Alpha 0.2

Hey!

The long awaited Alpha 0.2 version is finally here! It features plenty of changes and improvements, which all make the game more playable, more beautiful and more fun! Here are some of the most important changes (full list at the end of the post).

UI overhaul

The UI has been reworked a lot (as mentioned in the Christmas post). The new UI will be based on the tile system, which makes it easier to navigate through. The title screen has also been reworked, as you can see here:

Translations! 

The UI rework also brought translations! Now you can play the game in one of a few languages. Special thanks to my friends, who did the translations :)
Languages included are:

• English
• Polski (Polish)
• Türkçe (Turkish) - by Fabalu
• Українська (Ukrainian) - by kvispi
• Română (Romanian) - by kaito
• Русский (Russian) - by me, kvispi, dieKares
• Čeština (Czech) - by czoleeee

If you want to translate the game to your language, feel free to contact me! 

Easier multiplayer!

In this version of the game, hosting a multiplayer game was made much easier! Now the game will automatically open ports (if possible), so your friends can easily join you. After you're done playing, the ports will be closed again. 

But not only that, now you can invite your friends to play with you via Discord! When you start the game, in Discord you'll see an option to send an invite to your friends. It looks something like this: 

Greatly improved car physics!

Remember how weird was the car behavior in the previous version? How easy it was to roll it over? Now it's no longer a thing!
In this update, the car is much more stable. Besides, it will no longer try to turn the opposite direction, if you were turning already! This allows introducing yet another great feature, that is...

Drifting & braking rework! 

Now you can drift your Dacia (totally legally) by holding handbrake! You may ask "but how come? Didn't handbrake just stop the car?". You'd be correct, it DID, but no longer does. In this version, brakes have been reworked, to more closely resemble their real-life counterparts. Additionally, grip system was added to the game - now depending on what surface are you driving on, your car will behave differently. On snow it will slide more, on clean asphalt it will handle like a dream.

New gearbox modes!

The physics rework also allowed to introduce gearbox! Now you can choose between 3 various gearbox modes:

• Arcade - the default mode. Gearbox is automatic, but when you press S, you can not only brake, but also go backwards
• Automatic - the gearbox is automatic, but it won't switch "gears" by itself. You still have to choose if you want to go forwards or backwards. Here, W key functions solely as acceleration, while S is only for brakes.
• Manual - most realistic gearbox, here you not only choose yourself between going forwards or backwards, but you also have to actually change the gears. If you do it at right RPM, you'll achieve the most optimal acceleration! 

New admin settings!

This version also features new admin settings window. There you can easily start various game modes or modify some of their rules etc. (for example, change Carball match duration or team names). 

You can also change the environment settings like weather or time. Wait, what?  Weather and time? 

Weather & time system!

You can modify the weather and time of the day! You can either have clear or snowy weather, and play during the day or during the night! More settings will be coming in future updates!

Carball fixed and improved!

If you've watched the Dacia Driving Simulator Carball Tournament November 2022 (ik, that's a long name), quite likely you've noticed the scoreboard. It has made it's way into the game! Now the score is displayed in a much better and more organized way. 

An important change is also the ball cam being fixed! In the previous versions, it could glitch out and get weird. This is no longer the case, now it will focus at the ball and let you play in peace!

Last improvement to Carball is the ball trail being colored! The color of the trail depends on which team has hit the ball last.

Last but not the least - pause!

Yes, now you don't have to randomly click around your screen to do stuff, restart the game to get back to menu or use Alt+F4 to exit. 
Now everything has been organized into a nice and simple pause menu, available under the ESC key. 
Note: pause doesn't actually stop the game, since it's multiplayer, and you cannot really pause a multiplayer game.

Quick summary

As you've read, this update changes a lot. I hope you'll like the changes and enjoy playing the new version!

Here's the full list of changes:

• Overhauled the title screen
• Translated the game into various languages
• Added automatic port forwarding when hosting a game or a server (UPnP)
• Added Discord invitation support
• Greatly improved car physics
• Greatly improved client interpolation&prediction
• Fixed suspension and handbrake
• Added drifting
• Added manual and automatic gearbox
• Added new admin settings
• Added time and weather settings
• Added a button to end the race 
• Added time to Carball
• Improved Carball UI visuals
• Improved Carball ball trail
• Fixed ball camera in Carball
• Added pause screen
• Flip now only works every few seconds
• Added Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheel support

What about the next update?

For the next update, I plan to focus more on the content, for example adding new textures or maps to drive around.

When will it come out though? I don't want to give any promise. A lot is planned, so stay tuned!