Posted February 24, 2025 by MauroDeryckere
#Prototyping #Brainstorming #Introduction
Bumpurr Cars is a game made for the course Game Projects in DAE. The goal of the course is to develop a game for a game jam. The objective is to create a fun, local multiplayer game over the course of 12 weeks.
Bumpurr Cars is a fun local multiplayer game where players control bumper cars in an enclosed arena. The goal is to bump opponents into environmental hazards and other opponents. Powerups and events will make the game more fun and choatic
During the first week, we primarily focused on brainstorming the game concept and deciding what the most important mechanics are to prototype coming weeks. We created a shared Miro board and all added our game ideas, in the end, we had up to 10 different concepts and we picked the most fun one, which ended up being the Bumper Car concept.
Another concept we had talked about was some form of a cat fighting game and we thought it would be a great idea to combine the visuals of that game with the bumper car game to make it more fun and appealing. So the bumper cat was born.
We started by comparing different arena sizes with a cube representation of our car to see what the visibility limits are.
Our main question here was, how can we utilize as much map area as possible? Since the game can get quite chaotic players should not be able to get from one side to the other too quickly.
We opted for a dynamic camera that zooms in and out to keep all players on screen. This prevents the need for split-screen and keeps the camera focused on the action. Our most important findings during the camera prototype:
Below are some with different gameplay scenarios (players close together vs far apart). And after that a final comparison of the scenario with players the furthest apart possible, comparing different map arena sizes.
We've also started experimenting with some camera shake to eventually add more feedback to car bumping. We need to fine-tune the intensity so it adds to the experience without being too distracting, Especially since the camera is shared by all players we should not apply it on every hit but only when certain criteria are met.
Reversing gives players more control and makes it easier to get out of situations where all cars are close together and/or stuck, but we need to test whether it slows down the action too much or gives you an advantage we don't want. A limited reverse (e.g., only for a short time or a very slow one) might be a good compromise.
Bumper cars should have snappy but not instant turning. Currently, we simply turn based on a set turn speed and you can only turn when your car is at a minimum velocity. Turn speed should be scaled based on your movement speed though to make it more realistic and satisfying.
Realistic physics made the bumper car collisions feel too weak. Instead, we exaggerate the bounce effect to make impacts more satisfying and chaotic. This is done by setting a "bump strength" which could also be adjusted with certain powerups later on.
Currently, we haven't noticed the car can flip over but it may be possible especially as a lot of players hit you at the same time or when a lot of chaos emerges through events or powerups. This is something we should test thoroughly.
On top of applying more bounce strength to your opponent, we also added some additional knockback to the "winning car" to make the collision feel stronger and prevent players from constantly bumping the same player.
Next week, we will continue prototyping our game to refine the mechanics and answer more questions about the game.