Loop Racer by Games_by_Tom
Hi all,
my approach to the theme is a car that is "stuck in a loop": its wheels are stuck and it is forced to drive in a loop / circle.
In order not to watch a car going in circles, and to actually make this into a game ;) , you can lift up the car.
If you lift up the car, it will keep spinning - but keep its current vector / not accelerate in another direction. You can also switch the direction, in which the wheels are 'stuck'.
The goal is to collect all the goal orbs in the level in the least amount of time!

| Youtube | https://tomsgames.itch.io/loop-racer |
| Youtube | http://gamesbytom.com/my_games/loop_racer/SOURCE_LoopRacer.zip |
| Original URL | https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/47/loop-racer |
Ratings
| Overall | 556th | 2.852⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 519th | 2.741⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 287th | 3.352⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 292th | 3.63⭐ | 29🧑⚖️ |
| Graphics | 572th | 2.481⭐ | 28🧑⚖️ |
| Audio | 495th | 1.553⭐ | 21🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 365th | 2.273⭐ | 24🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 553th | 2.348⭐ | 25🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 21🗳️ | 26🗨️ |
Other than that, it seemed really smooth and some interesting mechanics. Well done.
Also, I would suggest adding in some kind of pause menu, where you can quit to the main menu, and also replay a level.
Improvements aside, I loved the Gameplay mechanic! It was a pretty cool idea to have 'stuck in a loop' be a car stuck driving in a loop, and I loved how simple the mechanic was, yet how much it enhanced the game. Again, as @tolmera said, it was really smooth so well done on that.
Well Done!
** thanks for your feedback! **
The falling-off-the-map is intentional (if you drive too near to an edge at least ;),
but I wanted to reset the car to the default position (without resetting the time of course) - which apparently I forgot in the end...
This was now fixed with a few lines of code:
> if (transform.position.y < -10f)
> {
> transform.position = new Vector3(0f, 1f, 0f);
> rb.rotation = Quaternion.Euler(0, rb.rotation.eulerAngles.y, 0);
> rb.velocity = new Vector3(0f, 0f, 0f);
> }
and re-deployed.
Its also a good idea to include a pause menu, I will do this after the jam - since this would be a new feature and not a fix.
Thanks for taking in the feedback - it makes your game _so_ much better!
The idea is good! The controls need to be improved. =)
It was fun trying to figure out a good strategy, but I think the learning curve is too high on the first level. Maybe increasing the size of the orbs on the first couple of levels would help reduce the difficulty, or shrinking the turning radius. Although, I think that changing the turning radius between levels might throw people off.
Anyways, it's a fun little concept, and a clever use of the theme. Nice job!
Theme is very strong with this entry, of course. The physics are quite good and everything moves exactly as you expect. I'm not entirely sure if I am a fan of letting the player fall off the edge, but I guess I don't know what the alternative would be.
All in all, I like the take on the theme, it's a very unique game. Nicely done!
One last note: I always write down honest review, because everybody need that, not just nice craps with some bullshit, but sometime I will aperceite very good games. So if this review insult you, but use it well :) Anyway every game is counting so :)
@gilad-bar-ilan thank you! I actually tried to make the ground a bit more appealing and spend about three hours on a custom shader - that would have given it a nice half-transparent look with a pattern.
But I did not get all other materials to work with the new shader pipeline (i.e. would have ended up with a lot of pink surfaces).. so eventually I had to revert two commits and rather finish at all :wink: