Hello everyone, I would like to present my new game called "Vector Rally" which has been submitted to the app store. Would really like to get some feedback of what do you guys/girls think about it. Any feedback is welcome, the more the better! About the Game Vector Rally is a turn based logic racing game which simulates a car race around the track. Cars move from one grid point to another by using vectors, e.g a move of 3 squares to the right and 2 square up can be described by a vector x(3, 2). Cars move by the rules of inertia and traction and those reminds of how real racing cars moves around the track so you should always plan ahead, e.g start slowing down at the right time before dangerous turns, choose the best racing line to move efficiently etc. For each move you can select one of eight available neighboring points (little blue circles in the screenshots). Actual move is performed by touching one of the big blue circles in the lower left of the screen. During each consecutive move player can increase speed by one square, maintain same speed or decelerate as required. The player who finishes track in least score possible wins the game. Score is made of total turns made and also penalties received. You can be penalized if your car moves outside the track (+1), crashes into another car (+1) or hits the wall (+2). Different traction rules applies if you race on rough surface of the track - grass, dirt etc. In this case some move points will be disabled and your speed will be decreased by one square each move. If you hit the wall your car will stop immediately. This game is not only a good fun to play together with your family or friends, but it can also be used as a teaching tool about vectors! Please ask any questions, will be more than happy to answer them! I will also release game play video soon, hopefully it will make more sense about mechanics of the game. Game features - 7 unique tracks on initial release and more via updates - all tracks are hand crafted by an artist and has unique themes: Pacific Island City Rush Mexican Desert Snowy Mountains Eastern Aztec Ruins African Safary - single player - multi-player on same device (up to 4 players) - multi-player via Bluetooth or local WiFi (up to 4 players) - AI players - local high scores - global high scores (OpenFeint) - achievements More screenshots
This looks really cool! I love the themes of the tracks, and I love th emultiplayer. A really unique idea here, it reminds me of Lego Racers, the board game. Have you guys thought of power ups like Mario Kart/Party, that you would throw at an opponent to cause them to lose a turn, etc.?
Hi, I'm glad you like it! And thanks for your feedback, really appreciated! This game is based on paper & pen game played in 70-80's, was quite popular when I was in school and didn't have a PC I have few ideas like yours, for example player can spill oil on the track and it will affect you current vector and might throw opponent in a different direction etc. If there is enough interest something like this can be added with the update?
yeah, this does look neat I was also thinking with the width of the tracks, you could also have obstacles that could be present on the track and you must navigate round them...something that might be a bottleneck or affect speed...or maybe you could have the track split with one part being shorter but much curvier or something while the other is straighter/easier to navigate...so the player can choose to risk the shorter path if they think they can judge the vectors correctly; otherwise, they can choose the more conservative path
thank you, this sounds like a really good idea as well! Will implement something like this on new tracks. Now I regret not posting about my game earlier, you guys are full of good ideas!
thank you! Triplanetary looks interesting as well, never heard of it before! Maybe it could be my second game?
This'll definitely come in a later update, but what about a track editor that you draw a track with your finger, and then you use a theme/skin as the background?
Yes, that would be really cool, but not sure how easy/hard would be to implement something like this on iPhone screen. Game uses per pixel collision detection with masking image and making all those could be a daunting task I'm afraid. Perhaps external editor would be easier approach? Need to think about it.. Sure mate, but next game won't be there very soon Anyway, will add you to my list to make sure I remember.
Just a quick update.. Decided to implement proper multi player via Bluetooth/Wifi so release date will be January 2010. Everything is going along nicely, up to 4 players allowed in one session. Originally wanted to to do multi player on device only and then add network play via update, but due to recent changes from Apple about update process decided to do it in initial release. Also will probably add another game mode, where instead of vectors you move your car as knight moves in a chess game (3 up 1 left etc.). In this case there would be no acceleration/deceleration and it brings different challenges to get around the track. By the way, how many of you play iPhone games with your family/friends via Bluetooth/Wifi?
This looks like a load of fun!!! I wish it supported randomly generated tracks though... that would certainly add to the replayability and would avoid people simply memorizing the right moves for any particular track. Can't wait! d.
Thanks mate! Yes, you can memorize the track, but won't be that easy, trust me I'm also tossing with the idea about adding time factor, e.g you not only need to find best racing line, but also finish as fast as possible! So amount of time spent on each move would be added to the final score. What do you think? I also have few more ideas (some from this thread ) on how to improve game further: - add obstacles (maybe even random ones during gameplay) - ability by players to drop oil patches, mines and other annoyances - shoot rockets I really like the idea about custom tracks, but won't be easy to implement.
This game looks good, I can't wait to try it when it comes out! All of the ideas so far are also good, I would like to know pricing plans for this game, though. By any chance, is this the pencil and paper game you based this on? EDIT: I'd also like to help beta test whatever games you have in the works.
Pricing wise haven't decided yet, but it will be 0.99 or 1.49. Yes, it is based on the paper and pen game as per link you've provided, we were playing this game at school in 80's. I will be looking for beta testers for multi player part which is 90% done and working, so if you have more than one device available to test on, PM me.
$0.99 sounds great! I PMed you, and I've tryed out the game in pencil and paper form, pretty fun even if I'm just playing alone. This is definately on my waiting list for next year/this holiday.
I'm glad you like it! Tested multi player part at work with few friends today, so much more fun!! You not only need to find the best way around, but also try to block other players from doing so!
OOooohhhhhoooooohhhhh. Tile based car racing. Now that is a new one. I haven't fully read the rules or anything, but does it require complex math skills to play? Otherwise, I'm screwed.