Codriver

Created for CanJam 2016

What is it?

Winner of the Rockstar Games "Most Obscure" award at CanJam, CoDriver is a VR hovercraft racing game.

Using a bluetooth controller connected to a cardboard enabled phone the player needs to pilot a hovercraft along a 3d race track in order to get the fastest lap time. The game keeps a record of the previous best score as well as a record of the last lap the player did.

The 3d environment was created in Blender with a polygon based visual art style, this was both because it looked cool and to keep the game running smoothly on mobile devices.

Gameplay

Mini Post mortem

CoDriver was successful in meeting its aims of being a hovercraft racing game within its development limitations.

The level art style suited the game very well, looking good and keeping the framerate high. The hovercraft did not fully match the art style of the level, it was the only object in the game to feature smooth shading and as such didn't quite match.

The level design itself was fairly well suited to the game, however it could have been made shorter since the average play session was shorter than the track. Equally it would have been better to make the playable track area merge into its surroundings more seamlessly.

However, while the art style was fairly successful the game is fundamentally flawed in that it can cause VR sickness very quickly. This is due to giving the player free control over their rotation using a bluetooth controller. While this is overcome somewhat by allowing the player to look around using head movement it is something that should be avoided in future. The issue was also made worse by the hovercraft being prone to spinning, this resulted in less skilled players having an even less pleasant experience.