Let's take a look at the year, predictions from last year, and expectations for 2024
2023 Wheely Awards red carpet - Image Credits: BlindedEpisode
A whole year since the last Trendletter came out, and in those mere 12 months, in only 365 days, the game has changed, the landscape of the industry will never be the same again.
Letter from the Founder
I just wanted to say thanks for supporting Carblox over the course of 2023, especially in the wake of the structure of Carblox changing, and with the past few months of relative inactivity. The plan is to be a lot more active and consistent over the course of 2024.
2022 Predictions - Did THey Hold Up?
Autoworks Community Challenges
This was a big part of 2023, with the hatchback challenge's conclusion, the sedan challenge which was a huge hit, and the currently ongoing compact sports car challenge, but our 2022 prediction understated how popular it would be, being a big enough part of the year that participants were given Honour awards at the 2023 Wheelys!
1974 Awesion Paarma Coupe by Hipas_Account - Image Credits: KASH1R0
Visual Experiences
This prediction however, did not hold up as well over the year. While there were a few creators producing YouTube videos, not only was it a lot less than those who did the year prior, this was definitely not the game-changer we predicted it to be, but for those who did employ videos did it really well, with Ono_Three's unveiling of the 2024 Colt Riolu taking the cake. In fact, it could be said edited videos took a major backseat this year.
2024 Colt Riolu by Ono_Three - Image Credits: Carblox
Fictional Automotive Industry Countries
Another big part of 2023 was definitely the FAIC, which experienced both new members, and improved maps. One major development was in fact that with more creators getting into building maps featuring ro-automotive vehicles, there was way more options to choose from besides Untergelrich by Lumius_RBLX. FAIC right now though, the Discord itself has cooled down a lot recently due to school being back in session compounded by the huge bursts of development over the summer and many big members also switching focus to their ro-auto brands.
Yeji, Kouei skyline - Image Credits: Blinded_Episode
Although this prediction didn't account for maps based on real locations, where junaid1234566667's SLX Nurburgring was a smash hit, and seemingly overnight becoming the premier hangout game for the community within Autoworks, alongside outright growing it's own thanks to the organization of a racing league, where you can see the likes of Alkazar, Volattolo, and others dominate the iconic touring track. The game's near instantaneous success truly opened the doors for more creators to get into making games, with a in-progress collaborative effort of FAIC members in the works, alongside KASH1RO's Candalero-based games also gaining a momentum.
Charlemagne, Candalero skyline - Image Credits: KASH1R0
Things We Noticed
Things we noticed over the course of 2023 are comprised of two big things: rising CSG standards, more new creators.
CSG standards in 2023 went up. Now, in 2022 we said that the average quality of a CSG/brick car was rising, but in 2023, the standards jumped up noticeably higher than the median was set at. The biggest cause of this was Untergelrich getting rid of a large swatch of CSG vehicles in favour of a new rating system that caused a lot of controversy and discussion over what the bare minimum actually is. And while it may not seem like it, Untergelrich was still the game of the industry, and not being in Untergelrich was a huge deal. Now, that was a few months ago, and nowadays the majority of veteran brick creators have risen to meet those standards (besides the likes of the Eventide Red), but that natural progression was definitely rushed a lot more than it seemed at the time.
In the end, it wouldn't be untruthful to say Untergelrich's big change really did help Nurburgring rise in popularity, because of this abrupt and messy transition, somewhat akin to how Unity basically obliterated itself this year as well. Nowadays, being in one game or another has really become an afterthought, rather than one of the formost thing builders would think of when working on their newest model.
Now, with a lot of former beginners growing into intermediate, good, and great builders, Autoworks had a lot of young new members join the ro-auto industry, to varying degrees of success. The prevailing tactic nowadays is to get good enough at building before you go public with your brand, but not everyone followed that direction strategy. The aforementioned Eventide Red is an excellent example of how not to debut, with the young startup becoming a meme in the community since the car was definitely released when Codealize was not at his best skill-wise. Many other brands simply adapted, like Alkazar, Volattolo, and Fletcher, seen here.
1965 Fletcher Beluga Interior and Exterior - Image Credits: Shamrockaway
Predictions for 2024
The Changing of the Guard
Let's get personal: 2024 is likely the last year I'm going to be writing at Carblox, or actively participating in this industry in its entirety. It's not because I'm going to be graduating in a year and a half, nor is it because I don't like journalism anymore. It's because I've simply reached the end of my time in the ro-automotive community. Deciding it's time for me to move on from Carblox is not based on age though.
My prediction for 2024 (and honestly 2025) is more new and young creators taking over as veteran creators move on, with veteran meaning an active member of the community for 2 or more years in this case. This isn't going to be a massive swath of people, it'll likely be a small group.
NOTE: Since writing this, MXZBRO and Hipas_Account have exited the industry, with the former leaving Valiente and APEXGROUP, and the latter closing down Awesion and releasing all unfinished models.
Awesion's Goodbye - Image Credits: Hipas_Account
The Wheely Awards are A Bigger Deal This Year
2023's Wheely Awards were a smash hit, albeit with flaws. But it really shook things up, since compared to the event which inspired it, Autoworks' Innovation Awards, it will be returning for a second year. The 2024 Wheelys are going to be one of the biggest events of the year, merging an improved ceremony with much needed balancing, the award show will definitely show off the full breadth of the industry. This is also paired with a significantly larger nominee base than both 2023 and the Inspiration Awards of 2021, with anyone and everyone having a solid shot at nomination.
This prediction expects awards to become somewhat more notable to creators as last year had a lot of well-deserved wins, and this year you don't need to build an amazing auto show stand to get a foot in the door. Another prediction is that winning a Wheely Award to become one thing you let people, because people would like the ring of "5x Wheely Award winning brand" or "Wheely Award winner for Best Luxury Automobile".
Halleyway Hall - Image Credits: Carblox
Fictional Automotive Goes Mainstream
In late 2023, a bunch of makes and models in some of the biggest car games on ROBLOX, most notably Greenville were removed due to copyright issues and DMCA worries that a remixed name could not solve.
In their place, fictionalised models came in, specifically mesh-based models. Previously, only Elektrisk, Colt, and NVNA were available in mainstream games, and you couldn't even drive the Colt Riolu in Greenville or NVNA Acesera in Pacifico 2 without buying a gamepass (and let's be real, there's better SUVs than 2021's Elektrisk Polaris nowadays). But with Rokuta being one of the first brands to join that club in about a year -- Eldersburg, Maryland added them this month -- the future of big games is seemingly fictional. Greenville also fictionalised some existing models in attempt to skirt the legal woes, to varying degrees of success design-wise.
Fictionalised Lamborghini - Image Credits: Greenville, WI
In 2024, expect more real car companies to refuse to allow their models appear in games, and more fictional models to take place, either from existing makers, or new ones. This will also likely push more builders to learn Blender over CSG due to CSG lending itself a lot more to hyper-stylisation and different build techniques producing different feels based on the builder. Though if the plan is to promote more fictional brands, the current state of redesigning existing real world models will need to improve to match the fictional ro-automotive industry's prowess in creatively designed cars, as currently Greenville is at a loss.
Fictionalised Porsche - Image Credits: Greenville, WI
Outro
Sorry for being 4 days late, I had actually finished this 95% of the way 4 days before NYE, then forgot about it, then got busy on New Year's Eve, was still busy on New Year's Day, and procrastinated yesterday. So here is your very belated Happy New Year. Though the extra time did give us the chance to see some of the predictions here begin playing out already.
Stay tuned for the next Industry Digest, coming up later this month, alongside a lot more development news for the 2nd Annual Wheely Awards, as it's only 5 months away now.
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