Game 1: Warp Racer X [Work in Progress]

A fast-paced racing-like game that borrows elements from F-Zero. In the current version you fly over an infinite road dodging what looks like cargo falling out of the back of a moving truck while trying to collect yellow coins. You can hit jumps for some serious hang time and glide around in style. 

I do not have a build ready for playing just yet but stay tuned!

Development history

The initial idea of the game was to have a plane fly over a rotating cylinder dodging objects that were part of the cylinder. You can see how this object spawning mechanism works in more detail here:

Once I had the object spawning working, I implemented the basic flying mechanics of the plane:

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1722363668677964235

Next I UV mapped the cylinder and applied a texture to it

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1724922932638400907

Next I changed the camera angle and increased the size of the cylinder to make the game more exciting:

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1725281634792931363

I struggled quite a bit with getting my texture resolution up to a level that didn't look terrible. Eventually I realised that I just needed to UV map the cylinder more efficiently so that it utilised the available texture space to the fullest degree:

I also created a normal map to make the asphalt look less flat:

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1726736047843758384

Next I needed to make the texture seamless:

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1727457641213919674

Next I wanted to focus on the gameplay. Since the texture I made ended up being a road texture, I thought that it might be fitting to make the game about dodging traffic:

This turned out to be pretty boring. So I instead pivoted to having obstacles fall onto the road towards the player. I mixed in some collectable coins and ramps for some serious air time and everything started to come together into a much more fun experience:

Link to video: https://twitter.com/make100games/status/1728916351174185443

Next steps

Next I need to fine-tune how often things are spawned. I want to get a good balance between the obstacles that you are supposed to avoid and the collectibles. I also want to finalise the visuals by modelling out some sort of hover craft type thing and by adding guard rails. Finally I want to give the game sound effects, music and maybe a nice post processing motion blur effect to increase that sense of speed.