GIF images to them asap.


COMING SOON

  • Afterburner training:
    The Afterburner is one of the latest game mechanics we added. When you press the accelerate and brake buttons simultaneously, energy will build up and your flames will overheat. This is the afterburner-state. Use your heated flames to toast opponents or blocks. Soon you will be able to master this mechanic in a brand new Training!
  • Flamethrower training:
    An even newer mechanic will also soon be available as training. The flamethrower is a dual-mode mechanic, which means it requires two team mates to connect their hovercrafts. The flamethrower will burst an overheated flame from each side of the hovercraft, ready to toast all hover- or block-like objects around you. Stay tuned for this exiting training! (Spoiler alert: the flamethrower is already available in-game!)
  • Trophy system:
    Trophies are coming to TRL! They will give you more reason to compete withbeat your friends than just beating them. You can win various Trophies and showcase them. In your face, random friend I just beat! We may use the Trophies in a later stadium in some sort of point/ranking-system, but that’s way-in-the-future-talk.
  • Invididual win/loss ratio:
    We’re going to show each player’s wins and losses in the lobby screen so you can see who you’re up against and who you’re teaming up with.
  • New background music:
    The Early Access version will contain three different background tracks for during the race, one title theme, one after-race theme and a win/loss version when the Best of Three is over. All music is composed and created for the game by our musician Jan Jaap Doeven. Stay tuned when everything is integrated!
  • Mechanic balancing:
    While we are happy with all available mechanics and the way everything is balanced out, we are adjusting some minor things. A small change is that the afterburner and flamethrower will be more effective faster, with flames that will toast players slightly faster than they do now. Also, disconnecting enemy hovercrafts with your solo boost will have more impact.


FUTURE PLANS

  • Twitch integration:
    We’re big fans of Twitch (as every game dev should be) and Twitchers and Youtube streamers helped us a bunch with gaining awareness for our other Steam title Turmoil. We believe it’s our duty as a game developer to help Twitch streamers engage and interact with their audience through our game. For the first version, we’re trying to implement Team Bet and Player Vote in the game. In short; Team Bet enables a Twitch audience to vote predict which team will win, and Player Vote will enable people to vote on their favourite player; their Most Valuable Player of the match. We will be testing this ourselves before sending it out so stay tuned via our Twitch channel. Are you a Twitch streamer yourself? Make sure to contact us!
  • Team (clan) system:
    Team Racing League is - as the name says - a team-based game. We want people to form their own teams and play together with friends, as well as meeting new friends to play with through the game. Since most players already play team-based games, we want to enable them to form racing teams with their gaming friends. We’ll be working on a clan-system where people can form their own racing teams, invite their friends, add ranks and gather wins together. Further on in the future, we will add features like leaderboards, matchmaking and maybe even seasons. More on this subject later!
  • 2v2 backup mode:
    We designed the game to be a 3v3 team racing experience. While we believe this is the ideal setup for the game, we are aware of the fact that a new multiplayer game doesn’t have a big player base from scratch. To make it easier to find a match, we will see if it’s possible to start a match with only 4 players instead, if you can’t find 2 more players after searching for x seconds. A 2v2 match obviously has less options regarding team tactics, but can still be a very intense one on one race with two blockers fighting for support.
  • Forest setting:
    Currently there are two settings in place - Desert and Mountain - with three tracks each. Next up is a forest setting. The level design is already done, but the modeling and lighting aren’t quite there yet. We hope to implement the Forest tracks very soon after releasing on Early Access. And of course, there are even more exciting settings coming up!


Hopefully this will give you a bit of an idea of what we’re working on with this game. It’s very hard for a small indie developer to create a successful and popular new multiplayer IP, but we are confident that Team Racing League can be the game that fills up a gap for online racing on Steam. Help us develop this into a fun and great experience! Interested in joining the alpha? Let us know in the comments below or sign up on the TRL website.

Cheers!

Team Gamious

The Roadmap #01

Introducing the Roadmap.

In this document (read: image) we will keep you up to date on development of Team Racing League. In it we list the stuff that we are working on: 'Current Lap'. And stuff that we want to do after that: 'Next Lap'.



This does mean that everything that is listed will eventually make the game. Sometimes stuff takes longer. Sometimes we decide, after testing, that something needs to be removed before it got into the game.The Roadmap is a fluid document. It will change and it won't always end up in the game the way we may have envisioned.

The next update is planned for the end of April.
Here is the very first TRL Roadmap:

Alpha Update #1

Hi all,

Just in time for tomorrow's Alpha Event, we are updating the game for you! The event will start on Saturday at 4pm ET/10pm CET.

The biggest changes include an overhauled user interface, Time Trial Leaderbaords and the new Toasting mechnic. Hotter than a Pop Tart!





We've updated the game several times, but from now on we'll number them and also let you know what we are working towards. We'll do that in The Roadmap, literally. You'll see that for the first time in the coming weeks.

For now, here is the changelist. And please join us tomorrow!

New

    <*>UI improvements
    <*>Time Trial Steam Leaderboards
    <*>Abilities overlay
    <*>Toasting blocks
    <*>Toasting hovercrafts
    <*>Fixed broken-state slip-effect
    <*>Visual effects improvements
    <*>Quick-chat
    <*>Added various sfx

    Saturday April 1st - TRL Alpha Event #3 - No Joke!

    Hey all,

    Join us online for the third Alpha Event! We're starting at 4pm ET /10pm CET.
    Check what time that is in your neck of the woods and mark your calender:
    http://www.thetimezoneconverter.com/?t=4:00%20PM&tz=ET%20(Eastern%20Time)&



    If you want to connect with other player, we have opened up a Discord channel for exactly that! Here it is: https://discord.gg/6RjnzmH

    We hope to see you all online on Saturday!

    Gamious

    TRL on Discord https://discord.gg/6RjnzmH

    Hi all,
    Gamious now has a Discord server: https://discord.gg/6RjnzmH

    Join the server to find other players and communicate via Voice over IP during matches.

    The next Alpha Event will be held this Saturday. So get on Discord and meet up beforehand, and maybe find a match or two.

    Second Closed Alpha Test - Tuesday March 7th

    Hi all,

    Tomorrow, Tuesday March 7th, we're online again for our second Alpha test. If you received a code, or signed up at teamracingleague.net you should be able to download the game and play the game right now.



    The second test event wil start at 4pm EST/ 10 pm CET. Hopefully this way we will be able to accomadate more US players and include them in the test.

    We're very happy with the current status of the game, so we would love to know what you think as well! Join us tomorrow!

    First Closed Alpha Test! Thursday 8pm CET/ 2pm EST

    Hello everyone!

    We are about to start our first playtest with the players who signed up for the Alpha!



    If you received a key (only if you signed up) then please join us Thursday 8pm CET/ 2pm EST.

    We hope to see a lot of players there. It's important for us get a bunch of players online and in a race. Just to see if things work. After tomorrow we'll start more focussed tests.

    Please be aware: there will be bugs! It's not a polished and/or final version of the game. Not by a long shot.

    Want to read up on the game mechanics?
    https://youtu.be/ShMDhEqD3JQ