TrackMaster is an all-terrain, all-vehicles, physics based racing game coming for PC: play whatever way you want, in any kind of track and event, with any vehicle!
This is a game in very early development phase.
Windows, Linux and MAC versions
So, what is this game about exactly?
TrackMaster is a game about racing, vehicular mess and crazy types of events and competitions: doing unexpected things with unexpected vehicles! Want to take a trailer truck to a stunt track? Why not? Want to do a race in a figure 8 track featuring a monster truck, a muscle car, a truck and a bus? Why not?
The game will let you drive freely in any track in a freeroam mode, race in tracks designed for collisions, and take part in events for doing stunts, dominating the hill, playing football and many others!
Many games, old and new, are inspiration for TrackMaster. Some of them had features "copied and pasted" to TrackMaster (because no one is making it anymore, or just because the idea is too good not to be copied!) others, simply serve as a loose inspiration because of the feeling you had while playing them. Some of the games are: Destruction Derby, Test Drive: Eve of Destruction, Insterstate'76, Twisted Metal (the first one), WreckFest and BeamNG.drive.
PHYSICS BASED
The game is designed as a balanced blend of simulation and fun: the vehicles are entirely governed by physics, so that you can always see a different result from collisions, jumps and stunts.
The vehicles sizes and weights are also proportional to each other as in real life. If you drive a 6 ton truck at 100 km/h into regular cars, expect the poor cars to get thown away. But here comes the balance to be fun: the truck won't take 15 seconds to reach 100 km/h (as it would in real life), it's acceleration will let it race against sports cars and other fast vehicles!
The physics based system also allows for different handling of RWD (rear wheel drive), FWD (front wheel drive) and 4WD (4 wheel drive) vehicles.
LOCAL MULTIPLAYER IS BACK!
TrackMaster will bring back what many modern racing games are missing: local (AKA couch) multiplayer, with up to 4 player in split-screen mode.
And for that, the game already have full support for gamepad/controller! It is easy to navigate the menus and play with a mouse and keyboard, but if some friends come to your home, plug your computer on a TV and only the controller will be enough to play the game, no switching between mouse and controller when on the menus.
Of course, on-line multiplayer is planned too.
COMPLETE LIST OF PLANNED FEATURES
MULTIPLAYER
Local (split-screen) and online multiplayer (that can also be played mixed with local multiplayer)
GAME MODES
4 game modes
FreeRoam - Drive freely, no time limits and no goals in any arena or track.
Event - Races and other events, see EVENTS, below.
Career - Start as a novice driver, with a bad car, and try to climb up the racing ranks!
Tournament - Combinations of events in sequence.
EVENTS
14 event types
FreeStyle - Do as many tricks as you can in 2 minutes. Front flips, back flips, spiral flips, long and high jumps. Or, prevent the others from doing their hard trained tricks.
Racing - You know, try to reach the finish line first. In this game, that's the only rule.
Kamikaze Race - A race event where half the vehicles drive the right way. The other half, the wrong way.
There and Back Race - Also race, but you drive one lap the right way, the next lap, the wrong way. And so on until finish.
Around the Flag Race - And yet another race event: after each lap, make a circle around a flag in the middle of the track, and then proceed to the next lap.
Master of the Hill - Stay as long as you can on top of the hill for 2 minutes. Also, make sure the other vehicles can't make it.
Football - You know, one ball, two goals. Period.
Red Rover - Drive from one end of the arena to the other. The last vehicle each time is out, until there is only one, the winner.
Capture the Flag - Two teams, each one with a flag. Take the other teams flag and bring to your base.
Demolition - Destroy anything that moves.
Tag - Or "Touch And Go", the playground game, the one you played as a child. Now with big toys.
Cops and Robbers - Or "Team Tag ". You also played this one as a child. Now, with big toys too.
Power Potato - Stay most of the time with the potato. Touch the vehicle with the potato to steal it.
Hot Potato - Stay away from the potato. The one carrying it, loses points. Touch other vehicles to pass on the potato.
Trailer Mode - All of the above, but with trailers attached. Try to finish the event with your trailers, and try to make the other vehicles lose theirs.
LOOKS GREAT BUT, WHAT IS ACTUALLY WORKING RIGHT NOW? AND HOW IS THE GAME PLANNED TO EVOLVE?
NO MORE NEW VEHICLES OR TRACKS?
Of course that new arenas, event types and vehicles are probably going to be added from now on, since the foundations for them will be already built.
FINISHED GAME AND UPDATES
After it's finished, there are going to be constant, free updates adding more of everything that will be already on the game: vehicles, arenas, events (both local and on-line). If the game proves financially sustainable, I really would like to support it as long as there is an interested community. If that happens, there is no limit to how the game can evolve!
IS THAT EVERYTHING?
No! Here is a list of features I would like to add, but no promises...
If these features ever appear in the game, it will probably happen after the finished game is launched.
VEHICLE DESTRUCTION
Wheels flying, bumpers falling apart, doors getting thrown away... There are many parts in a vehicle that brings satisfaction when they get dettached. I really want to make that in TrackMaster.
MISSIONS/SCENARIOS
Complete specific tasks, with specific time, in specific locations.
REAL WORLD TRACKS
Why not? Not only racing tracks, but maybe some portions of real world highways around the world.
SOFT BODY PHYSICS
It is not enough for wheels, bumpers, doors and metal stuff to fly away, it have to crumple and deform in the process!
There are somethings I still don't get...
Fear not, I've already tought about it!
And what about other stores?
Other stores will also be considered.
How long until beta and them finished state?
I want the have the BETA ready by sometime in the first semester of 2022, and the finished game (version 1.0) by the middle of 2022.
Which gamepad/controller wil be supported?
Right now, Xbox controller and any controller that works in the same way (in other words, uses XInput, like Logitech F310/F710 and Ipega pg-9025) is supported. The plan is to extend the list.
Where can I see if you are keeping your promises?
Visit the PLANNING PAGE. I will update that page with every feature added on the updates.
What is early access, alpha, beta? I'm not used to this terms.
Early access is a way of developing and releasing a game early on in development stage, so that the players can help growing the game while it is made.
The game is released much before it is finished, with bugs, crashes and incomplete content, but the players can take part in the development, and help to shape it.
Alpha and beta are computer software terms that are usually applied to specific milestones being reached.
Will you actually fulfill all of your promises?
I'll do my best. Buying an early access game is like buying an idea. This idea may or may not come out the way the developer and the players expect it to be (the idea may not even be possible to execute, actually). I'll post here the term of agreement you have to agree to be able to buy the game, when it's ready for Alpha launch.
I want to buy a finished game, not a unfinished one.
So, early access is not for you. Watch videos of the game, ask for other players opinion, and if that doesn't convince you, wait until the game is finished.
I've only seen tracks/arenas inside a stadium. Are all the tracks/arenas going to be the same size? There won't be any other, bigger environments?
There are going to be more and bigger arenas/tracks and environments! For the alpha and beta cycles, as a one-man-army, I'm looking for "concentrated coolness". By that I mean: take the game and have lots of fun instantly. By restricting the size of the tracks, I can work on having lots of variety without investing time on a few tracks, or populating only one environment.
For the player, it means that from the first second of the race, there are going to be crazy things happening around. Also, the "inside a stadium" concept makes it possible to have tracks that fit in a screen, resulting in one-screen multiplayer.
As a fan of open worlds myself (not only on race games), I have a long term idea of big, open environments, but that isn't a promise.
Are the graphics going to be better?
Everything in the game is going to be improved gradually with time, and graphics is no different. The only point is that graphics is an area where I depend on the progress made with the Godot Game Engine. Godot 4.0 is being made with a graphical overhaul as main goal, so we will probably see better graphics in TrackMaster after that. That doesn't mean the graphics won't improve till Godot 4.0 is released, I will always do my best to make the game look better.
Is the game going to be released for Linux and Mac?
Yes! There are Linux and MAC versions.
What about mobile?
Godot Game Engine can deploy for Android and iOS, but this game is not planned for mobiles, sorry for that.
Who is making this game?
Look, there is a section of this website with this exactly name!
How did you make the vehicles in Godot Game Engine?
For this and more technical aspects of the game, visit the TrackMaster topic in the Godot Foruns!
No, you haven't thought of everything, somethings are still not clear...
Reach TrackMaster in YouTube, Twitter, Instagram or in the Godot Forum! Of course, send me an e-mail too!