For a game development course I'm taking, I've started working on a concept that blends two of my passions: arcade racing and music creation. I'll open with the elevator pitch and then get into some of the details of my progress so far.
My game is tentatively titled Rhythm Racer, an arcade-style racing game where your performance as a player composes the soundtrack in real time.
The Concept
The hook is that every race starts with a simple beat. The main goal of the gameplay is to build the intensity and complexity of the music through skillful driving. As you play, accomplishments like completing laps or collecting tokens will unlock other instruments and sounds within the music's theme. Your speed can even affect the music's tempo, creating a direct link between the action and the audio. The fun comes from the satisfying audiovisual feedback loop where skill is directly translated into musical intensity.
My inspiration comes from classics like F-Zero and Ridge Racer. A basic example of this gameplay-music interaction is in Super Mario World; when Mario saddles up on Yoshi, a conga track is added to the music. The art style will emulate the slick, vibrant aesthetic of those classic racers, focusing on a signature style and design over realism.
This central feature is entirely feasible. I have experience composing with classic mod trackers, and these music formats can be controlled by game engines. An engine like Godot, for example, can manipulate a song's channels, pitch, and looping, which provides all the necessary tools to bring this concept to life.
My "Greybox" Demo Progress
I've put together a "greybox" demo to start bringing this idea to life. I started from scratch and created a flat, looping race track. It begins with a straight path, a turn, a couple of obstacles, and after a few more turns, a tunnel that leads to a straightaway where the player can really open it up.
Since the demo project required a human player, I set it up so you can walk up to the car and press a button to "enter" it. This switches the camera from the walking player to an overhead, third-person perspective that follows the car as it moves and turns.
Challenges and What's Next
Of course, I've run into a few issues. Even after using ProBuilder's features to merge the track segments and vertices, the vehicle still collides with them, so I have to figure that out.
I also definitely have much to learn about getting the physics and feel of the vehicle right. I've been adjusting the car's RigidBody, Box Collider, mass, and angular damping, and even lowered its center of mass to keep it from toppling over while turning. I'm curious if it's possible to evaluate the code from past games to get the physics right, rather than relying on observation and tweaking.
The next steps will be to smooth out these issues and begin implementing the core music mechanic. The MVP (Minimum Viable Product) will require a functional vehicle, a single race track, and a basic music module that can have its channels enabled or disabled by an event like completing a lap. It's an exciting project, and I can't wait to see how it develops.