Added some new j-rock songs by the very talented indrop! I think it fits my vision perfectly. Also still looking for a few more music tracks in this style. Feel free to reach out if you're a j-rock artist~

Still fussing with the menus and styling, icons etc. Working on making it look a little nicer, but also featuring new main menu music from a jrock-style artist called indrop! (Also added some more announcer voices too~)

Been working on the car select a bit - thought it'd be fun to show how it's changed. Latest change puts the buttons back in the bottom for a cleaner look, the icons change depending on input type, and I had to change the background text to play nice with Unreal's anti-aliasing.

Happy new year everyone!!! (Still morning of Dec 31st for me, but nobody ever said I wasn't living in the past 😎)

Posted a game update blog on Steam for anyone looking to do some light reading! Pic showing the tree and lighting improvements I talk about there. My goal is for people to stop telling me it looks like Roblox 🥲 store.steampowered.com/news/app/311...

Added headshots / indicators above race opponents so you know who you're racing against during races! Does it look cool or is it too much? If the opponents get too far away, the indicators fade out so you won't see a ton of floating heads.

Now that there are manual transmissions in the game with better revving, I also added a dynamic redline to the tach based off of each car's engine calculations.

Unreal Engine's vehicle system doesn't make sense but ok (bad mic quality).

Been working on audio! There are vocals when you hit a checkpoint + randomized variations, during the countdown, and if you win / lose / quit a race. Also a different soundtrack that plays during races! PLUS audio options so you can change the volume of music, sfx, announcer, and tire squeals.

The newest car in KG~

If you know this reference, you're a real one.

A few updates to the race assets - New start/finish line (with a bobbing up and down animation), checkpoint markers move back and fourth (inspired by Midnight Club), and updated the colors of everything to be more cohesive. Still want to update UI stuff, audio and other things.

Having a cozy drive around today! Tiny car on a tiny road.

I think I'm mostly done with the trees now. Kaido Genkai looks a lot more lush, and I fixed some performance issues that resulted from using Material Billboards (rotating all the sprites at a material level instead now - way less expensive).

The updated trees really improve the look of the game! Still WIP. Thanks for the suggestions, ya'll!

Working on updating the foliage. c: Still lots to do.

Which tree do you like more? Left (3D) or Right (sprite based)?

Items now spin and bob up and down (and sparkle a little bit). Thanks for the feedback!

This left me howling

Adding collectables & items to the game! Testing a peach first as a nod to Road Trip Adventure (my beloved). I want items to be flat/icons to fit the PS2 style, but.. should I also make them spin? Not sure if its fine or if I'm overthinking.

Play an early build of Kaido Genkai at Comic Frontier in Indonesia this weekend! //// I am working my absolute butt off trying to get the build ready - sorry for anyone waiting on messages from me!

Racing kei cars is kinda ridiculous and I hope you're here for it like I am. (Also don't worry, there are plenty of bigger cars in the game too..)

Come play Kaido Genkai!! We’ll be at the Mashin Asia booth at Comic Frontier at Indonesia Convention Exhibition (ICE) BSD City, Nov 15 and 16! 🙂‍↕️

Bring back popups!

This is still my favourite area in game. You won't get to drive here till later, though.

A big part of the game is driving up to other cars and talking. Kinda like.. an RPG.

I like racing in slow cars

I added a randomized delay to the lights, so at night they don't all turn on at the exact same moment. It was super jarring before and this way looks much better! Was really simple to add, don't know why I didn't think of it before.

Reposting some goodness from Twitter, as the artist evgeniy doesn't seem to have bsky presence, but his Driver-like cars modelled for a game he's working on are simply too good to ignore:

Delivering tofu would be a little on the nose, so... Dango deliveries?

Super super super productive day working on the opponent vehicle logic and some other significant game fixes. The cars pathfind a LOT better now, timers are more consistent, and a few other odds and ends c:

I think I'm mostly done with the objectives menu! It populates from the game's completion structure, so I don't have to update it manually, which is awesome.

Been months since I worked on the objectives screen, but I did some updates on it today! Still rough around the edges, but this is the new concept.

Did a little banner trade with our friends @mach1game.bsky.social! You'll find KG's advertising in their game, and vice versa. Pretty neat futuristic cel-shaded racer they have going on. Here's pics of both~

Holy moly @holeecrab.bsky.social really cooked with this character artwork.

This is going to look really good in game~ More great work by @hacaosuka.bsky.social

Been working away all day on behind the scenes stuff. c: Edging closer and closer to actually starting to build out the demo.

Big steps today setting up the game progression structure behind the scenes! Saving progress, unlocks, races completed, dialogues triggered, world events, etc. Still need to refine, but I'm happy. This felt daunting and now its a weight off my shoulders.

Finally got around to making the day/night cycle persistent across play sessions. That feels like a milestone even though it wasn't a huge task. I'd been putting off stuff regarding saving & save files since it's still new to me, but got some big chunks figured out lately.

Just two lil hatchbacks having a good time~

Entry denied. You can't just go into the caves right out of the gate...

Work on the next car has commenced by @hacaosuka.bsky.social! Here is a completely unguessable screenshot for you. 😂

Still working on character designs with @holeecrab.bsky.social, so for now, the cops are just.. some guy.

Chibi Mariko! @holeecrab.bsky.social

Worked on camera logic today! Improved field of view and camera position transitions depending on speed. Subtle! There's also camera shake and anime speed lines (both are more obvious in game than in this video). I can also change the threshold speed these effects appear at, depending on the car.

Having some fun adding new races today c:

Made some good internal progress this weekend. Every time I fix a bug, I feel a lot happier. I really don't want to release a game that's super janky. ...Just a touch of jank can be kinda fun though.

I feel like we're in the era of racing games set in Japan. Gear Club 3 was announced to be in Japan, Forza Horizon 6 (not confirmed but I've got my money on it for real), and of course JDM, the TXR reboot, and like 5 indie racers including KG. Where has this energy been? 😂

Gunna be wandering around #PAXWest2025 in Seattle giving out stickers! I'll have 2 new designs and also last year's as well. c:

Now do a kickflip