Sky Pirates of Neo Terra

Sky Pirates of Neo Terra was originally a series of comics that I came across the other month and recently it has been developed into a game for Facebook and also IOS. At the moment it is still in its beta test but I have managed to get a trial of the game using Facebook. The game itself actually uses Unity which shows that this game engine is becoming more popular and I can also see what can be achieved using it.

The game itself is based on the main event that takes place within the comics, racing. You are able to pick either quick race or custom race. Within custom race this is where you are able to play with friends or join other races or you have more choice over which terrain you play over with 'create race' and 6 available options. The graphics themselves are to me really visually appealing as they really represent the comics in 3D form, the game doesn't defer away from the original style and look of the artwork. The overall game play is similar to most racing games aged for young people, the idea of speed boots and the use of items, what makes it different is that it is on a platform which is widely used. Most people these days will have a Facebook account and a vast number of games have appeared using it as a platform, it is no longer just social networking but now social gaming. The developers Day 21 Studios have taken advantage of this and the popularity of Facebook could also increase the popularity of the game when it is fully released. When it is brought out it should have 15 different characters and 12 unique tracks.

The textures within the game appear to be quite simple, nothing complicated is really needed as the player will be concentrating more on the race itself than the surrounding appearance. The main aspect that would have had to be taken into great consideration is the layout of each individual race and the obstacles within them. Each race has a difficulty rating so the more stars the race is given the more complex the race would be. The player may not be too interested in the surrounding area, however if they were to bump into an obstacle I'm sure they would notice if the textures were not up to standard or just did not fit in with the style of the game. With Sky Pirates even if you do hit an obstacle, for me the texture doesn't bother me as they have created them in a simple fashion yet up to the standard of the rest of the environment and style of the game. The trees/leaves are made up of many different poly-planes but only if you were to stop and examine this would you notice, and also this is very common in many games as you don't want a heavy poly-model within your game as it will slow down the game play. It's the style of the textures that I want to try and re-create for my game level in my own way, simple yet effective and visually appealing.