Topic: AiRace Speed (3DS eShop) discussion thread

Hi!

I am happy to inform you that AiRace Speed is available today in America, Europe and Australia!
Download it from the eShop for 4,99$, 4,99€ or £4,49 and let your Nintendo 3DS™ discover the true meaning of speed and adrenaline.

There was before a thread where I announced the game and answered questions: https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/eshop/airace_speed_3ds_esh...
But now I prefer to create a brand new one with only updated information.

With AiRace Speed, take speed to a whole new level and enjoy a new gaming experience:

• Fly extreme speeds across 18 adrenaline-fuelled tracks
• Take control of 5 futuristic jets powered with advanced technology
• High-performance graphics and immersive 3D effects
• Compete against fellow competitors around the world in online leaderboards
• Good replay value with special achievements to be unlocked
• Third game of the successful and highly rated AiRace series

Check out gameplay footage in this stunning trailer:

Below some game screenshots:

I will be happy to read your reactions and answer all your questions about AiRace Speed and our studio QubicGames!

No racing against other players? At least I haven't seen any yet...

The 3D is pretty impressive and is definitely needed for some of the stages.
Game runs really smooth and looks fantastic.
Good challenge climbing.
Boost is an amazing add-on, been using that a lot on the earlier levels, so much fun.
Online leaderboards are a brilliant addition.
Infinite tunnels to zip through at breakneck speeds.
Controls are as tight and as brilliant as ever.

Honestly can't find much wrong with it, except for the length, you could easily finish all the levels in a few hours which is a shame. Thankfully, there is a lot of re-playability, so that isn't too much of an issue. I was hoping for some sort of racing against CPU opponents, but I'm happy with waiting for another AiRace to come along, probably a smart move to keep them separate actually... more money for the devs and you can cram more into each title.

So far, really good job Qubic! Keep up the good work!

I've just tried a few minutes of the game like 30mins or more by just replaying the 1st stage a couple of times and a few tries with 2nd stage ...
i got an achievement, and you might have an idea how i play the game:
Obsession: complete the same level 10 times
Crush: restart the level 30 times
Flight Lover: fly more than 100 miles overall

so yeah, i'm sure this is really my type of game, it's like "i shouldn't have bought SpeedX3D" lol... thank you for incorporating leaderboards in the game, it's a big big factor for me in buying my games in eshop... so because of playing the 1st stage a couple of times, i got the 1st rank in online leaderboards as of the time i'm typing this reply (Paturek is my Mii name) XD... i haven't played the series but i'd just like to ask about small details about this game, i hope you don't mind if i ask too much XD

i tried other racing games and i'm quite familiar how steering and speed acceleration works, does this apply to this type of racing game? what i mean is, do the ships decelerate a small amount of speed when steering? how bout soft bump with walls (the one with sparks), does it decelerate too? i can't really tell if there's a difference in speed because it's really hard to tell by just looking at it unless you see your time record upon finishing the stage. were there also any other factors that affect the speed/acceleration even in small amounts? like is there a small boost trick when the countdown starts? sorry for a lot of questions, because sometimes i'm doing the same thing in stage 1 but the results are always different (sometimes millisecond faster/slower)...

and for the comments, i can't really say much as i haven't finished the 2nd stage XD, but i really like the adrenaline with Nitro-all-the-way... that is why i haven't finished the 2nd stage because i want to finish it without crashing and by boosting all the way XD... i also like how my thumb works in steering, if you know what i mean XD, quick small flicks there and there on my C-pad looks like i'm playing a street fighter game lol... however, the stylus control doesn't seem to work for me, is there a way to change its sensitivity? online leaderboards "for all" and "for friends" is just really nice feature... and it's just 800+ blocks of memory! and lastly, i read an interview about you guys -

"And by the way we already want to announce: QubicGames is ready to compete on the leaderboards with all the gamers. Be ready to see our player name hang around the podiums of the different levels! We’re waiting for you to try to beat us hard!"

• how do we know if the name/player is from QubicGames?... i really wanted to beat you guys lol

Thanks guys!!! So glad you like it.

@Spanish_Bread
No you don't decelerate when you steer or when you slighly touch a wall. And there are no tricks that can increase your speed. Only nitro can. As you could see however, when you stop pushing nitro your plane is breaking a bit.
So if your results are always different on the 1st level it's because you never take exactly the same way. That will be THE factor for staying on the top of the leaderboards. Of course to make a great score everyone will have to keep the nitro constanly on, but then the very best times will be made by people who take the most optimized way, each curve, each dodge, each turn will count. They will make the difference.
Regarding the interview, yes we wrote this Well I'll let you know who we will be, what will be our name.

oh i see, got it thanks!

I bought this last night. Great game, thoroughly enjoyable and spent probably best part of an hour trying to get near the best times on the first stage.
Online leaderboards add so much to a game like this.
Can I ask, fogot to check last night, if playing online will your best times upload when you next connect to the internet or are they lost?

Shame to see what I guess is a rogue time at the top of the leaderboard for the second stage though.

Any plans for a Wii U version at some point?

Keep up the good work.

@DavidHolliss
Thanks! Your best times are never lost. Once they're done, online or offline, they stay and will be directly uploaded next time you access the leaderboards.
The problem of the top score on the leaderboard for the second stage has been solved. This score isn't displayed anymore.

We want to get games from AiRace series on other platforms, including eventually Nintendo Wii U, and we already began the design and prototyping phase. We are already authorized developers for Wii U. We have the devkits and we currently prepare our own game engine C-Way to feature the proper technology to handle development on Wii U. However we can't confirm at the moment that we will develop something similar to AiRace on Wii U because we are not sure whether we’ll be satisfied with the gameplay and controls of the game on this platform. But we do hope that we could release a game on Nintendo Wii U in the next 12 months.

Now .... I know I will buy that game. It's great to see devs actually posting with the players on forums, and reading feedback and such.

@KittenKoder
Cool! In all honesty I really appreciate getting the feedback from you guys and answer your questions. You know, we're super excited about this release so we deeply value each and every comment from players.

I am a huge racing game fan, but only with analog stick/circle controls for steering, so until the 3DS, I never bothered with portable racing games. I am now downloading it as I type this, the main reason for the delay is that there are no other racers on the track while you are racing, which is something I actually prefer to have.

I assume you absolutely loved Mario Kart 7's time trial races vs up to 7 ghosts? Those were so fun and implementing a feature like that into this game (or a future one) would be really cool. So yeah, loving the game!

Actually, no, I sort of grew out of Mario Kart, it's not an age thing, just that the visuals started annoying me. Thus I didn't even bother with Mario Kart 7.

Back to AiRace Speed, I love the visuals, flawless look and feel with only one exception, the intro movie would look a lot better in 3D, especially being that it's pre-rendered. Making it an actual racing game with other racers would improve it's appeal to fans of the genre. So you can visualize your standing in the race as well as have things to "beat back." Damage from skirting the sides does add a challenge, though it would be nice to "ride the rails," that's really not a huge thing though, it's still fun.

I LOVE the speed when riding the nitro. Combined with the stereoscopic effect it's extremely awesome. If an element like Burnout was included, with other racers and the ability to cause them to crash, this would just be too much fun to put down. Seriously, this game has the potential to become my favorite for the 3DS in later generations of it.

I find the controls, the button ones, to be well done, and stable. It will take practice as this is the first racing game I have played on a portable with the analog stick, so my skill level on the smaller screen is not very high, however, it only took me three tries to complete the first track on full nitro, so they are perfect controls.

I really like how the physics were done, very light so the feel of a futuristic flying machine was complete. Alternate routes add a lot to it as well, it was another huge part of Burnout that I always enjoyed. There is a lot of challenge in the game as it is, and I will enjoy it for many hours at a time. The audio is nice, but I don't usually pay much attention to audio in such games when I am playing so I have little opinion on it.

Over all, it's a great game, especially for the price, and I hope for a larger, cartridge based, version in the future. I would be willing to pay a lot more for it, seriously, $5 is a bit too low for this.

Thanks for the reply, good to hear about the best times being uploaded when you're next connect to the net, and well done for sorting out that rogue leaderboard time, nothing more annoying than seeing impossible times atop leaderboards.

I did think about ghost racers in this game too, but think it would be too distracting really.

Just been concentrating on the first stage really at the moment, really struggling to lower my times any further. Must post my best split times later and see if someone can try and tell me where I'm losing out.

QubicGames are you surprised how quick the top times are on the first stage or are that about what you was expecting to see?

Thanks for sharing your experience guys.
Indeed I think that implementing ghost racers in the game as it is now would have been distracting. It's already very challenging to dodge obstacles and walls when flying with the nitro. And it requires 100% attention. Also that would break the feeling of loneliness, as AiRace Speed should put in a kind of weird bubble where you're entirely focused on your jet to get as much sense of speed, adrenaline and 3D immersion as possible.
We should have thought about things a little bit differently if we decided to implement ghost racers. Having other racers would also be another matter that would again require thinking about the game differently.

@KittenKoder
Thanks for the valuable feedback. I'm glad to read that you would be enthusiast about a bigger cartridge-based version.

@DavidHolliss
Now the best score of the first stage is very impressive but not impossible to achieve. I'm not surprised that very quickly after the release of the game some people already nail nearly perfect times, especially on the first stage. I would be surprised if on every levels everybody would get amazing scores.

You are quite welcome.

As to the distraction of other racers, the ghost ones yeah, I personally never like those anyway. However, that being said, the addition of other racers, even a few, would add a second level of challenge to it. I keep comparing it to Burnout, but that is because Burnout is still a bit faster than this game, when not hitting nitro the cars in Burnout move faster than no nitro on AiRace Speed, and I have raced many Burnout tracks with nitro on the entire race. It's more a matter of which type of game you prefer, I think, as I never much cared for time trials, eventually they lose my interest and in other racing games I often slag them, getting just low enough of a time to pass to the next point because of lacking interest in them. Eventually as I play AiRace Speed I will get to a point where I won't even have to look at the screen to make near perfect times, but if there were some AI racers to worry about at the same time that would be impossible.

How many games are there in this series?

I didn't want to get the game at first cause it is a tunnel game. But the trailer in 3D mades me get it. For once you have a 5€ Eshop title which look good and playable in 3D... So I love... the effort with the realisation, 3D, sense of speed, graphics.
If you ask me to criticize I will say...I like less... some framerate drops,but not the worst, its not breaking the game, and when you're close to a wall the camera follow the wall, the ship seems to get attracted to it (or I'm a bad player ), the music also is a bit generic.
About the control, the 3DS console tends to give me cramps. Buttons control in the game are fine...however I would love to be able to try an alternative control concerning triggers use : just keep pressing on one of them to make your ship turn more (no distinction between left/right triggers). Wave Race Blue storm and F-Zero did that I think with Z button on GC.
Good luck for your next game. I was happily surprised with Air Race.
It makes me want to have an Hydro Thunder kind of racing Game, with 3D it would be great.

Having only played three levels of this, this is a LOT more complex then Tunnel. Actual speed controls, less linear maps, achievements, leaderboards, all that stuff.

How close is this to AiRace? Because I never played it.

Alright! I figured out what's missing. The first person, cockpit, view. Honestly, that would make it so much better.

@Metroidlink
Hi. There are 3 games in the series: AiRace (DSi), AiRace: Tunnel (DSi) and AiRace Speed (3DS).

@julienpoo and @KittenKoder
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and suggestions.

@rayword45
AiRace Speed is in concept close to Tunnel but as you said it is a lot more complex indeed.
However AiRace has a different concept because there are direct opponents in the race. They can be AI or friends in local multiplayer. Plus there are power-ups (rockets, boost, shield, oil spill...) and the environment is not futuristic.