Week 6: Ready, Set, Ramp Up!

Hello derby fans! This week was all about leveling up the Double Dare Derby experience to prepare for the Alpha Playable Prototype milestone. We polished player flow from the moment they join, added our first power-up to turn up the chaos, and kept fine-tuning movement and UI so every second on the rink counts. Let's roll.

Jump In, Game On 🕹️

One decision this week was to merge the start menu and the character ready-up screen into a single, streamlined experience. Now, when players join the game, they don't just wait around, they immediately appear on the start screen, striking a cool pose that lets everyone know who's in the race. This not only adds visual energy before the match begins, but also keeps everyone engaged as they prepare to battle. Once two or more players have joined, players can click the start button or use key binds to kick off the game. This change helps maintain momentum right from the start and makes getting into the action quick and seamless.

Power-ups Enter the Arena!⚡

We've added our first power-up: invincibility! Power-ups are collectibles that spawn randomly on the streets. They will appear as a trash can with a question mark, similar to Sonic or Mario Kart's item boxes. Once a player picks one up, they will hold it in their hand and can press LB to trigger a protective bubble. When the invincibility power-up is active, a glowing sphere surrounds the player, making them immune to rams and crown theft for a few seconds. The type of power-up you get will be semi-random and depend on your current score to help balance the game and give players trailing behind a chance to make a comeback. The idea for power-ups came from our TA's suggestion to increase chaos and create more dynamic matches, while also helping balance play between different skill levels. This new mechanic adds fresh layers of strategy and chaos, and we're excited to prototype more power-ups soon!

UI That Pops 👀

To make sure players always know what's happening in the fast-paced derby chaos, we're adding more in-game indicators. We're experimenting with redesigned adrenaline meters featuring bursting flames, audio cues, and other visual effects that clearly signal when your boost is ready. Plus, when the crown drops to the ground, a bright light beam shines from it, making it easier to spot during hectic moments.

Player feedback showed us the score and adrenaline meters needed better visibility, especially now that the minimap sits in the center of the screen. To fix this, we updated the UI layout by anchoring the score and adrenaline meters to the outer edges of each player's viewport, keeping everything easy to find without cluttering the action.

To visually represent when a player is actively adrenaline rushing, we've added a dynamic trail effect. The faster you go, the longer it gets. This helps players (and their rivals) feel the speed and recognize that someone is zooming across the rink. We're also exploring future effects like camera FOV shifts and speed lines to make that adrenaline rush feel even more intense and cinematic.

Nailing the Skate Feel 🛼

Player movement continues to be a major focus. This week, we increased gravity and jump height to give the game a more satisfying "skating hop" feel. We want players to feel that perfect balance between smooth momentum and tight control without losing speed or feeling float-y. 

We also tested a new level featuring ramps to add verticality and dimension. These ramps open fresh tactical possibilities as players can gain height, dodge opponents, or plan surprise attacks from above. However, we noticed that when players moved onto ramps at certain angles, their speed slowed too much and disrupted the flow. While promising, this experiment shows we need to refine ramp physics to keep everything fast and fluid. We'll keep iterating until ramps add fun without breaking momentum!

Week 6 Progress (6/18 - 6/25)
✔️Prototyped Start + Ready Up
✔️️Added Invincibility Power-up
✔️️UI & Visual Feedback Updates