This sci-fi racing game's portal effects are blowing people's minds

(Image credit: Flockaroo)

Cars on Mars has a title that sounds as utilitarian as Snakes on a Plane. In case you had any doubt, the game involves driving cars, and it's set on Mars.

In fact, there's a bit more too it than that. Unlike the real Mars, the game's world is 'almost infinite'. It's also dotted by portals that unleash some surprising effects.

solo dev game with portals, voxels, and more... from r/IndieGaming

Solo indie dev Flockaroo describes Cars on Mars as a utopic sci-fi car racing game with effect portals. Players will be able to choose from three game types: Death Match/Classic Race/Capture the Flag, or “just stroll around” in the procedural world.

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As for those effects, there are (so far) ink sketches, voxel graphics and pencil and ballpoint drawings, which make crossing a portal look like entering another dimension.

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(Image credit: Flockaroo)

Interestingly, the game wasn't coded on an engine. The environment and even the cars are made from math and code, with no textures or models, all done in the GLSL shading language in OpenGL.

The developer writes on Reddit that he may make portals freely placeable for making custom levels.

There's no release date as yet. You can wishlist Cars on Mars on Steam.

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.

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