Above the Air

A relaxing multiplayer air racing game that fulfill your pilot dream.

Our purpose is to design a relaxing game that has some competition but totally not intense. And this game matches our expectations perfectly. This is an air racing game in which players start by using identical planes with no reward or upgrade system, making the game simple and fast on the one hand. On the other hand, the game encourages players to be the first who controls his plane to reach 6 checkpoints in order to win, making the game a little competitive to let players have fun as well.

What is the core mechanics? 

Our game is a multiplayer flight simulator where the players control their paper planes, the game goal is straightforward - let two players compete for six checkpoints. If the player’s plane touches a checkpoint then they get one point.When checkpoints all reached, the winning screen will be displayed. In this game, the player is able to move in all directions (WASD), do a dash to get the checkpoint before the other player (SPACE), and to brake if temporarily out of control (MOUSE0). 

• WASD to move
• SPACE to do a dash
• Left click to slow down

What dynamics are we exploring?

To add a little chance and randomness to our game, we implemented the dash feature. Since there’s only one checkpoint that is generated at a reasonable random position each time, the player needs to use the SPACE button for a dash at the correct moment as it has a cooldown time - either to be the first to reach the checkpoint, or to knock the other player off the path. In addition, we add a navigator on the player’s interface that is pointing to the current checkpoint just in case a player is lost in the clouds, or is lost in fighting the other player.

What aesthetic impact?

We aim to build a simple and pleasing air racing environment with little to no conflicts that brings the imagination of our childhood paper airplane. Therefore, we created a low poly paper plane that is able to dive, dash, or do a 360 degree flipping! We build a realistic, real time rendered sky with cloud puffs floating around the plane. The lighting of the game space we designated is near dusk - that is the time we came back from school, finished the homework, and was allowed to go out and play with friends. Our pillar for building the game’s audiovisual is simplicity - we uses minimalistic UI and sound. For example, the only two audio source in the game is the relaxing wind blowing sound and a ding sound that tells the player he/she has reached a checkpoint.

What did we implement?

Networking feature

•  Lobby system 
• wait for ready system 
• sync movement
• sync scores
• sync checkpoints
• game Feature: navigation system

UI

• Dash system with UI bar for visual feedback
• Clouds generation system