Happy Holidays everyone! It's that special time of year, when we exchange greetings and gifts with our friends and families, celebrate the new year, and enjoy the snow falling softly on the beach.
Welp, that's how it works at the Beach Buggy Racing resort at least. You probably noticed the festive decorations and winter weather in our newest update. What you might not notice right away are the return of holiday presents hidden throughout the race tracks: every time you race, keep an eye open for these brightly wrapped gifts, and pick them up for some free coins.
But that's not all, this is a big update with a lot of exciting changes, so let's get right into it.
Goodbye, Paint—Hello, Body Shop!
We've introduced a whole new way to customize your car: the Body Shop.
In the Body Shop, you can customize your paint and decals as before, but there's more: we've added the ability to change your wheels, and you can also purchase items (for gems) that you don't already own.
Wheels introduce an exciting new way to personalize your ride; you'll be amazed how much pizzas or racing slicks can give your car that extra zing. Swap out front or rear wheels independently, and choose from a selection of colorizable wheels for a truly unique look.
If you have a paint or a wheel in stock, you can just apply it to any car you want. If you don't own a particular customization item, there are 3 ways you can get them:
Beat the Daily Challenge on the Events screen — spin the prize wheel to win paints, decals, car wheels and more.
Buy them on sale in the Store — each day, new customization items are offered at discounted prices.
Purchase them in the Body Shop — if you want to use an item that you don't already own, you can just purchase it for gems right in the Body Shop.
Accent colors are now always free! Accent Colors used to be called Decal Colors, but they do much more than just color your decal. They also change the color of neon stripes, underlighting, and colorized wheels. With the new update, changing your accent color is free of charge, every time.
So get in there and customize your ride unforgettably yours. And please send images of your creations to info@vectorunit.com or tweet us @vectorunit. We love to see what you come up with!
New Powerup slot behavior
You may have noticed we've modified the way some Powerups behave when you activate them in the game. Long-lasting Powerups like Shield, Boost Juice or Barrage now stay in the slot and show a countdown timer until they’re used up.
This is a behavior from the console version of BBR2, and after months of testing it on mobile we decided the time was right to make it live. We believe it improves the game in important ways — but if you're familiar with the old behavior, this change may take some getting used to. Here are some reasons why we made the change, and how you can adjust your strategy to take advantage of it.
One challenge of our game is that there are a lot of Powerups hitting players while they are racing. There are several ways we could try to address this: we could reduce the number of Powerup bubbles in the game, or switch back to a single Powerup slot like in BBR1. This new Powerup behavior somewhat reduces the total amount of Powerups used in each race, while keeping the variety and control you get from having two slots. It also helps balance the weapons strategy with the driving strategy.
The countdown time adds a balancing factor for players to consider when building decks. You probably want to have a mix of long-lasting Powerups and quick or instant ones. If your old deck was built entirely around defensive and speed boosts, try mixing in a few weapons, or shorter duration boosts like the Warp or Rocket Boost -- you can find a good balance that always keeps a slot free for new Powerups.
As with all game balance changes, remember that this new change affects ALL drivers in the game, not only you. It even affects the AI bots. It doesn't advantage or disadvantage you; it just offers a slightly different way to play the game, which we believe delivers a more balanced and even-handed experience.
Holiday decals and the return of the Candy Coupe
Finally, to help you get in the holiday mood while you're customizing your car, we've also added some festive new decals to the Body Shop. Decorate your car like Old St. Nick (or Père Noël or 산타 할아버지), or throw up some tasty paint in the shape of holiday treats.
And speaking of treats -- everyone's favorite Holiday car, the Candy Coupe, will be making an appearance this season, so keep your eyes open for store specials on this and other popular cars, Powerups, and crates throughout the season.
We hope you all enjoy the new update, and of course if you have questions or comments you can contact us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or email us at info@vectorunit.com.
Other changes
Added chrome paint category to paints.
Pearl and Midnight paints now change colors on neon and colored hubcaps.
Added notch control to settings so you can turn on/off the screen spacing when your phone has a notch or a pinhole camera.
Various bug and stability fixes.