- Careening & Demo Update 0.55 - 1 October 2025
In a rare moment for me, both Careening & its demo have been updated at the same time, so let's crack on. Changes to both versions:Tutorialisation and Narrative The initial control segment of the tutorial remains the same, however the game now tutorialises some elements when you first reach them using the dialog system this patch introduces. There are also short vignettes that play to cover some of the narrative when you start runs, which mostly unlock based on achievements. Camera & MovementThe camera has been reworked a little to be more stable as framerates fluctuate, as well as a switch so that it changes FOV along with distance as speed increases, to help give a better sense of speed.Performance While the last update did improve performance across the board significantly (particularly late game), it came at the cost of sometimes causing micro-stutters. This build has reduced the se…
- Update v.0.521 - 4 June 2025
Due to various behind the scenes issues, there was a bit of a delay on this one, sorry! Version 0.521 doesn't have any new "features" however it represents a reasonable shift in overall balancing of Careening. Every Weapon has had their numbers adjusted, to scale in a more linear fashion, helping the early levels feel more impactful. Additionally, the level up screen now displays more information on the stats changed compared to prior versions. 22 Buffs were added, one for each weapon, plus one extra. These are added to the buff list when you take the final level of a weapon. With all of this in mind, balance has been completely shot, so don't be surprised if there are major buffs, and minor nerfs in the future for some weapons. A few other points of feedback have been addressed, impact markers are a lot more visible, signs now have an outline to help them pop from the background, and b…
- Update v.0.52 - 8 April 2025
This is a fairly large update, with a mix of new content, and adjustments based on player feedback. New Features: Deliveries - Deliverables will now spawn across the map at Doris locations, these provide experience, as well as some other bonuses when taken to the correct location. Keep an eye out for them to increase your power! Vehicle Types - There are now three new vehicles to drive, with varied handling, stats, and special abilities. Adjustments: The Health Dial has been increased in size, with a new shape to help with visibility. Engine Growl when on low health was inadvertently removed in a prior update, so that's been re-added to help give feedback to missing health. Weapon Scaling has gone through a big pass, in general most weapons deal about 20% more damage and stun at their max level, and the scaling with each "power" upgrade has been made more linear, to help the impact of e…
- Update v.0512 - 20 March 2025
A relatively small update, this introduces one new weapon, AIB-A, available if you've completed The Hub. Various tweaks to audio and lighting. Options added for the reactive foliage system, and it's been extended to include more foliage types.
- 0.510 release - 27 February 2025
Welcome to the first content update for Careening: The Hub. This patch introduces a new level (The Hub), with a new puzzle game inspired mode. It also implements reactive grass, and a music track, to make driving around feel a bit less lonely. Other Changes are pretty minor: Doris will now always be active at every location when a game starts, to eliminate those frustrating times when you forget to check the map, and dash over to the servo, only to find it empty. Quest time across the board has been upped by 15 seconds. Flailing has been reworked a little on the back end, this shouldn't have too much of an effect on normal gameplay, but makes it visually a lot less harsh, and it does mean that it's arguably more effective at extremely high (350+) tempo values. Exploseora has also had its visuals tweaked, so now the dark part of its overlay respects the cut-out, which helps a little with…
- Early Access Launch and Update 1 - 11 February 2025
In classic fashion, I forgot to do a post for the Early Access launch, but thank you to all my players so far, I hope you're having fun. Today's update addresses a few bugs, but is mostly a balancing patch, there's still some work to be done there, but I think this helps bring up a few of the underperformers (and nerfs one overperformer). Changes: Weapons Bladez Scaling from bonus stun increased 50% -> 65% Scaling from bonus damage decreased 100% -> 65% (This is just to bring the values together, and buff the stun portion of Bladez which I'd overnerfed pre-release) Flailing Scaling from bonus damage and stun decreased 100% -> 75% Base Damage at level 1 decreased 5.8 -> 5.4 A few minor visual tweaks, reduced brightness and lifetime for the ribbon effects. (Flailing had duel issues of overperforming hugely late game, combined with dealing very slightly too much damage at early levels give…
- Demo Update v.1.036 - 15 January 2025
Again, functionally small changes here. Tutorial Expanded (again). Slight tweak to late game health and damage of enemies. Fixed the last achievement from not giving a reward. Change to the landscape material to hopefully make the blending nicer. Changed position of various rocks and trees for usability. Changed position of one fountain.
- Demo Update v.1.035 - 13 January 2025
Mostly tweaks in this one. A few small tweaks to the Tutorial. Added a few new buffs based on chosen weapon groupings, one for visiting Doris, and a new special buff that may make or break a run. Engine sound now gets a bit of a growl when health is low. Added a backing beat track, doesn't link through to volume settings yet, can be turned on and off in the menu. Slight change to 3D HUD to prepare for future content.
- Demo Update v.1.034 - 11 January 2025
Small change to buffs to reduce the starting list. + added a few news ones. The full current buff list can be checked while on the buff screen. Tyre grip increased slightly at high Speed stat values. One extra achievement added, mostly to annoy people. Extra signposting added. Size of compass needles increased.
- Demo Update v.1.033 - 9 January 2025
Another small update in terms of changes, though with a few minor changes to the landscape the update size is larger than I'd like. Strength of Stun, Damage & Power % buffs reduced, third level added. High risk / reward buff added through Hester's Heart change. 3 Torch-er Chambers added to the map, two will be active per run. Fix for fountains visited not showing up properly on the map.
- Demo Update v.1.032 - 8 January 2025
Small update, mostly fixes to the UI of the buff screen, fixing issues with effects displaying incorrectly, and also fixing the add lite buff. Bladez size increased slightly. Flailing size scaling decreased slightly. Fix to buffs given from mixtapes, the game was rewarding them much, much faster than intended.
- Demo Update v.1.031 - 5 January 2025
I forgot to take notes for the previous update, so we now have a big black hole of knowledge. I am a professional. This update fixes a few small bugs, and introduces one new known bug in turn (When you first load to the buff menu it displays danger incorrectly, but updates to be correct if you re-roll). Size of American Intervention fixed, it was erroneously large at the last few levels. Points of Power tweaked to be slightly easier to pick up at speed (though only slightly). Rerolling has been added to buffs, at the cost of making the robots stronger. Getting multiple mixtapes now rewards you with a miniboss buff, though they're currently doing so at a rate faster than intended. Two new achievements added with bonus buff rewards.
- Demo Update v.1.027 - 22 December 2024
As feared, the last update broke the difficulty curve, making everything late game way too easy. This update boosts health & stun scaling of late game enemies, doubles boss health and increases miniboss health by 25%, and includes a reduction to experience earned from defeating robots. However, the secret fountain has been moved next to the start location, and buffs have been applied to a few weapons to help focus them on their intended use. Weapon Changes: Elephant Gun damage increased significantly at base level. (and while non weapon specific, Poison Damage has been brought up significantly) Hot Light Damage increased. Flailing base attack pattern has been brought up to its second level, upgrade replaced by a power upgrade. Initial damage is slightly lower to compensate, but immediate DPS is much higher. Beam Stun increased slightly across the board. Beam explosion particles now accu…
- Demo Update v.1.026 - 21 December 2024
This is mostly a buff update, initial strength of all weapons has been increased, buffs have been expanded with new options, and there's a few slight tweaks to language in the tutorial. There's lots of changes to the buff system here, so here's hoping I found all the bugs. Fixes: Last update introduced a bug where the Tutorial was running every time you hit play, not just at the first game start, that has hopefully been fixed. Achievement 1-1 was not counting correctly, it should be now, though I still need to pinpoint what was causing those numbers to be wrong.
- Demo Update v.1.025 - 20 December 2024
1.025 brings with it an expanded tutorial, and the initial version of the map update, showing locations and states for Healing Points, Buff Fountains & Gifts, on top of the time trials added in the previous update. These need a big graphics pass, and the map also needs to be realigned between the two different version, but they'll come in a future update. Buffs to initial damage of Elephant Gun & Flailing to make them feel more impactful. Enemy health & stun scaling has been reduced, damage increased slightly by a flat amount at later tiers. Compass updated to point towards Landscape Targets. Achievements for buffs tweaked and re-enabled under the new system.
- Demo Update v.1.023 - 19 December 2024
This build represents a big step to re-align difficulty, while making a few other adjustments. Bonus buffs have been nerfed significantly, and the better tiers of them now have prerequisites. Medium and Large enemies have had their base stun health increased, as it was too easy early game to build enough stun up to cover the screen in stunned enemies. Scaling of ram on stunned damage has been reduced, but a flat bonus is added, so at level 1 it's slightly stronger, but slightly weaker by level 10. 124MPH Armor, Lifesteal, and Ram damage have been reduced. This is probably an over-nerf when combined with other changes, but we'll see. Healing now provides ticks of healing over time, rather than a burst, with a cap to how many ticks can be stored. This makes lifesteal about twice as effective early game, but reduces efficacy as the game goes on. Fixed a bug relating to bonus health that ca…
- Demo Update v.1.022 - 17 December 2024
This is the second update to the demo, following the unannounced previous one. This update largely involved adding minibosses to the spawn system, and tweaking how the boss buff system worked to accommodate them (one option given on mini-bosses, three options on main boss). Nerf across the board to boss buffs to account for the total possible to receive. Hit-Stun has been changed, with each "wave" its efficacy will reduce, and both bosses and minibosses have had their base level adjusted down. Minimum Enemy Spawn Rate increases depending on game stage. The Boss Bonus Buff has been removed, as the general boss buffs supersede it. I'll likely reinstate it attached to the Quest system. Currently the Exploration element of the game is a little underperforming, as fountain buffs probably need a buff as well. Quests will now be offered more often. Various small tweaks to weapon numbers. Doris…
