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GeneRally 2 News

Christmas Update - v0.5.532cae4

Summary

This update includes some new objects, as well as a new track. At the moment the team's focus is on the upcoming online multiplayer update, so this update is smaller than usual.

Gameplay & Performance
  • Added a new track: WinterTyme.
  • Snow tracks (Snoogy, Snorge and Polarius) got updated with the new snowy variants.


User Interface
  • Added some Christmas cheer to the Main Menu!


Track Editor
  • Added new snowy variants for Fir Tree, Pine Tree, and Bush.
  • Added static cars, vans, trucks and trailers.
  • Up and Down arrow keys can now be used to cycle variants in the New Object tool.
  • FIXED: Hay bales now correctly follow the terrain.
  • FIXED: Phantom AI lines no longer sometimes remain when loading a track.


Known Issues
  • The main menu sometimes experiences distortions or other rendering issues - changing resolution, or restarting the game may rectify the issue.
  • Occasionally, when in Windowed mode, changing the language multiple times in quick succession can shrink the game window.

Christmas Update & Online Multiplayer

Today's blog post is going to cover the upcoming Christmas Update, as well as talk a bit about our progress towards online multiplayer, and what you can expect from the next couple of months!

Christmas Update

Before Christmas, we'll be launching the GeneRally 2 Christmas Update. This update will include a variety of small features and fixes, but also some themed additions to help you celebrate the holiday season in style.



Most notably, we'll be adding a new track, and a selection of new objects (including static cars, vans and trucks) and some winter-themed variants of existing objects.

Online Multiplayer

Work continues on the online multiplayer feature, which is coming along nicely and is beginning to have all the features and functionality we envisioned it having at its initial release.

At the moment it's possible to race with your friends (or complete strangers) in single races - or in championships - online. We still have some way to go and our focus at the moment is now particularly on the additional functionalities like synchronising tracks between players, and handling mid-race disconnections.

After this, we'll have some UI finalisation to do - and then we hope to conduct a couple of invite-only tests before launching multiplayer sometime after the New Year! Stay tuned here, and on Discord, to find out more about the invite-only tests πŸ“§

What's Coming Next?

We're continuing to follow our roadmap and our plans for GeneRally 2's Early Access period - and we're on-track with where we expected to be at this point. It's our intention to launch out of Early Access within the first half of 2024 πŸ†

Still outstanding on our pathway towards a Version 1.0 release are the online multiplayer, a couple of cars, improvements to the AI, and a variety of smaller bug fixes and features.

In the year leading up to the launch of Early Access (and for a couple of months afterwards), we were really lucky to be able to have such a large team working on GeneRally 2. Now, our team is much more modest in size (only three of us are working actively on the project) - a result of the basic realities of independent game development.

However, as we saw the possibility of this from afar, we set our Early Access goals conservatively, to ensure we could reach them even with a smaller day-to-day team.

What this means is that prioritisation becomes the most important factor for us in delivering content and feature updates. Right now, our focus is on delivering the online multiplayer, and then we'll be able to turn our attention to the other items on the list!

Of course, this also makes now a great time for us to say thank you to the team members who have helped us along the route, but are no longer working with us on a daily basis: we are so grateful to you guys for your contributions to GeneRally 2 over the past couple of years 😊

Update v0.4.f090d72

This update includes some performance improvements, as well as a few minor features and fixes. At the moment the team’s focus is on the upcoming online multiplayer update, so this update is a little smaller than usual.

Gameplay & Performance
  • Improved performance related to skidmarks and terrain shading in race mode.
  • Adjusted wheel damage to be a bit less vicious.
  • FIXED: Tree stumps now behave correctly when colliding.
  • FIXED: Corrected several objects UV mappings.


User Interface
  • Added Polish language localisation (thanks to Salami/Scorpion).


Track Editor
  • Added new size variants for trees and bushes.
  • FIXED: UI models for the second house type are now displayed properly in the UI.


Known Issues
  • The main menu sometimes experiences distortions or other rendering issues - changing resolution, or restarting the game may rectify the issue.
  • Occasionally, when in Windowed mode, changing the language multiple times in quick succession can shrink the game window.

Hotfix v0.4.054a7a8

This update fixes an issue with terrain physics calculations.

Changes
  • FIXED: Terrain normals are now correctly calculated - and cars behave properly on slopes again.

Hotfix v0.4.b7942b7

This update fixes an issue with the Formula and General.

Changes
  • FIXED: Formula and General no longer pull to the side on banked tracks.