Suggestions for development - my whole 2 cents

[Mighty Imp]

Great frame here:

I think you've nailed the perfect balance on the damage model. The first game allowed for some cartoony deformation but I've noticed much more convincing deformation here so awesome work. The cars that are here look good and feel good, they feel like they have weight to them which is a credit to the handling programming. For some reason I really like the crappy Cavalier looking coupe. It's fun to throw around the track and it's a great model. So really interested in seeing what other cars you end up bringing into the game. The sounds are really good, the engines sound aggressive and the hits sound right, metal on concrete sfx are really good. Finally the tracks that are here and the graphics in general all look great and don't really need any improvement other than optimization if possible.

Suggestions:

1. Campaign mode:
You have to go back and play a few hours of Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. Myself and many other wrecking racing fans consider this to be the pinnacle of the genre. There's really fun immersive features in here we've yet to see any other game since. The way they did the campaign was awesome. You started out at your home base- a trailer home and a garage. A relative heard you were interested in getting into racing and so they gave you their crappy old beater they had sitting around to get you started. You hopped in and took it for a spin on the highway. This was an open environment you'd explore by driving from one place to another. It wasn't a very big area. We're not talking GTA scale here by a long shot. However, it was a very fun interactive way to go about fleet management and all that involves; maintenance, customizing, buying, selling and of course racing.
You could take your car down to the mechanic to hop it up, over to the body shop for mods, builds, repairs and custom paintwork, over to the local diner for races to earn money and rep and finally over to the junkyard to buy new wrecks to race or to sell your old ones. I strongly encourage the team to look at implementing something like this to really give the game an edge on every other wrecking racing game other than the GOAT.

2. Be Invested in the ownership of your cars.
The starting car of the campaign is crap because of course it is. However, it gets you through your first low level races and you start to collect some cash and gain a little rep. Your car gets beat up every race, and after every race you have the option to take it down to the body shop to have any damage it received repaired if you've got the money and want to spend it. If you do repair the car it will have it's max "health" however you'll find that the max health has now been lowered by a margin depending on just how damaged the car was. You'll also notice that at max health the car appears to be a little rougher around the edges, The dents may have been pounded out but you can still tell they were there. Over time the loss in max health becomes too much both practically and cosmetically. At this point it won't be worth running in a race anymore because with such low max health it will break down after just a couple hits. So what do you do? Take that clunker and the cash you've won running races down to the junkyard. You sell your heap for what you can and you purchase a new jalopy from the junkyard's pickings (With rotating inventory). Depending on how careful you race you may end up keeping several cars at a time, picking them out for different events depending on the car's capabilities. This all adds up to a sense of ownership and makes you sort of "care" about your car. Especially after hopping them up, painting them up and trying to make them last by not driving totally crazy and rationing their use between different races.

3. Types of cars.
More of the types of cars you'll really find in a real demo derby at a county fair in America, the UK, etc. That means more boring, common cars with a variety of FWD and RWD vehicles. Pretty much anything made by the Detroit Big 3 from the 70's to the 90's that a teenager would complain about driving. Lesabres, Bonnevilles, Newports, LTDs, S10s, Chevettes, station wagons, that sort of thing. Don't need to limit it to the US though, I'm sure people would like having the European and Asian market equivalents included also. In any case the number of models and the availability of these more common cars should by a decent margin outnumber the Cudas, Challengers, Mustangs, Camaros and other sporty models in the game. After all only a total nutter would run a 70 Cuda through a demo derby. These cars even rotted to the point where the only thing of value left on them is the VIN plate still go for $5-10K. Sporty models should feel special to acquire, a bit more rare, a bit more expensive. Not saying don't put any fun cars in the game that would be silly maybe just some kind of balance to make them feel more special or premium I guess.

4. Junkyard track.
Looks great but just a couple tweaks. Some turns are pretty hard to spot so maybe some more track markings. Not a big deal but something pretty easy to correct if you think it needs it. Also there's a cross section in the track with a jump. I just didn't like how the cars would collide here. There's something off with elevation difference. Maybe a regular figure 8 or a figure 8 jump intersection instead? Maybe it's just me on that one.

That's pretty much it. Main thing, you really gotta go back and play Test Drive: Eve of Destruction. I think you'll find a wealth of inspiration in it. Great work, you've got the start of something here that can really end up being THE definitive wrecking racing game and have the honor of being the game that displaced the long-reigning king. Good luck and looking forward to future development.

[BeamZappa]

Man, yeah! It feels like the whole Bugbear team are completely unified in their vision.
I am really impressed by the damage!

I feel the same about the last part of your final statement.
I think we're about to see the fall of a great and ancient empire.

[cloudburst]

yes this more i liked the career of eve of destruction with permanent damage on the cars. only getting it half fixed between races. and plan wich car to use and have reason to keep buying cars.

and i would like to see trailer races. tearing up caravans on the track.
and chain racing with 2 cars. make it co-op with front car gas and the second car brake and let the mayhem begin