A frantic racing game where you use sliding puzzles to program the movements of your remote controlled toy cars!
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Development Update: The post-SPIEL
over 2 years ago
– Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 02:28:56 PM
Hello Racers!
Let us thank all our fans who came to visit our booth at SPIEL in Essen last month! Being able to meet in person and play, discuss and buy games like crazy is still a thing we don’t take for granted after the latest worldwide events... There were a lot of smiles behind our masks, and also we had some amazing feedback from the crowd who managed to play Tiny Turbo Cars in person! The game was not on sale at the fair, but a retail copy was available for demos during the entire weekend, and seeing it being played never got old!
Ready for the race?
The crowd is gathering!
And here we are!
Production Update
And now let’s move to the latest production update! After what it felt like forever, we finally managed to green-light the production for the expansions and finalize (pretty much) all the last details! Believe us, we are impatient as you are to have the final product on our tables, and this was really a big step forward. The factory was instrumental in helping us approve all the samples and retool/recalibrate what was needed.
Initially we hoped that we’d be able to print out all the Kickstarter goodies and ship them alongside the Core Game (which is already done and ready) during the month of November, but that was sadly not meant to be. Unfortunately, as you might have read, these are not easy times for China. The country is experiencing an unprecedented energetic crisis, due to the consequences of previous pandemic-related lockdowns and various other factors, and some areas only get power for as few as three days per week. The government is working to resolve the issue, but the industrial areas are still badly affected by these mandatory blackouts, and this of course created big problems for our factory, too (without power, you simply can’t produce games).
In their latest report, the factory said that they should have all the items printed out by mid-December, and if things don’t go south with the ongoing logistic congestion and chronic lack of available containers (another lingering byproduct of the pandemic), we should be able to ship your rewards before the end of this year... fingers crossed. When that finally happens, the ships will then bring the stock to the hubs, and roughly 6 to 8 weeks later we’ll finally be able to start fulfilment! You can expect to start your own tiny turbo races early next year (and to see pictures of the final expansion boxes and contents in a few weeks).
We know this kind of news isn't the happiest, but believe us, we are trying to do the best we can in this situation. We’re really living through unprecedented times, and thankfully we can rely on the amazing support from the factory staff that has proven fundamental so far, production wise. Alongside other fundamental support of course… which comes from our amazing Backers! We believe we are still working together to deliver the best possible version of our game and we’ll never thank you enough for believing in our project.
An early peek at the "final" version of the game!
over 2 years ago
– Tue, Oct 05, 2021 at 04:14:52 AM
Hello Racers!
...Sweaty palms... Rapid eye movements… Angry typing... And then… Doorbell rings! PANIC! RUN! Is it lunch delivery? Is it the electricity bill again? No! We couldn’t believe our eyes, it finally was the latest Tiny Turbo Cars sample copy, straight out of the factory, with almost all of the bells and whistles (or car horns in this case) you’ll find in the core game (more on that later)!
Let’s have a look!
Racers, start your... Remotes?
All those sweet tiles!
The track is ready!
Super speed!
Better watch out for those pesky cookies!
Dogtor prototype Racecar tile.
"No, i meant to go right!"
Rawr!
Most of the components you see in these pictures are the definitive core game version, the one we finally green lit for the mass production. The only exception is the Racecar tiles: you can only see a prototype we made ourselves, but those have been separately approved too, and the production of the core game is ready to proceed at full steam now.
Things are going well for the expansion and extra contents that you unlocked as stretch goals during the campaign, too, albeit just a little bit slower. For these we can only show you some “white sample” pictures at this time, but their production status is just slightly behind that of the core game. Take a look!
Space Team expansion!
Adventure Crew expansion!
Fantasy Squad expansion!
The most boring tokens in the world... For now!
Dogtor ready to race! Awww!
We also hope to have pictures of the deluxe edition for you soon enough.
The main printrun for the core box is going to end soon, and our distribution partners are currently working on the pickup process. This will eventually bring the games to stores all over the world, although the shipping situation from China is still a bit messy and the timeframe is still uncertain. When production is over, our share of the core game stock will be held at the factory while all the rest of the sweet extra goodies included in the campaign are also being finalized and printed so that we can consolidate everything and ship you all your rewards (core games and Kickstarter extras) all at the same time.
With the expansions currently undergoing production, and the previously mentioned situation with international shipments and China (container shortages, port lockdowns, skyrocketing pricing, you name it) it’s hard to have a clear view on the Kickstarter fulfilment time frame. We are currently working with the factory to optimize the pickup process, but nevertheless it’s going to be really challenging. But challenge is our middle name! Right between Horrible and Guild (it’s very tiny), so don’t be afraid and stay tuned, we’ll update you as soon as we have more information.
Until next time!
Sincerely,
the Horrible team
Development Update and retail version
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Aug 07, 2021 at 04:39:39 PM
Hello Racers!
We’re still going steady but surely along the way. While the production for both the Kickstarter edition and the Deluxe edition of the game is ongoing, the factory is also working on the regular, retail version of the game. Being optioned for a retail version is generally speaking always a good thing for a game, since it can get localised in many countries and end up to a wider audience in the end. This is not always the case though, so believe us, we’re very happy with the success of Tiny Turbo Cars!
We’ve been informed, though, that the retail version of Tiny Turbo Cars could end up being available at retail slightly before we finish the Kickstarter fulfilment process (remember that this version will be missing all the special Kickstarter items and expansions that you will be getting before anyone else).
Unfortunately, the retail market has its own rules and shipping lanes, and even in a normal situation we would only be able to follow along. Add to that the ongoing worldwide situation with the pandemic, which made everything about production, logistics, cash flow, and overall game-making much more complicated than usual, and you’ll see how we found ourselves between a rock and a hard place. In the current unstable economic climate, holding the retail release of the game for too long could be a huge damage to us and our international partners, and it’s a risk that we cannot afford to take.
It’s not with a light heart that we announce this possible early release, but we really have no other options available. Rest assured that we’ll push to get your games out as soon as possible, as we always value our amazing backers a lot!
Continuing with the update, let’s have a look at the third, recently formed Tiny Turbo Cars expansion: the Fantasy Squad! This new team has some familiar faces running and some interesting abilities to match the rest of the contestants. Let’s see how it looks, with art and graphics now much closer to their final state:
Please notice: all texts are work in progress and still need to be checked by our native-speaking proofreader.
This familiar looking Dungeon Fighter is out for bounties! Specifically, Goblin bounties/tokens, scattered all over the racetrack. If you manage to get them, our Fighter will get some interesting bonus!
Racing with a proper flying carpet would be against the racing rules of Tiny Turbo Cars, hence the four wheel drive setup. Flying Wish lets you place and use an actual ramp to jump during the race and feel like you’re flying though… And racing regulations were pretty vague on that.
Did you ever race with a catapult? If you forget about the bad aerodynamics, the complete lack of brakes, steering wheel or decent seats, and you start considering the amount of damage it could do by shooting at your opponents… You’ll start to appreciate the Bomblin a lot!
And we couldn’t show some nice racers without showing their rides too:
Included in the Fantasy Squad team you’ll also find some special junction pieces: double-sided tiles with their own special rules. You can add these tiles between two main Track boards to spice up the races even more! Let’s have a peek:
See those little, innocent looking red buttons? If any racecar steps on them, all the Archers will fire arrows in all orthogonal directions… Damaging everyone but the racecar that activated them. Ouch!
Treefolks are very angry, tall and really, really solid toys. You can try avoiding them by going very fast, but pretty much anything else, jumps included, will get you a good dose of tree violence!
And that's it for this update, enjoy your summer and stay safe!
Sincerely,
the Horrible team
Development Update… Feeling adventurous?
almost 3 years ago
– Wed, Jun 23, 2021 at 02:32:16 AM
Hello Racers!
The production process proceeds punctually (try saying that three times in a row!), the factory is working steadily and we’re ironing out the last details here and there. Believe us when we say that during this phase, no news really is good news!
We don’t like long radio silences on our projects just like you, though, so we prepared an interesting sneak peek at the Adventure Crew expansion for you (with art and graphics now much closer to their final state)! Cue badass logo:
Let’s have a look at the characters included in this expansion, and the graphics of the corresponding Racecar tiles (note: all texts are work in progress and still need to be checked by our native-speaking proofreader):
Sprintarr might look like a jolly good pirate, but watch out for his explosive surprises! Better watch out if he’s sailing near you...
The racing philosophy of the Jungle Buggy is simple: EVERYTHING is a ramp if you’re brave enough! Also, check that eco-friendly wrapping… lush!
Be quick, strike fast! If you manage to be first or second in turn order after the programming phase, you’ll get an edge over any opponent foolish enough to challenge the swiftness of a real ninja… on a trike!
You can check out their sweet rides in these 3d mock-ups:
Also, included in each expansion pack you’ll find two special “Junction” pieces: double-sided tiles with their own special rules. You can add these tiles between two main Track boards to spice up the races even more! Let’s have a look at some of the Adventure Team junctions:
The first Junction introduces us to the joy of quicksand, a staple of 80’s adventure movies! When a Racecar enters a Quicksand space, it must immediately stop its current movement command on that space and also ignore the next command. Yuck, sticky!
On this other Junction, instead, we see Traps! We’re now racing in dangerous territories… Well, relatively dangerous! When a Racecar leaves a space with the Trap icon, it arms it with the special trap token:
If any Racecar later enters a space containing the Trap token, it suffers 2 damage. Ouch!
Hope you like these new additions as much as we do! That's it for this update, thanks everyone for your support and stay safe!
Sincerely,
the Horrible team
Survey ULTIMATUM, production update and... What's that sound?
almost 3 years ago
– Sat, May 22, 2021 at 03:48:14 AM
Hello Racers!
Time for another update on the development of Tiny Turbo Cars! This one will be split in two parts.
THE BORING BUT VERY IMPORTANT PART
As you know we locked down orders on Backerkit on May 1, but a few of you still didn’t complete their Pledge Manager survey, or still have errored out credit cards. We’ve been sending out reminders every day, but with the actual production time closing in, if you don’t reply to the survey by MAY 24 your Pledge items will not be included with the Kickstarter production run. If you’ll reach out to us after this date, we’ll put you on a “waiting list” to see if we’ll have enough stock left after the main fulfilment ends, or offer you a refund of your original pledge minus the 10% Kickstarter fees.
If you didn’t receive the Pledge Manager invitation or have any other issues, reach out to us at [email protected], we’ll see what we can do.
If you need to update your shipping address or check your order, instead, you can still do it from your Pledge Manager invitation link. Your shipping addresses will only be locked down when we’re close to fulfillment, and you’ll receive a notification a few days in advance.
THE FUN PART!
Well, the boring part of the update is finally over… let’s get to the juicy stuff! Work has been going slowly but steadily, behind the scenes… Which is really weird, for a fast paced racing game like Tiny Turbo Cars, isn’t it? We received the first pre-production samples of the wooden car-meeples, check them out in this rough picture from the factory:
They look very good even in this rough state, but wait to see them in their final colors, and with the silk-printed details too! You can take a peek at more close-to-final samples in this video where the plastic insert for the “Standard” version of the game is being tested, as well as pre-production prototypes of the controllers:
While the standard box is designed to hold the original 4 controllers and the core game cars, the Kickstarter Exclusive Collector Edition will have special trays and hold everything inside. We’ll hopefully have pictures to share for this exclusive box soon!
Apart from “hardware testing”, we’re working really hard to finalise the graphics and check every small detail in the game. We recently found ourselves tripping into space and meeting some interesting characters from the aptly named Space Team Expansion, check them out:
We had to sneak in some tentacles somehow… Blargop (it is pronounced "Blargop") will bounce around and it’s assured it’ll cause chaos on the track literally left and right!
Six wheels, zero gravity, all fun! The Speed Rover is ready to do some tricks, but as for any space mission you better plan them in advance!
We said space but we also meant… Cyberspace! Robotron will run and fight for the Users, better double check those extra commands though…
Also, an honourable mention for our graphic artist Fabio, who created matching logos and styles for every car in the game drawn by Eduard. We wonder how many easter eggs he managed to sneak in…
WHAT’S THAT SOUND (BOX)?
A new Horrible Guild adventure started this week... our newest creation: Sound Box!
Sound Box is a cooperative party game that involves deduction, cool sunglasses and a lot of weird noises! The campaign is currently live on Kickstarter:
