Super Indie Karts News

• fixed an issue, introduced in the previous update, where drifting wasn't as effective on dpad as it was with a thumbstick, it was flat out broken on keyboard and dpads! (sorry!)
  
• added sideways physics forces to steering (should remove more of those slippy kart feels, could take a few races to get used to the extra grip!)
  
• slowed down the game speed on Super/VRtrax to match the speed of the Ultra racing more closely
  
• fixed rare bug that left CPU karts with a solo melon orbiting them
  
• fixed bug that caused the Trailing Weapon to be dropped if the button was let go on the Pause Screen
  
• trailing weapon particle system mess now inherits player velocity
  
• trailing Gelato now also drops the Gelato when it's collided with
  
• you can now see the trailing weapon when looking backwards in First Person View
  

As always, if there are any issues caused by this update just let me know here or in the update discussions thread

Cheers!

Main Changes
NEW WEAPON added! Mutant Tomms - You'll get 4 seconds to lob as many as you can before the timer stops!
ADDED ABILITY to drag some weapons behind your kart by holding the weapon button before dropping them (Meloons, Gelatos, Pangapples, and Loconuts) so they can be used as a rear shield

Powerups
the Powerup you get from a Powerup Box will now be determined by your race position. So if you're near the back of the pack you can expect to get a lot more chilli boosters, and if you're in first place you'll be seeing more defensive weapons.
Loconuts are now easier to read, with a more tropical look
increased accuracy on Loconut heat-seeking
multiple karts can now slip on the Gelato splat if they drive on it within 1.5secs of it first being slipped on
added some animation to the Pangapple - they now glow red 3 times before exploding
also added some pineapple rings and chunks flying out of the explosion
Pangapples now have more friction so they stop faster when bouncing along ground after being launched
the Pangapples on Super tracks now behave and look the way they do on Ultra tracks
fixed weapons sometimes spawning on strange angles while in upside-down sections
fixed Loconuts instantly exploding when fired inside Burrito Bison's stadium area

Cameras
slightly changed the camera tilt value so you can see much more of the road ahead
fixed the First Person View camera not looking up during loopdeloops and upside-down transitions
added some extra camera tilt to the upside-down transition at the end of the ultra Canabalt track, and the TeslaTower64 and RunbowRoad64 ramps
fixed tyre flicker going way too fast in First Person View

HUD
HUD tips for button presses will now only show for the first 4 races you play
the blue box graphic behind the Race Jewel counter on the HUD now goes Gold when the Jewel Race Goal is achieved

Karts
fixed CPU karts being able to get flipped over and drive along the side of walls like they were roads!
made changes to stop cpukarts catching up too good on Canabalt ultra track's final straight
fixed a bug that caused the slipstream to still activate after the kart you were following had stopped moving

Tracks
added some more arrow signs to the Canabalt ultra track
removed collision meshes from arrow signs on Teslagrad64 track
thickened the edge of the road on Edge Drifter in VRTrax
fixed the kart bashing through some walls that come after ramps on some Super tracks

Sound
slightly reduced the volume on Carol's bike engine
slightly reduced the volume of boostpads

Several updates have happened since the last news announcement, so here's a rundown of what changed this month:

• culled some obstacles from 50cc and 100cc races (down to about 25% on 50cc, and 50% on 100cc) - making everything way less cluttered while trying to learn the basics of the game - some of those tough Super tracks are a lot less frantic now!
  
• moved the 150cc Gold Shroom on the Fist Of Awesome track to between two barrels on that last bend
  

• fixed a GoldRush bug where your kart wouldn't smash through a CPU kart if they had a triple melon powerup spinning around them
  
• cleaned up the powerup icons in the powerup lottery window
  
• added a middle of the road guideline to a couple of the Super Cup tracks
  
• added a wall to a tricky corner on Canabalt's Super track
  

• changed the speed class labels from 25,50,100,150 to read 50,100,150,200 to bring them in line with new players expectations of how those speeds would feel
  
• rebalanced the CPU kart speeds for each speed class some more
  
• moved 2 of the Gold Shrooms on Teslagrad64, removed the floor spikes in the tower area and reversed the direction of the floor travelators making them something you need to avoid
  
• removed a ghost obstacle on the startgrid on the Whispering Willows track
  

Hi all, I decided to put out another mini-update before the next big update as I had knocked off so many issues from my todo list that I didn't want to sit on for two months. Here's everything that was fixed/changed/nerfed

Changes List:

• changed how analogue thumbstick steering feels, giving a less slippy feel if you're a thumbstick flicker
  
• drifting has been tweaked to give a more controlled feel
  
• all speed classes on Super mode7 style racing have been balanced out, and it's now much less like a game of pinball!
  
• camera FOV values in 3-4 player splitscreen now match what 1-2 player modes have
  
• the Teslagrad ultra track was shrunk down a little, and shroom 2 moved to an easier to grab spot
  
• fixed ToeJam&Earl track billboards not showing correctly on 2-4 player cameras
  
• fixed a bug causing a player to endlessly fall into the abyss below Dragon Valley in splitscreenGP
  
• added shadows to the spikeballs in the MutantMudds track, making it easier to judge where they are
  
• fixed sky vanishing on Fiji VRtrax when in First Person View
  
• collecting the GoldShroom on Super tracks will no longer be a scary time as the speed increase and FOV changes now have more sensible values
  

Until the next update,
Cheers!

Changes List:

• added rez 2560x1080 (for 21:9 monitors)
  
• added ability for camera to look up a little when going in and out of upside down transitions on the ToeJam&Earl track (for external camera only, internal camera in a later update)
  
• reversed the polarity of the gold shroom card reveal effect added in the previous update
  
• added some optimisation to the Ultra Podium scene which might prevent a crash some players were experiencing
  

The town I live in (Townsville, Qld) flooded really badly this month and was declared a disaster zone. It was a worrying time, and for obvious reasons I haven't really been able to get a lot of work done the last 2 weeks. We personally managed to avoid the worst of it, we didn't get any water inside our home, for which we are incredibly thankful. We had some family stay with us that were facing a more dangerous situation with a home that is very close to the dam, and helped each other get through it. Scores of people lost their homes and all of their possessions, and I can't begin to imagine how that feels.

I ziplocked all of my work drives and made sure to make plenty of backups of everything needed to be able to get back to work once everything had passed.

The next update will be a normal sized update (with a new cup being added), so it will take a longer time to get ready than a mini-update. With the downtime from the flood, and the extra time needed to get it all created, I think it will likely come sometime in April.

Until the next update, stay safe and happy karting!