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A jam submission

Hydroplane: Riptide RacersView game page

Break the waves! Chase the glory!
Submitted by Flaming Monkey — 17 hours, 13 minutes before the deadline
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Hydroplane: Riptide Racers's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Art / Aesthetic#64.1434.429
Gameplay / Fun Factor#73.6083.857
Ready to Release for Money!#72.9403.143
Music & Sound#83.7424.000
Overall#83.4743.714
Can't Wait For The DLC / Sequel#112.9403.143

Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Concept Jam Submission Link
https://flaming-monkey.itch.io/hydroplane-riptide-racers-concept

Prototype Jam Submission Link
https://flaming-monkey.itch.io/hydroplane-riptide-racers-prototype

Production Jam Submission Link
https://flaming-monkey.itch.io/hydroplane-riptide-racers-production

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Comments

Submitted(+1)

Do rockets go after any other players? Because I definitely got hit by every single one I'm pretty sure. :D jk lol... kinda.

Real tho, this game looks and sounds amazing. Super great job on that. The boat feels very slidey but that's probably intended since it's a water vehicle. The other racers are mean af. It seems like they have some more movement options than I do since they're kinda zipping around. Also the shield seems pretty weak compared to everything else. I'd recommend having the shield just be active until it blocks one thing.

For the levels, I'd recommend having the arrows visible all the time so you can see when a turn is coming up. There were times in the first level where I'm coming to a crossroads and then at the last second an arrow pops up pointing to the right so I drift turn and slam into the wall. For the underwater level, it would have been very nice to have indication on what's not allowed to be driven through. I tried to take a shortcut and boosted straight into a wall :(

Speaking of the underwater level tho, those dark sections are neat. I think having a bigger dark section would be fun and would be a cool addition. I would love to see more put into this for a release.

Great job on this :)

Developer(+1)

Thanks for playing!

The rockets are supposed to go after the other players, I've noticed recently that might not be happening.. They're supposed to look at the array of positions and then go for the kart in the position ahead of the user but they seem a little hectic lol but if it gives you any solace, your own rocket cannot hurt you.

Yea, I couldn't work out the same movement mechanics for the NPC racers as I could for the player. I'll have to do some more tweaking to get them right.

And I'll definitely just leave the arrows constantly visible, that's one of those things that looks cool when you know the track like the back of your hand but is annoying when you haven't been creating the game for 5 weeks lol

The invisible walls were leftover from some of me trying to stop AI from taking insane shortcuts and I just forgot to remove them

Thank you so much for playing and for the great feedback!

Submitted(+1)

The controls felt a little strange and took some getting used to. The initial area was very helpful in getting to grips with the controls. However, the initial race was somewhat unforgiving to me as I wasn't used to the physics of the vehicle. In addition, the guide arrows appeared fairly late so I wasn't able to react and turn. 

A simpler course with a wider track, gradual turns, and fewer physical obstacles would be useful for letting the player familiarise themselves with the vehicle physics, and drifting. Ironically, I think that the last race track's layout would have be a better fit as the first race. The guide arrows could appear sooner so that the player can have more time to prepare themselves by getting into a better position to approach the turn or decide which route to take.

The power ups were useful, though it didn't seem like the shield protects you. The rocket was very useful, especially since it will turn and then fire backwards when you're in first place. Descriptions of the power ups will be helpful, especially for the shield and magnet power ups (I didn't know the duration of the former, and I am unsure what the effect of the latter is). 

I like the bright, almost Frutiger Aero feel of the setting. It makes the game feel like it will be vast and that there's things to explore. The music also contributes to this feeling as well. Would this 

The first few words from Jett initially made me think that he would be a radio host or sports commentator, so my impression of the character was locked to that. I was slightly confused when he starts to address the player directly, and realised that my initial guess was incorrect, and that he's an old friend (or similar) of the player.

Overall, I like the aesthetic, and the controls feel fine after you get a chance to acclimate to the vehicle physics; it will now depend on the race tracks that you will create. Great work!

Developer

Wow! Thank you for all the detailed feedback! 

I think you have a very good point on the track design order, I'm planning out what the future of Hydroplane: Riptide Racers looks like and think it's a good thing to consider putting more open tracks towards the beginning of the game. I recently had my mom play the game and noticed what you're saying about the arrows appearing a little too late to follow them.

With the powerups, I got carried away in some aspects of trying to make unique things and then didn't leave time to create an explanation for the player. The magnet pulls you closer to the racer in front of you and pulls them back a bit if they're within your line of sight. And the shield just blocks you from getting hit from anything, it should be working on the rockets.... but I've reworked the rockets like 6 times so I might have missed it at some point lol

I've never heard the term Frutiger Aero before but that's a really good description of what I was going for. I was shooting for a beachy/tropical vibe.

I wrote like a bunch of backstory for the characters and then didn't have time to even attempt to shoehorn it in so the voice lines I got from my friend had to do as they were. He's supposed to be an old friend of the PC.

Again, thank you so much for playing and for leaving great feedback!!

Submitted(+1)

Wow! This was fantastic. I think I need a little more practice to get the hang of the turn controls. They were a little loose for turning, but I think that lines up with the water physics.

It felt very polished and high quality. And the voiceover was really great too.

Developer

Thanks so much for playing! I was trying to find a sweet spot between floaty controls but still having control over it, it might need  a little more tweaking.

Submitted(+1)

The environment design was great. I like the modern/futuristic style buildings in the first level. Though the last level did give me motion sickness,. The voiceover was a neat addition, too.

Developer

Thank you! I'm really happy with the design on all the levels!

I'm sorry the last level gave you some motion sickness! I bet it was some of the post processing I did, I'll look into turning it down or making a motion sickness setting in future iterations. Thanks so much for playing!

Submitted(+1)

This game is pretty cool, love how transitions from a race to a high-speed chase, then back to a race. And while the voice acting was kind of cheesy, it was pretty cool. I get what you were going for with trying to make it cinematic. Some gripes I had with the game were not having the option to shoot items backward, or the controls being kind of unwieldy at times. Other than that, with a few bug fixes and a more cinematic flair, I can see this being a pretty cool kart racer.

Developer(+1)

Thanks so much for playing and for the feedback! 

Yea, I've had a friend that's been wanting to do a voice in a game for me for awhile. Between it being his first time and my bad writing I think it came out pretty well lol. 

I'm seriously considering expanding it into a larger game and if I do, I'll definitely add more items and the ability to use them backwards. 

Thank you!