Batako - A Work-in-Progress

Batako; All New Trucks

Originally, with the modular, "Ship of Theseus" design of the Dazio T360 truck, I'd not expected a demand for additional trucks. This demand has been vocal enough that I've reconsidered and decided to expand the scope of the game, adding additional trucks for players to purchase.

Some caveats with this system first. Due to the detail and interactivity of the trucks, only one truck can be loaded into the game world at a time. Whilst I aim for players to be able to purchase a fleet of trucks, they'll only be able to have one available to drive at a time. A necessary concession, I'm afraid.

I'm largely a solo-developer with limited resources, I'm trying my best to create a rich experience that feels worth your time and money, but this requires compromises that I'm never happy with.

I really appreciate your support and suggestions here. If something you hoped for doesn’t end up making it into the game, t’s not due to lack of care, I likely just struggled to find the time or resources.

Lastly, and I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I want to kindly ask for understanding. 10 years on from Jalopy and I still get harsh messages and demands for a game that I neither have access to nor pays me enough to live off.

At some point, Honcho will become a game that will need to be considered complete. Even getting to that point is hard. MinskWorks continues to run on fumes. At some point, the way I make games will become unsustainable and I'll have to throw in the towel. Till then, I'm trying everything I can to keep going making games.

Thanks for sticking with me this far. It's continues to be a real privilege.

So what is a Batako?

The Batako is on the cheaper of the purchasable trucks. With no doors or even a windshield, it's as basic as you can get. It comes equipped with a 389cc GX390 1C OHV as standard, with a single gear. Handling is quite poor as they are usually equipped with tractor wheels. With a single driving gear, it can reach about 40km/h. Good enough to deliver some radishes...

The name comes from this cute story I came across on Twitter. For those who have disabled their accounts (fair play), here's the transcription:

"​Something my dad taught me when I was a kid that really stuck with me "Anpanman's Butterko-san doesn't come from butter, but from Batako, an old bread delivery van." "That's why she's called Batako-san, because she zooms around busily!" I would've totally misunderstood if he hadn't told me, right?"

Radio

I've begun working on adding radio to the game. I wanted to expand upon the system I had for Jalopy, which was pretty simple. The current radio is analogue controlled, allowing players to tune the frequency by hand. There's a placeholder city-pop station with adverts and a talk show station.

The following are some ideas I had whilst working out the functionality. I don't know if they will make it into the game.

• Stats for volume, reception, digital/analogue, bass boost, energy consumption

• Sonar signals throughout the routes which help triangulate barn finds or loot or something

• World tendency that adds more or less adverts to stations depending on the economic status of the region

Home Run Bat

I wanted a way to test damage in-game and got carried away. So there's now a bat the player can pick up and smash their truck with. I need to think of an excuse to keep this in-game as it feels fun to use but is kind of pointless for players.

That's all, many thanks for the continued support. I hope you can see I'm pushing ahead with content as best I can.

Best,
Greg