The game has been updated with a new content and gameplay update! The main highlights include two new unlockable vehicles, a facelift for the Gooper item and both a facelift AND new functionality for the Spiky Spinny item! As well as bugfixes, some gameplay adjustments ...and more!

New vehicle: Runner MXM!

You know how some people just love the smell of burning rubber in the morning? No? Oh. Well, either way Runner MXM* is here to satisfy that need with its unparalleled drifting game!

Runner MXM is not available by default and must be unlocked.
To unlock it you must either:

• Finish in any position in any 80 races (Time Trial, Custom Tournament or Grand Prix).
  
• Further unlock criteria TBD.
  

New vehicle: The Hemming!

Like a blast from a not too distant past the Hemming* is now roaring down the racetrack! Put a penny in the jukebox and smoke cigars if you got 'em! (PSA: Smoking not encouraged).

To unlock it you must either:

• Finish in any position in any 96 races (Time Trial, Custom Tournament or Grand Prix).
  
• Further unlock criteria TBD.
  

* names not final.

Item improvements

The Gooper has recieved a bit of polish and flair and the Spiky Spinny item has been upgraded with both new functionality AND flair. Wow!

Gooper

The gooper now emits a very nice boiling and smoking-hot visual effect when charging and becoming super-heated. Reaching full charge is also vizualised with a satisfyingly frothy explosion of hot, scummy goop so you know that gooey glob you just charged up is ready to launch with the full heat-effect!

Spiky Spinny

The Spiky Spinny can now be charged before launching. By pressing and holding down the item button the Spiky Spinny will start spinning wildly and launch at a higher velocity than normal when letting go of the button. A firey and smokey pop will indicate that the spinny is fully charged and can be launched for massive speed and damage!

With the new charging functionality the mechanics for the Spiky Spinny has been slightlty adjusted:

A non-charged Spiky Spinny will:

• Travel at a leisurely pace.
  
• Bounce against up to five obstacles before exploding.
  
• Explode upon first contect with an opponents vehicle.
  
  A fully charged Spiky Spinny will:
  
• Travel ludicrously fast!
  
• NOT bounce against any obstacles but instead explode upon first impact.
  
• Rip and tear through up to five vehicles in its path before exploding.
  

At charge levels in between non-charged and fully charged the Spiky Spinny can both bounce and rip, but at varying degrees and speeds.

Behold both of the above effects below in these glorious 10 fps 1/6:th HD gifs recorded and rendered on an overencumbered and stressed out potato laptop.

Spiky Spinny Charging	Gooper Charging

Holiday spirit

Some of the race tracks in the game have been slightly jollified with certain objects being replaced by jollier counterparts for a limited time. I hope you can all enjoy it and feel the jolly within! Jolly-Ho!

Upcoming updates schedule and notice

Because of the aforementioned upcoming holidays and other such reasons I just wanted to let you know that updates will be more irregular and/or non-existant for a little while. Expect regular updates to return again early next year at the earliest.

Patch notes 2022-12-09

General gameplay

• Drifting has been fine-tuned to be very, very slightly sharper for all vehicles (based on their drift stat; vehicles with higher drift stat still drift noticably more sharply than those with a lower drift stat). This means very slightly less moving sideways and very slightly more moving forwards when drifting.
  
• Computer opponents have had their trigger happiness toned up again ever so slightly.
  
• Item boxes now respawn slightly faster and are slightly easier to hit.
  
• Bonus nitro boost from drifting slightly increased.
  
• Base nitro power for all vehicles slightly increased.
  
• Old T.O.M. no longer targets whoever launched it should they happen to be the last remaining player in a race.
  

Vehicles

• Added very subtle cosmetic-only effects for some vehicles when trying to use an item when no item is equipped. So far only the Runner MXM and the Patrol 80 has these effects.
  

Tracks

• Meandermire: Improved AI pathing.
  
• Suburbia: Fixed an issue where vehicles would sometimes be afflicted with an inconvenient rotational force when exiting the automatic wooden boost ramp. Adjusted the barriers around the skate area for mad air time when going off the edges. That's rad!
  
• Most tracks: Various minor doodad placement and collision/hitbox/barrier adjustments.
  

Items

• Spiky Spinny:
  
  • New functionality! Can now be charged! Charging a Spiky Spinny before launching will increase its speed and destructive power, but will reduce its bounciness. See detailed explanation above.
    
  
  
• Sentient Goop: Improved visuals when charging.
  
• Tesla Tower: Each electric blast has had its duration decreased from 1.2 s to 0.9 s. The radius of the blast has been slightly reduced and the slowing effect applied to vehicles caught in the blast has also been slightly reduced.
  

Bug fixes

• Fixed an issue where the Gooper item animation would sometimes get stuck in charge-mode.
  
• Fixed an issue where the Gooper would sometimes not fire backwards after charging despite holding down on the control stick/d-pad when using a gamepad.
  
• Fixed an issue where particle effects would sometimes not render properly.
  
• Josephine and Tjörn now have proper personalized phrases instead of placeholder text when winning a Grand Prix or Custom Tournament. Oops!
  

Miscellaneous

• Unlock critera for unlocking a vehicle based on number of completed races has been adjusted and now unlocks a new vehicle every 16 races instead of every 30 races.
  
• Mr. Threads primary unlock criteria now requires 1250 missile hits, down from 1500.
  

Technical stuff

• Another possible - yet unfortunately untested - solution to the xinput controller limit is in place. If any of you out there is in a position to successfully test the game (or the demo) with 5 or more xinput controllers please let me know. And if it does not work please let me know too :) I am also currently looking into implementing full Steam Controller and Steam Input support soon™ but no timelines and no promises.
  

Keep in mind that the game is still in development and bugs and other oddities may be present.
If you encounter anything you don't like (or do like) please let me know!

Steam: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1912560/discussions/
Discord: https://discord.gg/hHKGxM6WDf
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CodebornGames
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@CodebornGames
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/codeborn

Enjoy the update and the new content!

Love,
The Developer