Developer Fabio Fontes is hard at work on his upcoming Buck Up and Drive!, which is part-endless racer, and part-arcade fighter. The concept is pretty intriguing and certainly has the potential to be a lot bigger in the future.
Game Rant got an opportunity to talk to Fabio about the game's development, inspirations, and a number of other things including post-launch plans.
Q: How long have you been working on the game?
A: This started at about mid-August of last year as a general 3D experiment before I threw cars at it, so little under a year.
Q: How did you come up with this absurdly genius idea?
A: Using the ancient art of throwing stuff at the wall and hoping some of it would stick. The initial idea was an endless version of OutRun, and I just tacked features to it as I went. I literally came up with the 1v1 mode while I was in the shower.
Q: How did you come around to using this particular art style?
A: I saw Arc System Works' recent fighting games and their visuals and figured "Eh, I could do something like that!"
Q: Which was the most difficult thing to get right during development?
A: I'd have to say it's the track generation and how it shows on screen. I remember spending a good chunk of time figuring that one out.
Q: I’m aware of the choice for the game’s engine was driven by familiarity, but were there any sacrifices in ambition or scope that you had to make because of that?
A: If anything, I became aware Game Maker could do more than I expected as development carried on. At first this was using pre-rendered sprites for the cars, and the gameplay was a lot more limited because of it. Wasn't till I figured out how to do the cel-shading in real time that all the backflips and rail grinds came in.
Q: As far as I'm aware, Buck Up and Drive! won’t be having a campaign. Any thoughts on adding it post-launch?
A: Launch modes are an endless runner and the 1v1 fighting. I do have plans to expand after release, and got some ideas bouncing in my head, a campaign of sorts being one of them. Though, suppose I'd first focus on improving what's already there a little bit.
Q: What’s your favorite part about Buck Up and Drive?
A: I'd have to say it's the custom car decals. Instead of an in-game editor, I'm just handing people plain PNG textures, so they can go hog wild on them in whatever program they like.
Q: How different does each car play from one another?
A: Not at all, they're just reskins. This started with just the endless runner mode focused around a high score, so I didn't want to muddle things up. Also, I intend to add a lot of cars over time, and managing stats for each could get overwhelming. This also carries over to the 1v1 mode, though I intend to add variety to that mode through other means. On the bright side, this means you can just pick whichever car you like best.
Q: On that note, which is your favorite car of the bunch to play with?
A: Right now it's the Bumpster. I like the chonk.
Q: I’m also aware that you aren’t looking to port the game over to other platforms, why so?
A: More like I'm focusing on what I can do right now, which is Windows and Linux. I'm up to porting to other platforms, but that will have to be looked at later.
Q: As someone who must be quite familiar with the indie scene, what do developers think of Xbox Game Pass?
A: I've heard a few indie devs say it's a nice way to get visibility and some up-front revenue. Though I'd have to look into it a bit more before saying anything for myself.
Q: Any hints or potential ideas about future projects?
A: I actually am developing another project, an action platformer called Dunkehr, meant to have a longer development. You can check a demo for it on my Itch page! That one actually started before Buck Up And Drive, which as I said began as a quick on-the-side experiment. Beyond these two, I do have other things I wish to do, but they will have to wait. Got enough to keep my head busy as it is.
Q: Anything else you want to add about Buck Up and Drive?
A: It will be out on Itch some time this August, and if you think it looks silly now, it's only gonna get worse!
Buck Up and Drive! releases in August 2021 on PC.