SINC-R
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
Description:
SINC-R stands for SINC-R Is Not a Cyberpunk Racer, it's a Synthwave racer designed and made for The Extra Credits Game Jam 3.
This game is made using Panda3D, and I get nothing for saying that, Panda3D is just awesome.
SINC-R is a time-trial type racing game. You have limited time to get to a checkpoint and when you reach one you get some extra time and the cycle repeats. Each time you reach a checkpoint your maximum speed increases by a small amount, but you also get less and less time to complete the next part of the lap. The checkpoint are easy to spot in-game, they are red-yellow geometrical shapes forming a tunel around the track.
The map you'll be driving on is a closed loop, but it is not a circle, it's a twisted Möbius strip. The first checkpoint-gate is a triangle and if you drive long enough you will reach it again, only on the bottom side of the track (technically the track has no bottom or top surface - it's the same surface all way round).
Installation:
To run the game simply unpack the archive and run the binary (.exe) file.
To run the game in full screen mode you will need to edit the provided config.ini file, just change 'fullscreen = 0' to 'fullscreen = 1' and set the appropriate resolution using the 'win-size' value
Controls:
By default the game uses W-A-S-D keys, but these keys can be changed in the games Options menu. Gamepad buttons can also be used (but not analog sticks). You will also need a mouse to navigate the menu.
The two bars, visible in the top left corner, after a race starts are a speed meter (the blue one) and a timer (the red one).
The source code of this game will be made available at a later date.
P.S. Pls send moneys, running low on coffee!
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Comments
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The aesthetic is cool, and some of the visual effects really add a lot to it. I think some animation stuff (the character leaning into turns, ect) would have contributed very positively to game feel, but I understand time contraints :P I did notice a couple bugs (like sometimes hitting a sharp turn wrong flipped my character completely backwards, which really sucked!) To be fair, that may have been an intentional mechanic, but it didn't feel that way. The music was awesome. I think this is definitely an aesthetic and game that could be expanded on very well.
This is impressive! The aesthetic you achieved is cool and well made, and the size of the road got me surprised. But, the feeling of speed and precision was missing, in my opinion. Maybe if you make the controls snappier and, instead of colliding, going of the map + a respawn system, you could achieve that.
Anyway, great entry, it made me also want to make a racing game sometime in the future.
I'm super impressed by how much you were able to get done in such a short timeframe! Great style, visuals, UI, audio, even options that save to a file, and a high score board. I also ran into the issue of not being able to play through it again without restarting the program, but that's not a huge problem, just a small nuissance. I'm glad that the controls are customizable, though it'd be handy if arrow keys were supported by default in addition to WASD, 'cause my left hand isn't quite as good at this sort of stuff. It might be even better with some type of mouse steering, since I found the keyboard control was a bit coarse; mouse might give finer control for faster speeds. That's just me guessing, though, so it might not work. Anyway, great stuff; I think it'd make a neat full game if you expanded it out a bit, maybe adding NPCs or other players to race against, more levels, etc. :)
This is a nice start. Looks good, plays alright, got music and options and stuff. (I love the sound effect to the scroll bar, lol.) I got the can't-replay problem.
I agree that more interest points/variation would help the game a lot.
First of all, I love the recursive acronym (which I'm guessing was a Wine reference). I'm really impressed that you tossed in control customization and an options menu into a game jam game. Racing on a mobius strip is a really cool concept. I also got the graphical bug that tykenn got, but it actually kind of worked in its own way, and didn't detract from the playability for me. Really cool aesthetic, although I felt like the controls felt a little off, I think partially due to a lack of a more complicated turning mechanic (that I noticed at least). Great job on the game!
I really like music and style although i was getting the effects like tykenn (in 4 boxes) which was very nauseating and with the sharp turns and sensitive narrow track i very quickly got dizzy. Other than that i thought this was a really chill game and i really like the walpole reference :D
You should be proud of your work and if you update it later on maybe ill come and try it again :)
The art direction and the music are really good. It could have been a little bit better if there were some more distinguishable areas (maybe the color pallete on each zone can be slightly different to show the zones) or landmarks in the track to add variation and to know where you are.
The constant width is a little bit underwhelming, especially on sharp turns, if there were more broad zones, I think the tighter ones could add more tension. The camera sometimes works against you, especially on turns when you are going up after going down, the camera doesn't catch up and you don't know where the track is headed. Same with the peaks where you go quickly from going up to down, the camera takes a moment to catch up and everytime i get into those zones, I crash.
You did a good job on the jam, congrats!
I love the effects, but I think they were broken for me. The screen flashed like this the entire game:
It seems like it was working fine for everyone else, so I'm not sure what is going on with my computer. I love the disorienting, winding tracks, very impressive for such a short jam! With some better warning about what comes after sharp bends and less turning around when I hit the walls (maybe penalize with something else, so I don't accidentally start driving backwards), this could be an awesome racing game.
That looks very broken. Can you try setting 'multisamples = 0' and 'textures-power-2 = 0' in the config.ini file under the [panda3d] section? You may also try removing 'gl-version = 3 2'.
It tried that, but it is still having the same problems (Although there is no 'textures-power-2' setting. Did you mean 'texture-anisotropic-degree'?)
'texture-power-2' it's a different setting, you have to add it in manually. It should be hardcoded in so the engine won't resize textures to the next power of two, but maybe for some reason it's not working as it should. If it's not that then probably something wrong with the shaders I've written or how your gpu drivers compile them. You can add 'show-buffers = 1' to see the individual filter buffers, but that won't fix the problem. I'll add options to disable some or all of the filters once the embargo on submitting changes lifts - for now I don't think there's much I can do. Sorry.
I figured they were different, but I'm not familiar with Panda3D, so I thought I'd check. None of your suggestions seemed to work, so hopefully I'm in the minority with that problem.
Hmm, I thought those "glitches" were intentional.
There are a lot of blind turns, and the screen effects are a bit disorienting, and as Zanryu mentioned, the lack of easily distinguishable reference points makes memorization of the track hard. There is also no clear feedback on whether you're turned around, so if you make a mistake, you can end up being totally lost, not knowing what the way forward is. That last part can be easily fixed by making the lights on the side of the track more arrow shaped (so they actually point backwards if you're turned around)
Well, personally, I think, the game is mostly carried by the music.
I say that because I think that the biggest issue this game has is the track itself (not the music track, tho). It feels very long even with the knowledge that it is a möbius strip.
The problem I see here is the lack of a point of reference. The track twists and turns rapidly and especially hard downward curves can feel very unfair when you don't see/know that it instantly twists again to the side. And after crashing into the wall, you turn (at least my driver did that) 180° which consumes even more time than the stopping would already do.
In total, the track works a bit against the camera as the lack of overview really diminishes the opportunities to react to a curve ahead.
Regarding the lack of a point of reference. While the surrounding art style may seem appealing coherent and good looking, the lack of a center (like a tower in a unique color) permanently emits a feeling of being lost. And without the unique markings on the checkpoints I would be totally lost.
A good possibility for another track layout I could think of would be an initial 3/4-circle around the aforementioned tower before going downwards and then have the twists and turns. This way, and with the help of the camera, you could let the player know where the track will lead you to.
Additionally the track itself isn't all that exciting as the width is very constant all throughout the course. I wish you would have included more broad spaces, especially around the sharp corners, so you would eventually go faster and faster (like in F-Zero or Wipeout).
You could also make the track much shorter so players would at least be able to complete 1 möbius strip cycle. The additional speed and the time-limit should be enough to create a verifiable skill display via the score system (which, I think, is just distance?). With a shorter track you would also increase the capability of memorization on the track and increase the feeling of progression within the player. It feels really frustrating if you have to drive for a long time (a timer would be nice), make a mistake and even haven't come close to the old record and old mistakes to improve.
Lastly, the speed maximum+ vs. time limit- seems a little bit hard capped to me. As in that there is a physical/mathematical limit how many points you can reach even with a perfect run.
Some notes: There was a bug that after the first run and you respawn, you won't get time on the first checkpoint/Start so you always looses and you have to make a hard-reset.
All valid point, can't disagree, if I had more time and some people to help with play testing maybe some of these could be avoided. Do visit again in a month or two I may have a updated version by then with some of the problems fixed.
Nice visuals and awesome music! Though, the sharp downward turns on the top side made it a bit hard to see, unless that was the intention. But nice concept!
Thanks! The downward turns are upwards turns on the second lap (but it's the same lap, only upside-down.. in a way, the track really has no orientation ) so one way or the other they would get obscured. I'll just call that a 'feature by necessity' and pretend it's designed that way to be a challenge and not something I didn't have time to fix ;)