'Horse Power' Trailer
Play as an unstable horse and race the clock in this wacky physics-based game
Contributions:
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Blocked, textured, and modeled the winding track with multiple challenge sections (denoted by checkpoints) that provide different types/levels of difficulty
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Designed an balanced the 2 collectibles, one progressively increasing the players speed with each collected, and the other giving a quick powerful boost
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Designed and implemented an unwieldy physics-based movement system that has the player struggling to remain upright.
Team Size: 4 Students
(semester project)
Project Overview
'Horse Power' Walkthrough
Play the Game here:
Horse Power Level Design
(project information in this section may be present in others as well if relevant)
Note: Website still under construction. This page will be expanded with more diagrams, gifs, and text
Gameplay Premise:
You play as a tipsy horse navigating a surreal winding racetrack. You must control your momentum and balance to avoid falling over and being reset to the last checkpoint. Powerups increase your speed while lowering your control. The goal of the game is to score a new record time, so mastery of the track and your horse are essential.
Level Overview:
The track demands multiple changes in behavior from the player as they progress through its ever-changing terrain. Flat ground or straightaways let the player catch their breath, but only make up a small proportion of the course. There is an emphasis on verticality that will see the player climbing up inclines before speeding down ramps back to ground level-- and eventually below that into an underground section. Turns are frequent and don't follow a consistent pattern, forcing the player to manage not just their speed but direction. Losing control of speed or trajectory will cause your horse to tip over, yet both are in constant flux as you progress down the track.
Overall Level Flow...
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The track has 3 segments
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Tutorial Hill
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Lets the player practice the main obstacle types
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Giant Hill
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Has harder versions of these obstacles
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Underground Tunnel
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Allows the player to breathe in a less challenging and visually unique environment
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Section 1 Tutorial Hill:
Section 1 contains all elements and track segments the player will later contend with, but scaled down to an easier degree
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The player travels along a straightaway, encountering their first speed-increasing carrot, and then a sugar cube. The Sugar cube comes as the player must smoothly curve around a long-ish turn
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The sugar cube's placement establishes that while, great for decreasing time, they can make changing direction trickier
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Next the player must ascend a shallow incline before reaching a sharp turn, where they are stopped by a glass wall
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The wall catches the player who would otherwise fall off given how they have little experience controlling their momentum, while illustrating how stopping before a turn is itself an obstacle (especially when walls aren't present later)
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Then the player ascends a short steep incline, before descending back down to ground level with carrots increasing their speed
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The decline is a sort of exhilarating reward for the heights they managed to achieve, making the player excited to travel even higher in the next segment
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Section 2 Giant Hill:
Section 2 sees the player climbing to the highest elevation of the entire track, speeding around at the top, before shooting back down to ground level (moreso if they can maintain the speed they accrued)
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First the player spirals upward to the top elevation, with a sugar cube and carrots allowing for this ascent to be very quick if used
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The spiral encourages the player to repeatedly let off the gas and allow momentum to carry them forward before changing direction, like mini-drifts
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The sugar cube is early in this segment, allowing for a boost of momentum that the player can maintain throughout if they can control it.
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Carrots are placed on the outer rim to make their utilization dangerous for staying on the course.
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Next is a slightly curving straightaway, littered with carrots and Sugarcubes to allow for extreme speeds
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This segment has most space to use speed without tipping or falling off the track.
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By the end of this portion the player has accrued an unwieldy level of momentum that is obvious to them when they must make a sudden turn to enter another incline
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Then the player ascends a shallow incline curving into another corkscrew, this time going down
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This corkscrew can be finished way quicker than the last due to both and the physics of sliding downwards, and the access to many power-ups before prior
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At high speeds, the player has no choice but to drift down the curve, which is difficult to maintain but thrilling to pull off
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Finally the player slides down the steepest decline in the track, nearly falling back to ground level
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The player must actually reverse their momentum for a controlled descent since high speeds here will cause a tip or careening off the track
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A checkpoint right before this slope allows for immediate retries, albeit sapped of all the previous carrot-derived acceleration
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Section 3 Underground Tunnel:
Section 3 is a wind down in difficulty from the obstacles and speed of section 2. It consists of a flat snaking segment, before descending into a surprise underground tunnel meant to be an interesting change of scenery and pace, rather than a strenuous challenge
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The snaking path being flat means its easy to avoid tipping over on, and really the difficulty derives from how fast the player attempts to complete it
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Taking it slow across the turns is easy, but will result in a high final time since this part can be taken quickly with the carrots and sugar cubes on it
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Taking it quick means using full on 180 degree drifts to change direction.
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Then the player descends underground into the tunnel. While it has some curves and a full turn, maintaining control is easiest here than anywhere else with the forgiving walls to catch the player.
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This final segment is intended to defuse the stress and tension built by prior challenges with a purely fun experience of building speed and making safe turns
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Carrots and sugar cubes light the way to provide an easy final boost ot speed for getting a low time
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Ascending out of the tunnel back to the starting line is the final challenge of the course, which is meant to be a bit tricky but not overly so
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If this is the players first lap, they now get to complete the second with the new advantage of a high carrot count, taking on the start faster than previously possible
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The Progression of Player Competency:
Each race being 2 laps means the player can use their recent experience from lap 1 into lap 2.
Getting a lower time in lap 2 encourages a full replay of the race, with the desire to do as well on both laps as the player did on their most recent.
Level Elements...
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Carrots: Eating carrots will increase your horse's top speed, however your carrot count is reset to 0 when spawning back at a checkpoint
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The faster you become, the more unwieldy the horse's momentum is to control. You may want to avoid collecting more if you're already struggling to handle the current speed
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Sugar Cubes: Eating sugar cubes results in a powerful burst of temporary speed. The player must hold Alt while passing through one to consume it
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They can be powerful tools to score a low time, but also take high finesse to use without losing control
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This is why players can't accidentally eat one and must hold Alt to do so. Otherwise, they may have acted more as an obstacle to avoid than a risky advantage
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Checkpoints: Activated by passing, and respawn the player to their location after falling over or off the track.
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Placed after major challenges to bank the player's accomplishment
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Create a sense of progression as players often strive only to pass the next one without worrying too much about whether they fall afterward
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Rewards speedy and risky play by being necessary for a lower time
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