Hello! Welcome once again to the fourth devlog for The Adonai Invitational. My name is Ben Smith and am leading a wonderful group of game dev students at CSU Chico. This build was very successful and we were able to test some of our new features for the game, namely Focus, the alternate path, and using 'hit the reins'. I'll be discussing those changes here in a bit but before we do I want to extend a bit of a shout out to the team now that we are nearing the final stretch of the project. When we started this project none of us had worked on a racing game, let alone one that involves chariots, horses, and mythical Greek tracks. It was a new experience for all of us and my first time leading a project this big. I have been extremely impressed and grateful for the time and effort everyone has put in to making a title that we can all be proud of. We've all dived into new methods and techniques for bringing this project to live and I cannot thank everyone on the team enough for what we've been able to accomplish and where we are going.

It’s simple: earn the praise of the gods, enhance your chariot, master the tracks, and become the greatest racer in Greek history.

Lets take a look at what the team accomplished for this sprint!

Finally 'Hitting the Reins'!

Our playtest for this build was exciting because as I mentioned above we were able to test new features that have been cooking for quite a few weeks. Through some in person testing and sending out the build we were able to get 26 playtesters as well as their corresponding feedback. Our build goals were to test the new alternate path, the focus resource, as well as our 'hit the rein's mechanic which gives players an on demand speed boost at the cost of Focus. 

Overall, our new systems were received positively by players especially having more ways to increase speed and seeing new areas of the track. The focus resource depletes when using 'hit the rein's but fear not! There are multiple areas on the track that recharge focus which, after seeing the results, have us back in the lab reworking their locations to better emphasize risk and reward rather than guiding the player and 'forcing' a certain route on the track. In a similar vein players wanted more recharge areas to further increase their ability to go fast without sacrificing the particular route they would like to take. 

The alternate path takes the player off of the main track and into a flooded cover that Poseidon has uncovered for the players to race on. This area of the track was aesthetically interesting but our lack of visual cues and communication unfortunately had many players confused and not sure why the main track was suddenly blocked, a key issue we need to sort out before the next build. The entire race also ended up being way too long so with some tweaking to lap numbers and giving players more freedom to go faster this should be a relatively easy fix. 

Below are some images from our feedback which showed that our 'Hit the Rein's speed boost was sort of middling in terms of the extra boost (1 was too slow whereas 7 was too fast). The results showed we are right in the middle which shows to us it may be sort of in the right place but having more speed is likely a more fun option.

We also asked the players how the 'fall off' of focus felt which needed to be enough that players could not just speed run through our track but also slow enough that they could use 'hit the rein's in impactful moments. The majority of testers were satisfied with the level of fall off and it felt punishing and encouraged going through more recharge areas.

Overall, it was a solid play test that was encouraging since our core features were well received. The negative take away including the alt path indicators, too long of a race, and too much directing by way of the recharge areas are all mechanics that can be tuned up and tightened to create a better overall race. Next, we'll be taking a look at what else the team was busy working on!

The Fury of Poseidon! (and Artemis?)

Our level designer Hudson was working on finalizing the track and especially our new alternate path that will open up on the final lap! It takes the player through a section of flooded canyons and ruins. It brings the more mystical elements of the track concept to life and is significantly different from the rest of the track.

The water bridge was a nice touch that Hudson put together himself and gives more of a feel that Poseidon himself is affecting the course of the race.

Hudson was also placing the recharge areas for focus throughout the track which served a dual purpose of providing more opportunities for speed boosts and guiding the player throughout the track.

Our second level designer William was busy working on our second track and getting the prep work done to ensure it is a smooth transition into unity. He created the annotated map for our second level, Artemis' Grove, which takes the player into a dark deep forest enchanted by the moon goddess herself!

The second track shown above is a significant departure from the coastal island that makes up our first track. The setting is a deep, dark, enchanted forest with a smaller overall track shape and a large gnarled tree as the center piece of the stage. On the alternate path (shown in pink) players will drive through the tree and down towards the lack where a moon statue will pass by. Although we have less time to create this track we have learned a lot through our process on the first one and William has shown great initiative in getting the first stages of the track complete.

Refining the Chariot

Our programming team, Justin and Adam, were busy making some improvements to our chariot as well as setting up some new features within our game. To start off Justin adjusted our camera to better track with the player and give the chariot a better 'feel' on the track itself. He set up new surfaces that slow and impact the speed and handling of the chariot so that it gives more incentive for the player to nail tight turns while still staying on the track. It is also a staple of the racing game genre and makes it way too easy to fly around on the track with few if any consequences. Justin also worked on some other under the hood work that assisted in cleaning up some of the issues we found in the last playtest.

Meanwhile, Adam was setting up some basic features regarding a race countdown, a wrong way indicator, improved AI, and a chariot and horse  selection screen.

The selection menu is a feature we've wanted in for a while and now that we have our first two chariots finished it was a great addition to our build that shows off the modeling and texturing work we've been doing as well as being a classic feature for racing games, even one that centers around horses.




Shown above are the start race countdown and an indicator that shows if the player is going the wrong direction. These were some simple features that are core to racing games but that were sorely missed on the last build, so much in fact we had some playtesters mention it specifically. Adam also improved our AI so that they do not bunch together as much and follow different routes, it's still been a challenge to get them to be a challenge for the racer and the track is varied enough that they have difficulty following along. But we are making progress with every sprint and Adam's work has been extremely consistent throughout the project so I do not doubt that we will be able to get the pesky AI racers into a competitive state!

Crackin' the Whip

It's always easy to show off the work of our 2D artist and animator because their work speaks for itself! Our artist Tamil created a lovely piece for our itch page as well as the concept for our final chariot! The third and final chariot is themed after the hunt goddess Artemis and fits in nicely with our second track as well as look very unique from our other two chariots. Each one has a different color scheme and motif and am really pleased with how they all came out.





Finally Tamil created some icons for our main menu which turned out very crisp and in line with our splash art and itch banner.




Our animator Daniel was finalizing our run and walking animations for our horse which will be extremely satisfying to finally get into our game.



Models for the People

Our 3D modelers, Erika and Tristin, had a productive sprint as well. Erika created the Artemis chariot as well as our player character which you will see below. At this stage there is not anyone better at creating chariots than Erika, but making a humanoid character was a new challenge for her and not only did she create a great finished product but also did it at an extremely quick pace.



Tristin was getting our actual track textures ready and creating some platforms that we can use around the map to connect some of our various buildings and props, making them feel like people actual live around the island. And don't worry, you can ride a chariot up and around on the platforms.


The track has the imprint of chariot wheels and can server as a guide for the players as well.

Thank you for sticking with us so far! We are nearing the end of this project and I am extremely happy with how the team has adapted throughout the semester.

We'll see you on the track.
-Adonai Racing Team