Hey everyone!

A new update is out and brings a number of new things to Switchcars!

Hardcore game mode:

For all of you who've beaten the game many times a new mode is now available - Hardcore! Hardcore mode, which only becomes available once you've beaten The Run, features 3 stages rather than 10. They are very long and the timer ticks only 5 seconds before not one, but two aliens show up chasing you.

The idea behind the game mode was to have a tough challenge from the very start of a round, without the usual build-up present in The Run, yet make it still possible to beat it. Right now Hardcore is quite fun and beating it is highly satisfactory, but it is also in experimental phase, meaning that some things could be changed over time based on your feedback. Please let me know your thoughts about it, and I'm looking forward to seeing hardcore gameplay videos and end-screen captures!

Ingame changelog viewer:

The game now lets you see what's new in every update, directly from the database. If the game was updated, a notification in the main menu will lead you to the latest changelog, where you can read about the update. Other than what's new, you can browse changelogs of every previous update, all the way up to 21st November 2012 when development on Switchcars started.

Battery degradation:

Based on a forum suggestion, recharging electric vehicles now reduces their battery capacity with 1/6 ratio. The more the vehicle is recharged, the less capacity it has, however repairing the vehicle will restore the battery to a new state.

Disposable Power Bank powerup:

Another forum suggestion is a new kind of powerup that effectively provides instant refuel which also changes the power source and prevents it from being refueled again. Disposable Power Bank is very useful as a last resort in very tight situations.

Drogue Parachute powerup:

This active powerup lets you brake hard by deploying a parachute behind the vehicle. It's particularly useful at avoiding obstacles at very high speeds, such as when in a Land Speed Record Vehicle.

New sound effects:

Electric propeller vehicles now have their own drone-like sound. The most common examples are the older generation flying cars in 2030's and 2040's.

Crash sounds have been expanded with 9 new ones, making action moments feel more dynamic and less repetitive.

Light and heavy jets got improved engine sounds, as well as heavy propeller vehicles, all having gradual acceleration rather than being maxed out immediately.

Lighting effects:

When entering or exiting dark caves, the game will simulate eyes adapting to a new brightness level. Leaving a cave will cause a bright flash, whereas entering a cave will make you see almost nothing but darkness for a moment. Shooting and explosions now light up caves slightly.

Thanks to another community suggestion, all vehicles now turn on headlights (and brake lights when braking) in dark or foggy environments. Traffic can also flash headlights as a warning if you're in its way.

Alien Younglings got Teleport:

With Teleport found naturally in them, younglings have become a very tactical asset. As with vehicles, using the teleport will hurt the animal, however riding the animal itself will have it regenerate health. With calculated use they can be a life-saver, but at the same time the Younglings are very fragile.

As usual, there have been many more smaller changes to the game of course (e.g. bicycles and mining vehicles are now faster), so make sure to check out the full changelog - except this time you can do it either here below, or in the game's own viewer if you so desire!

Rock, Paper, Shotgun:

Finally, I'd like to mention that RPS yesterday published an article about Switchcars. As I've been dreaming of having it for years, I'm quite glad about its existence :)

RPS: Planes, Trains and everything else: Switchcars

Changelog:

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

That's it for this update, and as always if you have any questions, comments or suggestions, feel free to post on the forum!