Presentation

Action Racing Game - Gamemaker engine - 2009 ~ now XD

Intro

S'Witches Scramble (project name: ColorSWitch) is a racing game I'm developing in my spare time with the Game Maker engine (version 8, Studio and now Studio 2). It's an ongoing project that I use to learn programming.

Although the concept is quite simple, I took the time to learn, try and experiment to refine it. The current version is the third fourth fifth, and "should be the last", as a working prototype. I went from a mode 7 view (like on Super Nintendo) to a classic top-down view. As for the universe, I swapped medieval steampunk cars for little witches.

The Pitch

The main concept of the game is to change the colour of your witch to match the colour of the track (the character's colours can be selected cyclically from left to right or right to left). This keeps the witch's speed and mana at maximum. The game can be played locally (split-screen) by up to four players. I have several ideas for gameplay mechanics to give the concept a little more juice, all based on the main gameplay: players have to match their colour to the track.

Version 1

The first version was published on Game Maker 8. I used a bunch of third-party scripts to simulate a 3D third-person view, like Super Nintendo Mode 7. I tweaked it a bit to suit my needs. Visually, I wanted a kind of SNES/PlayStation rendering, with pixels well visible for the texture. I added a lot of visual feedback for the colour change mechanic, such as the Optim-Slow-Warn sliders, the car engine and the life gauge. I also wanted the HUD to be directly on the car, represented by the colour of the car's wheels.

This project taught me a lot, especially about programming. I was able to keep my motivation despite the time spent on it (since 2012) and the three changes of direction.

Version 2

The second version was made in Game Maker Studio. Because of changes in the engine, and because I still wasn’t very comfortable with 3D programming, I decided to switch everything to 2D with a normal top‑down view, similar to Micro Machines. However, the camera ended up closer to that of an RPG or action‑adventure game. I added four‑player split‑screen support and a character selection feature.

For this version, I changed the universe to that of the Touhou Project, since it is free to use and known worldwide. This allowed me to focus on gameplay and mechanics instead of spending time creating characters, objects, or story elements that would match the game’s atmosphere. I also had access to a large amount of visual material.

I had to rethink the HUD because the new view created several UX issues, but I couldn’t find any interesting solutions.

Version 3

The third version started in Game Maker Studio and then moved to Game Maker Studio 2, thanks to the more efficient tile management system in the newer engine.

With this version — and because so much time had passed since I first started the project — I changed the camera system again to improve my workflow and to solve the HUD issues that had appeared after switching to a top‑down view.

With a three‑quarter top‑down view and a fixed camera, achieving smooth character rotation required far too many animation frames: 16 directions multiplied by each animation type (gain, loss, crash, etc.) and by the number of characters. It was simply too much work for one person in their spare time.
So I changed the camera to rotate according to the character’s direction. This way, the character’s sprite always faces upward, drastically reducing the number of assets I needed to produce. It also allowed me to display the HUD directly on the character.

I also decided to reduce the tile size from 32×32px to 16×16px, as well as the size of the character sprites, to further reduce production time.

This version will be the last one in 2D. After that, I’d like to create a 3D version in Unity or Unreal, ideally with a small team, so I can add ideas that weren’t feasible in the 2D version.

Version 4

I decided to go back to the Zelda‑like top‑down view I had used in version 2, as I finally found a way to solve the issues I mentioned back then: I just needed to work harder.
It was also much cuter to clearly see the characters and the environment in that perspective.

Version 5

This version is the current one and is “just” a complete rewrite of the code.
The GameMaker Studio community has grown a lot over the past few years, and thanks to that I was able to learn many new tricks and concepts that I wanted to try.

See you in version 6 (lol)