Build The Road Jack by badpaul34

[raw]
made by badpaul34 for LD 41 (JAM)

JVn7mh.gif

VIDEO

https://youtu.be/lKUkkObCALw

DESCRIPTION

Build The Road Jack is F-Zero mixed with Snake and Trackmania!

Go fast = Earn points = Build your tracks !

Dont run out of fuel and take care of your tracks placement : you cant ride a track you previously ride, or ride outside boundaries !

Build the longest road...

&

...Race it as fast as possible!

Controls:

Keyboard&Mouse -OR- Pad

Accelerate: [UpArrow] -or- [RT]

Drive left/right: [Left/Right Arrows] -or- [Left Joystick]

Enter BUILD mode: [CTRL] -or- [LB]

Detailed controls in the game. ;)

IMAGES

2018-04-24 05<em>51</em>00-Greenshot.png

2018-04-24 05<em>46</em>18-Greenshot.png

2018-04-24 05<em>50</em>00-Greenshot.png

Made by Lazy Frogs, Concrete Games and friends

Enjoy and Have Fun!

Ratings

Overall 211th 3.851⭐ 103🧑‍⚖️
Fun 326th 3.579⭐ 103🧑‍⚖️
Innovation 180th 3.832⭐ 103🧑‍⚖️
Theme 492th 3.715⭐ 102🧑‍⚖️
Graphics 227th 4.054⭐ 104🧑‍⚖️
Audio 394th 3.333⭐ 95🧑‍⚖️
Humor 874th 2.364⭐ 83🧑‍⚖️
Mood 582th 3.293⭐ 96🧑‍⚖️
Given 53🗳️ 48🗨️

Feedback

sugarbyte
24. Apr 2018 · 11:43 UTC
Wow, gorgeous. There was clearly some attention to making building the track really smooth and fluid. I would have liked to see two genres be combined - maybe the roadbuilding mode could be closer to Pipe Dream (build the road to connect A and B before the fluid filling the road leaks out), or closer to RollerCoaster Tycoon (attract as many racers to your road as you can). But regardless, the execution on the cyberpunk racer genre (like Distance) is great.
TheVash
24. Apr 2018 · 11:51 UTC
nice idea!
Mr.MadCat
24. Apr 2018 · 13:38 UTC
Pretty cool.
Looks really neat.

I hit a bug, I think, as I kept getting more and more stars on the restart screen. Or is that intended behaviour?

The combinations of genre is not really clear to me as building a track and racing on it has been done in many games before. Or is there something else I am missing here?

But execution is pretty good, with good visuals and smooth gameplay.
So, well done.
Sintel
24. Apr 2018 · 14:27 UTC
Amazing graphics!

Cool usage of the theme. Gameplay itself was not as tight as I'd hoped for a racing game.
GvS
24. Apr 2018 · 16:26 UTC
Nice idea and good game. Only thing that is missing is a real goal to work towards. I don't really see the racing genre in this, aside from driving a car. There does not seem to be a clear goal to work towards which takes away the fun. Great work though!
Jani Nykanen
24. Apr 2018 · 16:33 UTC
A wonderful game concept, I would like to see a more polished post-jam version one day!
Darby Costello
24. Apr 2018 · 16:48 UTC
This is a really great idea, executed very well. The graphics are awesome and the gameplay is fluid - you clearly spent a lot of time focusing on these aspects. I would have liked to see more of the 'Snake' aspects, such as making it more difficult for the player to lay out new tracks without 'bumping' into previously laid ones, but I realise that having the third dimension makes this tricky indeed. Plus locking it to one plane (2.5D) would make the racing less fun, so the dilemma is appreciated. Either way, a really polished and competent racer. Great work.
nuclearfriend
24. Apr 2018 · 16:50 UTC
Technically impressive and the graphics are pretty sweet, wish there was a bit more to the racing but it's still a cool concept.
rush
24. Apr 2018 · 16:50 UTC
Fantastic work! I could see this being a fun real game :) Build mode adds alot to the gameplay
Carvster
24. Apr 2018 · 16:51 UTC
Cool innovative idea! Seems like it would make a really solid game with a little more time seemed a little buggy and the HTML5 version seemed to have audio issues!
Steel_Dev
24. Apr 2018 · 16:52 UTC
Very cool! I love the building of the track, and the vehicle felt nice when controlling it. Get's boring pretty quickly, Maybe it could use some kind of challenge system, or maybe racing against AI? The camera controls were all VERY fast and the building was a bit weird, but still very well done! :D
Mordokay
24. Apr 2018 · 16:55 UTC
Awesome graphics and the track building part was very fluid and intuitive. Controls were very well explained and I knew exactly what to do. The car itself had a good movement (but not perfect) to it and the different tracks were challenging and fun!
Great job!
Zessirb
24. Apr 2018 · 16:55 UTC
Nice concept, the car drives well (except when going too fast, then it seems to go through things) and makes you want to go fast to earn more points.
HiWarp
24. Apr 2018 · 16:56 UTC
Nice idea and the hard task of mixing both gameplay is good solved.
Found some glitches and audio looks a bit annoying.
Control of the spaceship is not bad but need fix some bugs.


[Check our game ;)](https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/dance-invaders)
mainghia95
24. Apr 2018 · 16:57 UTC
Absolutely awesome game. Remind me of Mario Kart on Nintendo Switch that I've recently played. Love the art, the music and the feeling of the game.
We also make a cinematic game with pixel art. Want to check it out?
https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/daxua
Q-ro
24. Apr 2018 · 16:58 UTC
The graphics look really good and the theme was implement really well, sadly it's just a bit hard and clunky to play, maybe if there was a count down between exiting build mode and race mode it would be a bit easier to switch between the mode, also build mode was a bit hard to control at least with the mouse, and it didn't seem like the collectables did anything so i was a bit lost as to what was the point of going out of my way to pick them up. really cool idea, hope you get to iron out everything in the future.
FouchouMaximilien
24. Apr 2018 · 17:05 UTC
Loved the concept! The mix beetwin the different kind of game is really cool, just in the html5 version I hit a bug: When I go in the editor, I cannot run the race, i'm stopped at the begginig :/ But very good job anyway ;)
Dartictheunic
24. Apr 2018 · 17:06 UTC
@FouchouMaximilien same as you, but otherwise the game is just awesome ! It's incredible you've done this much in only 72h
thiagowaw
24. Apr 2018 · 17:07 UTC
Nice usage of the theme. It's a lot of fun staying in high felocity spinning down the lane. I would like to see a more polished post-jam version! :smile:
Take a look on my game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/vector-rabbits-slayer
Zirrrus
24. Apr 2018 · 17:09 UTC
Really quite a cool concept and stellar execution! The visuals are stunning for a jam game. Well done!
Tomavatars
24. Apr 2018 · 17:11 UTC
@thiagowaw @Jani Nykanen The polished post jam version is in the pipes!!! Thanks to all for the nice comments! We'll try your awesome games as well :wink:
Cristhor98
24. Apr 2018 · 20:05 UTC
I love this game, but i think it could be more fun if there are some power ups like turbo on the map. 4 stars ^^
Lagman9000
24. Apr 2018 · 21:18 UTC
Nice concept, lovely visuals. Crashed a couple times in browser version
Linus
24. Apr 2018 · 22:28 UTC
What a fun concept and interesting ues of the theme! The amount of content was really impressive and the game worked well with no game breaking bugs :thumbsup:

The concept of essence was not very clear to me though, I didn't understand what it was or how it worked so maybe that could have been explained more clearly.

The controls worked good for the most part, the car was easy to steer and I really like that you can drive on all sides of the road. The only thing that I didn't like about the controls were that you had to hold the left or right arrow key to select which track piece to build, but it just takes some getting used to.

There wasn't any music in the game which could have been added (atleast for the build mode) instead of the loud sound effect for the motor. It was somewhat annoying to hear that during the building phase.

All in all a very cool entry and really impressive. Well done! :smiley:
Tomavatars
24. Apr 2018 · 23:22 UTC
@Linus this is weird because their is actually some music (I made it), and the engine should be cut during the build phase! Did you played in the web browser of exe?
pranjalbisht
25. Apr 2018 · 10:21 UTC
Great amount of content in there, all that stuff made in just 3 days?! Amazing!
I played the web version first, had no music and a lot of bugs - the next piece preview was not there for the first few tries, and I kept passing straight through those spiral separators on the track sections!

Seems like the downloadable build is much more robust and bug-free. The above issues were not encountered. I liked the music and how it changes when switching b/w building and racing. Controls could've been a bit tighter. The 3 fuel system was also pretty interesting but I usually kept losing track of it! I think the most interesting mechanic was trying to keep the track inside the cube. Great job, and good luck!
Linus
25. Apr 2018 · 10:21 UTC
@Tomavatars yes, I did play in the web browser on Firefox. I checked the downloadable version just now and the music worked fine there. I like the fast phase of it and it adds to the game. What confused me was that the default graphics quality setting was "very low" and so I changed it to a bit higher because I thought my computer could handle that, but then the game was super low FPS. I would suggest changing the graphics quality name for "Very low" to "Fast" or "Default".

Cool game though.
vimlock
25. Apr 2018 · 14:16 UTC
Hi! You forgot to pack the main executable with the Linux version.
🎤 badpaul34
25. Apr 2018 · 15:01 UTC
@vimlock Thanks for reporting this! The .exe had stayed on my computer, sad not to be part of the big trip to the internet. But now he is.
vimlock
25. Apr 2018 · 18:04 UTC
You should also update the download link on the ludum dare page, I managed to find it on your server though 😁
Rs11s21n
25. Apr 2018 · 20:08 UTC
so! nice! but that collisions and car physics but for 3 day this is good result!
facepalmpt
26. Apr 2018 · 09:25 UTC
Damn fun!

Fast paced track building and racing. This has huge potential :D
Aditya Shukla
26. Apr 2018 · 09:29 UTC
Seriously man! So awesome! loved the graphics... I really like faced paced games and it surely was one! Well done!

Btw try out our 2nd LDJAM entry, its a 3D audio based horror + funny game : https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/memebumps
Thanks!
justinooncx
26. Apr 2018 · 10:16 UTC
Holy smokes, this was the most fast-paced and well-polished game I've seen so far! It's REALLY clever that you had to make the track as you go, all while you try and choose the ones that will give you the right fuel... I mean, making your own track in games has been done before, but nothing like this, that's for sure! Controls are pretty smooth, too! Great game all around!

Also, you've put Ray Charles' song into my head on loop now. Thanks.
Reality Blind
26. Apr 2018 · 13:28 UTC
A nice concept here, allowing multiple playthroughs without being repetitive, it just lacks some feedback on the fuels : what happens when one is empty ? Does it change something having it full ?

Graphics and music are working towards the same goal : making it feel polished, and that's working really well.

Great entry !
Holofire
26. Apr 2018 · 20:36 UTC
Incredibly well put together game, very fun to play. I appreciate the fact you put in controller support, it works really well. Visually and mechanically stunning, amazing work! :smile:
HPMNK
26. Apr 2018 · 23:52 UTC
Impressive technology for a game jam ! I like the way you designed the level building, in an arcad'ish way. It appear to me as a prototype for a larger game design, which would be sort of a dynamic Trackmania. I would imagine a game where players race agains't other players, and let them choose 3-4 segments before the race, with some specifities on it (more curves / more speed / tricky jumps)

Controls of the car felt a bit rigid, but i decided it would not affect my rating, as it's really well done !
Rodrigo Denúbila
27. Apr 2018 · 01:57 UTC
Very interesting concept for the game, with great use of the theme. Also the graphics are amazing. The controls are a little bit difficult, but doesn't affect the fun of the game. Good job.

Please, take a look at mine: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/confessional
Yetman
28. Apr 2018 · 11:24 UTC
Wow, I am soooo bad at this game. The graphics looks amazing and the music was ok. The idea is great and I like how it mixes the 2 genres. The camera and controls are the main drawbacks imo; the racing controls needs a little bit tuning and the camera in both the racing and the building part needs to be a little bit more smooth. Otherwise, it was a great and fun experience, well done.
LeReveur
28. Apr 2018 · 15:25 UTC
Very good idea, and polished arts! I like Trackmania, but I'm very bad with F-Zero, and the controls needs some skills I don't have. The build mode is a little tricky to master too. Anyways, this game deserves to be improved in a post-jam version, there is so much work that can't be wasted! Good job!
neontropics
28. Apr 2018 · 17:07 UTC
Cool game! It does get surprisingly close to the F-Zero experience. I would probably have liked the course to be completely tubular (a la some F-Zero GX courses) instead of having the hard turn when you switch sides.

As others have said, it doesn't really feel like it has a goal - something to work towards, or some AI to race against, would be great!
LeoRototo
28. Apr 2018 · 17:32 UTC
Thanks for you feedbacks everybody !
@neontropics, @LeReveur : a huge Post Jam version is on the pipe and should be released soon (this evening or tomorrow)!

A little preview (editor quality, sorry) :
![2018-04-28 19_25_26-Unity 2017.3x .png](///raw/806/31/z/14622.png)
shaodwing
28. Apr 2018 · 23:29 UTC
I think everybody has said what I can say, so i'll just say that's a nice game.
I had fun playing and building roads.
MacDoom
29. Apr 2018 · 02:45 UTC
Super cool game! The sense of hyperspeed future racingis frenetic and addictive. Some collisions are a little bugged. Looks great, feels great and the combination of genres works perfectly. Is a little hard to know well where's the road going in build mode although.
Thanks for creating this game !
Ethereal Psyche Games
29. Apr 2018 · 14:29 UTC
I really like how you mix this 2 genres. Building and racing are opposite genres, one is fast and other is slow, about think how to build... so good job!

As other says, the building sometimes make a buggy race but I have seen that you are working on a post-jam version so I'm really interested in playing that version!

Good job!
Mowztouch
29. Apr 2018 · 23:33 UTC
Nice idea, well executed :) I'll follow the evolution of dev, i hope you'll improve the ship control, as for now it's very hard to control. But the building part is very intereting ! nice job !
MZA
30. Apr 2018 · 11:33 UTC
Brilliant genre-mashup!!

Maybe introduce a simple tutorial to the game as it took me a while to get how the fuel works (i.e, I thought is one fuel but there are three differnt types). Perhaps, also an option to increase FOV.

I've got a game in my steam library similar to this here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/268360/Krautscape/

I've spent loads of hours on that game + could possibly spend around the same, if not more, on yours.

This could possibly be my favourite for LD41. :thumbsup: :heavy_multiplication_x: :100:
Flatgub
01. May 2018 · 01:20 UTC
This was SO COOL! I really enjoyed it, definitely one of my favourite so far, well done!!
Jonathan Daar
01. May 2018 · 02:07 UTC
Nicely done guys!
### :heart: What I loved
- Felt like a very new idea with a lot of potential to be explored
- fun to play and aesthetically pleasing
-loved the thoughtfulness to add gamepad controls. Played it with mine and it felt great

### :thought_balloon: My Thoughts
- I accidentally built through a wall on one playthrough which kept me from advancing, would be nice to have the game keep you from doing that, or add an undo button
- more obstacles to derail your car would be fun
flukeshot
01. May 2018 · 02:15 UTC
Damn, cool stuff. The camera seems to zoom out pretty far when you are going really fast. Also, the track builder rotates uncontrollably for me (keyboard/mouse/win10). Still, totally playable and totally bad-ass.
mic_matrix91
02. May 2018 · 13:04 UTC
Amazing graphics and mechanics! Very original idea, it's a very polished work!
LeoRototo
02. May 2018 · 13:40 UTC
@Jani Nykanen , @thiagowaw, @rush, @Q-ro, @Carvster, @justinooncx, @LeReveur, @Ethereal Psyche Games , @Mowztouch :

**This is it, the Post-Jam version just released !**

![ezgif.com-optimize (3).gif](///raw/806/31/z/1494f.gif)

**Thanks to all your ratings, comments and feedbacks, it's really helped us to empower this new version.**

@GvS, @neontropics :
In the first version, as you noticed, the main goal wasn't clear, we worked on a new Tutoriel, HUD, End Screen and a feedbacks when you complete a track to fix this issue!

@MZA, @pranjalbisht, @Q-ro, @Reality Blind, @linus: You are right: The fuel mehanic was poorly understandable and so, not really interesting : we have added a new GUI that greatly improve that during the race.
Fuels have a new visual, and there is more of it.
In the building view, track's colour now directly show the type of fuel on it. And also now, there is no more empty traks : we find that more interesting and meaningfull (@justinooncx : you will like that, for sure !)

@steel-dev, @q-ro, : You were many to complain about the camera in the building mode. We found that there was a random bug in there and fixed it, we also slowed down camera speed. This mode is now a bit easier to use.

![ezgif.com-optimize (2).gif](///raw/806/31/z/14953.gif)

@Linus : The engine sound was buggy, we fixed and removed it from building mode !

@Rodrigo Denúbila , @hpmnk,@pranjalbisht : Controls have been enhance. Especially the camera, that have been raised and moved closer to the car. We tried as much to improve visibility without losing the “high speed feeling”.

![ezgif.com-optimize (1).gif](///raw/806/31/z/14954.gif)

We also fixed other bugs, reworked some tracks, add new textures, visual effects(particles, trails) and a bunch of new tracks to build and race!

We hope you will like it! Thanks everyones, and have fun !

![31530801_10216807925696149_3518561045675245568_n.png](///raw/806/31/z/14955.png)

**Lazy Frogs Collective**
megamasterx
02. May 2018 · 14:06 UTC
I am =floored=. This title is downright incredible on all fronts. Well done!
Tuomo
02. May 2018 · 15:08 UTC
Thoughts on jam version: Visuals were perfect on most part, bit placeholderish in some parts with arial and default Unity ui graphics but that’s just minor detail. My biggest complaint is the build mode, I had hard time using it and controlling the camera with both controller or keyboard-mouse-combo. It kept flipping, turning, and swirling even slightest movement and placing tracks was bit frustrating. At one point camera moved out of the bounds and I could not get it to focus on the tracks anymore. Hope this is fixed in the post jam version. All in all a cool looking racing game, with an interesting twist. Great job!
aemiliu5
02. May 2018 · 15:59 UTC
The Trackmania feel is so strong with this one! The graphics are amazing and the editor is also very fluid and easy to use!

Only downsides: the camera was a bit wonky at times and I didn't really get the fuel mechanic.

Otherwise this is brilliant work, well done!
Nutriz
02. May 2018 · 20:44 UTC
Very nice graphics, your game is very polished ! Nice to see others french here.
Feel free to look and vote for our entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/way-out
Roman Petrov
03. May 2018 · 09:50 UTC
You guys are crazy, very high-quality​ game! We'd be happy if you also check out our entries: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/good-hamster-dead-hamster and https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/tanktris
philippkick
03. May 2018 · 10:00 UTC
really awesome game! tried playing it on linux but unfortunately there was no executable in the archive, so switched to windows and played it there. Great game :)
🎤 badpaul34
03. May 2018 · 10:04 UTC
@philippkick actually we only forgot to update the link. Now it's updated and you can play on linux ;)
zeMenno
03. May 2018 · 10:56 UTC
this is truly amazing! would you like to rate my game as well? https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/lost-in-spacetime
larzan
03. May 2018 · 11:28 UTC
Great concept, but as i could only play the web version it was quite difficult to play, there were many clipping errors and the controls were quite shaky (well, that was probably just me ;) )
ShiMapleLeaf
03. May 2018 · 12:18 UTC
Amazing game, definitely feel the F-Zero inspiration!

Some suggestions:
- Make the music a bit louder, I could barely hear it over the car engine.
- The camera feels a bit weird. There were times where I couldn't see what was coming up at all.
fusionnist
03. May 2018 · 14:45 UTC
I'm amazed, this plays so well! Congrats!
Jin9310
03. May 2018 · 16:23 UTC
This was really fun and it is impressive what you have created in such short time. Really great job! Now I have try your new version with rainbow :)
slovnoslomo
04. May 2018 · 13:43 UTC
Nice graphics, sound and pretty fun gameplay! I like an idea mixing these two genres.

Speaking of gameplay details - I think balance is shifted too much to the construction part especially in late-game. I would like to drive more and have some challenge in avoiding obstacles or maneuvering in space.

Also the resource system is built the way you sometimes should slow-down or even stop or backtrack for resourses - it didn't felt right and the way you meant the game to be played.

Anyway I liked it a lot, you can see it from my highscore and structure :)

![555.png](///raw/0fe/a/z/14a0e.png)
![444.png](///raw/0fe/a/z/14a0f.png)
🎤 badpaul34
04. May 2018 · 20:22 UTC
@slovnoslomo I like your analysis. I agree that the game has some balancing issues.
You don't lose enough Fuel and so you have too much stars to build tiles. Speaking of intentions, the racing challenge should be "driving as fast as possible to earn more stars". As the number of tiles built increases, and (so) the obstacles accumulate, your challenge of racing through the "forest" of previous obstacles increases too. So the balance is kept. But since (1) you don't feel enough the evolution of star earned per second according to your speed and (2) you have too much of these stars, you don't (feel the) need to drive that fast.

We didn't aim to make the player stop and backtrack. We actually are thinking about something that is running after you (maybe the tile lights up like a bomb fuse) to add pressure to the racing part.

Anyway, again, I like your analysis, and btw, you beat everyone in the team with your high score :)
(sorry my english is so french)
cristiano.m.garcia
06. May 2018 · 14:50 UTC
Good job! Cool game!

I left my rating of your game, if you can leave your feedback in our game, Witch's Escape.

I hope you continue with the project.

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/41/witchs-escape
feips
07. May 2018 · 06:45 UTC
Great game and concept, the switch between building and driving feels nice, but the driving itself doesn't really feel tight enough.
StrangerYann
10. May 2018 · 12:50 UTC
Really amazing! Incredible graphics, I LOVE the music, and the fact you had time to pot a track editor as part of the game's main mechanics is pretty incredible! I found the racing gameplay hard because it was too fast and the visibility when you're driving the vehicle is a bit tricky [maybe it's 'cause my PC is too old, I ain't saying ^^#], but all in all this is a really amazing game, well done :-O