Patch 0.6
Published changes and fixes for Spar Kart version 0.6.
Main Features
- New physics engine! Spar Kart now runs on Jolt Physics instead of PhysX. Our physics are now fully deterministic, which means every player's game simulates the exact same thing. This is the foundation for fairer, smoother online play.
- Huge networking overhaul. Driving, combat, items and portals are now predicted and rolled back much more accurately. Other players' steering looks smoother, corrections are less frequent, camera shake and effects no longer jitter on rollbacks, and lag in bigger online lobbies has been cut a lot. Players under 50 ms ping also see opponents with less delay.
- Brand new menus! Every menu and HUD has been rebuilt from the ground up with Unity's UI Toolkit. This brings support for any resolution (including ultrawide), proper split-screen menus, a universal in-game menu, a new Career menu, and a new results screen with a podium and a full table view.
- New test character: Zefph! Our bike rider joins as a test character with a full moveset and a blue flame aura straight from his key art.
- New test character: SKAI! SKAI flies in as a test character with a full moveset and a recolorable default skin.
- New test character: DeRoss! DeRoss joins as a test character on his skateboard. Test characters are still in development and may change a lot. While they're in testing, every skin and stance is unlocked for them, and they earn account XP but no character XP or character level rewards.
- Stances! Characters now have stances that unlock as you level that character up.
- New Tutorial mode. Learn the game step by step on the brand new Tutorial Grounds map.
- Bots! Lobby leaders can now add bots to custom lobbies and pick their character, difficulty and team. Bots race, fight, use their specials and play the objective of each game mode.
- Matchmaking. New matchmaking queue cards show what's open, the queue's art, and your server region.
- Weekly rankings. Two weekly leaderboards offer a temporary way to compete and earn MosoBux for free.
- Previous leaderboards. View past leaderboards in the Community menu.
- Online servers in your region. Matches now start on a game server in your region instead of always using US East, and the scoreboard shows the server's region and your real ping.
- Friends! Add friends, see who's online, add players straight from the lobby, and view your friends' Career stats. New "Block Joins" lobby rule.
- Career stats. The Career menu now shows real lifetime stats: wins, losses, KOs, damage dealt, damage taken and time played, per account and per character.
- MosoPlay Accounts. Spar Kart now signs in with your MosoPlay account, with optional authenticator two-factor. You stay signed in automatically and can sign out from the main menu.
- Now on Mac and Linux! The Steam playtest now runs on Windows, macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux.
- New cosmetics — KO Effects: Lightning Burst, Frost Shatter, Void Rift and Confetti Pop. Your pick plays when you KO someone.
- New cosmetics — Finishes: Standard, Toon, Glass, Metal, Pearl and Carbon change the look of your character's material.
- New cosmetics — Animated colour schemes: Hologram, Nebula Drift, RGB, Prism Flow and Molten Core.
- New cosmetics — New colour schemes: Retro Sunset, Deep Ocean, Cotton Candy and Midnight Chrome.
- Body Shop and Locker. Inventory is now called the Locker. Items show rarity badges and can be sorted. You can buy MosoBux from our website.
- New maps: Sumo Circle, plus the Tutorial Grounds for the new Tutorial mode. Small Stadium has been completely rebuilt.
- Map pools. Lobbies can now pick from ALL maps or a RECOMMENDED pool for the selected game mode.
- Language support. Spar Kart is available in English, French (Canada), German, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.
- Graphics updates. See-through "liquid glass" walls when something blocks your camera, new graphics presets, Render Scale with FSR upscaling, Auto Render Scale (on by default on Steam Deck), a Graphics API choice on Windows (Auto, Vulkan, DirectX 12), true Windowed Borderless, new skyboxes, and better character and kart lighting.
- Fewer stutters. Shaders and effects now warm up while loading, so the first hit, item or special in a match no longer hitches.
- New Spar Kart font across the game.
Experimental
- Fluxball (test mode): a team sport mode with a ball, goals and a scoreboard on the new Copperbank Court map. Comes with team lobbies, team colours and team results.
- Battle Royale (test mode): a new mode on its own map, Crownfall Basin.
Combat Balance
- Kirae: new versions of her Neutral Light and Side Light, with new sound effects.
- Kirae's Side Light follow-up hits now use spheres, so every hitbox is shown correctly.
- Kirae's Neutral Special note now bounces off kill zones and grazing wall hits, and its trail turns with it.
- Kirae's Side Special portal is now a black hole that pulls nearby players in, with a warning flicker before it collapses.
- Portals: walls now block reach, no pull while you're being hit, harder exit knockback, and exit hits only count once. Dodge to avoid being pulled in.
- Drive release frames and dodge startup are 1 tick longer.
- Hitting a wall now stops driving or reversing instantly.
- Quick turn now only works while steering (Drive + Reverse needs Left or Right held).
- Automatic gravity changes while driving, plus improved wall jump height and air steering.
- Player-to-player collisions are now off by default (available as a lobby toggle).
Gamemode Balance
- Stock can now be played on every map type. Stock's recommended maps are battle maps only.
- Kill zone deaths now hold like executions: same camera hold and respawn delay, with the KO effect.
- Match XP is now based on your active play time.
- Training: Bot Difficulty option, new bot behaviours (Stand Still, Spam Dodge, Spam Jump) and an Infinite Cooldowns toggle.
Adjustments
- Casual is now the default camera preset.
- Your Ready status is kept when players join or lobby rules change.
- Leaving a match in progress no longer stops you from making a new lobby.
- The Body Shop locks while offline and tells you why.
- Kirae Toon is now a Finish instead of a separate skin.
- Kirae has new idle animations (Headbang, Stretch and Vibe).
- The match holds on FINISH for at least 5 seconds before ending.
- Your profile card now shows your username instead of your account ID.
- New menu frame-rate settings (Uncap Menu FPS and Menu Target FPS).
- Ultrawide: the HUD now scales properly on 21:9 and 32:9.
- The game plays offline when online services are down instead of getting stuck.
- Updated dodge and trick effects. Star Twinkle is the dodge effect and Starburst is the trick effect. These effects cannot be changed.
Bug Fixes
- Fixed opponents' Side Light VFX first hitbox sometimes being invisible (0.5 known bug).
- Fixed Kirae's front wheels turning in different directions (0.5 known bug).
- Fixed looping sound effects playing forever (0.5 known bug).
- Fixed Kirae's specials not hitting in Steam builds.
- Fixed reconnecting for a second match.
- Fixed sounds playing twice.
- Fixed a controller trigger staying held after letting go (reverse getting stuck).
- Fixed hit-stun tint sticking on characters.
- Fixed empty podiums and the Ready toggle in online lobbies.
- Fixed the game sometimes freezing on quit (the game now closes itself if shutdown stalls).