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[michaelplzno]

Download The Latest

The physics are based on my favorite racing game Mario Kart Double Dash. I recommend a joystick to really get the most out of it but keyboard works too. (Also there are experimental mouse controls in there I'm curious to get feedback on.)

The tracks themselves are procedurally generated from pre-designed chunks so you get a new track each race.

The "karts" aren't all just cars either. As of now you can also play as a horse or a UFO which all have different abilities and driving styles. UFO can float for example.

Also it has online multiplayer.

Here is an 8 minute video of the game being played so far:

I tweet about all this stuff as well @SpeedwayHeroes but I figure I'll also post the latest stuff here just to see what happens.

Hope you enjoy the game and the updates. Feel free to give me any feedback you want, we aim to please!

THE BIG LIST OF THINGS TO CHANGE:

• Race to DMV (Infinite Mode) offers a better reason to play over again.
• Race to DMV (Infinite Mode) is less punishing on death and offers a better sense of progression.

[Savick]

Okay! Lots of observations and suggestions here.

First of all the darker purple text you have on the shaded transparent background in the title is tough to make out at a glance. Readability by the player should be key at all times so try fiddling with that some. Second, the controls for the cars in general don't feel tight enough.

When I turn there's a delay that makes it hard to tell when it will stop and it shouldn't take getting used to like that given that it's a racing game. I also had no idea what the controls were and had to guess that arrow keys did anything after playing with the mouse and WASD.

When selecting a car I tried using the mouse, but the selection frame didn't follow the mouse itself, which was annoying. The horse isn't as visible as it should be on a dark background, so again player readability.

Having unlockable content is all well and good, but if I have no idea how it unlocks or what it is, there is little desire to progress towards it as a goal.

What purpose does logging in for the player represent? I would also never want to directly give someone my email in a game as part of a casual feature. Maybe have a save file system that isn't behind a check for personal info?

Lastly, I like how calming, but upbeat the music is.

[michaelplzno]

Savick, thanks for this!

Just to make sure we are on the same page, the title text you are talking about being hard to read is in the following image?:


Is it the "Speedway Heroes" or the "To Infinity!", B/c I'm gonna overhaul the ui so I'm glad you noticed that as a problem but I thought at least the "Speedway Heroes" at the top was pretty readable

Also training gives a bit more info about the controls. I could change the layout of the splash page a bit to try to encourage people to give it a shot. I kind of don't want to force people to do the tutorial. I was thinking a lot about the Star Fox tutorial when I made the splash and training mode:



I'm not quite sure I pulled it off so I should probably do another pass.

Also, I'm taking it you used the keyboard? I could try to do another pass at the keyboard controls, its kind of hard b/c you just get binary left/right rather than an analog stick so I actually tried smoothing that out which I think you picked up on as a delay and I'll have to try a better way.

Oh yeah, what do you mean by "the selection frame didn't follow the mouse itself" Like you expected it to change when you hovered over a character as opposed to on clicking one? (Also I'm going to try to make the menu a bit more usable with a keyboard and joystick.)

Logging in for multiplayer lets me moderate multiplayer from potential troublemakers. You know how online setups can draw in problem users. Without registration its the wild west.

Also, unlocking characters isn't the main progression for the game. I'm planning on reworking the "Race to The DMV" to give it a bit more of a reason to play over and over.

Again, Thanks! All of this will make the game better so bring it on!

[Savick]

It's the "date" and "to infinity" on the first line, yes. Tutorials should always be skipable, even by new players, but be there to inform the player in case they need it.

Yes to what you said about the mouse frame thing.

If you need someone's email for any reason please tell them exactly why up front.

[michaelplzno]

Ok, that's helpful. I'm thinking of making multiplayer unlock after you've done a bit more in single player so by then it will be more clear what the e-mails are for. You'll get a license plate tied to your username and there will be some other general community building stuff like setting up leagues down the line. (BTW, you can still get a pretty low number license plate if you register now.)

Edit: oh yeah, you skipped the tutorial and then gave feedback about not knowing the keybindings... grrr. I'll think about that situation.

[michaelplzno]

Updated the build to take into account a lot of Savic's feedback. Also working on the "Race to the DMV" where if you screw up you explode:

[michaelplzno]

Working on adding some obstacles to the Race to the DMV. I think its a bit too harsh currently, one mistake = death is too much. Thinking of making it a penalty where you get a time penalty for your run each time you screw up. Also I want to add more types of track to give a better sense of progression.

[michaelplzno]

Messing around with some promo gifs for the game's website:

[michaelplzno]

Also worked on some new track segments this week:



In this one you can ride outside the spike wall to get a boost but its a bit riskier.


Also the new website is online: http://speedwayheroes.com

[michaelplzno]

Getting ready for Boston FIG, new logo:


Adding in some landmarks so you have a better sense of progression on the race to the DMV:

[michaelplzno]

Adding a small tweak to the game over and I got this bug:

[michaelplzno]

After watching a lot of people awkwardly select their hero I'm trying a new draft of the hero select screen.

[michaelplzno]

Even more changes to hero select:



Probably will change more still.

[michaelplzno]

Messing with bots for the race to the DMV, got derpy AI:

[michaelplzno]

Back to working on this after launching "Don't Shoot Yourself!" on Steam.


New branching path system and minimap to give players more choices on how to navigate each level:

[marcgfx]

looking good! I'm working on a racing game myself, what makes it even more interesting. I even have a ufo (not released atm)
while watching the video i had following thoughts:
- what does the legit mean?
- the curves with the high walls look fun, but dont seem to have much value. you seemed to avoid them if possible
- the horse is a fun idea, but the walking cycle looked a little disconnected from the speed (also continued to walk in the air)
- when the car lands, sound is missing. its way too smooth right now, no impact

[michaelplzno]

@marcgfx good points all. The idea for now is to make the game fun and then polish things like impact sounds and better horse animations etc. I'm working on adding in a lot more objectives and structure to the single player mode in the coming weeks which is the top priority for now.

[michaelplzno]

Adding in some coins, I still want to add more personality to them. I'm thinking of making them tied to sponsorships from fake companies:

[michaelplzno]

Adding tollbooths to make check points more clear:

[michaelplzno]

Working on this for a pitch to XBOX, I think I may end up making the game totally free to play and have people pay for cosmetic items.

The thing is that an XBOX launch for ID@XBOX isn't a giant thing, its pretty small, so the games you have to make have to be ready to go in a quick dev cycle because you'll only get a few months worth of income from them if you do really well. Then when you add new achievements every 6 months you get a boost.