Wrecking Ball Featured Vehicles and Version 0.150 (Likely) Coming Next Week!
Version 0.150 is approaching release, possibly within a week, but before we get to that, let's take a look back at August's Featured Vehicles.
AUGUST'S THEME: WRECKING BALL
There were a lot of great entries, with some very impressive designs and satisfying destruction. Two builders managed to get two winning vehicles this time, with both of them (Stranger and SmokieTheSalmon) having a couple excellent and unique designs. Here's a video showing the winners and honorable mentions, then a text list below that:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
FEATURED VEHICLES
HONORABLE MENTIONS
This was a very fun one to judge, and the controls were generally pretty easy to figure out. I still need to figure out a good function to auto-remap QWERTY to AZERTY keyboards and back, as that does affect a few entries, but I'll take a look at it in the post-0.150 support period. Thanks as always to everyone who entered!
SEPTEMBER'S THEME: DUNE BUGGY
One of the less-major changes in version 0.150 is the increased max strength of powered wheels, and the ability for wheels to propel vehicles faster than before. Those changes make the Dune Buggy theme even more exciting than it might appear at first. Along with the new option to disable mini-thruster effects, making fast-moving vehicles is much easier.
But going fast isn't the only thing I'm looking for in next month's vehicles. Handling bumps and uneven terrain is also desirable. I'll be using Aries as the island for trying out the Dune Buggy entries. There's no particular mission I'll be using, and raw speed isn't necessary, but overall driving enjoyment and cool design will be the priority.
Choosing September's theme was a bit difficult. Even though I have over 15 theme ideas written down, many of them will be much better when vehicle parts have more customization and logic. Vehicle part logic will be the one of main focuses of the next big update after 0.150, so it won't be a problem for too much longer.
[UPDATE: Forgot to mention the deadline will be September 21st, so no rush, especially considering you'll want to test with 0.150 before submitting.]
VERSION 0.150 BETA TESTING SOON
Version 0.150 is finally nearing release. Today I'll be working on the last significant feature (importing custom meshes), but that's actually one of the least difficult parts of adding custom ground meshes. Just supporting custom meshes at all, and allowing some editing of their placement/scale/rotation, was completed yesterday, along with letting you place prebuilt meshes like ramps, boxes, and spheres. Workshop support ended up being the biggest task by far this time around, as supporting workshop structures within islands (which can also be on the workshop) was more complex than I first realized.
Anyway, the new version will go into a new Beta branch of the game first. After a couple days of additional testing and likely some fixes, the big 0.150 release is expected late next week. Will do a video highlighting all the new stuff for the launch, and some additional promotional stuff.
After 0.150, I expect to do a week or two of smaller updates based on feedback. I will also be creating some structure and island editing tutorial videos on YouTube that are linked in the game. I'm not super-concerned about making the editors easy to use, but I definitely need to explain them in more detail so it's not as much trail-and-error.
The next big update (0.200 will likely be the version number) will be focused on vehicle building enhancements. That means multi-select, copy and paste, importing multiple vehicles at once, and some level of part logic support. There might be changes that break previous vehicles in some way, and I'd rather get those in sooner than later.
Thanks to the roadmap and some recent brainstorming on where I want to take Play mode, I now have a clearer long-term plan for the game and what version 1.0 will look like. I'm nowhere near the finish line for the game, but it feels good to finally have an idea of what the finish line looks.
AUGUST'S THEME: WRECKING BALL
There were a lot of great entries, with some very impressive designs and satisfying destruction. Two builders managed to get two winning vehicles this time, with both of them (Stranger and SmokieTheSalmon) having a couple excellent and unique designs. Here's a video showing the winners and honorable mentions, then a text list below that:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
FEATURED VEHICLES
- Cerberus Flail - Kaijp
- OG Wrecking Ball - SmokieTheSalmon
- Wrecker Crane - SmokieTheSalmon
- Willy Wrecken Balls - PaperMachine
- Urban Wrecker - Stranger
- Wrecking Orb Machine - Neo_Runner
- Big Swinger - Zombie Ninja
- Wrecking Crane MK4 - OscBear
- WalkaMass - Stranger
- Octo-Gone - Turbo Jack Flash
- Steel Cable Striker - DanoSpark117
- Omega Wrecker - PyroTeknikid
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- Wrecking Ball Ram - IceCreamMan4254
- Ball On A String - ESD
- Nauseating Idea - Tatsumesan
- Accurate Wrecking Crane - GameMachine_Marco
- WreckingBall - Looshin42
- Wrekkkking Ball - Jonny_Arson
- Duel Ball Wrecker - DangoSpark117
- Heavy Wrecking Crane - Stranger
- Carousel Crahser - Red Cassette
- Wrecking Ball - Destiny
- Athena - Aaardvark123
- DeployableWrecker - DarkySword
- Crashing Tide - Parallel
This was a very fun one to judge, and the controls were generally pretty easy to figure out. I still need to figure out a good function to auto-remap QWERTY to AZERTY keyboards and back, as that does affect a few entries, but I'll take a look at it in the post-0.150 support period. Thanks as always to everyone who entered!
SEPTEMBER'S THEME: DUNE BUGGY
One of the less-major changes in version 0.150 is the increased max strength of powered wheels, and the ability for wheels to propel vehicles faster than before. Those changes make the Dune Buggy theme even more exciting than it might appear at first. Along with the new option to disable mini-thruster effects, making fast-moving vehicles is much easier.
But going fast isn't the only thing I'm looking for in next month's vehicles. Handling bumps and uneven terrain is also desirable. I'll be using Aries as the island for trying out the Dune Buggy entries. There's no particular mission I'll be using, and raw speed isn't necessary, but overall driving enjoyment and cool design will be the priority.
Choosing September's theme was a bit difficult. Even though I have over 15 theme ideas written down, many of them will be much better when vehicle parts have more customization and logic. Vehicle part logic will be the one of main focuses of the next big update after 0.150, so it won't be a problem for too much longer.
[UPDATE: Forgot to mention the deadline will be September 21st, so no rush, especially considering you'll want to test with 0.150 before submitting.]
VERSION 0.150 BETA TESTING SOON
Version 0.150 is finally nearing release. Today I'll be working on the last significant feature (importing custom meshes), but that's actually one of the least difficult parts of adding custom ground meshes. Just supporting custom meshes at all, and allowing some editing of their placement/scale/rotation, was completed yesterday, along with letting you place prebuilt meshes like ramps, boxes, and spheres. Workshop support ended up being the biggest task by far this time around, as supporting workshop structures within islands (which can also be on the workshop) was more complex than I first realized.
Anyway, the new version will go into a new Beta branch of the game first. After a couple days of additional testing and likely some fixes, the big 0.150 release is expected late next week. Will do a video highlighting all the new stuff for the launch, and some additional promotional stuff.
After 0.150, I expect to do a week or two of smaller updates based on feedback. I will also be creating some structure and island editing tutorial videos on YouTube that are linked in the game. I'm not super-concerned about making the editors easy to use, but I definitely need to explain them in more detail so it's not as much trail-and-error.
The next big update (0.200 will likely be the version number) will be focused on vehicle building enhancements. That means multi-select, copy and paste, importing multiple vehicles at once, and some level of part logic support. There might be changes that break previous vehicles in some way, and I'd rather get those in sooner than later.
Thanks to the roadmap and some recent brainstorming on where I want to take Play mode, I now have a clearer long-term plan for the game and what version 1.0 will look like. I'm nowhere near the finish line for the game, but it feels good to finally have an idea of what the finish line looks.