Switchcars v1.014 - игра последней версии

As always, all changes are listed below, but also can be read from within Switchcars and its changelog viewer!

Gameplay:

- Added Autorun option
- When turned on, press direction of movement to enable and brake to disable
- Comes with visual and UI feedback
- Found in Controls Setup
- Free Roam now allows changing current year ingame
- Added one mandatory electrified railway rule to Railway Free Roam theme
- Animals no longer heal while set on fire
- Reduced airport biome frequency
- Cargo Ships, Flatcars and Semi Trailers now also give random powerups
- Tweaked parameters of a few vehicles

Content:

- Added 2 new animals
- Added a Mech
- Added lane age skin system
- Human-made lanes (e.g. roads) change appearance over time, depending on era
- There can be up to 4 different skins per lane type
- Affected lanes change skins at different years, so that overall environment evolves organically
- Updated type names of a few vehicles
- Updated oldest Go-Kart design and future Cargo Plane
- Updated engine sound types on a few vehicles

Cosmetic:

- Brakelights are now visible in daylight too
- Exhaust fumes are now white on 2-stroke vehicles
- Questionmark above Powerups is now animated
- Slightly improved heavy smoke graphics
- Large NPC planes will no longer fall when stopped by Siren
- Hybrid cars now cast red brakelights only instead of both red and blue

Interface:

- Added sound and music volume control (Damir)
- The game is no longer too loud (default volume is 60%)
- Vehicle suggestion set on "full" is no longer aggressive when the timer is not ticking
- Joystick intro screen now lists number of detected devices
- Nitrous and Grapple tutorials no longer appear while being chased by an alien
- Having cursor on "auto" resolution setting now shows actual resolution at the bottom
- Renamed some powerups to match their graphical name counterpart
- Renamed some options
- Removed redundant 1360x768 resolution
- Removed redundant "Instantly save unlocks" option, off by default now
- Upcoming biome icon now raises up immediately instead of gradually
- Added Alien Ooze healing ability description to lane database
- Added description about no speed limit in Space to lane database
- Rephrased ending messages
- Renamed "Laser requires fuel" alert to "Insufficient energy for Laser"

Major Bugs:

- Fixed audio driver not updating when unplugging headphones (Damir)
- Fixed game process staying active indefinitely after unplugging headphones (Damir)
- Fixed Powerup unlocked indicator stuck since v1.013
- Fixed Space and Alien World biomes never appearing in the runs since v1.013
- Fixed Tutorial having bugged snow section object spawning
- Attempted fix at main menu dropping FPS sometimes
- Attempted fix at letterbox being white on some monitors

Minor Bugs:

- Fixed Hardcore mode being unlocked when reaching stage 10 in The Run, even without beating it
- Fixed Manual Control not working sometimes when installed, once again
- Fixed animals having more friction after being revived
- Fixed inventory color remaining red on animals after being revived
- Fixed going too far right in Tutorial allowing starting vehicles to disappear
- Fixed Low Acceleration never showing in vehicle database
- Fixed "Grapple Up" tutorial being triggered by an invisible object
- Fixed missing and miscolored pixels on some vehicles

Hey everyone!

The new update is up, bringing us the biggest Switchcars changelog yet, not only since launch, but since Switchcars development began in 2012!

The shear amount of general small changes is enormous. Here are some highlights, although I recommend reading the full notes too.

Note: this update will reset the "config.ini" file which contains your graphics, controls and other settings.

1000+ redesigned vehicles:

The update is mainly focused on vehicles. They were all revised, and most of their graphics updated for better consistency, looks and purpose clarity. Some received minor graphical changes, whereas others complete overhauls.

For example, nearly all aircraft and future vehicles were remade from scratch, looking closer to how they might look in real life. Magnet and plasma vehicles are now easily distinguishable with featuring cyan or light purple glowing pads underneath, respectively. Car designs now more closely resemble the era they come from, particularly in the 1970s-2010s range.

Redesign also includes replacing some redundant vehicles with completely new ones (e.g. two Tiltrotor VTOLs have become Maritime Helicopter and Light Attack Helicopter), and there are many non-visual modifications to vehicles as well. Trains, trolleybuses, mining vehicles, animals and some others have been made much more practical on their native lanes.

The color palette of vehicles was improved, their shadows now conform to the size of the vehicle, and so do glows from the lights underneath if they have any.

Starting years 2040-2054:

Due to popular demand, you can now choose starting years later than 2040, for any game mode. However, they will have to be unlocked first, the same way the years were unlocked up to that point.

Improved vehicle lights:

Headlights have been redesigned, now also featuring more types (there are tungsten, LED and the rare yellow ones). Neon light modifications now come in different colors!

Gameplay balancing:

As with every update, there are tons of small gameplay tweaks. For example, Alien Younglings will be hurt more when using Teleport, but they (together with any other living beings) heal faster when on Alien Ooze lane type.

Magnet cars now appear earlier, giving players more reason to use them. Self-driving Cars and Taxis can provide a Manual Control powerup, giving players choice to drive manually or not.

Various powerups were tweaked (see changelog for details), as well as their spawn rate. Hardcore and Free Roam spawn more powerups now.

Difficulty tweaks:

Changes were also made to alien spawning and stopping power, resulting in subtle differences in The Run difficulty, and considerable increase in Hardcore difficulty.

Player character now suffers considerable friction when rolling, depending on the material type, thus moving long distances with grappling hook only is no longer viable.

Improved end screen:

When beating the game, the end message will be picked randomly from a pool of many, revealing various final musings of the main character.

End screen now also lists the game mode and starting year at the bottom, providing more complete information about the run.

Bug fixes:

There were many bugs fixed (see changelog for details), including missing light glow in caves from previous update, as well as an old crash that would occur if you alt-tab while the game is loading.

Full changelog:

The game features an ingame changelog viewer now, so you might want to read the full notes there. Alternatively, they are all listed below:

Gameplay:

- Human rolling is now affected by terrain friction
- Reduced aliens' stopping power when touching player
- Years 2040-2054 are now available as starting years (but need to be unlocked first)
- Alien Ooze now heals living beings, including aliens
- Increased alien spawn rate in Hardcore
- Increased speed of various vehicles, previously not very useful
- Trains, Trams, Trolleybuses and Cable Cars
- Horses, Elephants and Cows
- All mining vehicles, including Speeders and Handcars
- Submarines, Solar Boats, Swamp Buggies
- Battle Spacecraft
- Rebalanced production years of all future vehicles (2016+)
- Magnet vehicles appear earlier, giving players more of a reason to use them
- Slightly increased chance of repeated railway biomes
- Increased powerup spawn rate in Hardcore and Free Roam
- Increased Teleport damage on living beings
- Shortened Shield charge time from 0.5 to 0.4 seconds
- Self-driving cars and taxis can give Manual Control now
- Rockets can give Disposable Power Bank (simulating the second stage rocket)
- Reduced underwater friction on submarines
- Reduced friction of magnet roads
- Reduced fuel consumption of Nuclear Reactor
- Reduced acceleration penalty of Armor powerup
- Reduced speed penalty of Offroad Wheels
- Tweaked powerup spawn rate per type balancing
- Increased Medikit spawn rate (for use on animals)
- Lightning strike can no longer set an electric vehicle on fire, if it had room for charging
- Using Shield will resurface player, if underwater
- Refuel and Repair stations blow up if standing on them for too long
- Light rain is no longer accompanied by Storm Clouds
- Bright HDR flash when exiting caves is less intensive if the weather is bad (e.g. fog, rain)

Content:

- Redesigned 1000+ vehicles
- Improved visual consistency, aesthetics and purpose clarity of all vehicles
- Includes minor tweaks as well as complete graphical overhauls (e.g. all aircraft and future vehicles)
- Car design better reflects the era it comes from
- Magnet vehicles are easily distinguishable by cyan glowing pads underneath
- Plasma vehicles are easily distinguishable by light purple glowing pads underneath
- Guns are more noticeable on most armed vehicles
- Most vehicles with offroad wheels are now visually lifted off the ground
- Matched emergency light position with the light effect on all vehicles
- Repurposed or modified some vehicles
- Changed Plough to Dump Trailer
- Changed Flying Taxi to Flying Car
- Changed one Rocket Train to Jet Train
- Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Maritime Helicopter
- Changed one Tiltrotor VTOL to Light Attack Helicopter
- Changed one Tandemrotor Helicopter to Transport Helicopter
- Changed one Mobile Radar to Radar Truck
- Changed one Handcar to Speeder
- Changed one Gyroglider to Gyrocopter
- Changed one Rocket Plane to Spaceplane
- Changed one VTOL Attack Plane to Bomber
- Changed one Private Jet to Regional Airliner
- Changed one Sedan to Hatchback
- Changed one Aerobatics Plane to Aerobatics Biplane
- Modified UFO to be more useful, less reusable
- Modified Battle Spacecrafts to have Laser instead of Rocket Launcher
- Modified flying cars to not be able to float on water (except the Flying Float Car)
- Modified one IFV to have Machine Gun instead of Cannon
- Modified one Armored Car to have Cannon instead of Machine Gun
- Modified unarmed GEV to have propeller propulsion
- Modified one Limousine to be electric instead of a hybrid
- Modified one LCV to be a hybrid instead of electric
- Modified one Minicar to be self-driving
- Modified one Self-driving Car to not be self-driving
- Modified one Snow Coach to use tracks instead of skis
- Modified one Snow Coach to use wheels instead of skis
- Modified one Icebreaker to have nuclear power source
- Updated some vehicle type names
- Improved vehicle paintjob color palette on all vehicles
- Updated all vehicle colliders [WIP]

Cosmetic:

- Emergency vehicles can spawn as being on duty (speeding with siren on)
- Traffic emergency vehicles now have siren glow too
- Long vehicles now have long shadows (or glows)
- Neon lights now come in varying colors
- Improved headlight graphics
- There are three types of headlights now, tungsten, LED and yellow (rare)
- Added stability control to vehicles entering production after 2011 (no tire screeching on them)
- Added alternate explosion animation
- Supercar racetrack layer now includes various kinds of sports cars and bikes (like an open track)
- Underground environment is now lit by rocket and ion drive thrusts
- Plasma hovercrafts are now lifted off the ground
- Removed headlights usage from light rain weather
- Electric road vehicles now cast blue brakelight spotlight, rather than red
- Dirt no longer sticks to wheels of most vehicles
- Installing Electric Motor to a light prop vehicle will change its sound to electric prop
- Improved Laser graphics
- Added a downwards arrow to an Underground Passage prop
- Salt flats now generate dirt

Interface:

- Win screen now gives a random message every time (there are 13 currently)
- Game mode and starting year are now listed at the bottom of the gameover screen
- Tweaked lose screen message formatting
- Precisely specified what Neon Light does, in database
- Recharging icon and glow are now blue instead of cyan
- Cripsier font in changelog viewer (thanks to Damir)

Code:

- Switched to a newer version of SDL2 (Damir)
- Automatic generation of config file when starting the game for the first time (Damir)
- Added available system resolutions readout, for future use in options (Damir)
- Optimized terrain particle VFX texture usage

Other:

- Timer no longer starts counting after pressing any button, but when player starts moving
- If browsing database or options on end screen, aliens will go away and stop spamming

Major Bugs:

- Fixed a crash with alt-tabbing during loading (Damir)

Minor Bugs:

- Fixed engine deceleration sound not playing when it should sometimes
- Fixed biome-repeating becoming more likely the more it repeats
- Fixed new aliens not able to spawn if existing ones have repositioned recently
- Fixed cave lighting glow from previous update not working
- Fixed electric submarines getting damaged by water
- Fixed Manual Control not giving control to player sometimes when used on AI vehicles
- Improved teleports not being triggered when going through them very fast
- Prevented self-driving magnet cars from swerving off magnet roads for powerups and teleports
- Fixed smoke not appearing above objects on fire
- Fixed installing Swimming Belt disabling Drill ability
- Fixed installing Wings to a GEV not making it able to fly
- Fixed Shield sound not stopping when switching vehicles
- Fixed two Snow Coaches not spawning on Snowy Highway and Ice
- Fixed rain sound not stopping immediately when using Radar
- Fixed broken vehicle getting unbroken when installing a powerup
- Fixed dead animal getting up in inventory after using Repair
- Fixed plasma vehicles playing metal friction sound when braking
- Fixed Alien Youngling using wrong braking sound when not controlled by player
- Fixed dirt not being applied to an entire vehicle sometimes
- Fixed beating Hardcore changing the starting year
- Fixed Disposable Power Bank not giving power to vehicles that were originally non-powered
- Fixed missing "too scared to go there" alert when going left
- Fixed presence sound on hovercrafts not being looped properly
- Fixed clock sound being heard before the timer starts counting
- Fixed player being able to go left in the first tutorial resulting in cars disappearing
- Fixed installing Solar Panel not setting up the correct top speed
- Fixed player character swimming in Sea Ice, which is shallow
- Fixed a pixel-gap at the bottom of the screen in 16:9, visible when raining on gameover screen

Hey everyone!

The new update is up, bringing us the biggest Switchcars changelog yet, not only since launch, but since Switchcars development began in 2012!

The shear amount of general small changes is enormous. Here are some highlights, although I recommend reading the full notes too.

Note: this update will reset the "config.ini" file which contains your graphics, controls and other settings.

Gameplay:

- Added experimental Hardcore gamemode [WIP]
- Unlocked by completing The Run
- Timer is always set at 5 seconds
- Two aliens appear at timeout
- Stages are very long
- There are only 3 stages
- Late-game powerups can be acquired at start
- No additional aliens spawn in alien world
- Added battery degradation
- Range of electric vehicles gets decreased by 1/6 of every recharge
- Degradation is visible on the battery level bar
- Degradation is fixed by using repair stations or powerups
- Using non-waterproof electric vehicle in water will degrade the battery
- Added Disposable Power Bank powerup
- Provides energy to a vehicle, but cannot be further refueled
- Found naturally in Gyrobuses
- Added Drogue Parachute powerup
- Instant braking
- Useful on very high speed vehicles
- Includes sound effects
- Found naturally in Dragsters, Spaceplanes and more
- Alien Younglings are now equipped with a Teleport
- Increased damage of Teleport ability on living beings compared to vehicles
- Increased speed of mining vehicles
- Increased acceleration of bicycles
- Radar and Horn are now present on more vehicles
- Fire Extinguisher is now a human powerup (meaning it can also be used on non-vehicles)
- Added back the possibility of having fogless rain (light rain)

Content:

- Added electric prop motor sound effect
- Improved light jet, heavy jet and heavy prop engine sound effects
- Added 9 new crash sound effects

Cosmetic:

- Added lighting effects
- HDR effect simulates eye adaptation when entering or exiting underground environments
- Shooting and explosions slightly light up underground environments
- Added headlights and brakelights to vehicles
- They turn on in bad visibility (visual effect only)
- They stop working if vehicle's hitpoints drop to less than 80%
- Traffic can now flash headlights in addition to using horn
- Added light glow effect when using Siren

Interface:

- Added changelog browser
- Accessible via Database
- Shows what's new in the latest and all previous Switchcars versions
- Features a timeline of updates since Switchcars development started
- Timeline gives a quick overview of size of all changelogs ever made
- Player will see a notification icon if the game was updated and its latest changelog not seen yet
- Difficulty description is custom tailored per selected gamemode
- Animals are no longer "broken down" but "incapacitated"
- Added helmet icon to "life saved" notification
- Added battery recharge lane-marker to recharge tutorial
- Reduced footprint of "warning: FPS too low" text
- Renamed "reset tutorial tips" to "re-enable tutorial tips"

Major Bugs:

- Fixed input accumulation during tutorial pause
- Reduced repeating sound glitch when using grappling hook

Minor Bugs:

- Fixed engine sound stuttering sometimes
- Fixed unequipped animal not updating in inventory when revived
- Fixed Alien Younglings spawning on Earth
- Fixed Explosives not damaging player
- Fixed electric vehicles not being affected by water when submerged
- Fixed installing a powerup on a very damaged vehicle blowing up the vehicle
- Fixed a bug with oncoming traffic not blowing horn at high speeds
- Fixed clicking noise on heavy prop engine sound effect
- Fixed a sound glitch in recharging tutorial tip, when triggered by laser fuel consumption

Other:

- Entering vehicles equipped with unseen powerups will automatically unlock them in database
- Various small tweaks

Here are the main features of the animal system:
All animals are rideable
They have custom animations for moving on land, water and air, dead or alive
Custom sound effects
Different behavior from traffic
Can be manned or unmanned
Animals have regenerative health & can be revived using Medikit

Gameplay:

- Contextual powerups are no longer given if in the deck already
- Slightly reduced chance of getting a contextual powerup
- Helmet is more likely to be given in the first two stages
- Rebalanced many vehicles
- Changed availability and speeds of trains to make slower ones more useful
- Increased speed and/or acceleration of some slow vehicles
- Slightly reduced usefulness of too good vehicles
- Formerly 2034-2055 Spaceplane now spawns later
- Increased stall speed on Spaceplanes
- Sailboat and Iceboat are now equipped with Grappling Hooks
- Electric Bicycle now uses battery power source
- Supersonic Airliners consume more fuel
- Alien Magnet is now as easy to drive on as the Cobble Street
- Increased strength of Small Bush and Dry Bush to be able to grapple onto
- Increased friction when overspeeding with a tracked vehicle
- It's now harder to steer in vehicles steering with propellers (e.g. helicopters)
- Solar Panel no longer decreases speed of already slow vehicles
- Laser and hovercraft skirt no longer work with solar power source
- Swimming Belt no longer has mass limitation
- Helium Balloon no longer has mass limitation
- Traffic vehicle now reacts to alien attack as if it was crashed into
- Road AI now avoids much lighter objects too (changed from 12x to 20x lighter)
- Removed teleports from relatively flat alien terrains
- Improved underwater friction

Juiciness:

- Vehicles with skis will no longer dip into water if going fast enough

Interface:

- Added vehicle categories to vehicle database
- Added sorting by category to vehicle database
- Added pictures to lane database
- Slightly lifted world on 16:9 to make bottom lane more visible
- Player character in inventory is now shown wearing a helmet, when having one

Bugs:

- Fixed ending not working properly sometimes
- Reduced stage being repeated (still happens, but rarely)
- Fixed too short or non-existent safe zone
- Fixed safe zone gate wobbliness
- Safe zone gate and end of the stage are now synced
- Better minimap precision
- Fixed prevention of objects spawning out of reach
- Smoother vehicle entering

- Fixed Street lane never showing up in The Run and Database
- Fixed vehicles not spawning on Salt Flat in certain years
- Fixed Solar Panel or Nuclear Reactor stacking not speeding up the vehicle
- Fixed drill not going in the direction of orientation, but to the right only
- Fixed drill not working with a Nuclear Reactor
- Fixed flying vehicles getting stuck in moon sky lanes
- Fixed ending music playing when music is turned off in options
- Fixed crash caused by reaching end of the world in Free Roam
- Fixed Tracks powerup reducing braking on vehicles which aren't using tracks to brake
- Fixed installing Armor powerup also repairing a vehicle
- Fixed recharge battery vehicle slot alert sometimes not blinking
- Fixed minimap icons showing in tutorial, after having unlocked them
- Added missing description on Airless Tires
- Redesigned 1.004 Sports Car oldtimer to be smaller
- Fixed pixels of some 1.004 vehicles
- Fixed grapple stress sound being hearable in space
- A few more bugfixes and tweaks

Gameplay:

- Added Nuclear Reactor powersource
- Infinite fuel but inflicts constant damage

- Added powerup upgrading
- Installing the second Nitrous will create Durable Nitrous or Powerful Nitrous
- Same with Teleport

- Added contextual powerups
- Given in moments when the game thinks they could be useful
- Applies to Rail Wheels, Hull, Skis, Fire Extinguisher and Medikit

- Improved Radar powerup with new features
- Shows locked and unlocked vehicles in different color
- Shows non-vehicles in different color
- Shows useful and dangerous objects in different color

- Improved Spikes powerup
- The harder the alien falls on spikes, the less damage to vehicle (encouraging combos)
- Dead alien does no fall damage to a Spikes equipped vehicle

- Helmet now breaks only when saving life
- Increased player health to 25%, after having life saved by helmet

- Aliens can no longer spawn sooner than every 5 seconds
- Alien world no longer appears before stage 4
- Increased teleport availability in alien world

- Vehicles no longer give helmets if player already has one (in deck or equipped)
- Reduced chance of getting a vehicle-given powerup to 25%, if already having that powerup in the deck

- Using Alien Pollen causes all aliens to jump, making it useful after time has run out
- Stacking more Solar Panels now makes vehicle faster
- Limited effectiveness of Spoiler to 240 kmh
- Improved speed of Hull and Skis upgrades

- Brake regen on battery vehicles now only works with non-empty batteries
- Can no longer hold throttle and brake at the same time, to prevent a rare regen exploit
- Increased powerup capsule availability
- Using Shield now puts out fire
- Drilling now forces the player vehicle to move
- Improved steering at low speeds on hovering vehicles (e.g. helicopters)
- Set tutorial powerup to always give Nitrous
- Added more powerups to specific vehicles
- Rebalanced powerup availability
- Increased speed of tracked motorcycle

Juiciness:

- Upgrades on long vehicles now use new graphics and look much better (new wheels, tracks, etc.)
- New human damage indicator graphics (more visible on the edges)
- Smoother representation of damage when dying
- Added camera shake when using ship horn

Interface:

- All stackable powerups now have so written in the database
- Vehicles that don't spawn in traffic are now labeled as "Rare" in the database

Bugs:

- Fixed two new oldtimers never spawning (and not being listed in the database)
- Fixed being unable to get into main menu after game over, if being pushed by another vehicle
- Fixed spaceships and plasma vehicles unable to fly on the moon
- Fixed Cooldown powerup not refilling entire extended ability bar
- Fixed helmets not being broken by falling aliens
- Fixed Road AI not going for refuel and repair stations
- Removed vibration from "Grapple powered!" message
- Fixed used vehicles showcase not being centered on 16:9
- Fixed tutorial vehicles having newer dates than the year it's taking place in
- Fixed rubble sound not stopping when briefly touching a crater
- Fixed plasma vehicles making braking sound when out of fuel
- Fixed "Laser requires fuel" alert coming up on fuelless vehicle, even if not trying to use laser
- Improved some pixel art on a few recently added vehicles
- A few more bugfixes and tweaks