- Use the arrow keys to drive around! (not as Sonic, sorry) - Hold X to drift. Control how tight it is with left/right arrows! - Press Z to switch cars and space bar to "jump" (these do nothing)
One of my more recent demos, from June 2025! After hearing that Sonic Racing CrossWorlds would be $70, I thought, "Man, that's too expensive for me... could I make a free version of it?" I've always been fascinated with racing games on Scratch, particularly the top-down ones, and wondered how they could be improved upon. For this demo, there are three main things I wanted to implement to build upon existing Scratch top-down racing games: 1) CAMERA. Most games in this genre keep the camera locked, having your car spin 360º for turning, which can be rather disorienting and make it unclear how to turn! So, I figured out some mathematical formulas to allow the camera to follow the car; in my opinion, this makes not only controlling the car easier, but gives you more visibility for what's ahead. 2) 3D EFFECTS. When every object on-screen is a flat 2D object, it can be hard to tell from a top-down perspective what's track, wall, offroad, and so on. So, taking inspiration from @griffpatch_tutor's project "Top Down 3D City," I used some pen stamping to create a 3D effect that not only makes walls/buildings stand out more, but shows things underneath the track (like the water/beach section), which I believe further helps with clarity and visibility. 3) CONTROLS. This one I didn't get as much work done on, but I wanted the mechanics to be more than simply driving and turning. There are a lot of experiments here: drifting, jumping, and swapping vehicles. All three were ideas of mine to mix up the gameplay, but only basic implementations are here, nothing super detailed. So, unfortunately, my free version of Sonic Racing CrossWorlds never materialized, mainly due to a lack of time and shifting my attention to working on "Dancing at the Movies." But, feel free to use this base to create a super cool top-down racing game of your own, as long as you give me credit for the engine! I love this genre on Scratch and would love to see it thrive. (Also, no, I have not played CrossWorlds. I wasn't lying when I said it was too expensive for me!)
