Formula Fusion Update April 29th 2017

TheConzio has made a video explaining / showing some of the differences and advancements made with this build since the last Dec 2016 build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iskeoWjcXso


Here's what's posted by R8 about this update.

We’ve just released an EA update!
29 APRIL - PURDISC
HEADLINE FEATURES
- new Multiplayer with Lobby notifications and Spectator Mode
- new Night and Reverse track variants
- new re-worked Trans Atol and Mannahatta tracks
- new Music by Leon Switch
- all craft can now race together


in detail:
WHAT’S CHANGED

MULTIPLAYER
- Multiplayer re-worked with useable Weapons*1
- NEW - Lobby notification system:
- toggle On/Off in Settings / Gameplay and you get notification when anyone creates a Multiplayer Lobby
- NEW - Spectator mode
- joining a lobby which is racing*2 places you in Spectator Mode
- choose pilots & cameras including Orbit cam controlled with R-JoyStick
- UI is placeholder / wip


TRACKS
- NEW - Midtown Trafik Reverse, Night and Night Reverse track variants added
- NEW - Niagara GP Reverse, Night and Night Reverse track variants added
- NEW - Atlas Torres Reverse, Night and Night Reverse track variants added
- NEW - Mannahatta track reworked + Reverse, Night and Night Reverse track variants added
- NEW - Trans Atol track reworked + Reverse, Night and Night Reverse track variants added
- Atlas Torres tunnel has extra Speed Pads at the start and loses the half pipe at the top


GARAGE
- Card system has been updated, Weapon Behaviour slots have been reduced from 5 to 2
- NEW - Cards have been added to the Garage in the Engine Slot
- they represent the Speed Classes. Please note these cards are temporary and will not exist in the final release - they’re in to allow you to experiment before inclusion of Speed Class selection.
- NEW - LoadOut editor - wip
- Default Craft Skin can now be set in GARAGE / SKINS


SETTINGS
- Custom Controls for keyboard and controller are temporarily removed while we rework the Settings Menu
- Screen Custom Resolution Scale is now a percentage based slider bar
- Anti-Aliasing methods added


GENERAL
- NEW - all craft types (Vixen, Python etc) now race together.

- NEW - Game Modes for Race:
- Clean Race - Single/Multiplayer - no weapons - only engine mods - default class FF4000
- Elimination - last place on each lap gets eliminated
- Endurance - your Health/Shield drains constantly - longest distance covered wins
- Speed Lap - Singleplayer - best lap time in a race wins - you set no. of laps

- NEW - Menu UI
- NEW - Voice Alerts
- NEW - Music by Leon Switch

- NEW - Steam Cloud Save enabled - closing game saves state automatically to Steam Cloud


- Some Options have had their names changed:
- Multiplayer = W.A.R (World of Anti-gravity Racing)
- Replays = FXTV
- Custom Event = Race


- SFX and VFX have been reworked and tweaked across the board
- Energy Bolt now has some Guidance added by default
- Craft stats have been re-balanced to be closer to the final game.

- BOOST system is now fixed
- Pilot Stats are now visible
- Records Menu added, included in the menu are FXTV, Pilot Stats and Leader Boards


KNOWN BUGS and WIP
- SFX spikes on loading screen
- Spectator Mode starts incorrectly with Grid countdown as you enter the race
- *2 Spectator Mode - lobby doesn’t indicate that a race has started
- Midtown has lighting flicker issue
- occasional camera wobble on grid
- Chat Box in Multiplayer Lobby is WIP
- Garage camera can counter rotate if Slots are chosen too quickly in sequence
- Garage - Test Run does not work
- 1* Gauss Cannon does not yet work with Guidance and has visual bug in Multiplayer
- Multiplayer - Host will very occasionally fail to initialize the countdown sequence
- DOF issues on Medium settings especially on Atlas Torres and Niagara
- controller vibration occasionally persists after activation and at race end
- night time variants require more lighting

As ever we look forward to reading your constructive feedback but we are especially interested in hearing from you about:
- Multiplayer
- the speeds of FF4000 and Elite speed classes
- reverse and night track variants
- the BOOST feature - more, less, incremental release? etc etc
30

As a WO player, the gameplay and the physics are aweful.
Really dislike the sound FX too.
Sorry, good luck R8.

They are going about craft and the different speed classes, plus the way each craft handles in a different way than wipeout.

What happens with FF is you will have 5 different basic chassis to play with, each has a core basic different weight, center of gravity , AG [floatyness] and steering agility
Each of these different chassis can be modified with a different SPEED CLASS ENGINE, then in turn, the craft will be able to be changed in a myriad of different ways from weight, AG amount, turning circle, nose up/down sensitivity etc, using the card system.....full list in this post.
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/sho...tons-available

All these thing are constantly changing with each build, so what videos you have seen previously, and the ones you see now, might not be a true representation of what the game ends up like..... a approximation would be a better description.
Besides, the tracks keep changing, the handling keeps changing, the upgrade ability keeps changing [which further changes handling] so it is unsurprising that as there is no constant, it's been hard to give a definitive 'Yay it's great' or 'Woe is sucks' by anybody, how could anybody under these circumstances ?

Formula Fusion is a RACING game first and foremost, the weapons are designed to be more of a hindrance than a outright craft killer.
You can see what R8 are aiming for by just looking at the available game modes.
- NEW - Game Modes for Race:
- Clean Race - Single/Multiplayer - no weapons - only engine mods - default class FF4000
- Elimination - last place on each lap gets eliminated
- Endurance - your Health/Shield drains constantly - longest distance covered wins
- Speed Lap - Singleplayer - best lap time in a race wins - you set no. of laps

Since the emphasis of the racing has been taken off weapons and barrel rolls, which are the things that have been at the core of the Wipeout games since PURE, you can't really compare the two games unless you play the wipeout games with BR's and weapons off.

I command you for your optimism, but it’s just a gut feeling: what I see really doesn’t make me want to play this game. It’s as simple as that.

And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying that. It’s late in development. I might give the final version a try, but from what I gather, I will not enjoy this. I hope some do.

I wouldn't say my feelings about FF are that optimistic, but neither are they that pessimistic either, it's going to be 'Different' that's all, nobody should expect FF to be a replacement Wipeout, and I don't think R8 want it to be, which is fair enough....but you got to think, well, is the game that they have built going to catch on?

I think it might, but not initially to Wipeout fans who started from PURE onwards, I think it might start with a whole new breed of AG racer first, and then eventually diehard Wipeout fans might find the temptation to start playing FF too great, and once they do, being the nature of Wipeout players that are even remotely serious about their racing, they are going to want to get good at it, which means put plenty of laps in practicing.

Soon enough most people at this forum will be playing it, it's sort of inevitable really, but I don't think the jump will come until the PS4 version is released, then there will be a huge wave of new FF pilots.

I'm a realist, if I had a month beta testing what would be very close to a final release, then I would call it how I saw it, but as a lot of things are still very much up to being changed this late into the build, at least it shows that R8 have no intention of releasing a dud game [I posted at the R8 forum around 2 or 3 months ago how I though some of the tracks were boring ] they have since spiced a few of them up ..... the saying 'be careful what you wish for' immediately came to mind when I raced on the new Mannahatta track, that had a boring turn removed at the end of the lap and a quite deceptively tricky chicane put in it's place.....here's how I described to R8 how I found this small change in track. :)

..........and as for the new chicanes at the end of the lap, well quite frankly I'm finding them a right royal PITA to get right, it's like somebody has suddenly change the driveway to my house and I keep plowing down the letter box and the lawn furniture....I'll suppose I'll get used to it, but after racing that track the other way for nearly 2 years, it's taking a while to re-learn.

The problem I have with FF is that in it's testing form, it's hard to get my head around what I have been testing, in relation to where it will eventually end up in needed skill level....sort of like starting 2097 at Venom speed, then jumping to Rapier, then up to Phantom and then back down to Vector, all the while the tracks and the handling have been changing as well as the other related stuff.
It's been sort of like making a movie, where they have shot the last scenes of the movie first, and other scenes totally out of order to how they will eventually be put together in the final edit, plus there have been script and scenes changed from the original along the way.

I suspect learning FF will initially be easier for the complete AG racing new comer compared to any Wipeout game, but equally I expect the skill level need to master it is going to be quite a bit steeper than any Wipeout game, as there are so many options with craft setup.....it's something no Wipeout player has ever faced before.

If they execute their "card system" well then the hope is that everyone should be able to make the craft handle how they want. However, even if you can get the craft to handle the way you want it to, there's no guarantee that it will be the best/quickest setup. What if the fastest card combo results in handling you dislike and/or the setup which feels the best to you results in a really slow ship?

This is why I can see why people who do not like the current handling would be worried even if you can technically tweak it. That being said, I personally am happy with the direction FF is going and the added depth that customization brings.

As for being race focused, I love this! I absolutely hated how hard it was to find a race in 2048 when it seems like everyone just wanted to play elimination mode. The only problem is that while pure racing appeals to people like myself and probably most people on wipeoutzone, I worry that it won't gain enough traction when the average consumer that just wants to blow things up. Hopefully R8 can still ship enough units.

The beauty of the card system is that it could be added to or altered by additional DLC of new cards by R8, that could change the specific parameter of what you want to change to something more to your liking.

I've only the briefest of messing about with the different card options, and as you mentioned, what craft changes I have made on some builds have felt great to drive, but are no way as fast as some lesser handling builds.

I mirror your concern about FF not appealing to those who just want to 'Blow Things Up', which is quite a large proportion of the gaming public in certain countries.

The current weapons and the way they operate, at least as they are at the moment, are not powerful enough, or spectacular enough when fired, to satisfy this sort of player either, and the time between firing a weapon, and then gathering enough energy to fire that weapon again takes too long.

Since R8 were more intent in building a AG racing game, it makes me wonder why they have bothered with the weapon aspect of the game, they say it is meant as more of a hindrance to craft if hit, than that of a out right craft killer.
Personally I can't see that satisfying anybody, in comparison to other games of this type, it just makes FF weapons look like a really wimpy attempt at combat, which is something I doubt they want to make people think.

If it is to stay, it needs to be beefed up considerably to cater for those who like to blow things up, or at least as a short term fix, add more weapon pick ups along the tracks so that the current weapons can be recharged quicker, and thus used more often.
Then at a late stage, and more powerful weapons via the card system via DLC.

Those that just want the pure racing experience can always opt to turn weapons off.