Toy Racer

shodanon 2017-04-25 19:33

The assets you made for this game are top notch. Really great looking for a Unity game. The race track is very nice and varied. Good job!

Unfortunately, the controls are bad for a racing game. It doesn't seem physics-based, more like some strange sort of character controller (the car doesn't keep momentum and you need to accelerate to steer for example).

You have talent for designing race tracks. Now you just need to spend some time creating (even an arcadey) driving model.

jk5000 2017-04-25 19:50

The idea for the game is super, and both the graphics and music very good for the game. I agree with @shodanon that the controls is really weird.

avon 2017-04-25 20:08

@shodanon @jk5000 Thanks for the feedback! I guess I got so used to the controls that they seemed easy to me, but I do agree the steering is very weird while not accelerating. I play it with the acceleration button down pretty much all the time. I'll have a go at tweaking the values to see if I can make the controls more intuitive.

takusan 2017-04-25 22:37

I like this so much (I'll explain why) that I'll tell you everything that's wrong with it :D

Good stuff:

* you managed to visually keep it consistent, and really feel like it's toys, not some scaled -down models, which is not as easy as it seems. Kudos for that! * The race track is great! * Looks great graphics-wise

not so good stuff

* driving model indeed needs some work. I'd recommend some arcade model because of the theme - let the car keep at least some momentum. Now, I know it's a toy, but still, for a racing game it's crucial - it allows to make tight turns and all that :) And even matchbox cars keep momentum. * if you jump off track, there's no reset and no way to get back on track.

the funny stuff

* I jumped off track and discovered that I can drive *under* the carpets. So I went on a spree throughout the room :D

All in all, I like your project very much, an I'd love to see an updated version after LD is over.

Cheers!

avon 2017-04-25 23:25

@Takusan Thanks for feedback, constructive critisism always appreciated!

I've already figured out most of whats wrong with the driving model, planning to add a postjam version very soon. The main issue was simply that I didnt apply a force in the steering-direction while the car was moving, but not accelerating from user input, which only made it possible to steer while accelerating. Not an issue if you are always accelerating like I did, but its not intuitive and not how cars actually work.

saurabh 2017-04-29 03:14

Great game! Loved the level design which was difficult but not too hard. Kept tipping over at the ramp though - restarting on lap 2 was a little annoying. The items on the road were also very thematic and looked pretty good. The car controls were a little clunky though, as some others have already pointed out.

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing. Well done!

veralos 2017-04-29 03:36

I quite like the concept. It's pretty fun speeding around the track once you get a hang of the controls, but the turning feels a little slow. It would be nice to have checkpoints along the track so you don't need to restart the whole race if you mess up. The visuals are really good and help to reinforce the idea of driving a toy car. The sound effects are decent, and although you didn't make it the music was a good choice (though I don't like how it restarts between the title screen and the main game).

By the way, I'm referring to the original version for these comments. Sorry if these issues have been fixed in the updated version; I want to rate the version submitted for the jam.

navot 2017-04-29 13:48

Really nice game! I really like how the track and the items scattered on it look, however I think the car looks like it's made out of paper (Don't know if that's intentional, I only remember plastic toy cars from my childhood).

A small bug is that when typing a username and typing 'h', the leaderboard covers the screen. (By the way sorry for the username, was curious as to what would happen)

The track is quite tricky to get around, the blocks on the border are viscous. One thing I didn't like is that the pencils on the jump didn't get knocked over, but made me drive on the boot of the car for a bit. I really liked being able to knock the footballs around, and would have liked it if more of the stuff was physics objects, so I could pretend to be a child and tear everything down (the stacks of pencils would have been awesome).

avon 2017-04-29 14:09

@Saurabh Thanks!

@veralos Thanks for playing, faster turning was indeed one of the main issues fixed in the updated version.

@navot Thanks! The car is intended to look like a painted wooden toy, but its a bit hard to tell from the distance you are seeing it. I hadn't thought about 'H' being and issue while typing user name, good catch. Its still possible to type in the username while the high scores are visible though, you just cant see it. I did want to make more of the objects physical, but ran out of time for that, knocking over the pencil stacks could indeed be fun. The track edges did end up being more annoying to crash into than I intended.

richard-michael-smith 2017-04-29 23:46

I played both the original and the updated version. The handling is much improved in the update and it's nice to be able to play it with a controller.

I must say - I'm very jealous that you managed to get an online leaderboard in there! I really wanted to have that but didn't know how to do it (especially within the time limit).

One thing I didn't try - if you fail the jump - do you land back on the track beneath and have to go round again? I was so desperate to get on the leaderboard that I wasn't willing to take the penalty to find out!

avon 2017-04-30 01:04

@richard-michael-smith Thanks for playing! You can land on the track beneath if you fail the jump, there is no collider preventing that.

Online high scores are actually fairly easy to do, there is a good tutorial on it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZuqEyxYZCc I followed it pretty closely for this game. The basic implementation can probably be done in an hour or two. It only saves high scores as integers though, trying to send float gives back a 0, working around that took a bit of time.

samurai-spark 2017-04-30 12:47

Very cool entry!

My opinion: - Great physics and mechanics - Awesome graphics with some really cool shaders - Nice level design - The music brings you in the right mood

And it really brings back the 90's for me. ^^

Awesome job!

crazi456 2017-05-01 04:27

Fun stuff! Fits theme well, love all the stuff littered on the track. Accidentally flipped my car on its trunk was pretty funny trying to get it to move around. Good job overall!

jk5000 2017-05-01 08:21

I have now also rated your game.

arcticmattekar 2017-05-01 09:04

The game reminds me of an old game I played when I was a kid :upside_down: The camera movement made me a bit dizzy, maybe a topdown camera would fix that? The driving of the car felt a little bit odd. However, I like the graphics and game idea. Nice job.

for-science 2017-05-01 09:08

I like the aesthetic and the graphics. The driving physics were a little clunky, however. I kept trying to slow down as I headed into a curve only to find that that prevented me from steering. It also felt as though the car was rotating around the camera, rather than its own axis? Is that true, or is it just the fixed camera that makes it seem so?

Overall, it reminded me a lot of the old Micro Machines games, which is awesome! I had a lot of fun, I just wish the controls were a little bit better. :race_car:

takusan 2017-05-01 12:38

Since the voting is up, I've added rating to my earlier feedback. Cheers!

avon 2017-05-01 12:49

@samurai-spark Thanks, glad you liked it!

@crazi456 Thanks!

@arcticmattekar Thanks for playing! Top down camera would probably fix that, but you also cant see that far ahead the track, making it difficult to plan your path. I could have made it an option though.

@for-science Thanks! You are right about the clunky steering, it was fixed in the updated version. The camera is fixed to the car and the car is definitely rotating around its own axis. I was hoping to implement a more advanced camera, but ran out of time for that.

local-minimum 2017-05-01 17:12

First I tried the original upload but that was entirely unplayable madness with the car more or less turning sharp 90 degrees on first steer and motion blur enough that there was nothing but color patches in view as soon as I wasn't standing still. With the updated version I forced myself through the two laps and it took me 8-9 minutes, but it was at least doable. It might be that you've designed the game on a powerful computer with big screen and so on, and that it runs smoother there, but on my laptop all the effects and the steering didn't really work well.

The graphics was otherwise really nice and it would have been cool to actually see all those 3D models better and not just curse them and their abundance when you got stuck on them again. I think I managed the most 3-4 seconds between running the car into stuff. The side of the track, the blocks, I think it was unnecessarily evil to have their colliders as blocks too that quickly rotated the car. I think it would have done better with a kind smooth collider and physics that avoided rotating the car. Otherwise I liked the concept and it made remember playing Micro Machines all these years ago.

avon 2017-05-01 17:52

@local-minimum Thanks for playing, though it sounds like your computer had a hard time running the game, the steering is actually fairly slow in the original version. What quality setting did you run it at? Its set to fantastic at default, which can be demanding on the graphics card. If it was that bad even at lowest setting I might try to optimize the lower quality settings a bit more in the updated version.

poffle 2017-05-02 11:10

Yeah! Finished 5th on the online leaderboard! Fun little game. The graphics are excellent, the controls are a bit weird (I played original version) but I got the hang of it and absolutely smashed it in the second lap. Great work with this one!

batmanasb 2017-05-03 23:22

The car looks wonky but the level graphics are top notch. However, the driving mechanics need a lot of work, in fact I think you used the wrong kind of physics body to handle movement. The car feels more like a player (kinematic body) than a rigid body, but with very slow turning. Real toy cars have more characteristics, such as momentum (keeps moving after letting go of the gas), friction (drifting/slipping), and bounce (colliding into stuff and reacting correctly).

Also, the level design is overcrowded, forcing slow and careful driving, over the more satisfying high speed driving and drifting action.

avon 2017-05-04 00:45

@Poffle Thanks for playing!

@batmanasb Thanks for your feedback. I did actually use a normal rigidbody, but with a very high drag value, and no friction. I was able to fix most of the issues you bring up by tweaking the values and formulas in the updated version, though I thought it'd be to complicated to add drifting in my current model. You are right that the track should have been a bit easier, I was probably too focused at making it fun for me, rather than people who only play it once.

louspirit 2017-05-04 19:49

Very good game! Nice take of the theme (not about planet). The controls are nice (appreciate the high speed) but it could be nicer if the car could drift. I like the athmosphere, it reminds me when I played with my toys as a child (maybe it was your goal) ;)

richard-michael-smith 2017-05-09 10:00

@avon - Thank you so much for that tutorial on creating online leaderboards! I wish I had known about it before the jam! Oh well - I know for next time!

richard-michael-smith 2017-05-09 12:23

I just realised that the scores I gave you have disappeared!?! In fact, the scores I gave out for the first few games I rated seem to have vanished!?

athomicus 2017-05-10 10:51

great physics and mechanic good game

terracottafrog 2017-05-10 19:55

While the game is, for the most part, fun, I feel that it is marred by a few issues.

The first is the motion blur. It feels a little bit tacky and fails to give the sense of speed you want. It also creates performance issues for people with subpar graphics cards.

The second is the controls. They did not match the expectations for how a car should behave. I let go of the gas to turn corners more accurately, and in response the car stopped turning. Reverse caused a huge number of issues.

At one point I also exited the track upon failing a jump. I feel like teh car should be reset at this point. This was in the second lap and I feel it penalized me too much. I did not complete the race because of this.

The assets were very good, however, and the obstacles are fairly varied.

Good work.