Steam Community :: Snow Plow Playtest

Snow Plow Playtest version 0.0.15

15 Jun, 2023

Hello playtesters! A minor update of the game is now live. As detailed in the last Dev Blog, efforts are now being put into the alpha version. But the sandbox is still the place for attempts and prototypes, so some new features have been implemented in version 0.0.15. Here's the complete list of changes:

Snow Plow version 0.0.15

Added

Added a soft appearance to the tires.
Added a modeled interior to the vehicles. (No 1st person view yet!)
Added the wheel lean function to the grader.

Changed

Graphics enhancements (Post-processing, lighting, atmospheric, reflections, motion blur, etc.)
Tweaked various driving mechanics for better behavior, including wheel colliders, steer axis gravity, suspension, engine and transmission.
Defaulted the "Steering inertia" option to off.
Various code optimization and cleanup.
Synchronized the footstep sounds with the bobbing animation. Tweaked the audio design on the sounds.
Made the vehicle windows transparent.
Re-baked vehicles textures with more details and new shaders.

Fixed

The target framerate option should now work.
Fixed a layout update issue with the vehicle prompts panel.

Known bugs

Plows will drop snow chunks at high speed.
Multi-buttons entries (combos) are not yet supported for controllers.
If going out of X axis deadzone, the Y axis on the same stick will ignore its deadzone, and vice-versa.
Plows have only one speed when moving up, down or tilting. Except for the Workhorse, which wing's speed can be controlled with the amount of input when assigned to a stick. All plows will eventually be modified to behave like this.

Snow Plow Playtest

51

17

Snow Plow version 0.0.14 - Prompts

4 Feb, 2023

Snow Plow version 0.0.14

Added

Introduced controller vibration for those that support it.
Removed camera transition effect.
Added interactive prompts that shows the actual key binding (and not the default one). It shows when entering a vehicle and can at all times be hidden with the Help key (F1).
Added all of the options menu to te in-game menu.
Added settings for target framerate and controller vibration.
Added an option to display imperial units (MPH vs km/h).

Changed

Tweaked the Workhorse's wing animation for more accuracy.
Tweaked the orbiting camera's trajectory and speed.

Fixed

Fixed an annoying visual artifact coming from post-processing.
Fixed the volumes that would reset to normal when re-launching the game.
Fixed the FPC going out of bounds when tilting vertically.
Tweaked the FPC code to allow for smoother movement and eliminate framerate-related speed fluctuations.

Known bugs

Plows will drop snow chunks at high speed.
Wheel lean feature disabled on grader to allow more time for better integration.
Multi-buttons entries (combos) are not yet supported for controllers. It will in a future update.
If going out of X axis deadzone, the Y axis on the same stick ignore its deadzone, and vice-versa.
Plows have only one speed when moving up, down or tilting. Except for the Workhorse, which wing's speed can be controlled with the amount of input when assigned to a stick. All plows will eventually be modified to behave like this.

Snow Plow Playtest

58

3

Minor update 0.0.13b

4 Jan, 2023

Just a minor update to fix a few launch/shutdown issues with Steam.

---------------Changelog---------------

Added

Added camera effect transition when embarking/disembarking vehicle

Changes

Minor code fixes to avoir launch/shutdown issues

Snow Plow Playtest

38

6

UPDATE 0.0.13 - Floating plows

31 Dec, 2022

Hello everyone!

Happy new year! To fire off 2023, here's a playtest update! We just pushed build 0.0.13 and your Steam should update automatically.

This build contains the floating plows update. Those are featured on the Workhorse. You'll see that when lowering the plows, you are simply releasing them and allowing them to lay on their own weight. That way, you are not putting any pressure on the plows, they will follow the road curvatures and you keep a better directional control. In the end it makes a much more enjoyable experience. Also, Steam API has been implemented to the game for better functionality with Steam. Shouldn't change anything from your backend but let us know on Discord if you have problems launching the game.

More work is already being made on other topics and will be featured in the next update, including controller vibration, UI updates, and more.

Cheers,

Eric

-----------------CHANGELOG-----------------

Snow Plow version 0.0.13

Added

Added Steam API for future integrations.

Changed

Changed the Workhorse's plows for floating plows.

Snow Plow Playtest

49

9

Update 0.0.12 - The controller update

1 Oct, 2022

There it is! Summer is getting towards the end and Snow Plow Playtest is rolling out a major update that will lay foundations for the rest of the development.

This update includes several fixes and upgrades, but the biggest is the controller support. That includes steering wheels, panels, and console controllers. All you gotta do is connect your controller, map controls as you wish, and jump in! There is no default mapping for controllers, only keyboard and mouse. The rest is up to you. And yes, it supports multi-controller, such as steering wheel and pedals + switch panel, for example. We probably didn't cover all the possible binding scenarios, so if you feel a feature would need to be supported, please head to our Discord and share your idea.

Second is the vehicle controller script. I talked about it enough in the last months, but for those who are not aware, the code that controls vehicles has been re-written from scratch, allowing for total control over how we will be developing the vehicles in-game in the future, and setting the bases for vehicle customisation and vehicles that behave differently such as wheel loaders.

Finally, worth mentionning is the addition of the volume control from the options menu, which was a much requested feature.

Those features are not final, they will be fine tuned and adjusted as needed. For instance, we will be adding in-game prompts adjusted for your control mappings. That way, when you get on board a vehicle, prompts will be showing you how to operate systems according to how you mapped those controls. We wanted to deliver the update sooner and work on the rest while you enjoy this part. You can expect more frequent, smaller updates in the future.

Roadmap will be updated for those who want to know what's coming next. Meanwhile, you Steam playtest should update automatically to version 0.0.12.

Your role as playtesters is to enjoy the game while keeping in mind it is still a prototype and we are testing the basic mechanics here. It's lacking a lot features, but we're still in early development and that's why the project has been presented as a Playtest, not as a release. Those who want to share feedback, thoughts, ideas or report bugs can do so via many medias. The best option is our Discord server. But our website, Facebook messenger or Steam Community also allows you to get in touch. Same if you see a feature that doesn't behave as we would expect. We run the playtest to figure that out!

Allright, let's get plowing!

Eric, project lead

------------Changelog------------

Snow Plow version 0.0.12

Added

Added traces in snow when walking.
Added a buzzer sound when turning the battery on.
Added horns on both vehicles.
Added reverb inside garage.
Added wind sound according to vehicle velocity.
Added volume control options in main menu and in-game menu.
Added controller support and key binding customization. Settings are accessible from the main menu and in-game menu.
Added ambiant wind sound according to wind speed.
Added stop-and-go feature to vehicles.
Cursor has been confined to the window to avoid going out of the screen when using multi-monitor.
Added a vehicle emergency reset in the in-game menu, allowing to reset the vehicle at the base if stuck.

Changed

Adjusted bloom level.
Reduced FPC height to match a 1,85m (6ft) tall person's point of view.
Changed time scale to a factor of 15 (96 minutes game day)
Rewrote the whole vehicle controller script from scratch.
Made vehicle's camera Z axis fixed at 0 degrees, allowing the camera to stay aligned with the horizon when the vehicle tilts and making it less jittery.
F1 no longer shows default bindings, as they are now customisable. It now shows the control mapper instead.

Fixed

Fixed the temporary black sky that showed up for split-second when entering a vehicle.

Known bugs

Plows will drop snow chunks at high speed.
Wheel lean feature disabled on grader to allow more time for better integration.
Multi-buttons entries (combos) are not yet supported for controllers. It will in a future update.

Snow Plow Playtest

58

10

Version 0.0.11

14 Feb, 2022

Updated the playtest build with version 0.0.11 to correct a bug where the snow layer would not visibly re-accumulate.

Snow Plow Playtest

94

19