Video Dev Log
The long-delayed video dev log is finally here. If you’re tired of reading my walls of text, you can now listen to me talk the walls of text. I will be covering what I have been doing this month, which is primarily C43 tR1#!s, and where things are heading next. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and I’m excited to experiment with this format going forward.
Introducing Car Trials
After teasing it for the past few months, I can finally announce the next project I will be working: Car Trials!!
Car Trials is a fast, arcade-style driving game where players take on the role of a test driver for L Corp, a company developing experimental vehicles. Your job is simple: push these cars to their absolute limits by completing tricky test scenarios, mastering precise controls, and proving each vehicle is ready for real-world deployment.
At first glance Car Trials might sound similar to no brake no gain, and that is fair, but the design goals are actually quite different. Whereas no brake no gain leaned toward an arcade-sim feel, Car Trials is unapologetically arcade. This gives me far more creative freedom to design wil tests, exaggerated obstacles, and scenarios that would make no senes in the no brake no gain universe.
Another major difference is platform focus. Car Trials will be a mobile-first game. This means that:
- Tests are designed for short play sessions.
- Controls still have a “pick-up and play” feel, so they are enjoyable to play for beginners.
- Cars are easier to handle but still rewarding to master.
The goal is to capture the satisfaction and challenge of no brake no gain while making something that feels just as good, if not better, on mobile. Expect some exciting GIFs and gameplay clips very soon.
GUI
Third time’s the charm. Yes, the GUI has been reworked again and this time, it finally feels right.
The new GUI isn’t just better-looking, but it also feels good to use. Animations are snappy, navigation is clear, and every button press feels deliberate. UI/UX is one of those areas players notice instantly, even if subconsciously, and I’m confident this version makes the right first impression.
With the GUI now in a strong place, I can finally stop rebuilding menus and focus fully on content creation.
Cars & Physics
With the GUI locked in, I shifted focus to the cars themselves. Unlike no brake no gain, the vehicle physics in Car Trials were built entirely from scratch. The base handling felt solid early on, but there were a few lingering issues that I had been ignoring.
One major issue was that cars never reached their intended top speed. After digging into the physics, I realized the issue came from relying too heavily on Unity’s Rigidbody drag. The default drag was silently fighting acceleration, stopping cars from reaching their intended maximum speeds. The fix for this was simple in the end:
- Disable Rigidbody-driven drag behavior.
- Implement my own drag calculations.
- Scale resistance manually based on velocity.
Once the code was updated, acceleration curves and top speeds finally behaved as intended.
Right now, two cars are fully playable:
- A tutorial (prototype) car, designed to be forgiving but fast.
- The first test car (hatchback), which handles very differently and is great for places that require precision control.
Despite their differences, both feel responsive and fun, which is exactly what I’m aiming for.
Looking Ahead
One reason Car Trials took longer to announce than expected is because I made a big behind-the-scenes decision: I rebuilt the codebase from scratch.
All my previous game projects were built on top of one another, which meant a growing pile of legacy code. For Car Trials, I started with a clean project, rethinking architecture, system boundaries, and tooling. The result is a codebase that’s cleaner, more modular, and, hopefully, strong enough to support the next 3-5 games without becoming a maintenance nightmare.
Summary
This was an exciting and productive month. I hit most of my goals:
- Released the first video dev log.
- Officially announced Car Trials.
- Completed the GUI (for the third time).
- Finalized core car physics and handling.
The only thing I didn’t get to was building more test scenarios, so I will be focusing on that goal for the next month.
Looking ahead for next month (and next year), my focus will be on creating enough content to support an early access release. I am still flexible with the exact timing, but my current goal is to launch early access sometime in the first few months of 2026.
Let me know what you think of the video dev log, whether you enjoyed it, what could be improved, and if you’d like to see more of that format. Feedback now will shape how I approach future videos.
Until next time, happy gaming!