Update: CHAMPION Velocity will now be developed in GDevelop.

Welcome to the third CHAMPION Devlog. It's been a while, and a lot of things have changed over the past few months, both within the Jamango platform and in CHAMPION Nexus itself. I'll also take this opportunity to talk about the future of the CHAMPION Ecosystem and the next CHAMPION game - CHAMPION Velocity.

Nexus 1.0 is getting ready to launch before the Jamango beta, which is slated for November 13th. Here's all you need to know.

Where I've Been

Over the past few months, I've been working on an academic game design project that I decided to take on. It took a while, but I eventually got to the point where I completed the game. It meant that, throughout this time, I couldn't work on CHAMPION Nexus in the same way I wanted to. Now that Card Chaos: Glitched is released, It's finally time to talk about the future of CHAMPION - And development has started already.

The Biggest Changes

1.0 is a huge release. Therefore, there are a lot of changes, conceptually and technically.

CHAMPION Nexus is built on the Jamango platform, as is the Creator Kit. As it has developed, the platform has seen several changes, and the last time I published an update to Nexus was 6 months ago. Obviously, there's quite a bit to catch up on.

Codebase Migration

In order to speed up the work, I've taken the code from Card Chaos: Glitched, which came from a more up-to-date Jamango template, and adapted it for the existing mechanics of Nexus and it's file system. This means that it's actually really easy to separate core Jamango game mechanics with CHAMPION specific systems, or "addons", which I'll explore more with the new Creator Kit.

The work for the codebase migration is still ongoing. There are entirely new systems, so adjusting to them and making sure that the right things are in place for the release will take a while. And, to be honest, some of the things don't work properly, so it needs some refining.

Economy, Shop and Cosmetics

Exper brought a reward system to the game, to keep players in and give them a larger aim in the game.

The next step of this is cosmetics. Players will be able to earn custom cosmetics within the game. These cosmetics will be earned by Exper, or in some cases, Jamango Tokens, depending on the way Jamango's monetisation will work in the future. Exper will not be acquired through buying with Jamango Tokens, nor will Exper cosmetics. It clearly separates the idea of reward for skill against support for the game. I'm not sure about paywalling content like levels either, so I'll avoid that. And to keep competition fair, none of the transactions, whether Exper bought or Token bought, will affect a player's gameplay… at least not intentionally.

This will require a blog post of it's own, since it is subject to change. Jamango hasn't fully outlined it's monetisation plans yet, but however it works, I plan to integrate this vision into it and communicate clearly the plans when the time comes.

CHAMPION Creator Kit

The CHAMPION Creator Kit will now be integrated into CHAMPION Nexus itself. You will be able to remix the world and use it's traits to add your own mechanics and tracks, or mod it's functionality and release your own CHAMPION World on Jamango.

It'll join the rest of the first-party Jamango games, which all have remixing enabled.

The original Creator Kit world was taken down since it created an issue where every codebase update had to be published between Nexus and CK. That would create an unnecessary complex publishing and patching workflow and increase the friction for prospective creators, for the sole reason of keeping the World Source protected. I realised that it wasn't worth the extra work in the long run. So soon the Nexus world itself will be remix-able.

This will come out after the definitive 1.0 release, as it relies on the codebase migration to work properly, and I want to get documentation out for it before it's released. I'll also release another post, outlining the intentions I have for it in accordance to the codebase migration, how addons will work, and what other remixing possibilities will be enabled with this new vison.

The Past, Present, and Next Instalment

I want to take this section to explore the evolution of CHAMPION's design and ideas over the years, and also talk about where I would like to go next.

CHAMPION was first created in 2022, out of frustration from mobile and free to play arcade racing games such as Asphalt and TrackMania. I loved the challenge and physics bending mechanics. The problem was, in different ways, a lot of things were paywalled in those games. Since that annoyed me, I decided to make another game inspired by those mechanics.

It was created in Godot 3 using a tutorial from KidsCanCode on how to make an arcade racing game. I built mechanics, music, vehicle model (although I ended up using some Kenney assets in the end) and then tried to find a place to publish it. The problem was, I was unfamiliar with many publishing sites, which didn't provide much of the same things that UGC platforms provided, nor were any of them specific to/integrated with Godot, except one. I published the game on gotm.io, a site made specifically to run Godot games. Eventually it was shut down, and I shelved CHAMPION. Since then, there hasn't been any major Godot UGC or publishing platform, but there was the web ecosystem.

Over that time, I saw UGC platforms come and die and tried to launch other projects. Those also failed in development stages. Throughout that time, I developed a vision of virtual worlds that put social fun and creation over purely interacting in an immersive one. I also wanted ownership over my projects and security that they would survive.

When I discovered Jamango was adding its TypeScript API and Traits, I became intrigued with learning how the platform worked. While using a platform that is not open source in any way (for now), I found it encapsulated part of my vision perfectly - I could make an ecosystem of moddable games, and a platform within a platform. That is what underpins the CHAMPION Ecosystem, Creator Kit, Nexus and future official releases - CHAMPION Worlds.

I promised the first would come at around this time this year, but that simply won't be possible at this stage. 2027 is much more likely, but don't take this as a concrete announcement for the next CHAMPION World.

The next CHAMPION game, however, is different. Part of the ambition is to have CHAMPION spread across different platforms, very creator focused ones, so that players and creators can access CHAMPION in different ways in different places. Additionally, I wanted to bring a return to form for CHAMPION and create a definitive experience for the game, since Jamango has it's limitations, and eventually the opportunity came for it.

It is my absolute pleasure to announce the next expansion of the CHAMPION Ecosystem: CHAMPION Velocity.

CHAMPION Velocity aims to bring the other half of the CHAMPION vision to life. It's the series' return to the Godot Engine, with a new UGC platform. I'm not ready to talk about the full vision for the game, but it aims to be larger and bring more possibilities. Given the open source base, of both the platform and engine, the possibilities here are just about endless. This is what I've wanted for CHAMPION - an ecosystem of virtual worlds with fun, social gameplay and creation at the centre of it.

Where the Future's Headed

Today, CHAMPION's future is brighter than ever. It's returning to it's roots, and growing it's branches. With over 2000 sprinters having played Nexus, Jamango heading into beta, and Velocity bringing back the core of the game, there's never been a better time to hop in and follow the game's journey.

With that being said, here's the roadmap:

• Champion Nexus 1.0, slated for release on October 27th.

• Jamango Beta is slated for November 13th. Following it will come:

  • Cosmetic Update

  • Remixing Update

• CHAMPION Velocity is slated for going into full development later this year or early 2027.

Thank you for your support, and I can't wait to show you what is coming next!