The team behind indie game SuperTuxKart, an open source kart racing game, has finally announced the 1.0 release of the game following 12 years of development. The new update adds support for network races so that you can play with your friends online. Work has been done to better balance gameplay.
The game itself is similar to Mario Kart in that you try to beat opponents in a kart race (in normal race mode) and use items to hinder their efforts. In terms of characters, the game uses mascots from popular open source projects such as Tux the Linux kernel mascot, Gnu the GNU project mascot, and Adiumy the mascot for the instant messenger client Adium.
With the new update, it’s not just simple races that you’ll be able to do online. According to the announcement, various game modes including normal races, time trials, soccer mode, battle mode, and the new Capture-The-Flag mode are all available online. If you do decide to play online, the bandwidth requirements are low even when hosting 10 players, with the developers recommending that you have 1.2 megabits per second to spare.
Some other updates include bug fixes and enhancements to the game in general, which should improve gameplay. There’s also a new track to play dubbed “Ravenbridge Mansion”.
If you"ve never played it, or if it’s been a long time since you played the game, be sure to check it out as it has gained some nice features in the last couple of years, including entirely new and improved graphics. SuperTuxKart it is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.