Formula V Demo 3

After two demos that were exclusively accessible by Beta Tester and up tier backers, finally, we have a demo of Formula V for all our patrons!

We know that it has been a long time since we announced Formula V, but we now have a demo that we hope you will appreciate. At the end of this post, is the link to the ROMs that showcase the core gameplay that we are aiming for with our futuristic racing game.  

Game modes

The current demo has two modes:

• Spectator mode, where you can watch the AI racing each other. It is accessed through the title screen by not pressing any button for a couple of seconds.
• Main game mode, which allows you to race against five AI controlled racers. 

The demo allows you to choose between six racers with different attributes each, like top speed, acceleration, grip and power. 

Simulator or arcade?

Neither. This isn't a top-down Mario Kart clone where bare steering and luck decide the races' outcomes; nor it is a full blown sim where you have to be extremely precise to move around the track. Instead, this game tries to have a bit of both by focusing on steering skills and strategic deployment of the racers' boost, plus just a notch of luck. So, don't expect to win right from the start... And use da brakes!

We are sure you will appreciate this approach to racing once you get the hang of each racer's speed, acceleration and grip attributes.

Don't forget to watch out for collisions against the walls, since they will reduce your power meter and, once it is depleted, you will be out of the race.

Power is depleted when you deploy the boost too, so use it judiciously, if you want to stand a chance to finish at the top that is. You can recover a little bit of power by forcing the racers behind to ram yours, but be careful since this requires quite a bit of dexterity to properly handle the free boost that you will get. And don't ram others, or you will loose some power and it will give your opponents an advantage! 

Controls

To control your racer, use the following:

• Accelerate: hold A button
• Brake: hold B button
• Steer: hold the left or right button on the left directional pad
• Boost: press the left or the right triggers at the same time

A note about improvements

Compared to the first two demos, the big surprise this time is the addition of music and sound effects! Yep, we have finally implemented proper sound support in our engine! Check out the Sound Test ROM for a deeper look into it.

Please, consider that neither of our team members has any formal background on music, so, the sounds that you will hear are our best attempt to put together something that doesn't sound horrendous. Therefore, take every single sound as a placeholder, subject to be replaced, hopefully, with something produced by a professional.

Besides the usual polishing and bug fixing, this time we have managed to make some big improvements on the performance, which has enabled us to ramp up some of the particle effects.

Please enjoy! And if you do, we'd really appreciate any feedback from you, either in the comments below, in Discord or via email (vuengine@planetvb.com)! Thanks!

Warning: this demo consists of two ROMs with different functionalities, one will only work on emulators; and the other, only on hardware. This was done due to the recent proliferation of the reproduction cart market, where the work of the Virtual Bow homebrew community is sold without authorization. Please, read about our stance on reproduction carts, free ROM distribution and piracy in general in the following post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/30205422.

Update: to clear any confusing about the different ROM versions, please, read along.

The ROM labeled "Formula V WIP Demo (2019-09-25)-(Hardware).vb" will go directly to the spectator mode after the splash screen. This was done to discourage anyone from trying to sell Formula V's demos in reproduction carts. It is not intended to be used on emulators, you will need a programmable cart like FlashBoy to try it. It was released to let you see how the game looks and performs on the Virtual Boy.

The ROM labeled "Formula V WIP Demo (2019-09-25)-(Emulators).vb" will let you play the game and watch the spectator mode, but is locked to work exclusively on emulators (we tested it only on Mednafen) and it won't boot up on hardware.