Hello, everyone!

Bet you didn't expect this! A new dev diary for Zoomies! Yes, I am still working on this 👀

First off I just want to say Happy Holidays to you all! I hope your holiday period has been great and full of happiness.

Game development for me over the last few months has been dead. I've been busy focusing on working hard at my day job, moving house as well as dealing with some personal events in my life. But I've finally got some motivation back to work on this game.

So recently I've mainly been working on tying up what I've got so far, trying to get a new demo available for you. So let's dive in:

Gamepad Support

I've been working on improving gamepad support for Zoomies. In the game jam build, gamepads were fully supported during gameplay but only had limited support when in menus. But now I'm happy to say that the full version of the game (as well as the new demo build) will include full 100% gamepad support. Check out the gif above!

Minimaps

Other than all of the personal issues I listed earlier which affected the development for Zoomies, another big blocker was the minimap system. It was a jerry-rigged system back in the game jam build which didn't support most resolutions outside of 16:9. Fixing this was a gargantuan task for me, and it really killed a lot of the leftover motivation I had.

But, I have since fixed this! The track minimaps now scale correctly and support most, if not all resolutions. It still looks a bit basic, but this is as far as I'm willing to go with it. If I get any extra time before release then I may improve it, but no promises.

Check out some of the new minimaps below:

These still aren't completely finished yet as you can see in the second image, they still look quite janky. But this will be fixed by the full release!

The New Demo

So I have mentioned that I will be releasing a new demo build, but I haven't quite mentioned what it will include. So the new demo build will include the following:

• Revamped Cats (compared to the game jam build)
  • Tuxedo Cat and Bengal have both been shelved for now while I recreate them using the new art style
  • But we still have the Scottish Fold, as well as some new cats such as the Bobtail, Tabby and Persian!
• Two Tracks
  • An improved version of Big City (which was the track included in the game jam build)
  • New track - Suburbs. You have most likely seen this track as it's the one I've preferred to use when showing off the game in the past. I'd say it's a simpler track than Big City, but with no less excitement!

Unfortunately multiplayer will not be included in the demo as I have not touched this area of the game for a while and is probably broken. I am definitely aiming to have multiplayer available when the game releases fully though :) 

How much will it cost to play the full version of Zoomies: Cat Racing?

I am happy to reveal that the full version of Zoomies: Cat Racing will be completely free :) 

I am considering offering a "supporter edition" of the game which will include extra content for a small fee (nothing legacy, all new content will be made specifically for the supporter edition. I am not a fan of locking existing content behind paywalls). All proceeds will directly support my future games!

--

That's about it for now. Expect more Zoomies news in 2024!

Have a great start to the new year :)