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

Feedback:

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