Spell Karts News

Update 5.2 is now live on the testing branch, bringing a major backend overhaul to future-proof the platform we develop on. We wanted to get this chunk of work out of the way now, as it's a big effort with very little outside reward. We'll be getting back to work on Update 5's map editing tools and mod support once this update is stable.

As this is such a large backend upgrade, it will stay on the testing branch only, with the next "live" update being Update 5.3 which will bring support for creating arenas in the map editing tools.

We will also be posting our new year's plan in the next week or two detailing the roadmap for 2021 and our release plan.

Patch notes:

• New sandstorm swirl FX
  
• Re-wrote large chunks of backend code
  
• Upgraded networking library & associated tooling
  
• Upgraded a large number of additional libraries
  
• Upgraded Unity to 2020.2
  

Update 5.1 brings support for 3 new biomes in the Map Editor as well as a major fix to memory usage.
This is a fairly minor update for patch notes, the majority of the work being spent on redoing terrains across the game as well as upgrading vegetation systems and implementing the new global biomes in the Map Editor.

[h2]General improvements[/h2]

• Christmas background
  
• Update terrain textures
  
• Game save backups will now be tidied up
  
• Improve memory usage
  

[h2]Map Editor[/h2]

• New Biomes: Pirate, Winter, Marsh
  
• Added ability to set vegetation density
  
• New buildings
  
• New props
  
• New stone track type
  
• Remove Post Processing FX in editor
  

As a side note we are also planning on launching the discord server early in the new year once Update 5 is fully complete!

Update 5.0.1 brings a few fixes for the most pressing issues in the 5.0 update, as well as some Map Maker improvements that didn't quite make it into Update 5.0.

[h2]Map Editor[/h2]

• New props
  
• New buildings
  
• New category - Building Parts
  
• Can now change the map weather
  
• [UI] Now scales properly across devices
  
• [UI] New components dock area
  
• [UI] Moved map settings to dedicated window
  
• [UI] Can now toggle specific windows from the toolbar
  
• [UI] Added audio effects
  
• Maps are versioned now
  

[h2]General[/h2]

• You must have three wheels or more on the ground to jump now
  
• More physics improvements
  
• More memory usage improvements
  

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fix scene name in scoreboard when playing mod maps
  
• Reinstated nuke audio on Wild West map load
  

Update 5 is now live bringing a new map editor and support for sharing and downloading maps via Steam Workshop.

Update 5 is a huge update and so it will take up the next few weeks with point releases to complete the Map Editor functionality and improve the performance and stability of this feature.

[h2]Update 5 - today[/h2]
A basic editor with support for creating western-themed race tracks and sharing them to the Steam Workshop.

• Basic editor
  
• Steam Workshop upload
  
• Western biome only
  
• Race track map type only
  
• Limited prefabs
  
• Basic AI support
  

Other changes

• Switched to IL2CPP for improved performance - note this update breaks NVIDIA Highlights which will be fixed in a future patch
  

[h2]Update 5.x TODO list[/h2]

• Stability and bug fixes (we have a longer bug list than we would have liked for release day)
  
• Support for creating arena maps
  
• Expanded and more fully-featured editor
  
• New biomes (Winter / Bog / Pirate / Dungeon)
  
• More prefabs
  
• Multiplayer support
  
• Improved AI support
  

This week we've focussed on improving general stability, AI and physics, which means there are no major new features and no lengthy changelog.

AI improvements

• Battle mode AI re-written to make better decisions
  
• AI will no longer randomly slow down in race modes and will stick to top speeds most of the time
  
• AI will no longer get stuck in tight spaces
  
• AI performance, in general, is greatly improved
  

Physics improvements

• Bouncing is more natural
  
• Karts will try harder to stay on the ground
  
• Fixed multiple glitches
  
• Fixed a lot of the odd bouncing whilst jumping
  
• Improved drifting stability
  
• Everything should feel smoother
  

Other improvements

• A lot of minor bug fixes
  
• A lot of minor performance improvements
  
• Demo players can now play with non-demo players
  

The demo has also been updated for this release, having missed the last few.