Courier missions, All Saints’ Day, First Achievements - Vox Vivat #4 - Dev diary

Notice the pace we've set? It's literally spooky! That's because we have All Saints' Day, or Halloween as the Americans call it – and that means the vampire-themed free update is coming to you just in time!

[h2]New Activity: NAY Express Courier[/h2]
Slovak electronics retailer NAY has arrived in our virtual Bratislava, offering Milan an opportunity to make some extra money. In Petržalka, a NAY building has sprung up where you can work as a courier delivering electronics.

Expect 10 fast-paced deliveries including voice acting, where you'll earn not only some crowns and an achievement for completion (more on that below!) but also an exclusive in-game reward.



[h2]NAY Walkman – Listen to the radio on the go[/h2]
After completing 10 deliveries across virtual Bratislava, you'll unlock a feature players have been asking for. Now you’ll be able to listen to Radio LFO or your own music via a walkman even when you're on foot. This mechanic came from suggestions on our Discord, so if you're not part of the community yet, feel free to join and share your ideas – we’re listening.



[h2]New Mechanic: Personal Garages[/h2]
Where do you store all those crowns you’ve earned? As a bachelor living in an apartment block, you have to invest in a new car. But you’ll need to take care of them properly, garaging them, so that in 10 years, you can sell them as “low-mileage imports from Austria.”

Back to the garages – it's a new game mechanic! We've scattered garages for sale throughout virtual Bratislava. You can store all your vehicles, whether bought from Ivan’s Rides or as bonus cars earned through side activities.



[h2]Garage Tuning, Phase 1 – Underglow[/h2]
Why visit Ivan's Rides for your vehicle modifications when you can do it yourself in your garage? Repainting your car any color in your newly acquired garage is a breeze – but that’s not all.

To get that Underground 2 vibe, you’ll be able to add neon underglow to any of your vehicles. Right now, we’re offering just a teaser color for the neon lights, but it’s clear where we’re headed in terms of visual tuning in future phases.



[h2]Unserevehikel Tornado – 3 New Variants[/h2]
The popular Unserevehikel brand has received a new import with three fresh versions. You’ll see the Tornado cruising the game’s streets in its hatchback version, a family-friendly tourer, or an unassuming sedan.

You’ll also notice upgrades to the front and rear lights, which we’ve applied to some older cars as well. To be honest, on some cars, the headlights used to look a bit like stickers! On a brighter note – Vivat Slovakia has added over 100 drivable vehicles since early access. That’s a huge milestone!



[h2]Smola Agro – The Black Ambulance[/h2]
For All Saints’ Day, we’re bringing back an eerie Eastern European legend from the 80s. The Black Ambulance roams the city streets, abducting children for their organs. In the past, kids knew it was time to go home when the streetlights turned on.

When the lights flickered, it was time to run.
Emerging from the shadows of the flickering streetlights, a dark Smola Agro with a black finish and vintage ambulance design haunts those who play outside too long. This unique vehicle will now roam the streets of digital Bratislava in Vivat Slovakia.



[h2]Gerlach 725 Monster[/h2]
We all know by now that one of the game’s main characters is voiced by the slovak rapper EGO. But did you know about his bandmate Rytmus’s videos? In one of the latest episodes of his show, a monster truck was featured that cannot go unnoticed.

Ivan fired up the welder and fitted the body of the luxurious Slovak car Gerlach 725 onto giant wheels. You can win this beast at the Petržalka Bumper Car attraction and pick it up from your newly added garages. Like all your cars, this Gerlach also functions as a taxi. Whether customers will dare to get in, though, is another question.



[h2]Achievements Are Coming[/h2]
Every gamer knows that satisfying feeling when earning an achievement. Vivat Sloboda only had one, but Vivat Slovakia will have two... for now. We’ve got the achievement system ready and are gradually adding Steam trophies to the game to make sure everything works smoothly when the final version is released.

• Handle with Care – Complete the NAY Express delivery and get the walkman
  
• Smashing Pumpkins – Smash all 50 pumpkins and get the vampire car
  

You can unlock these two achievements with this patch, but we’re already preparing a massive batch of trophies for the next update.



[h2]Polishing, Optimizing, and Perfecting – Yes, Still[/h2]
Aside from adding new content, optimizing, and working on the other side of the tape (which will be action-packed!), we’re of course fixing all the bugs reported through the in-game menu or by our dedicated testers. We quietly add these minor gameplay improvements, outside of the Vox Vivat updates.

For example, to liven up the city, we’ve added Schweisser Team welders on various construction sites and scaffolding. We’ll take another look at the already improved bumper car attraction and the latest mini-story in the The Prodigal Son Returns mission, which spices up the ladder climbing portion.

We live by the motto "It’s the little things" and hope that when we finally remove the Early Access sticker from Vivat Slovakia, you’ll experience a more polished game – especially if you’ve been with us from the start.



Another great example is the road network in the game, which has been bugging us since early access. Roads had lots of geometric errors, causing a significant load on your PC. Dominik tackled the road network over the past few months and managed to reduce it by over 1,000,000 triangles. The road file is now just 55 MB.

This drastically reduces the load on your hardware by more than half.
In addition, Damián is continuously looking at the most resource-heavy buildings and remodeling them with new expertise. Currently, he’s focused on remastering the parliament building, which will not only look better and be less taxing on your computer, but will also open up the parliamentary garden area.



[h2]English Voice Acting in Vivat Slovakia is Approaching[/h2]
A major milestone in localization for foreign players is within reach. In collaboration with the Prague-based studio BEEP, we’ve managed to record voices of native speakers for the first side of the Vivat Slovakia tape.

The game already has English subtitles, but as content grows and the game’s quality improves, professional English voice acting will open doors for us on the bloodthirsty (even outside of Halloween) international market. We have even wilder localization plans, hoping to tackle subtitles in other languages too. So, if you’re fluent in any foreign language, feel free to reach out.


[h2]Ferraty Vampire RSR[/h2]
For All Saints’ Day, 50 pumpkins have appeared around the city. Don’t forget, you’ll find the first one in the tutorial (mission zero), where your border guard colleagues shine a light on it. It’s the first collectible item in Vivat Slovakia, and for finding all of them, you’ll not only get an achievement but also a bloody reward.

The 1981 Czechoslovak horror movie Vampire from Ferat is still a bizarre and terrifying work, telling the tale of a car that runs on the driver’s blood. Ferraty Vampire RSR has several unique abilities. Not only does it leave behind a trail of Milan’s blood, but it also devours the veins of pedestrians. Better not look under the hood!



f you’ve read this far, thank you for sticking with us, enjoy the upcoming update and see you in the next Vox Vivat!