Today I would like to introduce RallyRacer, a new multiplayer game for android. RallyRacer allows of set of players to control robots on a game board. Each player organizes a series of commands in an attempt to move their robot across the board, and to be the first one to reach the goal. The problem for the players is that their control of their robot isn't absolute, so other players are going to be pushing them around, shooting them (and damaging their ability to control their robot), and being moved by traps throughout the game board.

Control Scheme

The game works by first loading the game board using a web browser. Then all of the players connect with their android phones. Players send commands as they finish organizing the instructions for their robot, and the results are seen live on the screen as each of the rounds of play resolve.

The game isn't quite ready for public release yet, but players will simply need to visit the game site on a computer. Ideally this computer would be connected to a tablet or television for public viewing. Then each of the players launch the RallyRacer android application and begin playing the game.

Current State

The game can be found on GitHub. Currently we have a server that leverages the new Webkit transitions to animate the gameplay. The server connects to a PHP backend using AJAX to obtain state and animations. There is an android client package [.apk] that will allow you to play the game on the Android. Additional features such as connecting to a non-mortalpowers.com server are in development for the client. There is also a very early web client that replicates some of the android client features. The major problem with the web client is that if you use the same browser to access it, it shares state with the server, which is problematic.

Right now the android client and server combination allow up to 3 players to connect, send commands, and move their robots around, colliding and pushing each other on the game board.