Game design — Latebrake¶
Tagline: Race Beyond Limits.
Vision: an original, fictional racing universe combining satisfying handling with exploration and motorsport events. A tight, replayable starter circuit comes first; expansive open-world content follows proven performance and stable controls.
Handling¶
Accessible Arcade mode provides more acceleration and lateral assistance. Simulation-inspired mode reduces artificial grip and alters steering response. Neither represents a validated vehicle simulation yet. Future Chaos Vehicles tires, powertrain, tuning and suspension must be data-driven and carefully playtested.
First-play loop¶
Spawn on the starter loop; follow the four checkpoints in order; complete three laps; compare the finished time with your saved personal best; press T to replay. Players can recover and pause without losing offline access. On the v0.1.1 development branch, each recovery during an active race adds five seconds to discourage skipping course sectors.
Future modes and systems¶
v0.2.0 source adds experimental circuit rival AI, one-lap Time Attack and offline finish rewards; actual Unreal gameplay and AI race results remain unverified. Sprint, drifting, championships, traffic, garage and multiplayer are future milestones. Offline racing remains a product requirement independent of online services.
Accessibility and design standards¶
Readable race telemetry, separate keyboard/gamepad/touch control layouts, remapping, motion-reduction options, scalable interfaces, difficulty controls and audio settings belong in release acceptance. Avoid pay-to-win mechanics: voluntary support is independent from race results, progression and purchases.
Art ownership¶
Use original fictional vehicles, fictional locations, independently authored sound/music, and fully documented asset provenance. Avoid unlicensed manufacturer logos, copied tracks, leaked or restricted engine resources.
Garage prototype — v0.3.0¶
Three fictional tunable prototype vehicles (Arrow, Kestrel and Phantom) allow offline choice between acceleration, handling and top speed. Vehicle unlocks and engine/grip upgrades spend credits earned only from completed races. Donations never affect garage progression. The current user interface consists of keyboard shortcuts and HUD status; original 3D vehicle art, a full garage menu and gamepad/mobile interactions remain future work.
v0.4.0 circuit presentation¶
The first rectangular circuit gains engine-primitive painted lane marks, alternating red-white curbs, two out-of-road grandstand structures and a lightweight floating start banner. A desktop-only north-up track map highlights the next checkpoint and current player position. Decoration has no collision and does not change race time, gate positions or the existing event balance. These are prototype visuals, not licensed production scenery or selectable new tracks. See docs/TRACK.md for design and known limits.
v0.5.0 offline progression loop (source implementation)¶
The prototype's new flow is race → finish valid checkpoints → evaluate objective → award best medal → unlock prerequisite → save with credits. There are two cups with three timed/clean/endurance rounds each and six standalone challenges. The world is still a single temporary test circuit. Silver/gold improve championship scores but cannot regenerate one-time completion credits. The experimental AI has no official place/rank.
The development menu includes main, quick race, career, championships, challenges, garage, results, pause, settings and profile summary panels. The settings panel switches HUD KM/H/MPH, and the garage action switches owned fictional cars. This is an engine-unverified Canvas UI, not full production menus or accessibility certification.
Original Arrow/Kestrel/Phantom progress persists with schema v2. Earned credits never rely on optional support/donation links.