Racing on the living Planet

DESCRIPTION

Racing on the Living Planet is a small racing game with some combat elements made for a school project.

It's inspired by racing scenes like Star Wars Episode 1 Podracing and Oban Star-Racers.

Visually it's similar to early PlayStation games which have low poly models and simple textures as well as a retro inspired pixel look.

The game was made in Unity 3D with the HDRP render pipeline.

Almost everything in the game is self made by myself. Sources can be found in the game.

The Game is fully playable on Windows PCs and can be downloaded through itch.io

General Information

Genre:

Arcade Racing game

Platforms:

Windows PC

Target groups:

Achiever
Killer

The setting of the game:

The human race is racing against aliens on a planet that is a living creature, with spaceships that are made of metal and flesh

Key Features:

Driving Forward and Backwards
Straf left and right
Rolling left and right
Change direction via looking around
Boosting with limited fuel
Shooting the enemy
Taking damage through raming walls
Driving through checkpoints in the correct order

USPs:

The Living Planet
Freedom of movement via the Mouse

Nostalgic feeling

Pixelated Resolution for a more nostalgic feeling (854 x 480)
Low Poly optic
Textures have a resolution of 32 x 32

Level Design

Layout

The Racetrack is very Curvy and needs a lot of Control of the spaceship, but it also has some longer open parts to use the Boost.

The level is designed in a way that the player needs a fast reaction time and fine controls the be able to beat the race.

Beat Chart

The level is made in a way that the player has an exciting start. And changes to an easier part if the player does not drive through the shortcut. But if the player flies through the shortcuts it gets more intesense so the shortcut is more exciting.

Objectives and challenges

Pictures are edited so they are bit better to see

Grass Lands

This is the starting point, it's a small arena, and the player looks straight at the first checkpoint to make a quick start possibel. The opponent accelerates faster than the player at the start. The player can now follow the enemy in order to find the path a little better at the beginning and fight their way back forward through the race.

Then the player finds a straight with a sharp right turn, it's marked with yellow signs with arrows on it like all the turns, to create a more visible route. This is intended to show the player the basic controls of how to fly around turns.

This is followed by a very tight turn that leads uphill and is intended to teach the player to fly a longer and tight turn.

There is a right turn where you have to be careful not to get stuck otherwise the player will go to a previous part of track.

Grass lands Pillars

The player has to fly around columns, which leads to a very fast feeling with a lot of tension. To find the way, the player can orient himself on the opponent or use the places where light reaches the ground to find a way to the goal and to better avoid the pillars. In addition, the player can see the next checkpoint in most places halfway through the journey.

Grass lands Glass brige

What follows is a winding route that you can just fly through, but it is quite narrow, which again makes the player feel faster.

Then there is a tunnel made of glass where you can see a Ravine if you look around. This straight tunnel is good for using the player's boost to catch up with the opponent.

There are 2 very tight curves that go downhill. The player has to change direction very quickly.

Grass lands Shortcut

After the checkpoint, there is a shortcut on the left that is hidden. Straight from here, it's a fairly easy route, but it's significantly longer.

The longer route consists of 3 curves and a longer straight that is slightly curved, this is good for using the player's boost.

The shortcut path is very curved, so the player cannot simply fly straight.

In addition, the player has to fly at different heights if he flyes the shortcut in order to fly over or under things.

The last part of this section is another straight stretch that the player has to fly over.

Cave

The player jumps his spaceship over a cliff to the caves entrance.

For this screenshot, the post-processing effects are switched off for a better view of the screenshots. The player can see these areas mainly through a lamp on the vehicle

The players fly through a small cave with a hole in the middle. The players can now follow the circle or they can take a shortcut where they have to use boosts and go from the entrance of the cave straight to the end of this area. However, if they fall into the abyss, the race ends immediately as the player's HP drops to 0.

Meat cave 1

For the following screenshot, the light effects are switched off for a better view of the screenshots. The player can see these areas mainly through a lamp on the vehicle.

The cave changes into a passageway with walls made of flesh and bulges that expand and contract. In the background, you can hear a heartbeat.

The current section consists of very long serpentine lines that are intended to contrast with the many long straights and narrow curves.

In the tunnel, there are these flesh rings that expand and contract and thus represent a changing obstacle as they regularly change their size.

Ravine

This section plays very similarly to the last section with pillars as it has a similar structure, but it no longer offers any lights to help you better avoid the pillars. The player has to use some indirect light and his lamp on the spaceship to find around the pillars. In the upper area, you can also see the Glass Tunnel through which you flew.

Meat cave 2

The player is led back into a flesh tunnel, but it is shorter and only has a small swivel in it.

At the end of the tunnel, the player flies out onto the ocean where the sun shines towards you. This is supposed to represent a dramatic change from a very narrow tunnel to an open area.

Ocean

This area is a beach with an adjacent sea and many stone pillars. The player can fly relatively freely here, but if he flies too far away he will slowly lose height and fall into the sea. Many signs show the player a suggested route as the player has to fly through the checkpoints in sequence.

The player has to fly through 5 checkpoints and the finish to complete the race.

The player also has to fly around the stone pillars and you can boost very strongly here in order to overtake the opponent again.

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