Light racer
a competitive tron like videogame for night market gamers
Development of a tron like videogame for night markets in Taiwan
Industry:
Entertainement
Services:
Web programming
Country:
Taiwan
Tags:
Videogame, custom programming, multi-player, arcade gaming, javascript
Light racer offers a brand new gaming experience in Taiwanese night markets. This is a multiplayer game that features 2 to 4 snakes each control by a player. If the player hits the canvas borders or another snake body, he loses. The last snake on the canvas is the winner.
Each game features 3 rounds. At the end of the 3 rounds a winner is identified wins points. He can then exchange his point with goodies offered by the booth employee.
Each game features 3 rounds. At the end of the 3 rounds a winner is identified wins points. He can then exchange his point with goodies offered by the booth employee.
Challenges
- 01We never worked on a videogame project before. Although we are experienced on the programming languages used for the project, developing online videogame requires some specific expertise.
- 02 A game is composed of 3 rounds and 4 players. In each round, if 2 snakes die at the same time, they must receive the same number of points. And the total number of points delivered must always be the same throughout a game.
- 03 To record every move of the 4 snakes in real time while keeping a smooth game play.
- 04 To provide game settings modification options for the booth employee to make the game play easier or harder.
Solutions
- 01Because we were interested in the project and motivated to work on new things, we accepted to work at a lower rate than we usually do letting the client know about the situation.
- 02 We made a script that simulates different situations so that we could validate the scores when 2, 3 or 4 players are engaged in the game as well as the score calculation in case several snakes die at the same time.
- 03 Recording 4 positions several times per second can be demanding for a server. Therefore we worked on lightening the recording process as much as possible.
- 04 The booth employee has simple controls to adjust the snake movement speed, the snake maximum length, the number of rounds in a game as well as the number of games.
Benefits
- 01The game works flawlessly and the game play is perfect for a fun night market videogame experience.
- 02 The accuracy of the point’s calculation was crucial because an error would lead to a booth that can’t make money until we fix the issue. No point calculation error was reported by Hello Bast so far.
- 03 No lagging issue was reported by the client while in use on night markets. Same as previous point, a game that lags too much would lead to a substantial loss of money.
- 04 Depending on the night markets and of the players, the game’s settings are adjusted regularly to ensure the game remains challenging and fun while generating profit for the company.
