Vapordrive

Responsible for: Game Design, Level Design, Technical Art, General Programming

As part of a course in the Bachelor's program in Computer Science at FH Technikum Wien, the task was to develop a game experience in the Unity Game Engine. In a team of three, I was responsible for game design, art design, and a share of the programming.

Vapordrive is a special project — it combines a unique game idea with several technological approaches I hadn't worked with before: vertex shaders and procedural generation.

In Vapordrive, players drive their Ferrari Testarossa down an endless highway into the sunset. Amid procedurally generated scenery, they have to respond to everyday conflicts in the form of text messages while changing lanes, all while balancing their own mental health, family, and work.

Pitch for Vapordrive

The game idea came from combining the films Locke and Drive. The goal was to convey the feeling of never-ending everyday conflicts. As a result, we decided to generate the game world procedurally and have it "appear" on the horizon. This is done by generating a mountain landscape using layered noise maps. On top of that, a vertex shader was used to create a rolling effect, giving the impression of driving on a curved surface — heading toward the sunset.

Combined with a handful of post-processing effects (film grain, vignette, color correction, fog), this creates a dreamlike, nostalgic look.

For me, this project was a particular success because of the atmosphere it creates. Unfortunately, for music licensing reasons, the track used — Nightcall by Kavinsky — can't be played in the video.