UnderGrav
A downloadable game for Windows and Linux
UnderGrav is a retro gravity racing game with modern physics calculations.
Lore
You just completed your work on the Gyrfalcon - a prototype anti-grav racing ship - in preparation for your participation in the soon-to-be-held UnderGrav season, an illegal racing competition taking place in the underground.
Now all that's left is to test out your brand new ride... In the calm of the night.
Physics-based calculations
The special thing about the game is that the interactions with the road are made using physics : the ship is equipped with four gravity thrusters that push up the ship when near the floor.
As such, the game can play differently based on the FPS you get while playing, and some interactions may seem unrealistic due to some calculations error that can take place inside the engine.
I could not test out the game on low hardware, though the game should not be too demanding since the graphics are based on the PSX framework, emulating PS1 graphics.
Features
- Take control and master the "Gyrfalcon", an Anti-Grav Racing Ship.
- Enjoy an handmade city with retro graphics.
- Race against the clock on three designed races.
- Enjoy the freedom and hunt for generated checkpoints accross the city.
- Customize your ride with your favorite paintjob !
How to play
As for AZERTY users... Do not worry ! It is supported out of the box ;)
Closing words
7 months ago, I set out on this project thinking it would only take me 3 months to complete... Though I'm really happy with how it came out !
Feel free to let me know what you think of the game, about the artstyle or the gameplay, or even features that I could include in the future !
I hope you'll enjoy speeding through the city ! :)
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Patch notes - UnderGrav V1.2Aug 21, 2022
- UnderGrav is now available for download !Aug 14, 2022
Comments
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Very cool. Love the classic low poly visual style with great ambience & atmosphere.
I downloaded the game for the look but I couldn't really enjoy it cause as cool as the driving system is, it's not really satisfying and it's hard to manoeuvre while trying to race. That being said the aesthetic and atmosphere are great, I like the mix of sci-fi, urban setting and the rainy mood. When I was playing it I wished it would be some other type of game, the way I was driving reminded me of Halo so I thought it would be cool if this was actually a third person shooter where you can drive a vehicle and roam around a city kind of like GTA2.
Thanks for playing and your feedback !
I get what you're trying to say, even I know it can be stiff sometimes. This all boils down to how "realistic" the antigrav system is.
This game should be considered as a prototype, as for now I am still honing my developper skills.
I like the idea of an open-world, however it is time consuming to build one. Though I have some ideas for the future :)
Maybe since it doesn't work as a very fast racing game like Wikepout, you could add in some side objective. For example since it's easy to smash into buildings you could make the game about delivering goods and make the player focus on driving as fast as possible without damaging the vehicle/goods,
To me this demo's best thing is the immersion rather than racing, maybe you could try to add some driving/flying simulation mechanics to make it more about the experience of operating the ship
The vibes are immaculate. My critiques or things I would hope get improved are: Any kind of res control, I had to use command line to not play in 21:9. General physics improvements, tweaking that takes a lot of time and effort [IME] but I feel like I have to come to a complete stop to make tight turns. Some kind of preview for the next checkpoint whether that's a map or just have it visible in a different color or in dithered transparency, too many moments where I just blasted past the next checkpoint.
All that said those vibes are in fact immaculate and I think the game deserves the attention to fix that stuff. Also hope those "ship setup" buttons become real at some point. Thanks for your hard work!
Thanks for your feedback !
Definitely some stuff I'm gonna fix and add. Resolution control is on my TODO list.
I did a small patch last weekend to make the ship more nimble and reposition checkpoints so that it's harder to miss them.
Ship setuping and upgrading is also on my list but requires more work :D