v1.0.2
from anslo.dev © 2022
This work is licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International License
slow roads
endless driving zen
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Slow Roads is a casual, procedurally-generated driving game which lets you disconnect from life for a while and run endlessly toward the distant horizon. Set the scenery to suit your mood, throw on some music, and
just drive.
just drive.
Background
My name is anslo and I'm a creative developer exploring in the space between design and computer science. With a background in software engineering and a life-long love of functional art, my projects focus on finding novel applications of digital technology in answering interesting design questions.
Slow Roads exists primarily as an exploration of procedural scenery generation, but also as an experiment testing the boundaries of 3D application development within JavaScript. As a game, this project is a nostalgic love letter to the rolling hills of the Peak District, and to the arcade rally games I would play for hours on end as a child. As a technical demo, I aim to set a high bar and redress the negative idea of what can be accomplished in the browser.
Aside from this, my hope is that those in need of a simple, soothing escape will find it here.
Slow Roads exists primarily as an exploration of procedural scenery generation, but also as an experiment testing the boundaries of 3D application development within JavaScript. As a game, this project is a nostalgic love letter to the rolling hills of the Peak District, and to the arcade rally games I would play for hours on end as a child. As a technical demo, I aim to set a high bar and redress the negative idea of what can be accomplished in the browser.
Aside from this, my hope is that those in need of a simple, soothing escape will find it here.
Development Plan
Following an unexpectedly positive response, development will continue until at least the end of the year, to address the critical bugs and add the most popular features. Maintaining the casual experience with an emphasis on scenery remains the priority, though some hardcore features may be considered in the future for an added challenge.
Find the full plan of work on my ZenKit board.
Join the discord server to discuss new ideas.
Supporters on ko-fi get early access and priority requests!
Upcoming Release - v1.1.0 (mid/late-November):
- Support for controllers and wheels
- In-vehicle first-person view
- Revamped control panel with extra settings for physics/audio/controls/gameplay
- Mouse-look when in autodrive/key-control
- Further bug fixes to minimise generation errors and resolve audio issues
- In-vehicle first-person view
- Revamped control panel with extra settings for physics/audio/controls/gameplay
- Mouse-look when in autodrive/key-control
- Further bug fixes to minimise generation errors and resolve audio issues
Planned Future Features:
- More locations and world types
- Improved weather effects (rain, snow, fog, wind) and better dynamic controls
- Improved environmental detail and effects (birds, buildings, structures, cows...)
- Improved lighting and shadows
- Improved autodrive, including a lane-follow option
- Quality-of-life features like maximum speed lock, past seeds menu
- Improved weather effects (rain, snow, fog, wind) and better dynamic controls
- Improved environmental detail and effects (birds, buildings, structures, cows...)
- Improved lighting and shadows
- Improved autodrive, including a lane-follow option
- Quality-of-life features like maximum speed lock, past seeds menu
Find the full plan of work on my ZenKit board.
Join the discord server to discuss new ideas.
Supporters on ko-fi get early access and priority requests!
Technical Blog
While I have no immediate plans to make the source code public, over the next few weeks I will be writing blog posts diving into each of the main components. If you're curious, please follow me on Twitter or Medium to be notified of new posts.
1. Project overview (tl;dr for all sections)
2. Generating realistic environment heightmaps (early November)
3. Pathing a route through the environment
4. Rendering seamless, dynamically-generated environment geometry
5. Graphics and shading
6. Cheap vehicle physics
7. Optimisation strategies
8. UX approach
9. Testing and analytics
10. Project Retrospective
FAQ
Why does it run so poorly/like a slideshow?
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What's different about this driving game?
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How does the environment generation engine work?
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Why a JavaScript browser game, and not a conventional engine?
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Why electric vehicles?
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Will you make it open source?
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Why can I drive through trees and signs?
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Why is driving off-road so broken? No shadows, sinking into the ground, missing geometry, etc.
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Will you support mobile/controllers/wheels?
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How much will it cost?
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Slow roads? More like Fast Roads!
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Will you offer a downloadable/Steam version?
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Can you add X feature/Y vehicle model/make it more like [insert AAA game here]?
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I'm a developer/artist/musician, can I contribute my work to the game?
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Attributions
Brake audio - Hencocor on freesound.org
Ambient audio - InspectorJ on freesound.org
Tyre audio - fractanimal on freesound.org
Gravel audio - seth-m on freesound.org
Boost audio - YleArkisto on freesound.org
Suspension audio - ingudios on freesound.org
Collision sounds - jakobthiesen on freesound.org
Collision sounds - jakobthiesen on freesound.org
Collision sounds - SubwaySandwitch420 on freesound.org
Barrier scrape sound - eyenorth on freesound.org
Misc sound effects - HECKFRICKER on freesound.org
Ambient audio - InspectorJ on freesound.org
Tyre audio - fractanimal on freesound.org
Gravel audio - seth-m on freesound.org
Boost audio - YleArkisto on freesound.org
Suspension audio - ingudios on freesound.org
Collision sounds - jakobthiesen on freesound.org
Collision sounds - jakobthiesen on freesound.org
Collision sounds - SubwaySandwitch420 on freesound.org
Barrier scrape sound - eyenorth on freesound.org
Misc sound effects - HECKFRICKER on freesound.org
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Position:
1, 2, 3
Far Coords:
1, 2, 3
Vehicle Node:
1
Midline Tail:
123