Riff Racer
, previously known as Drive Any Track, is an indie game developed and published by FOAM Entertainment, released on Steam on May 12th, 2016. Using the MEGA system or Musical Environment Gaming Algorithm, the game will generate a race track based on whatever music file you select, similar to Audiosurf with the key difference being that the game handles like an arcade racing game. When driving on a track, your car races in sync with the song; hitting walls or barriers can make you fall behind, lowering your score multiplier, while various types of boosts can push you past the line into "Super Sync", vastly increasing your multiplier. Earn points by performing jumps and barrel rolls, drifting around corners, collecting cubes that also fill your manual boost, and otherwise staying in or ahead of sync. Collectible coins can be used to purchase new cars and skins - coins are also earned by beating other racers' ghosts, leveling up, or being the first person to race on a specific track.
Tropes that are present in Riff Racer:
- Boring, but Practical: The default Pulse has one of the most ordinary appearances, but its basic shape makes it the easiest to handle compared to wider cars like the Photon and Bolt, the latter of which has an odd tendency to flip onto its roof during rolls.
- Cool Car: Quite a handful of genre-based cars, fifteen of them in total. They all handle the same aside from their hitbox.
- Diegetic Interface: Downplayed. While the boost meter and score multiplier are displayed on the back of your car, everything else is simply on the screen.
- Do a Barrel Roll: Jumping off an uneven ramp or jumping at the end of a boost corkscrew rolls your car in the air and earns you more points than a simple jump.
- Easter Egg: Playing "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac unlocks the Monaco, a Formula One-esque car with a cockpit canopy, whereas playing any song by The Police unlocks The Police, a car similar to a modern-day police Charger.
- Fake Difficulty: Despite the efforts of the dev team, the game can generate things like a pit that can't be crossed without a boost you might not have, a barrier you can't see until it's too late, or a ramp that launches you somewhere you don't want to be.
- Marathon Level: The game has an achievement for playing a song that's longer than 10 minutes.
- Nitro Boost: Three types of boost can be used to push you past the sync line. Firstly, at various points in the song, you'll be boosted through loops, corkscrews, and long jumps. Secondly, collecting 10 of the blocks scattered around the track lets you boost manually. Thirdly, there are boost power-ups that you can collect. Boost length is also determined by sync, meaning boosts will last longer if you're one or more bars behind, usually until you get back into sync while, vice versa, the boost lasts a shorter amount of time when you're ahead of sync, making it a Comeback Mechanic and Diminishing Returns for Balance at the same time.
- Scenery Porn: The game takes a leaf out of Nitronic Rush's book, with Tron Lines scenery that pulses in time to the music, and there are different scenery sets depending on the genre the game detects. Dance songs are mostly blue, pink or bright red depending on your sync level, while Rock songs create a more industrial environment with skull billboards and factories along the side of the road with a dark red skyline and red scenery with occasional blue highlights.
