ShockRods News

Hey ShockRodders!

We are back with more exciting news, regarding a yet unseen ShockRods environment! Without further delay, we present to you the Western map, which has recently received a massive facelift.



During early development a level was built using a “Western” theme – it looked like an old-fashioned US town out in the desert, semi-abandoned. This level was constructed quickly and was largely flat, with the town in its centre. It looked pretty cool, and proved useful for testing various aspects of the game.

It became apparent in the latter part of development that this level lacked the 3D interest we’d identified as important to ShockRods levels, and tactical play was hampered by the player being able to see the entire map from most places. So, the map has been rebuilt, to retain the essence of the original level’s setting while introducing more interest, with varied routes and navigational options.



The idea behind this level is that our poor town in the sun-drenched desert sat directly on a fault line, and has been the victim of a devastating series of earthquakes, leaving the town in a state of wrecked abandon. Buildings have been buckled and broken, left to hang from precipitous rocky outcrops or cower under their looming shadows.



It’s the perfect location for your ShockRod to meet other ShockRods, for some crazy ShockRods shenanigans under the sun!

Stay tuned for another exciting announcement very soon!

Hi there ShockRodders!

A lot of hard work has been going into the development of ShockRods since it was last seen in public back in April. We have talked about some of the features we have added in our previous posts and now is the time to highlight our latest environment - 'Snow Fall'!



Many of you who played the ShockRods beta(s) will notice this looks and sounds similar to Cliff Fall (which has now been re-named Dam). This is no mere coincidence as the Snow Fall environment was designed with the thought process that it exists along the same stretch of rock terrain as Dam. We want players to feel these environments are in close proximity to each other, yet take place in different seasons.



Everything you know and love from Dam has made a return in Snow Fall - from the narrow meandering tracks that cut through the rocky terrain, to the vertical vehicle movement allows you to navigate the 3D space by jumping and boosting and the fast and frantic pace of chasing down the enemy flag carrier. Just like Dam, Snow Fall was designed with Capture the Flag in mind. The seek and destroy gameplay from Dam was very well received in the beta tests. Players loved the chase through the winding desire paths of the environment, where one wrong step by either the flag carrier or the defenders resulted with the tempo pivoting on a knife edge.



But don’t worry, this is not a carbon copy of Dam with a new texture. The layout is entirely different and features delightful theming that ties it all together - you will see a lot of industrial and mining equipment scattered throughout. Snow Fall and the Western environments are the 2 environments that have a real lived-in charm. You will notice with Snow Fall that you get a real sense of the industry that was once here and get to feel the dilapidation and disrepair of an industry that has moved on.



We can’t wait to see the community reaction to this map when ShockRods Releases later this year!
That covers everything for now. We will be sending you more information on how ShockRods is evolving and some of the new and exciting features we have lined up. In the meantime, keep up to date with the latest ShockRods news on Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/shockrods and don't forget to add ShockRods to your wishlist on Steam!

See you soon...

ShockRods Vehicle Design
Neil Barnden
–
ShockRods Game Director and co-designer
This blog is going to talk a little about how the ShockRods vehicle design evolved. The way the ShockRods can move – in ways that conventional cars can’t – is core to the game. This comes from their multi-directional wheel tech and the system of boosters built into the car chassis.



This fact is the key to how the design of the cars evolved. They needed to look agile; fast and tough and able to leap around the landscape.





It was decided that the vehicles would be “classless” – every car would share common performance characteristics and have the same hitbox shape. This simplifies gameplay balancing and means that the player can make their ShockRod choice based on their personal taste, without tactical considerations. With this in mind, we decided to use a common chassis design for all the vehicles. So the first task was to design a chassis that would house the ShockRod’s power plant, boosters and suspension. Our car concept artist Daniel “CzechDeath” Tejnicky would work on a chassis layout that emphasised the vehicle boosters, so the player would be able to see what made the vehicle so manoeuvrable.

In part, the name “ShockRods” also gave a direction for the vehicle design. The name has a vibe that felt akin to the 1970s/80s era world of sci-fi; Gerry Anderson and Star Wars. And the setting of the game also tied to that sci-fi aesthetic – futuristic vehicles doing battle in real - world locations. I had this in mind when designing the logo for the game, and the intention was to follow this through the game’s visual design, giving it a cool retro - future vibe. These notions shaped the loose brief for the chassis design that I gave Czech. The initial concept he sent me was great, but a bit
more H. R. Giger than Gerry A.



I wanted something cleaner and more like a design by Ron Cobb or Chris Foss (concept artists who worked on Star Wars and Alien). I did a very rough sketch over Czech’s concept:



Czech immediately got where I was coming from. We also agreed that the conventional suspension spring units were too fussy and detracted from the idea of a futuristic vehicle. The next version incorporated the revised suspension idea but was still a touch too organic.



His next version nailed it...



So we had our chassis design, and now Czech could start the most fun part of the job – coming up with body shells to fit over this base construction.
He sent me some initial design ideas which looked great and allowed us
to nail down what sort of directions were working best.







While this had been going on, Stainless and Green Man Gaming had been discussing a release schedule for ShockRods, and so in the same spirit as every reality TV show these days, Czech found himself under pressure to produce the goods to a very tight schedule...But did he deliver before the deadline? Or would some major mishap result in a concept art calamity? With only minutes to go, would Google Drive fail and delete all his files? To find out, tune in to the next episo... Ah, never mind all that nonsense – of course he delivered!

Here’s a small selection of the car body designs that you’ll see in the game...



Readers who have been involved in our beta program will recognise some of these concepts, while others have yet to be seen in - game. The game will launch with a large stable of vehicles for you to buy with the ShockCurrency you earn by playing. Added to your garage, you can begin customising them to reflect your ShockRods personality.

Which ShockRod will you choose?

Hi there ShockRodders! It’s high time we let you know the latest developments in our plans for ShockRods; its ongoing development and release plans. A lot has been going on, which amounts to far more than just a new lick of paint (although that’s part of it!)…

The BIG news in this update is that ShockRods is now set for full release on Steam, in Q3! That’s right, the game will be coming in fully-fledged final form! And these are the highlights we’d like to share now, some of which coming as a direct result of feedback from our Beta tests:

Steam Friends Lobby System

One of the most requested features from BETA 2.0, there will be a lobby system that allows you to join as a group and enter a match as a group (rather than being randomly assigned to teams). We listened to your wish, and it was granted!

New Maps and Game Modes

We do not want to give away too much in regards to specifics on this just yet, but we will be adding to the game modes and maps available, giving even more variety to the fun you can have in a ShockRod! Stay tuned to receive further announcements regarding this very soon!

More ShockRods and More Customisation

The variety of ShockRod designs is expanding fast, and along with the new vehicles comes the opportunity to customise them with even more patterns, effects and paint styles (see – told you this was one of the things!). So you will be able to truly put your mark on your ShocksRod and let it reflect your own unique sense of style!

Optimisation

This has always been a priority for ShockRods. As far as possible we wanted older and slower hardware to be able to run the game well, and so we’re constantly striving for performance improvements across the board. This work continues, and every week we are making gains that will allow the game to run smoothly on an ever wider range of hardware.

Keep up to date with the latest ShockRods news on Discord https://discordapp.com/invite/shockrods and add ShockRods to your wishlist on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/647640/ShockRods/

We look forward to seeing you in the arena very soon!

The ShockRods team!

Earlier this month we opened up pre-orders for ShockRods around our live beta testing. Now the beta testing is done and the findings are being acted upon, it’s a good time for us to update you on what’s been happening since.

Firstly, we’d just like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who not only took part in the test weekends but also dropped by to check out the game at EGX Rezzed in April. We loved chatting to you all and hearing all the great things you had to say about ShockRods.

We had an amazing response from players during the beta, and the hugely helpful feedback and suggestions have continued to come in since – mainly through our dedicated Discord channel. This input has been invaluable to us, allowing us to tune and tweak the gameplay. As part of this process, we’ve made the decision to move the release of ShockRods to late summer 2019. This will allow us to incorporate all the relevant intel that’s been gathered, and address everything that came from the betas and subsequent discussions.

The extra time will ensure that we deliver the very best version of ShockRods possible – which has always been and remains our number one goal.

Once again, thank you everyone for the incredible support! And we look forward to seeing you soon in the ShockRods battle arenas!

Stainless Games