Nitro Acid is a fast paced action game which includes top down shooter and driving elements. In some sense it might be comparable to the good old GTA titles back from the 90ties. The idea evolved from my earlier “Desert Rats” project which has a very similar approach but a very different artstyle. The player would drive around in a deserted environment, discovers locations, npc’s, unlock new vehicles and loot spots while fighting against AI opponents.

Besides the basic driving mechanics I implemented a day/night cycle, certain functional buildings as a repair shop, a save house and a gas station. I added a minimap that shows the closest spots which were already discovered by the player. But the coolest feature I was the most proud of, was the fact that the environment was kinda “loopable”. Once the player reaches the edge of the generated map he would get teleported to the opposite extend without noticing. That felt much more compelling than being constrained by a hard level border.

As it turns out so often while working on a hobby project the scope started to grow overwhelmingly. Sadly my toolbelt and skillset within unity wasn’t growing at the same speed. I was struggling. At some point I tried to upgrade the project to Unity 5 and all hell broke loose – I was so discouraged that I laid it on the shelf for now. Once my knowledge expands further I hope to pick it up again someday since I still like the idea and setting. Nitro Acid was made using Unity 4.6 and Playmaker.