Hometown GP : Launched!

I’m really pleased to announce that our new game, “Hometown GP“, has been launched!

This is the latest browser based racing game from us at Skive, this one being a Formula 1 racer with a unique feature: By using a custom Google Maps interface, you can create your own tracks on real roads – pretty much anywhere in the world – and the game will dynamically generate a 3D racetrack which matches your route.

The idea is to be able to experience Formula 1 coming to your home town – so you could create a route which goes along your street, past your local shops or school, etc. Of course you can also choose to build anywhere else in the world too, if you feel like exploring! Combining Flash and Unity 3D technologies with route, altitude and satellite data from Google maps, this project breaks new ground when it comes to technology “Mash-Ups”.

If you’re logged in and finish 3 laps of your new track, it gets saved to the database and will show up as a marker pin along with everyone else’s tracks around the map of the world. You can share your tracks via facebook and twitter, and challenge your friends to beat your times on any course.

Here’s a video of the game in action:

Notable features:

• Intuitive custom track designer built on Google’s route finding technology.
• Dynamic 3D world created to match your design.
• Analysis of real satellite & terrain data used to decide placement of trees, buildings and open space.
• Real altitude data used to create track height and surrounding hills.
• Realistic scales and Formula 1 speeds.
• Dynamic driving assistance adapts to your performance – casual gamers and skilled drivers alike should find the game equally enjoyable without the need to fiddle with menus and settings.
• Community features allow you to race other people’s tracks, and share your tracks with others.
• Adaptive quality degradation ensures very high visual quality on high-spec machines, while low-spec machines prioritise framerate – without the need for manual settings.

You can play the the game here:

http://racing.vodafone.com/hometown

However you might also like to try some of these direct links to tracks which I think show off the game quite well:
(try and beat my times on these!)

• Bristol River Run (England)
• The Serpentine (Hyde Park, London, England)
• Presidio of San Francisco (California, USA)
• Happy Valley (Hong Kong, China)
• El Grado Dam (Spain)
• Banff: Tunnel Mountain (Alberta, Canada)
• Ct. Gilles Vielneuve: (Montreal, Canada)

And finally, some stills – for those of you who like that kind of thing!