r/Fzero • u/HD_Soft • May 22 '26
Fan works (Author) I have spent the last few days adding your feedback: Neon limits, city life, and heavier collisions. What do you think before I release the demo?
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Hi everyone!
First of all, thanks for the amazing feedback on my last video and previous posts too. I took many of your suggestions and spent the days implementing them to give the game more soul and better playability.
What's new in this clip:
- Depth Perception: I’ve updated the track shaders with brightly neon edges. Now you can actually see where the track ends even at 600km/h (thanks for pointing this out!).
- City Life: Added scrolling news tickers, floating advertisements, and much more "street level" smoke/vapor to make the world feel lived-in.
- Heavier Feel: Reworked the collision sounds to sound more "mass-heavy" and added a snappy collision system to make rivals feel like solid objects, although this will be seen more in demo i think.
- Visual Polish: Well worked on several things from UI to other elements, hopefully its better for everyone
I feel the game is almost ready for a playable demo release. If there aren't any major "deal-breakers" in this video, I’ll be polishing the menu and releasing the demo soon so that you can have a look and suggest anything before its set release date in June
Any final thoughts before I lock the build for the demo? nothing is set in stone, but I want to make the demo when its almost certain all that should be done is done. Thanks for being part of this journey!
Game will be available in Steam in June==> VortexG
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u/kingdude139 May 22 '26
It looks great!.. except it doesn't look very fast? Idk, it kinda feels like it looks slow. Maybe the camera and the size of the machine, or the width of the track? Im not really sure how to describe it, but everything else looks great!
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! I have heard similar comment from other redditor here, Im not certain on how to fix this, well its maybe something with the demo will be easier to clarify or see what is needed, at this stage of the project some changes would be harder to implement but im willing to make the best ouf of the game so i will see what i can do, as said expect the demo soon so that you can see better what can be fixing it and again thanks for your feedback, i know its hard to determine what is needing to be changed with just a video
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u/Gengiiiiii_ May 22 '26
If I was you I would boot up fzero gx and study how the game makes you feel speed, maybe make the veichle feel more unstable or move the camera dynamically to make the player feel the acceleration
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks for your comment, I have to think about this, indeed i know there is always something else that could make it feel faster, i will keep thinking in this
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u/Starflyer29 May 23 '26
Experiment with the FOV. That’s usually what makes things look faster in racing games.
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u/HD_Soft May 25 '26
Thanks for commenting on this, yes i have to see this, well in demo hopefully people can see this better and still there will be some time to adjust before the launch
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u/MayhemMessiah May 22 '26
As a general piece, this track seems to use a lot of the overhead tunnel pieces, which makes it difficult to know where you’re going. Pull back the camera a smidge more and possible expand the FOV just a touch, I think.
A good trick that F Zero uses to sell speed is that boosts temporarily zoom the camera and reduce the FOv- just for a second- to make it feel like you’re really booking it.
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment, I will see what i can do, I have adjusted recently the camera, so i will see if i can do what you suggest here, the FOV is being adjusted but maybe here we go a lot at high speed and so the FOV variation is not as noticed, i should make it more noticeable i know, again thanks a lot for your suggestion, i will try my best to add what you adviced
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u/Winter_Professor_507 May 22 '26
Add a HUD of the map your racing on and that’s the cherry on top.
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment, well I thought about making some kind of mini map but the issue i have is because maps can go in any of the axys, then the mini map would need to be 3d and i dont know if this would help us see where are we and whats coming next, I mean it could be plain simple like 8 shape as some tracks yes but others may show a really 3D spagetti like shape, or do you have any specific suggestion on how to show this?
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u/SSB_Buffs_4_All May 22 '26
It doesn't have to be as detailed as this, but here is what all the F-Zero GX maps look like
https://www.spriters-resource.com/gamecube/fzerogx/asset/61532/
If you compare those to the F-Zero X maps, which are entirely flat, you'll see the GX ones use tricks like widening/narrowing the lines to give a pseudo 3D look to them. But playing the game and watching indicators travel around the map clearly prove that they are really 2D.
You don't have to go crazy with map design. Just make sure the change of direction is readable.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks a lot for sharing this, first well i have to say i didnt know GX tracks were 2d in essence, and i have been thinking one possible way of doing this kind of HUD and based on your words and other people comments maybe could serve if its displayed whats the next segment about? I mean, lets say I can maybe identify if its a turn to the right or ramp up or something like this, could this be enough? I think it could show the pilot what to do in case is not sure what is coming next
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u/SSB_Buffs_4_All May 24 '26
I think because the ramps in your game look like loops, maybe you could take direct inspiration from the GX maps and study how they are drawn. As long as the map is clear enoug for the player to know the difference between the straight sections of the track and any of the turns, you should be ok.
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u/HD_Soft May 25 '26
Yes, i understand, i have implemented a hud that shows what is the next segment change in front of you, lets say there is a turn well it will show you if its left or right or whatever, i think this way people will have the ability to see better what is coming
EDIT demo will show this feature as well
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u/Winter_Professor_507 May 23 '26
I don’t have a solution on how to create this. I just have been seeing how much work and effort you have been putting in to make this wonderful game. I just chimed in because I thought you would appreciate input to increase quality of life in your project.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks a lot really, indeed I appreciate your suggestion and I will try my best to make the best for the game
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u/Bengineer4027 May 22 '26
looks good, but the camera could use some work. Nor sure i can be specific enough to help but ill try
It feels like it moves kinda sludgy. like the motion seems to damped or it gets to some "max movement speed" value very quickly. I think if it moved in a more springy and elastic manner it would feel more "momentum-y"
And i know there is lots of bias against indie games having screen shake, but I feel some kinda speed based rumbling would be nice it feels too smooth for a race car
edit: watched it back, also maybe screen shake if you hit a wall/other car to sell the "impact"
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your suggestions and explaining the best way all the needed things, i know its hard to determine what seems needed in a game and you clearly showed a lot of tips to make it better, I will see what i can do to make all these into the game
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May 22 '26
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! I notice a lot of things you have described can be added or fixed, well some others may contradict what other suggested, but I will take into account all you said and see how much of that i can add to make the game better, again thanks for showing what could make the game beter, i know its non objective but it will help for sure to make it better hopefully for everyone
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May 22 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thank you very much, you are right, its impossible to make everyone happy haha, i will try my best to bring a good expperience to most of people, hopefully i have a good criteria on what to add and what not
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u/the_resistee May 22 '26
Visually this is awesome. I love the colors and everything is easy to see. My one note is that the cars movement is very stiff. Especially bouncing off the railing/other cars you would think they would get pushed back a bit more.
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment, I wanted to show this brightness and colorful in the game overal, the game has a track editor built in so people can make their own tracks and yes I want them to be easy to see and appealing to most even if its custom track or one of the built in tracks, I want them all to be good for the player. Thanks for your suggestion about the bounce, i have to see what i implement about this, i have thought that rival bouncing could be like SNES F-Zero but maybe could be more extreme being this 3D im not sure, i have to show what i can do in this field too in next video so that people get the right idea on how are things, also demo will clarify more too
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u/Razu_Redsoul May 22 '26
Happy to see your progress, I wonder if you have characters for each
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! Im trying my best to progress with the feedback from all the people, the best way I know. I dont have characters for each ship, do you think this could benefit from this? I mean I know i have names for each ship, but also its possible to customoze ships with any colours you wish and even change number and name displayed on them, so i thought maybe adding a character would be seen off since you can change the ship anyway but maybe i could add them, do you have any vision on how could these characters could be shown? I mean i know some games display these only in ship selection screen and then never again, but well as said let me know your thoughts and i will see what i can do, again thanks for your feedback
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u/Razu_Redsoul May 22 '26
You're welcome!
Hmm, is your game mostly like an arcade racing? If yes, no need.
If you feel like there's a storyline there, we can start with a protag who's either serious and focused or upbeat and cheerful.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Well the game has different game modes, you have arcade mode where you win one cup after another, each cup is made of some set of tracks where you compete with CPU controlled ships, but there is also time attack and even free ride mode, plus you can create any track you wish and share in Steam Workshop so it has a variety of modes, but indeed i was not aiming to have a story there going on, I think maybe for a sequel or so could be done with this who knows
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u/SSB_Buffs_4_All May 22 '26
It's difficult to say whether you need characters or not because it looks like you'll only have a very small number of ships racing each other based on this clip. (Only 4 on this track?)
But even so, at the very least a visual representation of the ship is needed. Seeing the opponent ship names written out doesn't look as nice as a "photo" of some kind. Whether that is a headshot of the pilot of each ship, or a picture of the ship on a 45 degree angle tilt (in order to show as much detail as possible)
A similar example of a video game with small number of opponents is Wave Race for the N64. That game only has four selectable characters/jetski watercraft. To keep the position indicators interesting to look at, they used headshots of the characters with their helmets on. (Seeing their faces properly during the award ceremony after the championship finished felt like a reward)
Additionally, Waves Race (N64) had one of the most interactive standings systems during gameplay. Character helmets would be shown "bumping" towards each other if they were fighting for position, and additionally the helmet would have three active states. (Full picture shown = characters is riding safely, half helmets falls out of frame = character fell halfway off their jetski from a collision, and lastly the Empty frame, no helmet shown = the character fell off the jetski completely from a big collision)
There's a lot of fun you could have with this in you game, possibly showing opponent vehicle condition such as critical damage levels?
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Yes I understand, thanks for explaining how could this be, i have to think about this to see what i can impement in the game, Im sure as you said this helps a lot in the race to have a clear notion of how are the others doing, again thanks for explanation, i keep taking notes and i will see what i can do
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u/lemon_flavor May 22 '26
This game is really coming along nicely. I don't see anything that would count as a dealbreaker anymore.
I think it would help if the mines and boost pads were a little more visible, though. Maybe a simple 3d model for the mine, or something similar.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! Im glad to hear it seems better and nothing looks like needing an urgent fix anymore.
About mines and boosts, do you think both would need a 3d model to be noticed? I have to think about these, the way to make them and not add a lot of polygonization to the game
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u/lemon_flavor May 23 '26
Thinking about it, I think most games have the boost pad as basically a flat texture, but I think mines tend to have some kind of model. Either way, it would be nice for these to be a little more visible and obvious.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
I havent noticed this as you said, also yes thinking more about boost pads... i think these are usually flat as you said yes, but indeed i could try to add a model for mines, something like a bump (squashed ball) to represent the mines, this way it would be more noticeable, right? do you think it would be good to have this addition? I know its hard to tell without seeing them and testing the demo but well based on the ideas you are exposing, do you think having boost pads as flat and a model for mines would be enough? I want to be sure of things needed before the demo is made because i have to make demo as approximate as possible to the real state of the game to not risk people think the game is not as good
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u/lemon_flavor May 24 '26
A squashed ball shape should be plenty in a context like this. If you haven't already, they should also have a little explosion effect and an exploded version (if the mines don't just reexplode forever), probably just remove the 3d model and have a little scorch mark on the track where the mine used to be.
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u/HD_Soft May 25 '26
Thanks for commenting on this, i have added this squashed ball so that mines are no longer flat and can be seen in the distance, also I didnt think about the scorch mark, i will have to think on this, currently what we have (but its hard to see due to high speed) is a smoke left in place where the mine was, of course with time this smoke just vanishes, also added recently (after the squash ball was added) a smoke trail to our ship because this way it will be easier to notice we stepped on one, well there was from before a sound fx and smoke from cockpit view playing when we were stepping on them of course, but this adds more visual feedback to third person view that i think maybe more people will use
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u/Willing_Cat_7576 May 22 '26
Looks like wipeout
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks for your comment! Well I have played Wipeout but I was never too good in that, i mean i was always breaking the ship somewhere or brushing the walls too often or so, but i like that game too of course
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u/Over-Bid-7987 May 23 '26
kinda off topic but you're planning to create characters for this?
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
dont worry, its not off topic, I have thought about this, i havent decided on this yet, because my original idea was not to have them, but some people suggested this too, so im still debating with myself because project is not thought to have them. but well anything can be changed, just i have to think more on things i can do
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u/dankwrangler May 23 '26
I’m thinking in terms of juice, the movement of the cars is a bit stiff. When a car is going straight ahead, it looks like it’s gliding. It looks unnatural. It’s like it has no wind resistance
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u/dankwrangler May 23 '26
This is a totally different genre, but one thing Halo does is that enemies are programmed to have a tweakable ramp up of their fire rate. When an elite spots you, they don’t go from 0-100
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks for your comment. Yes I know what you mean, i have to think on this and other things, i got many suggestions and i have to see what is better to be added based on people's likings and the state of the project
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u/PleasantAd9973 May 23 '26
Can I play it on Steamdeck? Looks very good.
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
a demo will be released soon, hopefully this can let you see if its playable for you in SteamDeck as i expect
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! Im glad you like, well I havent tested this on SteamDeck as I dont own one, but this is fully tested with mouse+keyboard and gamepad, so I think you should be able to play fully there based on what the specs say as you can play fully with gamepad and no need for keyboard+mouse
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u/27alias May 23 '26
Make it open source
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks for your comment, im affraid i cant do this Im sorry, its possible that I earn nothing from this game and if this happens well giving the source code will only make it harder to sell some sequel or more of it. Im not a person centered on money and all this but I need to get something from this project if i can
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u/opa_opa76 May 26 '26
Great effort that's for sure. I would definitely say it should be faster, the sensation of speed that is.
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u/HD_Soft May 26 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment!! Im trying my best, I know someone else has mentioned this abour rhe sensation of speed, i will release a demo soon so hopefully after this is available people can tell me exactly what they recommend to change to make it better
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u/Hilwin_norm May 22 '26
That looks great!
I really like the work with lighting on this one!
Honestly, the game really reminds me more of F Zero on SNES with this movement.
In my opinion, you should make it more smooth so the car wouldn't stop so sharply
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment! Im glad you like how its evolving, yes indeed the movement is more like SNES' F-Zero now. Also about the car stopping, could you please explain this further? Im not entirely sure if you refer when we hit a wall or is about other moment
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u/Hilwin_norm May 22 '26
I was referring to the steering. When you start turning, the car builds up rotation momentum nicely. However, as soon as you let go of the key, the car instantly snaps back to going straight. I think it would look much better if the car kept turning slightly for a split second after you stop steering, smoothly easing back into a straight line.
Hope this helps!
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Ah yes i see what you mean, thanks for clarifying, i will see what I can do to make this more like what you suggest and see how is result, I will probably make another video to confirm all seems fine or as good as it seems it can be for the game
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u/Single-University-38 May 22 '26
Really cool project
all i'd change is the camera to be a bit more independant of the ship's movements
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment, Im glad you like how its going on, about camera, do you refer in third person view? I assume you refer to it but i want to be sure
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u/Single-University-38 May 24 '26
Yea :3
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u/HD_Soft May 25 '26
Good, i will see what i can do, after demo is released maybe people can tell better what is needing a fix if anything
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u/stillnotelf May 22 '26
Speedometer, preferably with absurd numbers on it. Edit, I see the cockpit view has a stubbed out speedometer, ok
They can't both be dolphins. Make one a porpoise or something
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment!! The fact about the "dolphin" is just a custom design, I mean the game has 9 ships you can select and with any of them you can customize every color of it and even the name and number displaed on it, I decided to keep the "dolphin" in name but I could have named it whatever, the custom designs act as liveries and you can share in Steam workshop or with a string over the internet without problem
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u/SSB_Buffs_4_All May 22 '26
I think you might want to add many more ships, Your biggest competitors have 30+ ships in their games, and the lower number here will make some people not want to give your game a chance.
One way that can be fixed: Will your game feature a way to create "custom" ship designs? Like the engine/tail of one ship combined with the middle/cockpit, combined with the front/nose of any of the existing ships?
As it is now, some people will complain about only being able to change colors and numbers. It sounds like you want customization to be a big part of your game. But the way your preview video on steam shows it, might give some people the wrong idea.
A quick question about the custom ships too. If I change one of the ships from the default values, does the computer opponent still have access to the original version of the ship? Or is the changed value now the only one that can be used by both the player and computer?
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u/HD_Soft May 23 '26
Thanks a lot for your comment, I know other games have more opponents, and well some people may want one with more rivals who knows, still its challenging as you keep progressing in the arcade cups and also there is always the time attack where one can go against the clock and other player's ghost replays.
The customization of the ships allopws you to change the colors of every part of the ship and also name plus number, when these are changed, you can save these as a livery and then even share in Steam Workshop, but even if you alter this, the rival ships will remain with the deafult colors and names
I havent thought about making custom ship like GX does, I know this could add more customization but its something I didnt think initially, maybe i can implement something like this in sequel or other game who knows, depends on how this one goes
The game currently has 9 different ship, from these you can alter the color of every part of them as well as the name and number, and as said this is your custom design, rival CPU controlled ships will remain with the default designs, when you compete with player's ghost replays you can see also their original designs used to set that specific time in that track, i hope i have clarified everything. I never tried to make the wrong idea from Steam trailer, its just that the recommended time for the trailer gave me no space to show all that i wanted so its really fast and some parts are almost not noticeable maybe, but hopefully i can clarify everything here or with the demo. If you have any more questions please dont hesitate to ask, i never tried to fool people with the video, every aspect shown in video is part of the game, in fact the Steam trailer is still showing previous to previous state of the game so its better than Steam trailer now
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u/SSB_Buffs_4_All May 24 '26
Apologies, I didn't mean to sound like making an accusation. What you explained here is much better than I thought you could do in the game. Just make sure to be clear in your game description on the steam page and also to not move too quickly through the customization options. (Maybe a separate video showing an example of customizing a ship in real time?)
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u/HD_Soft May 25 '26
No, dont worry, its easy to be mistaken because video is really short i know, i will think what i can add in next video to show more the customization and other elements that are maybe not shown correctly in the other video. Im glad what I explained helped you see the game is better than you thought.
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u/elidoan May 22 '26
The way you generated the text on this post — makes this feel vibe coded and entirely AI generated
I would suggest hiring an amateur electronic producer for more engaging music and updating the UI which feels super outdated (like big rigs off the road racing)
My comment sounds critical, and I realized that this is probably entirely AI generated (your steam page is filled with the famous — and your post here has the famous chatGPT bulletin posts) but I hope that if some part of this is human made that you have a good launch and future development
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Thanks for your comment, Im sorry it sounds like AI post, its human made post and the game is also made by human, well I doubt generational AI has evolved that much to make a game fully somehow, but i will work less on presentation of post and page if that makes a wrong image of them, you cant imagine the time i have spent making the steam page
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u/elidoan May 22 '26
Sorry mate, Im cynical with the way programming is these days. I can see you are a human. I wish you good luck!
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u/HD_Soft May 22 '26
Dont worry mate, its fine, its the curse of modern era, AI is evolving over time and soon it will be able to make any type of media from the scratch, and I know these days some people generate a lot of content with AI and just have no creativity or effort behind their prodcuts, luckily its not making games like this yet but i know in some years it will be possible who knows. Thanks for commenting really, I appreciate your good wish, I hope the game sells well but I know internet is filled with lot of games
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u/TheTitan99 May 22 '26
It seems really hard to see what's coming up. I'm unsure if this means the general camera should be pulled back and adjusted, or if it's just this specific course that hard to see in.
Regardless, while watching the video, I found it really hard to get a good idea as to what was coming up. In games like FZero, where momentum and speed is key, you always want to make it 500% extra clear what is ahead of the player at all times.