Tire Friend News

Ever wanted to collect things that do absolutely nothing? Well, now you can! ...as long as you have the full version!

When you come back to a completed course, it'll be populated with gemstone lug nuts. They're generally in hard to reach or obscure places. You might have to use advanced techniques to grab them, such as rolling up walls. There will probably be more in the future, too—maybe even a use for them!

More:
Burning things burn other things. That is, fire can spread. Use your imagination.
Tire Friend has a headlight in dark places.
Bug fixes. Including some Launchers sometimes locking the game up (hopefully for good this time), acid hurting you twice at the same time, and Energizers sometimes lasting forever.

Happy tiring!

Now, when you Rev Up (holding Jump), you can put that angular momentum to good use in another way—hitting a wall, then rolling right on up! The longer you've held the button, the higher it'll take you. It's especially useful for little recoveries or when you just miss a jump—tires can't grab ledges, after all—but it's also good for finding secrets once in a while.

In testing, it does seem to be an "easy to use, hard to master" sort of move—when to start charging it up while approaching a wall seems to be a consideration—but it could always use even more testing to prove that one out. I'll throw in a tutorial video to show how it works—that might be the first step.

Another addition: those chrome spheres that are sometimes used to hit switches and solve puzzles have been replaced with ice blocks. These are shaped in such a way that they can be pushed or stood upon, sure—but you can also Quick Drop (the thing introduced a couple updates ago: Brake+Bounce) onto the edges to really let them fly! That's useful for, say, hitting faraway Switches in a hurry.

More:
Better audiovisual indicators on when you're Revving Up, and also when you've Revved Up enough to kick into Overdrive. The meter in the bottom right is still there, but no longer do you have to glance at it.
Acid works like pits do now, taking you back to safety after landing in it. It seems a lot more straightforward that way, even if you're trading off a little bit of freedom.
Fixed some braking physics. If you've braked and are sitting on a slope and jump off, you have to press (and hold) Brake again in the air for the midair braking to take effect. That is, midair braking is a lot more deliberate.
Fixed (I hope!) a bug where entering a Launcher in 2D sections someone locked things up DMs forced your to restart the course.
Braking also just works better now, halting your momentum even more reliably.
Fixed a bug where the second Totomesu Temple Hubcap wasn't obtainable. Whoops!
Other miscellaneous bug fixes, including some (but definitely not all) lighting/shadow oddities.

Pretty sure a new course is coming soon. It may replace one of the existing ones.

Also a new type of collectible, though not sure what that one will be or what it will do—many of the courses are just begging for something more to find.

Happy tiring!

...then there's some good news for you: Tire Friend should run at least a little bit better on your lower-end hardware!

The lowest possible Graphics Quality setting (Options > Graphics/Sound) covers more ground: fog planes, drop shadows, dust particles, and more. Even more optimizations to come as I test it on my own spare potato—I'm looking to make it playable for as many folks as possible.

Some other things:

Completely revamped some models such as the Flamethrower and Cannon, along with some props (power pole, street lamp, ...).
Introduced Hubcap Shards. Collect five for a Golden Hubcap ("those medal things"). First set is in Totomesu Temple, replacing one of the existing Hubcaps.
Retooled many of the textures, especially in the Space Debris levels.
Fixed some (inevitable) bugs to do with the new drop shadows (aligning with the ground, shadows where they shouldn't be casted, ...)
More theatrical lights and effects (Golden Hubcaps again, Overdrive effects, spot lights, ...)

I've been putting a lot of focus into sharpening what's already here—Tire Friend's move set, the physics, optimizations, graphics, objects, scripts, style, and so on—to really beef up the game's foundation. A couple more new courses are in the works as we speak, though.


As always, let me know what you think: the courses, physics, controls, options—nothing's off the table.

And for those of you running the game on a potato: Has performance improved?


As usual: happy tiring!

Ever been in the air and just wanted to get right back down to the ground? Alternatively, ever wanted to hang out in the air and enjoy the view for another, say, 0.25 seconds? Well, now you can do both of those things! That gives you even better control over your vertical momentum.

Hold Brake in midair to hang out for just a bit. Press Bounce while holding Brake to slam down to the ground. (If you're using a controller, using LB to brake makes that easier.) There are some parts of the courses where these can be completely exploited used to help yourself out.

Even more moves to come, including some climbing and on-the-wall Revving Up. They're just undergoing some testing. Hopefully nothing broke with these new moves, though!

Also, new lighting/drop shadow engine. Revamped all the courses (and some collectibles) to varying degrees to match, too. Should look better for the most part, though there's a little bit of a tradeoff there with shadows being more... blobby. There may still be some jankiness with the shadows, but hopefully not too much! Let me know what you think.

More:
Bug fixes. Your lovely tire doesn't (or shouldn't!) get stuck facing the wall when at a 90 degree corner.
Credits are linked directly in the title screen of the game. Probably will be moved/mirrored in the game proper later on.

Happy tiring in 2025!

A couple more updates:

• Disagree with your friend on color choices? Tired of having your two-year-old start out in Tire Physics Mode? Well, no more! Tire Friend's cosmetics (colors and hat) and gameplay options are now set per save file, rather than being global. It makes the save files easier to tell apart, too.
  
• Goofy elf hat for the season. Another second hat because it's funny.
  
• Lighting improvements, level tweaks, and bug fixes.
  

If something broke, please let me know. The tire's in Early Access, after all.

And if you're still looking for a last-minute Christmas gift, Tire Friend's still discounted in the Steam Winter Sale for a bit longer. It's about a dollar for a tire. All of your friends will love it!

And a very merry tiring to you and yours!