Reach new heights in "THE TIREBETAN PLATEAU"!! ... also, a lot of small things.

[p]A new course (the 18th so far!), "The Tirebetan Plateau", is now available.[/p][p]It's the most vertically-oriented course in the game. Combine that with a tire that can (a) bounce from and back up to great heights and (b) roll straight up steep walls at high speed, and—well, you've got yourself another playground![/p][p]This course also has the distinction of housing every single powerup in the game. ... with an asterisk.[/p][p]Many other enhancements are here, too—of varying degrees of importance. In some particular order...[/p][h3]Gameplay[/h3]

[p]The loading screen includes hints and tips. These were also on the pause screen, but they're hardly noticeable there. You'll probably learn a thing or two.[/p]
[p]A few courses, such as "Battery Acid Bayou", have new little areas and branches in them. Maybe more to come.[/p]
[p]The "Driver Assist" (previously "Bubble") powerup that spawns after you've failed a course a few times has been tweaked a bit. It's subtler visually, you still lose Powerups on getting hit (so they can't be farmed)—though you're otherwise invulnerable, and some records aren't recorded if it's active.[/p]
[p]Equipping Powerups (except the "Driver Assist") no longer decreases your score multiplier.[/p]
[p]The "Spin Grip" (Rev up -> touch wall -> launch high) has been buffed, because it's fun to pull off. The Chains Powerup buffs it even more.[/p]
[p]There are more Sapphire Lugs spread throughout the courses. There are probably more to come.[/p]
[p]You can set off fireworks when crossing the Finish Line under... certain conditions.[/p]
[p]In keeping with the theme of the new course, bouncing from greater heights (and maintaining your verticality) is more reliable. [/p]

[h3]Tweaks[/h3]

[p]The UI should better accommodate different aspect ratios, such as 4:3 and ultrawide. This is most noticeable in (say) the loading screen. (I'm wide open to feedback to the contrary, since I'm a 1920x1080 main..)[/p]
[p]Certain visual oddities have been fixed, and other visual improvements have been made. Together, these include oddly placed shadows from pipes (in "Tubular"), drop shadows from certain moving objects in certain circumstances, textures such as those on the Finish Line, new models for (e.g.) guard rails, and Tire Friend casting shadows on entering a course. Items have more flourish when they're collected, lines of Valve Caps are placed on slopes more cleanly.[/p]
[p]Quite a few little things have been optimized under the hood (different mechanism to translate and rotate certain objects, smarter use of certain Unity functionality). These seem to affect load times and performance for the better, even on higher graphical settings. As always, more optimizations to come.[/p]
[p]Credits have been updated.[/p]
[p]Other under-the-hood improvements allow for quicker development and configuration of little mundane things, such as tips, course information, and other text. This ought to pave the way for localization, too. ... maybe.[/p]

[p]What's next? Probably some more polish—fixing the camera clipping through terrain sometimes (hopefully), more rendering optimization, and even more physics testing. Probably also a new course.. got some more prototypes that could be fleshed out. Maybe also actually using Sapphire Lugs to unlock hats or concept art or some such. There's also another music track or two in the hopper. Oh, and enabling players to rebind controls, view progress summaries in a list of courses, browse and pick hats using a better UI, ...[/p][p]In any case.. Happy Tiring![/p][p][/p]