Alpha 0.3

After a really long time...

It's finally here!

Yes! Exactly! After 8 months of waiting, the new version, that is Alpha 0.3, is finally being released! This update focuses mostly on the content, but there are some gameplay improvements as well! Here are the most important changes (with full list of them at the end).

New Map

The new version features a brand new map of a small polish village/town and it's surroundings. There's plenty of roads to drive around and explore, so you won't be bored.

More customization options

Car customization has been greatly improved! Let's start with one of the features, that used to be in the game back before the initial release, but was removed. That is custom license plates. And now they're back! You can select the license plate template for a few countries (or add you own with a mod), and then write down whatever you want. 

Other than that, you can also change your car in another way. Be it a new hood, a skirt with lighting under the car, or a viking helmet on the roof - the choice is yours!

AI Racing Bots

Yep, you've read that right. The new version of the game adds racing bots, which you can race against (if you have no internet, or friends). Before you start a race, you can specify a number of bots (it will be limited though), and the bots will spawn with their unique names and cars. They can also be quite fun to watch, but sometimes they behave rather weirdly, so keep that in mind.

Improved lights and new car model

The model of the car has been reworked, to actually look more like the real thing. This also allowed to introduce lights, like blinkers. If you want to signal your turn, just press [ or ], and the blinker will turn on. After you're done turning, it will automatically turn off, just like in a real car. 

Reverse lights are there too! Speaking of reverse stuff...

Reverse camera

Yeah, a small feature that was requested by at least a few people, is making it into the game too. Now you can press your mouse scroll button, and have a quick peek at what's going on behind your car. Quite useful, isn't it?

New Carball stadium

The original stadium had quite a lot of issues - players could get stuck on the sides of it, the stadium wasn't really optimized, and it was generally pretty average. Sure, there was a full tournament played on it, but it doesn't mean that something new shouldn't be made. That's why Alpha 0.3 includes a brand new stadium, placed in an old warehouse, with very few viewers. The walls of the stadium also have been reworked - now they bounce you away. I'm sure this can be used for some new mechanics.

Preparation UI

Now you can prepare for the Carball match, or the race! No more randomness, you get to join the teams as you wish, and the game will start only when all the participants are ready.

Finished racing mode

You can now finish the race! (See what I did there?) That means, no more races with infinite number of laps, now the high limit is 255 (default lap count is 3 though), and once you finish all laps, you get to spectate other players/bots, as they race and compete against each other.

Quick summary

As you could read, there were quite a few interesting changes. But that's definitely not all, here's a list of all the changes coming in the new version:

• Added new map (old one has been removed)
• Added a new race track based on the new map (old race track has been removed)
• Improved car customization UI
• Added interchangeable car parts and additions
• Added car paintwork properties (metallic, glossiness)
• Re-added license plates
• Improved the car model
• Added blinkers and reverse lights
• Added reverse camera
• Fixed various bugs with player camera in other gamemodes
• Finished the racing game mode
• Added special server camera for racing
• Added AI racing bots
• Added new Carball stadium
• Fixed Carball ball's trail
• Changed text after scoring
• Added preparation UI for game modes
• Fixed the in-game chat
• Changed gamepad key mappings
• Added graphical settings
• Added in-game stats
• Added new car textures (thanks to gokacper)
  
• Added French translation (thanks to beclass)

What about the next update?

Next large update will focus on something, that affects the whole game. There's plenty of work, so I can't give any promise, and I don't know when you'll hear about it. 

One thing you can be sure, is that I will make it :)

Important information

Due to many changes coming in this version, the minimal requirements have been raised by a lot. 
A rough estimate would be:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 1300X
GPU: Nvidia GTX 950
RAM: 8GB

You might be able to run this game smoothly on a computer with lower specs. If you do, please let me know and I will update the minimal requirements.