College of Engineering Unit:
Collision Course: Jupiter Drift is a sci-fi driving game developed almost entirely from scratch. We wanted to use as few public assets and game-making templates as possible, allowing us to express our creativity and skill in game development. As a result, the game features a driving system of our own design, as well as custom 3D models and sprites. Overall, we wanted to make a fun game that players would want to play to completion.
The game features an interplanetary rover completing heart-pounding time trials and quests. Its missions are aided by powerful-unlockable abilities including a Rocket Jump, Rocket Boost, and Glider. The player can also purchase permanent upgrades with our in-game economy that can be fine-tuned to adjust things like the rover’s max speed, acceleration, and mass. Using these, the player can optimize their performance on each of the game’s objectives.
Project Background:
In recent years, the video game industry has seen record highs in terms of profits, player base, and sheer volume of quality titles, with no signs of slowing down. In particular, with the constant improvement and rising accessibility of powerful graphics hardware, we have seen growth in the popularity of driving simulation games and franchises like Forza, Dirt, Assetto Corsa, and BeamNG.drive.
With innovative technologies like Unity, Unreal Engine, and Blender, game developers have founded groundbreaking skills and techniques to create these modern titles. These developments put power in the hands of indie game developers who work to make their gaming ideas into reality.
Team/Project Objectives:
We decided to use our combined game-making talents to show what we are capable of in the vast landscape of indie game development. Being in a game design competition has motivated us to come up with our own original ideas to make our game stand out. Our goals were to make a wholesome, polished game with plenty of outward research and experimentation to help us learn the ins and outs of game development.
Indie game development is usually fueled by creativity and motivation alone, making it a challenge to complete projects. The capstone structure provided an opportunity for organized and consistent output, allowing our creative vision to be realized.
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