Xtreme Drone Racing

My Contribution to this Project

-Used a spline in the Phyre level editor to determine a path for the race in the tutorial stage.

-Created a grey-box version of the levels and iterated on these until they were fun

-Created the user experience through the tutorial, teaching the player how to play the game via pop-up panels

-Fine-tuned the balance of the three available racing classes using Excel and PhyreEngine, ensuring that the playable classes were equally viable

-Collated feedback from user testing and used that to implement suggestions e.g. users were not aware of the boost mechanic so I made that a big part of the tutorial

-Composed the opening camera shots before the races and implemented them in code

-Created the shortcuts in the game and made sure that they were balanced through rigorous testing

Image Gallery

Xtreme Drone Racing's Bermuda Triangle stage	I made sure that shortcuts like these were a decision point for the player and carried some risk. You have to be good to get through unscathed!	Crashed plane serves as a landmark to help players recognise where they are in the stage
From a grey box...	...to a few assets...	to the final! After looking at videos of drones flying through dense forests we knew we wanted to include it.
The starting grid with the 39 other drones!	The game opens with establishing camera shots which I composed and implemented.

Platform:

PlayStation 4

Tools Used:

Phyre Level Editor

Duration:

8 months

Team Size:

22-15

My Role:

Designer

Level Designer

Overview

Xtreme Drone Racing is a racer that combines the emerging sport of drone racing with an arcade-inspired aesthetic. Players boost and dodge their way through the horde of 40 drones and experience the frenetic 60fps arcade drone action.

Using Daytona USA as inspiration, our pillars of design were "Arcade", "Drone" and "Action". Our time-extend system and cheesy announcer voice gave us the arcade feel, and our drones are really fast and can perform instant 180 degree turns at the touch of a button. We wanted frenetic action so we decided that races include 40 drones, some of which are piloted by special AI rivals who taunt and shove you.