Sugar Rush Beta Iterations, version 2!
((Basically, beta stuff that's been "uncovered" through RPing. Version 2! (Here’s version 1, with a lot of extra talking tacked on, some of which was used to formulate this post.) Brand new betas to this version of the list have their numbers/versions in bold. Betas with changed numbers have their new number italicized. A good chunk of this is fleshed out from version 1, so I’m not really going to point out if I heavily expanded any of these descriptions, especially since there’s a link to the original version of this post.
Brace yourselves, this post is a fair bit longer than its predecessor.
[Presumed alpha or pre-alpha: Models and world maps created and tested. No palette swaps in this version; instead, the not!recolors from Life in 16 Flavors exist in their place.]
Beta 0.5: Still early; world maps are being finalized, driving mechanics are being implemented, and parents are being created as the first version of what will become the final game’s fans. This beta is the transition from basically nothingness to a lot of somethingness later on, but is missing some key atmosphere elements like ambient light sources and skyboxes (basically, the sky is a depressing expanse of grey nothingness and everything has the exact same lighting in all orientations, areas, and situations).
Beta 1.1 (Li16F chars version of “extreme violence” beta): Identical to beta 1.2 in most ways, except that this is the last version with the Life in 16 Flavors not!recolors and this version is missing a few gameplay elements that exist in 1.2′s concept. Parent concept changed to be leaders of factions of characters, though not all their designs are finished.
Beta 1.2 (originally just Beta 1, the “first known beta” in the original post): The "extreme violence" one. This is where the "hunt" subroutine that can cause final release characters to go on killing sprees is added to the game. This is different from 1.1 in that there is a more defined story: evil versions of the characters (not unlike regressor’s Children of the Candy Corn) have overrun the racing tracks, and you have to eliminate them in a good old-fashioned shoot ‘em up before the track is playable for racing. In addition, some palette swaps were created as “redeemed” versions of the characters--at this point in time, you could unlock Nougetsia in Adorabeezle’s (then Adorabella’s) track, Sticky in Minty’s (then Emmareld’s) track, Torvald in Swizzle’s (then Merfus’s) track, and Citrusella in Jubileena’s track; one of the last evil characters coming at you would become good when defeated and join the ranks of fighters. Tag teaming was planned for the swap pairs, but only partially implemented (and VERY broken), and only enabled on the Jubi/Citrus pair. Parents were axed during the transition period between 1.1 and this beta.
Beta 2 (the "palette swap boss" beta): Totally extremely violent concept trashed (and the game is a fair bit brighter and more like we know it today), the violence and weapons relegated to a (rare and/or only accessible through cheating/exploits) power-up for the player avatar in palette swap boss races. The only racer who has access to weapons all of the time is Citrusella, who, along with the other palette swaps, is a boss racer presiding over the fourth track of a grand prix (hers being the last, since the weapons make her extremely hard to beat). The redemption idea from beta 1.2 is changed to the “reconciliation after beating swap” cutscenes in this beta. In this beta, Torvald has also become a Minty swap. The fourth/boss tracks of each prix were completely deleted after this beta and are not present in the code. May or may not include elements of the next beta.
Beta 3 (the one with the shoot/hunt minigame): The boss racer concept is scrapped, and the killing code is active in a minigame where the object is to shoot targets and/or candy animals. This was scrapped after they realized that the racers being controlled by the CPU were "inexplicably" shooting and hurting each other as well as the intended objects. The minigame was dummied out, its graphical data deleted entirely, though it's still possible to access the mini-game in subsequent betas and the final release. (And like its inspiration, Hidden Palace Zone from Sonic 2, other than its broken graphics/remapped sounds/items and lack of an exit marker, there’s no functional difference between the version in this beta and the broken version in the final release (except that the minigame retains its surfaces/collision even if they can’t be distinguished from the surrounding environment and HPZ does not for the most part).)
Beta 4 (the everyone wears racing suits version): Because racing suits are cool and everyone should wear one.
...other betas between here and the end are considerably less violent, no longer calling the killer code, at least not intentionally...))
