80s Overdrive: status update, development nearing completion, no Switch version for now
80s Overdrive is a neat retro racing game for the Nintendo 3DS, announced quite a while ago. It was supposed to launch in Fall 2016, then Q1/Q2 2017, but as you’ve probably noticed already (if you haven’t simply forgotten about the game), it’s not available yet. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like it will be in the near future, though development seems to be progressing well.
In a status progress post shared yesterday, the developers explain that this year has been very productive for them, and that staying offline has actually been pretty beneficial (it does help focusing on your work, doesn’t it?). The thing is, they’re a pretty small team, and game development isn’t their day job.
In other words, they don’t have that much time to work on the game, as they need to find the right balance with their “normal” lives, day jobs, and everything else. Besides, the team really wants to release a good game, not a turd.
Unfortunately, they can’t share an exact release date yet, but they do have a few stats for us:
- Car art/animation – 100% done
- Races environment art – 100% done
- Menu art/design – 100% done
- Career Mode code – 100% done
- Time Attack code – 100% done
- Level Editor code – 99% done
- Music and sound fx – 99% done
- Gameplay balance – 70% done
- Marketing assets (necessary for release) – 50% done
- 3DS E-manual – 50% done
- Required game ratings – 0% done
As you can see for yourself, the biggest bulk of the game is now complete, but there’s still a significant amount of work left. Right now, the game runs at 60fps ‘most of the time”, even on the original Nintendo 3DS models (and the Nintendo 2DS). It doesn’t crash anymore, and most of the bug have been fixed, though of course, they’re not done with testing.
Finally, here’s some new screenshots for the game:
A quick note about a possible Nintendo Switch version: the developers are not approved Nintendo Switch developers (yet), and do not have a devkit yet, so even if they did decide to port the game, it doesn’t look like it would happen before the game is out on Nintendo 3DS.
80s Overdrive (3DS – eShop) does not have a release date yet.
Source: official website
