Cosmic Time Trials

About:

Cosmic Time Trials is a three-dimensional space racing game with semi-realistic physics.  Obtain medals by beating par times, unlock new maps to race on via obtained medals, and compete against other players for faster times on a global leaderboard. Race in first or third person with customizable controls. Low-poly art style. 

> Programming/UI/SFX by KermitTheGodFrog 

> Modelling/Art by Phoenix1509

Development Summary:

I originally began working on Cosmic Time Trials with Phoenix about half a year ago. The games concept was originally more combat focused - a spaceship-vs-spaceship combat game with all the important details left out. This led to a lack of a gameplay loop, which combined with other issues, forced a massive change in the games identity towards the 'low-poly spaceship racing game with semi-realistic physics' that it is now. What pushed me to program this game was the prospect of actually finishing a game - despite having billions of half-finished game concepts in my library, the only time I had ever published a game was in a game jam. 

The bulk of Cosmic Time Trials development was in a two month period about a quarter of a year ago. At the end of that two month period the game was fairly complete, however I discovered after exporting that there was a bug with Godot itself, only present on the Windows export version of the game, which caused it to have a 50% chance of crashing whenever the user clicked a button. I discovered a workaround to this issue from a forum post, but after two months of non-stop development, I did not have the motivation to fix it. 

A week ago I came back to Cosmic Time Trials, fixed the bug, added some quality of life improvements and published it. Making this game was a lot of fun, and actually 'finishing' a game was a pretty cool experience that taught me a lot.

What Went Right:

• Models and graphics - thanks to Phoenix. 
• Map design, skyboxes and world environments. I can't speak about how successful my map design is, but I found the process of copy-pasting models and tinkering with the different post-processing effects quite enjoyable. Surprisingly, I also enjoyed learning OpenGL to create the skyboxes throughout the game - my favorite has to be the 'Trade Route' skybox, which I think has a pretty nice depiction of a star for some simple Perlin noise. (Should be the first image attached!)
• The player controller. Creating the logic for the player's movement and camera was, for the most part, pretty fun. In hindsight, I see that I may have gone slightly overboard with the quantity of mechanics available. (Why was a first-person head-look mode necessary in a fast-pace racing game?)
• Sound effects. It had been years since I last touched FL Studio, or worked on anything sound related. Cosmic Time Trials gave me the opportunity to scrounge around the household for things I could sample. I found a bongo drum,  a triangle, a three-key keyboard that played baa-baa-black-sheep no matter what key you pressed, various percussion instruments, and many other sound producing items. The engine sound was made by adding distortion to the sound of my fan, the collision sounds were made by dropping ceramic bowls onto my table, the 'victory' sound after you complete a run was made with a mixture of percussion instruments, a falling apart xylophone and a bongo drum. I'm far from experienced at sound design, but making the sounds was incredibly rewarding.

What Went Wrong:

• Lack of 'real' concept from the beginning. The development time could have been far lower, and the refined game concept could have been far more coherent if we had stuck to a well-thought out concept from the beginning.
• The '50% chance of crashing whenever the user clicked a button' bug.
• Lack of preparation for publishing, e.g. graphics and videos to put on the Itch page.

What I Learnt:

• Why I was able to finish Cosmic Time Trials, but not my other projects. At some point I was watching a game-dev YouTube video, where the poster suggested that there was a 'Tinker' phase of game development where you experiment and try different concepts, ideas and genres, but never end up expanding on them. The phase after, it suggested, was where you put your foot down to actually create a game, as you have the general knowledge to combat most of the issues that will arise. This could not be more true in my experience. I remember being annoyed with myself for not being able to finish any of my other projects, but I see now that iteration of different game ideas was key to learning, and that I couldn't rush it.
• Starting a game with a real, tested concept is important - it reduces development time and ensures that the game's mechanics remain coherent.
• Sticking to a game idea allowed me to experiment with mediums and concepts that I don't usually engage with, yet I found incredibly rewarding, e.g. sound design, online leaderboards and different types of in-game menus.