The Razorlocks Steam page is now live!
Razorlocks finally has a public Steam page for wishlisting! It’s been over five years since I paid the Steam submission fee to start working with the SDK and experiment with leaderboards. It feels good to have the game visible on a real, popular storefront even if there is a long way to go before it’s done.
Why did it take so long?
When I first started working with the SDK I was still pursuing my CS degree full time. After I graduated in 2021 I had a lot more free time to work on the game, at least when not applying to jobs. This is when I worked on the hub level and previous main theme music. I was incredibly fortunate to land a contract role with a consulting firm that allowed me to work directly with Unity, who then contracted me to work with a (now defunct) studio they were supporting named Possibility Space. Near the end of my stint with this studio I worked directly for them as an employee for about 6 months before it suddenly shut down in April 2024 (you can Google for the story on that). Since then I’ve been doing more contracts on indie Unity projects, namely Shred 3 and Wishfarers.
It hasn’t been easy trying to juggle working full time on Unity games and my own passion project on the side.
What more needs to be done for the Steam demo?
Unity itself has evolved a fair amount over the years, so I believe now is a good time to commit to upgrading to Unity 6 and switching from the built-in rendering pipeline to URP. I also want to integrate FMOD for audio since I’ve gained some experience with that on a different project and can see how limited Unity’s audio implementation is in comparison.
The current SFX in the game are not very good, and sound even weaker when played on top of the new soundtrack being scored by Ali Tahir, who wrote the trailer music. Thus all of the sound effects must be redone, and I was going to hire a sound designer for this but cannot afford it after my previous job with PS ended. Maybe with liberal use of sound libraries I can pull something solid together.
All of the UI needs to be redone as well, but I do have some nice designs planned that are relatively simple to implement. Localization wasn’t seriously considered either until recently which is important to reach a wider audience.
The main level in the trailer, Runner’s Ridge, still needs to be fleshed out with a lot more things to interact with, one of which I want to experiment with is grind rails that I think could slot nicely into the gameplay. My design philosophy for main levels is going to be based around encouraging players to run around them in different ways to optimize routes through mini trials, and rewarding experimentation by having different moving obstacles, boost pads, bounce pads, and other objects that can be activated by hitting switches or running through triggers.
The levels are like mini open worlds similar to Super Mario Odyssey, and I find myself spending time just running around the mostly-empty Runner’s Ridge because the movement feels just that good. I think it would be really cool if these interactables could also extend to affecting the races that play out in the levels, so that races don’t just feel like time trials with extra steps (I still need to come up with a meaningful way to interact with other racers, perhaps with powerups).
Then there are the linear time trial sub-levels that can be discovered while exploring the main level. My goal for these is not to just get from the start to the end as fast as possible, but again have ways to interact with the level itself that make optimal pathing less obvious. Having something like the time crates in Crash Bandicoot relic time trials could be a way to encourage alternative routing. These levels could also take different forms such as “collect all the things” or “run through the checkpoints” instead of just get to the end. Another source of inspiration I often think about are the speedways from the Spyro games.
Next, the hub level is going to be rebuilt with the level design tools I’ve been using for Runner’s Ridge, mainly because the collision geometry in the level has too many bumps and edges the player can get stuck on. Plus I’m just not super happy with the layout of the buildings, and the helicopter pads are going to be scrapped since I plan to have the monorail act as the way to get to different levels.
I also have a loose idea for a tutorial level that could function like a short obstacle course that can be sped through by experienced players if desired, without forcing players to stop and read text boxes or perform certain actions.
Once all of this work (and then some) is done I can release the Steam demo and get more crucial feedback to make the game the best version it can be (within reason).
You can wishlist the game here:
Last note: I have to post more frequently on social media if this game is going to be a success. I’m not going to let 7+ years of work go to waste on a game that ends up DOA because the algorithms aren’t giving me the time of day with my annual posts.