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[ThomasTC]

I've hacked together a really simple and quick prototype of a concept that's been on my mind for over a year. About six hours of work later:



It's the controls that make it different. Like a real shopping cart, you push/pull with two hands. Pushing on the left is done with the ESDF keys, on the right with IJKL. (Qwerty or similar keyboard layout recommended )

The current objective is to collect all the items as fast as you can. Other possibilities I'm thinking about: racing (possibly with weapons), tricks (with combos, multipliers and the like) and battle (with rocket launchers!).

I think this would work better with two joysticks (e.g. an Xbox controller) but since I don't have one, nor know how to code for it, it's a Windows prototype for now. I'm considering how well the concept would work on a multitouch smartphone (Android or iPhone).

The prototype is really simple: there's just one level, and it exits after you're done. Please let me know what you think of the concept!

Download here (347 kB).

[tesselode]

Wow, those controls make the game really hard. But they don't really make sense. Why are there four directions for each hand? Shouldn't each side just have controls for backward and forward?

[ThomasTC]

Yeah, but in real life, you can pull it sideways too, just not too hard (since your hands would slip). That's what I based this on; the sideways pull is less strong.

But when I play, I notice that I hardly (if at all) use left/right. So maybe they should be dropped -- but maybe left in for the more advanced player? They do allow for more moves, for example, "strafing" diagonally.

You're right that the controls make it hard. But I also think that with practice, this is something that people can become really good at. All sorts of trick moves are possible, like spinning around while moving in a straight line; they're just difficult. It should just not be too hard initially, or nobody will even try.

I'm personally not very good at this kind of thing, so I was wondering how more experienced/skilled gamers experience it

[ThomasTC]

Oh, right. Important to mention: vsync must be enabled in your video driver settings (or left up to the application). And your monitor is assumed to run at 60 Hz.

If the time runs faster or slower than 1 second per second, then you know that's my fault. If it runs significanty faster, you're in for a challenge

Yes, I have been cutting corners. It's a quick-and-dirty experimental prototype, okay? I'll see if I can fix this properly tomorrow so that more people can try it.

[ThomasTC]

New version is up! Changes:

• Fix timing issues.
• Tweak controls. There's now a minimum force, so even very short taps will have a noticeable effect. The force grows more quickly, so it gives you more control. Finally, the sideways force strength has been tweaked to make diagonal strafing easier.
• Make level roomier for more speed!
• Dvorak users hit F2 during the countdown.

Same URL, different file: download.

I'm curious to hear what you think of the controls now!

[ThomasTC]

In case anyone is still listening, I'm continuing the development of this prototype, but for the Android platform. Here is the development blog where you can watch my progress. There are already several posts online about various aspects, of which this is the first.