Dev Diary #9 - Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeehaw!

Meowdy pardner!

Welcome to yet another dev diary for Zoomies! Not much to cover in this one so let's jump straight in:

Volume Fixes

For the next update, I have made a few fixes relating to the game's volume. I have attempted to ease the loudness issues by reducing the volume on many audio sources in the game, as well as limiting the distance from which you can still hear the audio source. I have also made a more general "catch-all" fix that includes adding a new 'Master Volume' slider into the settings menu. In the current and older builds, there was merely a simple toggle on/off for audio.

The volume slider will default to 75% for everybody. Hopefully this will make the game more comfortable to play.

In the future I'd like to add more volume sliders for music, sfx, etc but for now I hope this will be a handy addition for you.

Wild West Track Update

An update on the development progress of the new Wild West track.

Progress is coming along nicely. I have finished animating the train and currently in the stage of adding props and background characters to the track. For example; in the town area there will be some cowboys, yelling and cheering you on as you zoom past them.

I still need to make some art changes to the town area as it still resembles the layout from the asset pack demo scene I used as a template.

Why is it taking so long?

Do not forget that every track has a lot of requirements. Here are some things I need to consider when creating a new track for the game:

• What theme are we going for? eg. sci fi, wild west, spooky, etc
• Where can I source the music and sound effects from?
• How much will the licenses cost for the music and sound effects
• What will the track layout be? eg. easy, complex, slow corners, fast corners, elevation changes, etc
• Track collision. Are players able to escape the limits of the track?
• Shortcuts. Are players able to cheat? The current position tracker will prevent players from cutting too much of the track, but I still need to check if players are able to gain an unfair advantage.
• AI racers. Are the AI able to race competitively on all difficulties?
• Track obstacles. What kind of obstacles can I add to the track. Do they need to be animated? Are they too difficult to avoid? etc...
• Multiplayer. Is this track multi-player compatible?
• Is the track fun? Is the track easy to navigate? If not, start over.

There are lots more to consider. Fortunately I only have a few tasks remaining. But the real blocker right now is obtaining the license to use the wild west music in the game. I'm currently low on funds right now so will need to wait a little longer in order to purchase the license.

--

The next update is taking a little longer than I originally planned. Sorry about that!
Creating this track has been a big task, and my personal life has also been very busy.

Thanks for reading :)