Hi everyone,

We are back with some great news! Our development, this week, went great and we have 4 great prototypes to show.

Firstly, I (Bernardo) made a prototype for the car mechanics in which realistic physics were implemented, while adding some more "arcadey" physics to it, in the drift component. Some interesting details were added, such as, for example, the forming of tire trails on the road, when the car drifts and a radio with 9 songs. The other mechanics implemented were the fuel consumption in the car (that will, in the future, be able to refill at gas stations) and a rechargeable boost, with both of them having some prototype UIs.

Diogo worked on the mini map that displays the three nearest missions (for now, with an icon that shows the head of the npc that is calling the taxi) and the nearest gas station. He also worked on the arrow that shows up above the car, once he picks up a client and that points the player towards the destination.

Guilherme worked on the taxi missions. With a pool of 6 preset missions, the player can approach any of the clients. Once the car stops or reduces its speed near enough the npc, it will enter the car. Then, once the player reaches the destination and stops, the npc will leave the car and wave it goodbye. After that, every mission will respawn on the map.

Gonçalo was responsible for developing the npc cars that go around the city, in order to make it more lively. Now, the city has tractors and supercars sharing the streets with the player's car. He also implemented 3 cameras behind the car with different distances/heights to fit different players' preferences.

In class, we managed to gather some feedback from peers, in a wizard of oz type showcase. Luckily, we managed to get feedback from more and less experienced players that provided us with a very broad idea of how our game looks to outsiders. The main points for improvement are:

• Making the drift less aggressive, so that players can control how much drift they want better;
• Making signs as for when to increase speed, for example, when the car is approaching a ramp;
• Making the fuel consumption more visible to the player, in comparison to the boost;
• Highlighting, in the mini map, the length/difficulty and the reward of the mission that is being displayed;
• Highlighting these same details when the player approaches the mission triggering spot;
• Making the npc cars slightly faster;
• When there are crashes, make sure, the player isn't affected, for too long, by the cars blocking the road.
• Create a reverse camera and one in the cars front.

Hope we can come back next week with more developments!