Synthracer: A Finished Project

As some of you might know, I have been working with a team of games students to create a video game based around my recent exploration into synthwave. Well, It is finally complete! Below you will find the game, fully playable and ready for full enjoyment!

The Game is called Synthracer, appropriately titled after the music I composed. It is a simple racing game with two modes, driving and cruising. Driving mode you simply drive around the course, falling off and all where as cruise mode, the car automatically drives along the track giving you the time to take in the music and visuals of the game.

There is something I find so special about playing this game, not only the realization that this was made for my content but how perfect it feels. The synergy between the music and aesthetics is so amazing to me, personally and it really makes me excited for the future of my production and exploration into music. I am so grateful to be paired with the team I was, their work ethic was terrific when looking at what was accomplished within such a small time frame.

Huge Thank You to all involved!

Designers:

• Jacob Blanch.

• Jack MCClenaghan.

Programmers:

• Jack Kuskoff.

Animators:

• Shannara Thompson.

• Joshua Hoare.

• Toni-Louise Giacopelli.

• Anthony Farruggio.

Project Reflection

Before I get into the reflection, if you are unaware of my process until this point, I will link the previous blogs below for more context.

Project Update Click Here

Project Plan Click Here

This project was a huge learning curve for myself due to the unordinary work flow that was involved. Becoming a team leader for a project I am unable to contribute to was different to say the least but it was made incredibly easy through my communication with the lead game designer, Jack (unsure if he was the lead but definitely the more vocal of the two). Jack was often at campus when I was so instead of regular interaction online, each week I was being sent content as well as being shown in the games room. There was a bit of miscommunication between the myself and the games students for obvious reasons, my lack of knowledge within the world of games. Luckily I was able to use references to past games I had played i.e Far Cry Blood Dragon to get my point across accurately.

If I have to be completely honest with myself I would say I am not completely happy with the final result, though I am impressed and stoked with the outcome, this is only due to the time frame the product has been made within. There seems to be a lack of detail to the final version released that the previous versions had before it. First instance of this is when looking at the camera perspectives of the car, it seems to be shifted back and faces down more then before, removing the exterior graphics from view. This isn't a total issue in the "Drive mode" but when in cruise mode it seems to distract the viewer as you cant really see the world around you, defeating the purpose. Another problem with the cruise mode is the actual automated driving of the car, it is not smooth at the slightest and almost takes away completely from the experience when the camera jolts instantly to one direction.

I see this to be frustrating because as much a I like the final product, I cant help but feel like I have been swindled in some way as these issues were not present the week prior. I had not been notified of these issues or if any issues had arise during there last week. It comes across like the project didn’t mean too much, even though it is a project for university I still would have expected a bit more 'polish' especially when it was the first project to be submitted.

Apart from that… I am still pretty pleased with the project, I think it still makes me happy to see my idea being created, so no matter the issues I will still be happy with the outcome. I would like to return the favor and work for the games students at some point, see what it is like on the other side.

Thank you for reading!