Hovercraft Online

Demos and projects
1

Hello there,

Greetings from France !

Since it’s my first post here, a little bit about myself, first :

I’m 31 and I have been working in AI (Deep Leaning Computer Vision) and 3D Simulation (Automotive) for the last 10 years. During the last years, I used to manage about 35 engineers in Computer Vision and 3D simulation, including 7 PhDs. I was working on a photorealistic driving simulator for training and testing ADAS-AD algorithms. I’m passionate in coding for multiple purposes (Websites, Chess AI engines, Telegram Bots, Games, etc…). Mastering Python and Javascript, I’m also interested in other languages such as C++ and C#. About 3D I use Blender and most of all, my beloved and most favorite 3D software : Houdini.

I recently left my previous job to launch my own company in 3D Simulation using VR and Robotics. (More to come publicly on this later). Working on my project, I played a little bit with BabylonJS which I found very fun :smiley: ! So I plan to use BabylonJS for the public demos of my company…

During the last 2 evenings (I use to code my personal projects at night), I decided to start a new project, for fun, because eventhough I have been working in 3D for years, I have never published a single game, and I was like… Ok let’s do this, it will be a way to learn further BabylonJS, and still have fun.

So here we are ! I’ve spent 2 evenings on this game, and already I feel like it’s fun :slight_smile:

:arrow_right: Hovercraft Online :arrow_left:
You can move using ZQSD (azerty) or Keyboard Arrows

Please note that I’m not using any physics engine, all the physics are pure JS. The goal of this personal project is to become more familiar with BabylonJS, for my professional project where I’ll need to have 100% the hand on what’s happening. Only physics used from Babylon is collision detection.

I plan to add :

  • Laps counting and timing
  • More objects all around (not only “water”)
  • Save best laps of players
  • More Maps & Hovercrafts
  • Controller Support
  • VR Support
  • (Only if many people interested) : real time multiplayer

Don’t hesitate to comment / criticize / hint / propose

See you soon !
++
Tricotou

16 Likes
2

Welcome! Nice concept to build upon , arrow keys didnt work for me and zqsd as controls doesnt make sense on a standard western keyboard. but i twisted all my fingers to be able to hit the gas and steer left and right to test it out.

I cant help but feel with the speed and physics of this craft that a bigger track would be much more fun.?
( Tested that by getting outside your track and riding around the outer walls. Getting to hold the speed and do bigger turns etc. )

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Excellent!!! And always a pleasure to welcome a fellow French compatriot:)

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Welcome to the community and great job on your first Babylon project! :slight_smile:

I envy your skills and wish I could build a project as fast as you! I’ve been working on my game for over a month and haven’t done much more than what you have there…

I love the visuals, but agree with @shaderbytes about the controls, it was a little hard to figure out how to move around!

Hope to see more of your work in the future, keep up the hustle! :facepunch:

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5

Hello all,

Thanks for your kind comments and likes :slight_smile:

Ok, I’ve pushed a new version with a choice between AZERTY and QWERTY at Start. Also, arrows should be ok now. Please have a try !

You are absolutely right, this track is shit :joy: I’ll upload something neater ASAP. That said, I’ll still insert some short turns here and there, in order to add some challenge, evenmore taking into consideration that the physics is very “slipery” (hovercraft), so any turns should be anticipated

Wow ! A comment from the big boss ! Thanks :slight_smile:

Thanks :slight_smile: Same, I updated the controls, let me know if it’s better.

:arrow_right: Hovercraft Online :arrow_left:

By the way :

map_ip_World
map_ip_World1280×640 137 KB

Map based on public IP adresses… I posted 24 hours ago and already you people have tried from the 5 continents… I love internet :heart: :smiley:

See you++
Tricotou

PS : I’m giving the same link again for sake of simplicity… Let me know if putting the same link N times is a problem, then I’ll avoid it…

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6

I’m in Los Cabos now in Mexico so the ping from the far west of Mexico is me :slight_smile:

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… and one ping from germany! :slight_smile:

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im the one in africa ( south africa )

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9

I am the one from south of France :slight_smile:

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10

Hello all !

New update available on :arrow_right: Hovercraft Online :arrow_left: !

Map is now based on a single bezier spline, with procedural generation of colliders and checkpoints :
map

And I’m using Houdini to proceduraly work the terrain arround the water surface :

Screenshot from 2024-04-15 19-44-35
Screenshot from 2024-04-15 19-44-351068×541 73.3 KB

Lot of time save ! :stuck_out_tongue:
(Evenmore for doing multiple tracks, now it’s a mater of minute)

About internal code I’ve updated :

  • UI with AZERTY / QWERTY choice
  • Nickname for saving race best timings per Nickname (UI for score sharing W.I.P.)
  • Sounds effects on collision and checkpoints
  • Music and Sounds toggle
  • client-side save for above params
  • Counterclock counter before start

You can press ENTER at any moment to restart, without having to reload the page :slight_smile:

Can’t wait to hear about your trials !

See you :slight_smile:
++ Tricotou

3 Likes
11
  1. This is really fun!
  2. I’m very bad at it!

Great work on this

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12

2 min 9 sec :wink:

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@yamaciller Ahah, yes, that’s totally the inspiration of my game :smiley:

Previously I spoke about the UI for scores being W.I.P. … It’s just released !

Screenshot from 2024-04-16 16-56-36
Screenshot from 2024-04-16 16-56-361832×931 116 KB

(Flags are based on IP :slight_smile: )

Have fun !

:arrow_right: Hovercraft Online :arrow_left:

By the way, something nice to be added would be recording the physics, and be able to compete against Top3 Ghosts, like in TrackMania

@coders :

  • Yes for now the logic is client-side, and unchecked
  • Yes the client sending updates is trusted 100%
  • No, don’t try to bullshit my database, please :grin: :handshake: :pray:

++
Tricotou

15

I always find those small hovers kind of wicked.
Basically an engine and huge fans. But also the weird aesthetics of the “beard” and the “curtains” on the bottom.
Its very sea creature like, organic.
But then it can “walk” on grass and sand and water, but drowns lol.
Cool thang!

16

Yes, sounds amazing :ghost:

1 Like
17

Yes! Nice idea.
Do you think it needs to record physics? Wouldn’t just the location and rotation at each frame be enough?

im the tiny blip from Latvia btw

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Ah yes or course. I wrote physics but I meant physics after computation, i.e. positions and rotations :slight_smile:

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image
image1920×1029 136 KB

I ran into a bug where my hovercraft started going way faster after I restarted, but now I’m top score :smiley:

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No way, ahah :smiley:
It happened to be one time only but I did not finish the lap. And could not reproduce.

I think that there is an issue where sometimes the main update function (which runs within a setInterval) is launched two times ^^ I’ll have a look ASAP