Archief - Carmageddon: Reincarnation Kickstarter

Hello there Carmafans,

Well, it’s all-too rapidly coming up to the end of 2012, and yes I’m way overdue in sending out an update from Carma Towers. The team here have been concentrating all efforts on progressing development of Carmageddon: Reincarnation, and time flies past so rapidly that it doesn’t seem any time at all since the Kickstarter Campaign – can’t believe how long ago that was now!

Of course, way back then when we were putting together the Kickstarter Campaign, the plan was for us to release the game at the earliest opportunity, featuring (as a minimum) at least one complete level, and a full grid of cars, some single player event types and some modding accessibility for playing around with stuff. That was our “iterative release” plan.

I’m now able to confirm what we first discussed in interviews a while back at Eurogamer, when everyone was asking us about the release date. At the time we talked about how potential further investment in the game would allow us to release the game in its final form, which for us is by far the preferred option. And I’m happy to announce that we do indeed have an increased budget for the game, and as a result we’ll be extending the project further, both in timescale and scope. As I’m sure you’re already aware, we take a great pride in our work and have a deep affection for and affinity with our brand, and are determined to give you the best game experience that we are capable of. So this extra budget is brilliant news for the game.

So, what are our revised expectations for delivery, based on this new plan? Well, we’ve scheduled the work and now know it’s going to take us the best part of 2013 to complete it. For anyone disappointed by this news, all I can say is that I assure you… the wait will be worth it!

Okay, so that’s all I can say at this stage about the burning issue of The Release Date. Now, I think it would be good to give you all some news about the great progress being made on the game!

First of all, and most importantly – I can announce that we now actually have a GAME! By which I mean that you can start a Carmageddon event, with AI Cars (they’re all dumbasses at the moment, which is funny but not final behaviour! – the AI logic code is in still in progress). You now get points and time for twatting them and for killing peds. The Opponents lose health and can be Wasted. This is all great news, as it means that we will be able to get on to the incredibly critical business of tuning the gameplay very soon.

Nextly, the Bonus System is completely implemented too! And there’s a very, very large number of new “boni” that you’re awarded for doing all sorts of hilarious THINGS, such as: “Tossed Them Off!”, “Jam Sandwich!”, “Spit Roast!”, “Nice Shit Sir!”, “Piledriver Up the Arse!”, and the lovely “Vomit Bonus!”, to name but a few of a constantly growing list… A list that’s been made possible to grow so fast due to the cunningly “mod friendly” way the code’s been written!

Action Replay is also working, and as every aspect of the game gets implemented, it’s being written so that it’ll work seamlessly as the game is rewound and replayed. This is brilliant, as it helps on numerous levels, from debugging AI behaviour to checking gameplay detail to getting great screenshots and movies of hilarious stuff happening!

All this action can take place in a growing number of levels. You’ve seen the City and Industrial in previous updates, and we also have a Coastal level well under way as well as a number of dedicated Deathmatch Arenas. But I’m not going to go into more detail as we’ll have artists’ blogs covering this area in the New Year.

Similarly on the development of cars – today’s screenshots (and concept art) show you one of the latest additions, the new Towmeister. Sonnu, our lead Car artist, will be describing the development of the vehicles from the ground up in blogs in the New Year too. In other car news, our mighty Leader Batwick is taking personal responsibility for the cars’ Crushing Code. This is going to be a major leap forward; it’s a huge task, and as it’s fundamental to the satisfaction gained from tooling around trashing everything in sight, it’s going to be his responsibility to make it the Most Brilliant Code Ever. Expect some no doubt amusing and deeply profane blogging from the Great Beardy One on that, and on the powerups, the Boni, and gameplay in general… In the New Year!

These in-game screenshots obviously show work still very much in progress. In particular, they're using an interim renderer, which is why there's not much texturing on show. We have a brand spanking new "deferred renderer" (which also supports Mega Texturing) that's been written from the ground up and is soon to be plugged in. At that point we'll be able to start applying final textures to car and track geometry using the updated tools, and know that what we're seeing is what we're meant to get! So look forward to much more sparkly spanky spunky screenshots and movies from the game... In The New Year!!™

Right, I’m going to shut up now… I think that I’ve probably covered everything. What? Sorry, did someone at the back say something? Oh yes, how could I forget THAT?! Carmageddon 1 for Android things… Well, we’ve decided not to bother. Haha only joking. I can report that the Android port continues to make good progress, but as it HAD to be made a low manpower priority in order to concentrate all efforts on The New Game, the ETA for it being ready remains, “early in The New Year”.

The New Year, eh? SO much to look forward to! It’s going to be fun, fun, FUN!

Wishing you all a Smashing (stuff up) Xmas and a New Year filled with giblety goodness!
nob out xxx