- Space Dingus Developer Log #11 - 28 August 2026
Since last month, we've been doing a lot of polish and bugfixing. We've been taking early Playtest feedback and focusing on that. This includes things like UI additions, animation improvements, zombie networking and lag fixes, enemy tweaks, and a list of things we notice in our own testing. Lots down, lots more to go.Gameplay Footage: Colony Location RevampMost of the polish this month has been programmer heavy, so this gives us extra bandwidth to do things like improve on and add new locations. A big one is taking the Colony location type and revamping it. This was one of our earliest tests, and now we're getting to go back and add things like randomization, new rooms, and updated mechanics. Here's a video of a few of us running around the current version of the Colony Planet location: Some notes on the above footage:This would be a pretty easy/early game version of the location. Not t…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #10 - 31 July 2026
Trying out a slightly new format for how I do these developer logs. I'm going to have a steady format of one top news item, then a summary of highlights from the past month, then what we're currently or soon working on. This might be nicer than the previous big lists of what we did last month. Plus, things like that will get covered anyway once we start posting public change notes for build updates on Steam. Death Road 10 Year Anniversary About a week ago, I made a news post for the Death Road to Canada 10 year anniversary. Along with news that we're opening up the Playtest more soon, I posted a video of some recent Space Dingus footage. You can see that video below: This is actually a mix of newer footage, with some older in the middle. People seemed to like the footage a lot, though common feedback was that it's pretty odd without music. More news on music later! Other notes off the t…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #9 - 26 June 2026
Still crushed with work! We ended up devoting a lot of work time this month to a new location type. It was one that has a lot of new technology involving multiple entrances/exits and multiple floors. We did this because it will make future location types easy. Particularly things like multiple building cities and colonies, with multiple story buildings being possible. We're still hoping to hit a deadline for the 10th anniversary of Death Road to Canada, but still not sure if we'll make it. Too close to say. If not, we'll still have some extra Space Dingus news prepared for that.Development News Since last month:Mostly finished a new location type: Barren Planet with BunkersNew support for upstairs/downstairs and inside/outside transitions between floorsFull support for different randomization parameters for multiple floor locationsNew support for tunnels! This could be used for all sort…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #8 - 29 May 2026
We're still really busy. We're shooting for something big for Space Dingus in late July, to coincide with Death Road to Canada. I can't say what it is yet, but it's keeping us crushed with work.This developer log will cover our work last month, which covered a large amount of ground. There are also bonus sections for the Loadout Lockers and some new Character Customization options!Development News Since last month:Lots of work on object, player, and monster physicsExploding barrel fun, with better effects and faster physics calculationsBetter pushing of objects in the map, such as barrels, crates, space junkLess jitterMuch less network traffic for pushing things, so less lag and better syncingBetter collision interactions for players vs enemiesMass tweaks for everythingMore work on Mission SelectHitstop added! Feels weighty. This is configurable by weapon. We're currently thinking that…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #7 - 24 April 2026
We've been swamped! We keep having to shift back and forth between small parts and big new systems. Network code, UI, game logic, character customization work, and a revamped Mission Select menu.As I've said in previous developer logs, our original plans changed. At first, our plan was to shoot for really simple tests. Instead of that, we decided to go for the full playable game loop. This means that we're now doing a lot of things at once. This developer log will cover our work on a new Mission Selection system, and our further work and plans on the Character Customizer.Development News Since last month:Mission Selection system mostly doneConveys a lot of info without needing to open up another windowRead next section for more details!Persistent crew tracking, for things like stats, health, loot, their appearances, traits, etcFurther work on the new scripting and CYOA text system, with…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #6 - 27 March 2026
More playtesting, more tweaks. We've expanded playtesting a bit since last month, but have not opened the floodgates yet. A lot of our time has been responding to feedback, so we ended up working on a wide range of smaller things this month. Due to this, this devlog will mostly be notes and random experiments from what we've been developing. Development News Since last month:More work on throwablesMore work on lag prediction and optimizationEnemies picking new targets betterTweaks for melee weapons and cleavingLots of work on sounds and how the sound system works, with better ambient sound supportBetter UI for the Class Lockers, including nice sprite rendering for player charactersNormalized the male/female heads and added more, so they're a "brother/sister" sort of setup nowAutokicking non-responding players in multiplayer (quitting, computer disconnecting, etc)Further work on player c…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #5 - 27 February 2026
We have been very busy this month. Testing with new players has pointed out a lot more work that we needed to do. Lots of tweaks, lots of optimization and fixes, mostly related to online multiplayer.This month's devlog will be about some thoughts on the current Friends and Family Playtesting, and what we've learned from stress testing. We're still pushing towards the Steam and Discord Playtests. A lot of our time in February has been about making the multiplayer as smooth and bug free as possible, before we feel good about getting more people in. Development News Our work since last month:Lots of work on the online multiplayer and optimizationBug huntingMore tweaks to zombiesWork on Event UIMore work on the scripting system for CYOA EventsSome new enemiesA new temporary starting hub, where you can easily pick your mission and preset Professions/loadoutsWork on throwable furnitureMore BU…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #4 - 3 February 2026
This Developer log is a little late! It was supposed to come out Friday. I got really sick for awhile, and am just recovering. This post will be a little shorter than normal. After the news from this month, I will be talking about a few monster types we are implementing, and some general thoughts on how I want to implement our goal of having a ton of monster variety.Things were slow last month in general. Mostly due to our usual nemesis: UI. Working on the user interface is both slow and not exactly thrilling. It is, however, really necessary. We want to get it right for this one, as being able to have an easy to modify UI saves a lot of time down the lineWe have just started a bigger "Friends and Family" playtesting, to hammer out online bugs. After that is looking good, we're doing limited testing to our Discord. After that, we're starting to accept testers from Steam, plus more teste…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #3 - 26 December 2025
In this Developer Log, I am going to talk about our progress towards the Steam Playtest and what we're doing next. Then below that, a big section on the current state of our Space Stations.Road to PlaytestNew things since last month:Massive optimizations. 120+ FPS with 200 zombies onscreen + tons of gore. We still want to do further optimizations, but this is a really big breakthroughMore work on interactibles, smashable, and lootable objectsMore sound implementationNew door logic and typesExtra work on the locations, such as new room types, new layouts, and moreThings we're doing currently:Another big pass on zombie behavior and AIMore UI stuffMore work on tracking stats/resources My estimate for the first playtest: Likely late January for a very small one. After that, if things go well, we will start ramping up towards letting people in from both Steam Signups and random selection fro…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #2 - 28 November 2025
In this Developer Log, I am going to talk about our plans for how the controls in Space Dingus will work. This includes sections on how the Special Weapon Slot will work, which is tied to the Right Mouse Button.But first, I am going to have a section for progress towards the Steam Playtest.Road to PlaytestSince last Developer Log, we did a lot of work on the Special Weapon System. I will talk about that in its own section in this post, below the our plans for the control scheme! There was a lot of miscellaneous work on small objects and furniture. New container looting types. Tweaks to the physics of explosive barrels. We added the ability to dent and damage many objects, instead of outright destroying them.Finally, a lot of our efforts were spent on the Derelict Space Station location we were working on. It has several variations now, so I think we're mostly set for the Playtest in ter…
- Space Dingus Developer Log #1 - 30 October 2025
Hello! As promised, this is the start of our monthly news updates for Space Dingus development. I'll be posting big summaries of what we've done in the previous month. This update was on the last Thursday of the month, but future Developer Logs will be on the last Friday of each month. The next one will be on November 28th.You can also see more frequent news posts in the #future-preview channel of our Official Discord, and on the site formerly known as Twitter. We've posted a bunch of things over the last few months, especially on that Discord channel.Let's begin!Road to PlaytestCurrently a lot of what's keeping us busy is getting the Playtest started.Our goals for the first Playtest:A selection of weapons, showing off a new weapon system we haven't talked about much yet.Functional co-op multiplayer with easy drop-in.Showing off one location, but with a lot of good randomization and var…
- Space Dingus Playtest Signups Available! - 9 October 2025
We've been really busy at work with a planned alpha version Playtest for Space Dingus! You can now sign up for a chance to play it in the future. Just go to the Steam Store page, and there will be a link at the top where you can request access to the Playtest. Some notes:After you sign up, Playtest access will be given by random chance. Steam's Playtest system is set up to allow this. Closer to the game's launch, we may also just invite everyone in that signed up.We're planning on also having Playtest access be granted at random via our Official Discord. So if you join our Discord, then you'll get extra chances to get into testing.The first Playtests will likely just focus on making sure the Online Multiplayer works well. So it will be pretty small otherwise. Example, something like "test this one early location".Once you get in on a Playtest, you'll likely be able to stay in for the Al…
- Space Dingus Early Q&A - 5 August 2025
We've got a lot of questions asked from Discord, Steam comments, and the Youtube comments for the trailer. I thought I'd answer a bunch of them in one place!I've separated them into sections, for easier reading:MultiplayerRelease and PriceControls and GameplayLocalization and ModdingBonus Questions Multiplayer1. Will Space Dingus have couch co-op, or online multiplayer?A: We are focusing entirely on online co-op as the main focus for launch. Couch co-op isn't in currently, but we've been getting a bunch of questions on this. We may add this later, but no promises yet! 2. How many players can play together?A: The plan is 4 players. The engine technically supports more, but it's nice to have a limit for gameplay purposes.3. Will there be crossplay support?A: Not at launch. The focus will be Steam + Windows first.Release and Price4. Is Space Dingus coming to consoles, Linux, Mac, Mobile, e…
- Space Dingus is a spiritual sequel to Death Road to Canada - 22 July 2025
Death Road to Canada is a lot of fun and so I have great expectations for the next game from Rocketcat Games, which is a spiritual sequel named Space Dingus. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/07/space-dingus-is-a-spiritual-sequel-to-death-road-to-canada/
- Space Dingus Announcement + What's Next! - 27 June 2025
Welcome to SPACE DINGUS! We're developing this game as a followup and Spiritual Successor to Death Road to Canada. We're going to be keeping a lot of familiar gameplay compared to Death Road, such as the Choose your own Adventure Events, general structure for picking your locations, and giant swarms of enemies. There will also be a lot of differences from Death Road. Here's a short list: Online multiplayer! This was a huge request from Death Road to Canada, now possible with the new engine we built. Mouse aiming controls! You can see this and the headshot system in the Teaser Trailer. Between picking locations, you have a big customizable Spaceship as a hub area. Multiple enemy factions! A few will be the "slow zombie" archetype, and even those will have new twists that set them apart from both Death Road's zombies, and each other. Goofy, giant swan dives that will get you killed. Watch…
