- Update: New Challenges - 21 September 2026
The first run of challenges proved to be popular, so I want to keep it going. In the background I am working on the fall update which will include some long-awaited additions to the game, but in the interim here's a small update to keep challenges fresh.These are the new scenarios:1. Cole Brannigan: Big Arm, Big Throw?Cole Brannigan had an all-time cannon for an arm, leading him to set high school state records in passing yards. But the big arm wasn't enough for him to make it as a college quarterback. And with his athletic career in limbo, Brannigan needed a change. One day while playing a pickup game on campus, the throwing coach watched him launch a spiral nearly 70 yards. Spotting the raw talent, coach handed Brannigan a javelin and the rest is now up to you. Chase javelin success in this challenge and an elite throw.2. Marcus Tillery: Glass CannonMarcus Tillery ran an 800m as a fre…
- Update: New Animations, Challenges - 7 September 2026
We have been on a long journey together when it comes to animations. It's almost funny to go back and look at where we were when we started. Today, we unveil the latest iteration, embracing significant improvements for relays and field events, as well as an overall enhancement to the realism and color palette of the animations.Here are the high points:Realistic throws: Throwers circles, realistic landings ones, and differentiated implements. A far cry from little lines going across the screen.Cracking the case on jumps: High jump was originally what was holding me back. Realistic high jump involves lots of flights, moving the bar up incrementally for each jump. That would be a pain to animate and would take an unwatchable amount of time. Instead, we found a way to split the baby with something I think is compelling without being overkill. Add to that a realistic looking long and triple…
- Update: Challenges are live, bug fixes - 6 September 2026
From the start I've always wanted Track Star to have lots of replayability. Track and field games aren't going to come along every day, I want to make sure I give the people who were waiting for this niche new content to enjoy.To that end, I've been experimenting with a feature I wanted to add and I think we're ready to go live. Let's get into it.New Feature: Rotating Challenges & Steam LeaderboardsOn the main screen you will now noticed a 'Challenges' button. Click it and you've entered a new part of Track Star, one with customized saves that you play with the goal of achieving a high score. And, thanks to Steam, there will be an in-game leaderboard that tracks the competition.The first challenge, live now is focused on the story of Frank Taller (real track fans, iykyk). Frank is barely clinging to his Division 1 scholarship. You'll start his career as a freshman and see if you can tur…
- Update: Display and Accessibility - 3 September 2026
This update is focused on improving the accessibility of the game, specifically improving its fit on monitors of all sizes and ensuring display scaling and font accessibility work.Track Star was built with laptop players in mind but more than a few players with nice, large monitors have noted the game was not looking its best on those setups. That has been addressed with this update.Key updatesThe game now scales with your display including all text/buttons/panels. Originally I built the game with more of a fixed layout, that has been addressed.Windows display scaling (100% / 125% / 150%) is now supported. Windows' larger-text accessibility setting now works with the gameNew on the DiscordI have been toying with the idea of adding a proper weekly challenge/Steam leaderboard system into the game. For now I'm testing it out the lo-fi way, by building a custom save I'm hosting on my Discor…
- Update: UI Clarity Tweaks - 29 August 2026
This update includes some UI tweaks designed to make game content a little more visible and to give me some surface area to build on for future content additions.Rivalry ChallengesI've been concerned that people who didn't read how to play or aren't on the Discord have missed the boat on challenging rivals, so I've added some helper text.News HighlightsAdding some badging in the sidebar to alert you to updates.Clickable TeammatesIn college mode, top teammates in your team results during dual meets and on your relays are now clickable. Right now it's limited to seeing your skills but I'll build on this moving forward.More to come but wanted to get this out the door.
- Update: Relay Improvements - 23 August 2026
Pushing a quick update to improve relays. This was one of my favorite new features in college but it has a few issues and I have rectified most of them with this update.Relay invites are now per-eventPreviously being invited to a relay flagged you as invited to relays in general, which meant the weekly picker could offer you a relay you'd never actually earned. Now each relay event is earned independently. So you can make the 4x1 and not the 4x4, and vice versa.Adding 'flying start' realism to relaysThe original relay system was really basic; take 4 100 or 400 meter times and add them up. In the new system, legs 2 through 4 are now given a small boost to account for the flying start inherent to relays. This is especially fun when you have elite anchors and get to see their closing times.Anchor leg promotionWhen you first join the relay, you join as the starting leg. With this update, yo…
- Update: Long distance balancing - 22 August 2026
Some minor updates:1) Addressed an issue with long distance builds where their 1600/3200 meter times from high school were converting improperly to college. This makes long distance more realistic but significantly harder than it was before.2) Increased coach line content pool for certain meets, I was noticing a lot of repeats in my playtesting/3) Fixed a bug where the internal counter wasn't totaling up the number of rival meetings correctly4) Fixed a bug where school records were ignoring teammate results5) Fixed an issue that was causing a small problem with modded colleges.json files
- Update: College Is Live! - 17 August 2026
The college update is here! First off, want to give a big thank you to everyone in the Discord who has been diligently testing this for me. There is still work to do in terms of content I want added but after all the playtesting I feel we have a very viable, balanced game mode that doubles game content.Here's a rundown of everything players can expect!So what is this college update?In the original game, at the end of your senior season of high school you got to choose a scholarship offer and then experienced the rest of your career as an epilogue.Now, that choice is only the beginning. Once you make your college decision, you continue on for four more years of competition.What Changes Entering CollegeOnce you enter college, your stats are reset so you have more room to grow, you have new records to break, and more championships to win. But those aren't the only changes: training is a bi…
- Devlog: College update refinement - 7 August 2026
Here's the latest. Still trying to get balancing perfect.Content UpdatesDid a full rewrite of the How the Play section to be more complete, incorporating college detailsAdded an end-of-career archive screen for the college arc, showing a full record of your college career. This was always in HS version and needed to be brought up to par.Balance & TuningRaised the high school performance ceiling slightly to reduce results bunching up at the fastest/farthest possible marks.Widened performance ranges for the 100m, Long Jump, and High Jump, with qualifying standards retuned to match.National-tier college competitors now improve realistically from freshman to senior year instead of staying flat.Fixed short sprints and field events clustering at the same minimum times/marks instead of spreading out realistically.Rebalanced conference-level competitor difficulty to compensate for a side effect…
- Devlog: Getting closer on College update - 3 August 2026
Feeling good about the progress on the College update, this will be ready to roll in the near future. Game still has room to grow but this is solid.Here's a look at what I've been working on.Recruiting tweaksRecruiting offers now consider every program in the game instead of a narrow tier slice, which was a holdover from earlier game version.Offers are now framed as Reach / Fit / Safety picks.You can now declare soft recruiting preferences (prestige, region, program culture) that shape which offers come your way.College Career ContentAdded new in-game college achievements.Doubled the pool of college narrative beats and world events. College now shows a weekly training results recap after workouts, matching the high school experience.Bug FixesFixed graduated rivals sometimes showing as a garbled internal ID instead of their name on the career-ending Hall of Fame screen.Fixed the achievem…
- Devlog: Latest on College Update - 31 July 2026
Just wanted to share another short video on where I'm at with the college update.Here's a rundown of what's been added:Team Colors - Definitely want to add more color to the game and am stating by including the team colors everywhere team text shows up.Updated Meet Scoring - In first pass, meet scoring was just random number generator, it has now been dialed in so it responds to the meet simulation and is aligned with how T&F really works.Team/Coach Effects - This is in its infancy, but in dual meets your coach now provides you a gentle instruction (take it easy this week; we need this win; etc.) and you'll get a small mentality bonus or penalty for both the meet result and following instructions. Whenever I add a feature like this, I make the bonus a bit trivial to start. More to come.Last But Not Least - Balancing - After some helpful playtesting from the community and many automated…
- Devlog: Updating on College Progress - 29 July 2026
I have been posting regularly in the Discord and encourage folks to join (do so here: discord.gg/8BFuwmStGK ) but wanted to give an update here as well. I have been hard at work on building out the college mode. This is a major update that not only increases the game size and scope, but incorporates a number of new features.Progress is going strong, enough that I have made a limited test version available to select players. Right now I am focused on getting more input on the balancing before I scale up content and refine other features.Here's an updated scope on what adding college years into Track Star will entail:Size and Scope96 programs from the major track and field conferencesConference Championships, Regionals and NationalsA League schedule with team standings operating alongside Invitational meetsA much larger game world of simulated athletesNew FeaturesHeats - The championship…
- Update: Balancing, Balancing, Balancing - 24 July 2026
While I work on the college update, I still want to ensure I am making the existing game better. After a successful launch week (thank you!) I've seen more load on the game and how frequently people are able to hit high scores. Ultimately, I think normal was playing a little too much like easy, so I made a few balancing tweaks to improve the game experience and hopefully make victory a little more rewarding!Balance ChangesThrowing and Jumping have been reined in: Both builds were too easy. I changed the way stats effect throwing to make it slightly less strength-dominant which is why any build was OP. For jumping, I slightly nerfed training to make it a little more work to build the perfect jumper. Rebalanced stat weights across Sprints, Hurdles, and Distance events: This was some minor work around the edges, nothing has changed here that will likely be noticeable to the player.Removed…
- Update: Rival Challenges, Small Fixes and Polish - 20 July 2026
I am deep into the plans for the College update, which has been the top requested feature since I've launched the game. I've reshaped my plans slightly to try and bring that to life first given overwhelming demand.But, that doesn't mean other features are going by the wayside. One of the systems I'm most proud of in this game is the rivalry system, and I've made some additions I want to share.New: Rivals Screen + Challenge This WeekRivalries now get their own home. There's a new Rivals tab in the sidebar (sitting between Rankings and the Record Book) where you can see your rival history at a glance.From there, you can now issue a Challenge. Call out a rival and, if you run in an event that they normally compete in, you're guaranteed to face them in your next meet. Win or lose, a resolved challenge gives an extra swing to your Mentality, scaled by how fierce the rivalry has become. This…
- Update: New Race Animation - the Track is Alive - 18 July 2026
Made a ton of progress and I am really excited to share it. The initial race animation this game had was always a bit of a placeholder, I could not get the new animation done at launch but I wasn't too far behind. Very excited to share these updates.New: Real Track Oval, Real Race AnimationThe straight lines and predictable finishes are gone! They are replaced with a nice looking oval and some dynamic racing. Every event now also has start and finish behavior that matches the real world.200m / 400m / 400m hurdles — properly staggered starts on the curve, so outside lanes start further forward to make up for the longer bend800m — staggered for the first turn, then a real break line where the field cuts in to lane 11600m / 3200m — a waterfall start line, no lanesThe pacing is the real fix here. Every runner used to move with the same generic speed curve. Now each athlete's own stats are r…
- Update: Day 1 Fixes, New Meet Choices - 17 July 2026
First off, thank you to everyone who made launch day a success. This has already exceeded my expectations and we're on day 3. Second, shoutout to everyone in the Discord for their enthusiasm and suggestions, I'd encourage everyone who is playing to join: discord.gg/8BFuwmStGKNow lets get down to business. This update includes a few fixes from the initial launch, and some brand new content. Here are the details:New: Week 4 Meet ChoiceStarting this update, Week 4 of every season is no longer just a League Meet, you get to make a choice:Frosh/Soph Invitational — As a freshman or sophomore, you can jump into this developmental meet against people your own age. The field might be easier than the league meet, but it's also a place where you will run into more rivals. Track Star Invitational — In junior and senior year, you can enter the Track Star Invitational, where you'll face an elite fiel…
- Track Star is Live - 15 July 2026
Track Star is officially live today! Want to take a minute to thank everyone who helped me on the way, the people who tested the game, and the people who have been enthusiastic since I rolled out the demo in April.I have been a player of sports management games for probably 20+ years. Track and field is a little niche without much in the way of games. I hope Track Star scratches that itch for others the way it has for me.If you buy the game, please join us on the Discord: https://discord.gg/8BFuwmStGK . I'd like to hear the good and bad, as well as share roadmap for the future of the game.See you on the track!- Goose
- Update: Balancing and content tweaks - 12 July 2026
Getting everything ready for the big day on July 15. Running some more balancing tests and making some final tweaks to the game. Here's a quick recap:BalanceOverhauled the energy and fatigue system. Weekly energy regen is up, but racing on low fatigue is down. So it's easier to stay above water, but you're punished way more if you don't.Addressed training injury bug where it was not always wiping out all stat gains.Stat weights rebalanced across every build - throwing and distance running had drifted to be too dominant.National-level competition difficulty tuned down slightly - necessary after nerfing the over-aggressive training playstyle.ContentSchool names in D1/2/3 scholarship offers are now fictionalized to avoid licensing problems.Fixed an old Training Focus description that still mentioned a stat gain that had been removed.Bug FixesFixed a gender mismatch on two NPCsFixed trainin…
- Update: Rankings, Redesigns, and A Lot of Polish - 7 July 2026
Making a final push to get everything ready for the July 15 launch and am really happy with the progress, wanted to share an update. New: Rankings and Revised NPC SystemRankings is the headline, but to get it done right I also had to revise the way NPCs were generated. Your athlete now exists in a much more "living" pool of competitors vs. the previous way I generated competition. You will now be able to see rankings for League, Class, State, Regional and National, it will inform championship meet selection, etc. This change also brought your class (Freshman, Sophomore, etc.) into the game, something long overdue.Redesigned: Training ScreenThe training screen got a full two-column redesign, with Rankings embedded directly in the sidebar so you can check your standing without leaving the screen. Redesigned: Race Strategy ScreenRace strategy is now a two-column layout pairing your rival b…
- Update: More Design Enhancements - 3 July 2026
Have another new update here and, no surprises, it's oriented around improving the game design and making sure all the content is surfaced in a way that's easy for the player to find. Here's a quick rundown.Throttle Lever PacingThe race strategy card grid was dull, wanted to spice it up so I turned it into a throttle. Now you can literally go 'full throttle' in meets.Drag-to-set lever Info panel shows estimated times and marks for your settingSee the energy cost and post-race effects of your pacing before you commitResults Screen OverhaulPB and meet/school record banners sit at the topNarrative and stat breakdowns are merged into a single "Coach's Notes" card, with a deeper breakdownFixed a width bug in the race animation viewRival Card RedesignNew head-to-head hero section, momentum strip, and side-by-side comparisonWidened the box to fix a horizontal scrollbar issueTraining Screen Pol…
