remvst Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Hello everyone, JS13K is now over, so time to get back to games full of useless images For the past month, I've been working on Miami Night Ride. The game is a pseudo 3d racing game inspired by the classic Outrun, this tutorial, and this game. I think I am pretty much done with the game, but I still feel there's someting missing, which is why I post it as a WIP, to get advice from other developers. I'm looking for ways to make it more fun. The goal of the game is simple, you just have to race as long as possible and get points before time runs out. Checkpoints give you 30 seconds, and you get extra points by driving nicely, drifting, dodging cars...You also get 10 extra seconds every 25000 points. You can play the game at http://miami.tap2play.io/ It works on desktop and mobile (even lower end devices should run it okay). Looking forward to get some feedback on it and improve the gameplay (graphics will probably stay this way). Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeCake Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 At first I felt like the game was incredible difficult, but after a few tries I now feel like I can keep going for as long as I like. Currently I'm sitting at #1 with 113851, where I decided to stop and let time run out, or I would be going still. It didn't feel like it got harder with time? But maybe I just didn't play it long enough. So my suggestion would be to reduce the difficulty for the first 1-2 checkpoints and then gradually increase it to the point where you have to drive perfectly to keep going. Very nice game though, I like the style and performance seems very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixelpathos Posted September 21, 2014 Share Posted September 21, 2014 Hi Rémi, Firstly, congratulations on putting Miami together. I've spent some time examining the code in the Code inComplete demo, and was hoping to build a game around the pseudo 3D engine as my next project (after Luminarium), but didn't have the guts to do so as I thought it would take too long. However, you've proved it's possible to put together something successful in a reasonable period of time, so that's to be applauded. As per JakeCake's comment, I found that, after a while learning the controls, I could continue almost indefinitely. Is there any progression built into the game, e.g. increasing track or traffic difficulty? Obviously, time and (non-existent) budget permitting, it would be nice to have some kind of visual progression, as per the original Outrun and also Android/iOS clone (and unfair comparison!), Final Freeway 2, but that increases the project scope massively. Perhaps something like trying to drive until (visual) sunrise would be an easier option? I like what you've done with the ongoing driving rewards. There's perhaps potential to take those ideas further, and formalise them into goals (even if they are created on-the-move). I came across Red Driver 3, a slightly different style of driving game in Flash. That game actually makes a mission out of driving on the wrong side for a specific period of time. There are also missions such as collecting coins, avoid mines, surviving for a period of time without crashing etc. Mines in Miami might not work(!), but hopefully there are some ideas in there. Did you have any plans for audio (didn't hear any on desktop or mobile)? I think the sound of a revving engine would contribute significantly to the sense of speed that you've already managed to create. I wonder if Web Audio could be persuaded to do this? Likewise for the crashes: your screen shakes are very successful, but a big bang would add to the fun . From a technical point of view, I was wondering if you've had any performance issues? I see from your Twitter feed that Miami now adapts its resolution to the device, which must help a fair bit. I tried the version here on my Galaxy S4, and the Chrome profiler is showing somewhat less than 30 fps at times. From my initial look at the original demo code, I identified a few quick performance wins e.g. reducing the area of the screen that is cleared and redrawn, but also batching the fill()/fillRect() calls by building a single, more complex shape of all polygons of the same colour, then just filling once per colour per frame. The performance gain was something like 17%, if I recall my experiment correctly. Regardless, I enjoyed playing - congrats again, and keep up the good work! Vince. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remvst Posted September 22, 2014 Author Share Posted September 22, 2014 Thank you guys for the feedback. It gives me a good start to know what I should work on. Obviously difficulty is a problem, and I'll work on it to start easier and get gradually harder (it actually already does, but it's not too obvious). Regarding the missions idea, I really like that idea. I think I'll integrate something similar in the next version. That was a great idea thanks. Regarding audio, I usually don't really care about it, but I know players do. I don't know if I should go for realistic, or 8bit though. And I'll probably add a soundtrack too. Regarding performance, I've already tried the batch idea, but the difference was hardly noticeable, so I dropped it. If a device can get 30 fps, I'm okay with that, because the game seems playable (compared to other 2D games where I would never accept less than 50 fps). I'll come back with a new version (feel free to give new ideas though ) pixelpathos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zackproser Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 This is fantastic. I love the retro vibe. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BdR Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 For the past month, I've been working on Miami Night Ride. The game is a pseudo 3d racing game inspired by the classic Outrun, this tutorial, and this game.Your game looks cool but it could use some perspective effects on the car sprite, just like in the tutorial. Btw that pseudo-3d racing game tutorial by Jake Gordon is amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remvst Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 Your game looks cool but it could use some perspective effects on the car sprite, just like in the tutorial.Yeah it's more about a lack of graphical skills here I'll try to come up with something though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
enriqueto Posted September 24, 2014 Share Posted September 24, 2014 It looks fantastic! It just needs more game play. Would it be possible to use phaser and get good performance on mobile for that game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remvst Posted September 24, 2014 Author Share Posted September 24, 2014 It looks fantastic! It just needs more game play. Would it be possible to use phaser and get good performance on mobile for that game?Maybe if you use WebGL, but then the whole pseudo 3D doesn't make much sense anymore. Phaser would probably slow it down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remvst Posted October 5, 2014 Author Share Posted October 5, 2014 Alright, due to a terrible lack of time to take the game further (university takes all my time), I only implemented the challenges idea (I might tweak it a little bit though). You can still play the game at http://miami.tap2play.io/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.