The Karters 2: Turbo Charged News

We're excited to announce the release of our first video in the new YouTube series dedicated to The Karters 2: Turbo Charged!

In this video, we dive deep into one of the core mechanics that gives our game its distinctive character—[h3]the Reserves System.[/h3]

[h3]🔍 What You'll Learn:[/h3]

• Reserves Explained: Understand how reserves influence your speed and overall performance.
  
• Boosting Mechanics: Maximize your speed by boosting during drifts and trick jumps!
  
• Trick Jumping Techniques: Perform mid-air tricks to increase your reserves and gain additional boosts.
  
• Maintaining High Reserves: Strategies to keep your reserves high by avoiding obstacles and choosing optimal driving lines.
  
• Advanced Tips: Master the reserves system to dominate races and set new world records!
  

[h3]🔥 Watch the Video Now:[/h3]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]👍 Don’t Forget To:[/h3]

• Like & comment under the video to help us reach even more kart racing fans
  
• Follow Steam Page and Subscribe for more in-depth guides and tips
  

[h3]🚀 Stay Tuned for the Official 2024 Release![/h3]

The official release of The Karters 2: Turbo Charged is scheduled for 2024.
Get ready for more active communication, updates, and information from now on!

Don’t forget to wishlist the game on Steam and join our active Discord community: https://discord.gg/TheKarters

[h3]Thank you![/h3]
Thank you for your continued support! We hope you’re as excited as we are for the game’s release and to see you all competing on the online and time trial leaderboards! 🏁✨

Hello everyone,

It took some time, but I am happy to announce that I am ready to release the preview version of the modding tools and documentation!

This version is primarily designed for you to explore the documentation and tools and to receive your thoughts and suggestions, which you can share here or in our Discord channel. You will be able to actually test your creations during the upcoming closed beta tests!

[h3]SDK Version - v0.8 Tools & Documentation Preview Release[/h3]

These tools are designed to help you create, share, and enjoy mods that enhance the gaming experience of The Karters 2. Whether you're looking to add new tracks, characters, skins, vehicles, wheels, voice-overs, or stickers, these tools and documentation are here to bring your ideas to life!

You can check the documentation and tools on the official GitHub project and wiki page:

Project: https://github.com/PixelEdgeGames/TheKarters_WorkshopProjectRelease

Wiki: https://github.com/PixelEdgeGames/TheKarters_WorkshopProjectRelease/wiki




[h3]Testing Mods & Upcoming Beta[/h3]

Important Notice: I recommend against using this version for your projects just yet. Starting from the forthcoming version 0.9, which will be released in conjunction with the upcoming closed beta tests, you will be able to fully utilize these tools in a stable version. This will be an exciting phase where you'll be able to test your creations directly within the game environment as well.

[h3]Supported Mod Types[/h3]

In the documentation, you will be able to find out how to create your own:




I'm really hoping you like these modding tools :) Please share any thoughts or feedback you might have, here or in our Discord channel.

Sebastian

Hello Everyone,

I hope you're all doing great. I've got some exciting updates to share about the game, especially about a feature many of you have been asking for:


In the last two weeks, I've been busy adding a feature many of you wanted – stickers for vehicles.
I thought this would be easy, but it turned out to be quite tricky for two big reasons.
First, I didn't just want to give you a few sticker options. I wanted to let you change how they look and where they go. Second, adding decal stickers usually slows down the game, especially on older computers or when playing split-screen with friends. So, I had to find a simpler way to do it (without the extra camera rendering requirement), which ended up needing more work.

In line with my current work on Workshop support, I'm excited to share that you'll also be able to create mods and incorporate custom stickers within the game as well :)

[h3]How Do Stickers Work?[/h3]
Each vehicle can support up to 10 stickers in designated spots, with each spot accommodating up to two textures—allowing for front and back layering. You'll have the flexibility to adjust the sticker's position, scale, rotation, color, and transparency. I believe this level of customization will enable you to design truly unique and eye-catching vehicles.
In the video below, you can see how it works.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


In "The Karters 2 - Modding Unity Project," you'll find a scene template for setting up your track, including placing the finish line, adjusting AI navigation curves, road width, start positions, colliders, boost pads, item boxes, and setting the track's loop mode.

Custom tracks will be accessible from the Main Menu, similar to other race tracks, and you can also include them in online races within private rooms.

[h3]Leaderboard Support[/h3]
Next week, I'll be adding Leaderboard support for these custom tracks and implementing a system to inform players in a private room when a track is missing for someone—preventing the race from starting until the custom track is downloaded.

[h3]Track Creation Tool[/h3]
In the future, I plan to develop a special Track Creation tool that will enable you to design race tracks, shortcuts, and borders without needing any external software. This tool aims to simplify the creation of epic race tracks, so stay tuned for more updates!


Next week, I'll be wrapping up everything related to Workshop Support, including creating comprehensive documentation to guide you through the process of creating mods for characters, vehicles, and race tracks. Following that, we'll produce a series of videos and a cool trailer to showcase this process. Expect the next dev-log update once all this is ready. :)


In the upcoming weeks, my focus will shift to finalizing game modes, online systems, and preparing everything for the final beta phase before the game's launch. The launch date and beta details will be announced once everything is set. I will be selecting beta testers by hand based on activity and feedback within our Steam and Discord communities, so your engagement really does make a difference ːsteamthumbsupː

Thank you for your continued support :) Stay tuned for more updates, and see you on the track soon!
Sebastian

Hello, everyone!

Since the start of project development, I've been very excited about the incredible potential of modding support. The creativity of community can bring new life and excitement to the game, offering something new every week, or even every day! That's why I am committed to going the extra mile with modding support for The Karters 2.

Integrating Steam Workshop directly into the game last week was a big step. This week the challenge was figuring out how to present all the custom items in the Main Menu and how they should work in terms of online support.

In the game, there is a 'Preset Support' system where you can make, edit, or delete presets that include Characters, Vehicles, Wheels, and Stickers. This system makes it easy to choose and manage your favorite combinations. Adding custom items to this system and making sure it's user-friendly was tough, but I must say it made the game so much better!

Also, I've made an exciting decision: to enable Workshop Mods in online races as well! This means you can showcase your custom characters, vehicles, wheels, and stickers in Online Races, making them visible to everyone. As long as other players have the same mod installed, they will see your customizations exactly as you do!

The way custom content integrates with the Main Menu's preset selection and creation is actually quite intuitive and easy to use. Each preset has two versions: Original & Modded.
You can select whether you want to play using the Original or the Modded version of a preset.
You can see how switching between them works in the video below:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
All your mods can be applied in the Modded preset version, and if other players don't have those mods, they'll see the Original setting instead.

Custom Tracks will also be supported in online play, but only in private lobbies. The game won't automatically download needed mods, but I will add systems to make it easy to find, download, and install the required mods in a private lobby. I am also planning a Special Track Editor, so stay tuned for more updates.

It took four weeks of hard work to add modding features to the game, along with integrating everything into the Main Menu, but I believe it's all worth it!

I hope you find this update exciting. If you do, give it a like ːsteamthumbsupː, and feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

Sebastian

Hello everyone!

You might wonder why I would dedicate an entire week to integrating Steam Workshop directly into the game's menu, considering that Steam mods can already be browsed through Steam itself.
The reason is straightforward – console support. Unlike PCs, consoles don't have the option of accessing the Steam Workshop, which means we need an in-game way to explore and download mods.
(console mods will be hosted on a different platform called mods.io )




This menu is divided into three categories:

• Mod Browse: Here, you can browse through all user-created mods. You can sort mods by Most Recent, Most Downloaded, and Most Popular (on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis). Furthermore, you can filter by types like : Tracks, Characters, Vehicles, or Wheels.
  
• Installed Mods: This section lets you see all the mods you've added to your game.
  
• Publish Mods: Here, you can publish mods to the Steam Workshop directly. Using my Unity Export Tool, you can set the thumbnail, description, and name of the mod, and build everything into a single directory with the click of a button. Once this directory is placed in the game's folder, the game recognizes it, allowing for publication or sending an update.
  

When you select a mod in any of these sections, you'll see the Mod Details screen where you can get all the info and decide if you want to download it, publish, or remove it. (The thumbnails above are just for preview purposes)



Next week, my goal is to wrap up this UI implementation and start integrating mods.io for console support. I'm also planning to add support for custom tracks, which shouldn't take too long.
Even if things take a bit longer than expected, I'm confident that, in the worst-case scenario, all modding support will be completed within the next two weeks. The great news is, with all these tools for modding, it'll be easier to add even more fun stuff to the game later on ;)

Stay tuned for more updates, and thanks for keeping up with the development!
Sebastian