We just released Demo Update 8 which brings a significant amount of new features, tweaks, and fixes.

While we're behind our originally outlined schedule by just about a week at this point, we have decided to release the game at the end of July (instead of mid-late June) to not collide with the upcoming Steam Summer Sale and the release of PCM21, as well as give ourselves some more time to polish, balance, and fix up issues. The game is now scheduled to release on the 29th of July 2021 and this update brings us a lot closer to the finished version.

Please note that once the game is released and we consider it fully playable, development won't be quite done yet. More on what is to come after release will be mentioned in future update posts.

https://youtu.be/v95QPUl3UUk

New Features

There are a few important new features in this update that will change how the game is played:

The new resource preview monitor makes proper teamwork so much easier than before as it displays how much the currently selected move would cost a teammate in the same group to follow, including all the calculations for slipstream, terrain, and skills.

The addition of a maximum slipstream for each terrain section means a big difference in how slipstream works and makes it a lot more realistic. Previously, jumping over a 14% steep section with a speed of 30 nodes would have still given a lot of slipstream in P2 and P3, making the move much easier to follow in those segments of the peloton than at the front of it or in an escape group. Now with the introduction of the maximum slipstream per card, that same move would have everyone get zero slipstream instead. Overall it means the peloton will not be able to follow as many ridiculous moves in difficult terrain, while still being very sticky in easy terrain.

Moves across the finish line have changed too, now you get a refund for the resources that should not have been used! Let's say a move costs 10 Energy and 10 Attack but your rider crosses the line after just 0.2 turns. Previously you would have had to pay the full resource amount, which would have been felt in the between-stages recovery for sure. Now you would get back 8 Energy and 8 Attack after the sprint is completed. That means gameplay in sprints isn't affected, but overall it is much fairer and independent of where your move started from compared to where the line is.

We also added that the leadout rider actually gets a chance to sprint should he have left-over attack points after the move. That can be used tactically to create more of a wall of velocity for other riders to pass if you have set up a nice sprint train.

Demo Update 8 Features & Fixes

• Added a new tutorial to bridge the knowledge gap between tutorial 7 and 8 [WIP]
• Added a resource preview for teammates riding in the same group to help you plan your move
• Added a maximum slipstream value to terrain sections to make peloton slipstream more realistic
• Added ability for the first rider to cross the finish line to also sprint and add velocity
• Added a partial resource cost refund for moves across the finish line, based on turn fraction
• Added display of line-passing time in the move UI for climbs and intermediate sprints
• Fixed an issue where landing on group that already sprinted broke timing and ordering
• Fixed the peloton target node not being updated for specific moves where it should be
• Fixed a rider ordering bug after a catch-up across a categorized climb or sprint
• Fixed an issue with ordering in sprints that are mixed with one or several catch-up moves
• Fixed the inconsistent application of the time limit, it now DQs riders accurately
• Fixed issue that allowed P2 and P3 riders to participate in sprints
• Fixed yellow jersey leader showing as "-" for yellow jersey time instead of 0:00 in rider spec sheet
• Fixed the green and red jersey buttons showing on the race preview / summary screen for classics
• Fixed empty rider and team jersey slots showing as a black jersey

It is worth mentioning that while all of that is going on, development of the career mode is not being neglected and we are making steady progress there too.

The next demo update is scheduled for in a little more than two weeks with a random assortment of tweaks, fixes, and polish. If anything pops up as broken in Demo Update 8, we'll address that asap with a hotfix. Please let us know if that is the case.

Cheers!