NeonLap

An arcade neon hover-racing game built in Unity 6 with the Universal Render Pipeline (URP). Race on seven procedural layouts, earn career medals and stars, run time trials against your ghost, dodge police in Outrun (or optional TT chase), and chase high scores across multiple modes.

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Features

Core driving

• Arcade hover physics — grounding, grip, drift, barrel rolls, nitro boost
• Fuel strategy (career / grid modes) — lap-scaled tank, fuel pads, nitro refuel; empty tank stops acceleration. Time Trial uses infinite fuel (gauge hidden).
• 10-car grid — player + AI rivals with personality profiles and rubber-band pacing (TT can add 0–3 rivals)
• Weather — dynamic rain/sun; lower grip in rain, higher drift score risk/reward

Race modes

Mode	Description
Career	Up to 7 tracks with distinct visual themes (city, dockyard, desert, mountains, beach), reverse circuit variant per layout (free “second track”), Gold / Silver / Bronze score medals, ★ unlocks, garage + credits, podium finish
Time Trial	Solo clock, ghost PB, sector splits, optional police chase, S/A/B time ranks (not career medals)
Ghost Duel	Head-to-head ghost rules; same TT settings (fuel off, optional police)
Elimination	Last-place rivals eliminated each lap; full vehicle damage
Outrun / Chase	Forced police heat; checkpoint & survival wins
Score Attack	Timed scoring — drift, style, collisions, progress
Practice	Infinite fuel, no police, casual damage

Content & progression

• 7 track layouts — neon oval, turbo sprint, metro gauntlet, zigzag thunder, square circuit, ridge run (elevation), neon crossover (figure-8)
• Career medals — score thresholds per track (G/S/B). Time Trial ranks — separate S/A/B vs your PB times.
• Garage — tuning profiles (Balanced / Drift / Speed), underglow unlocks via career ★
• Pickups — nitro, bananas (AI can drop), fuel pads
• Hazards — track obstacles; editor hazard paint on waypoint indices
• Police chase — career/custom toggle; optional in Time Trial (Game Settings)

Presentation

• Main menu — mode strip, career map (7 nodes), lap count (1/2/3/5), difficulty, track browser, garage
• Race HUD — fuel (hidden in TT), heat (Outrun), lap timer + PB lap column (TT), ghost ±delta, TIME RANK progress (TT), career medal progress (score modes)
• Photo mode (P) on podium / after race, dynamic music layers, gamepad haptics, mobile touch UI
• Finish flow — career medals + credits, TIME RANK S/A/B + PB lines (TT), style breakdown (labeled separately from career), podium sequence

Production services (offline-first)

• Prefab catalog — optional NeonLapContentCatalog for artist-built cars (runtime fallback)
• Local JSON leaderboards — persistentDataPath/neonlap_leaderboards.json
• Achievements — AchievementIds + RaceEventHub for Steam/mobile SDK mapping
• See docs/PRODUCTION.md for Addressables & build checklist

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Requirements

Tool	Version
Unity Editor	6000.4.6f1 (Unity 6)
Render Pipeline	URP 17.4.0
Input	Input System 1.19.0

Clone the repo and open the project in Unity Hub. Packages restore from Packages/manifest.json.

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Quick Start

Full game flow

1. Open Assets/NeonLap/Scenes/MainMenu.unity
2. Press Play
3. Pick a mode, track, laps, and GO RACE

Direct race scene

1. Open Assets/Scenes/SampleScene.unity
2. Press Play

NeonLapSceneSetup on the NeonLap GameObject builds the track, spawns cars (prefab or runtime), wires camera, UI, checkpoints, AI, and mode controllers.

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Controls

Action	Keyboard	Gamepad
Accelerate	W / ↑	Right Trigger
Brake / Reverse	S / ↓	Left Trigger
Steer	A / D or ← / →	Left stick X
Drift	Space	Right Bumper
Barrel roll	(bound in Input Actions)
Reset / refuel (empty)	R	Y
Pause	Escape	Start
Photo mode	P (after race)

Fuel pads and nitro refill fuel in career modes. Time Trial has no fuel drain. Full list: main menu CONTROLS.

Input asset: Assets/NeonLap/Input/NeonLap_InputActions.inputactions

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Scenes & build order

Scene	Path	Purpose
MainMenu	Assets/NeonLap/Scenes/MainMenu.unity	Modes, garage, track select
SampleScene	Assets/Scenes/SampleScene.unity	Race (runtime or prefab cars)

Build settings: MainMenu first, then SampleScene.

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Project structure

neonlap/
├── Assets/
│   ├── NeonLap/
│   │   ├── Input/
│   │   ├── Materials/
│   │   ├── Prefabs/              # Optional artist cars (see README there)
│   │   ├── Resources/NeonLap/    # Tracks, garage, catalog, profiles
│   │   ├── Scenes/MainMenu.unity
│   │   └── Scripts/
│   │       ├── Audio/
│   │       ├── Camera/           # Follow, photo mode
│   │       ├── Core/             # GameManager, modes, fuel, content catalog
│   │       ├── Environment/      # Hazards, pickups, fuel pads
│   │       ├── Race/             # Modes, scoring, ghost, career
│   │       ├── Services/         # Leaderboards, achievements, RaceEventHub
│   │       ├── Track/            # Builders, TrackDefinition, 6 levels
│   │       ├── UI/
│   │       ├── VFX/              # Weather, rain, trails
│   │       └── Vehicle/
│   ├── Scenes/SampleScene.unity
│   └── Settings/                 # URP PC + Mobile
├── docs/PRODUCTION.md
├── Tools/generate_neonlap_audio.py
└── README.md

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Architecture

Bootstrap

• MainMenuSetup — Menu UI, GameManager (persistent), settings load
• NeonLapSceneSetup — Track, environment, racers, race systems, UI
• NeonLapServicesBootstrap — Local leaderboards + achievement tracker

Race flow

MainMenu → GameManager.LoadRace() → SampleScene
RaceManager: Countdown → Racing → Finished
OnRaceFinished → UI, career, ghosts, RaceEventHub → achievements / leaderboards

Key systems

Area	Components
Vehicle	VehicleController, AIVehicleController, VehicleFuelSystem, VehicleNitroBoost, VehicleBarrelRoll
Track	OvalTrackBuilder, TrackCenterlineBuilder, TrackDefinition, level builders
Race	RaceManager, RacerProgress, RaceScoreSystem, mode controllers
Police	PoliceChaseSystem, PlayerHeatSystem, ChaseModeController
Replay	RaceReplaySystem, GhostRacer, TimeTrialRecordStore
Scoring	RaceScoreSystem, CareerScoreStore, ScoreAttackRecordStore

Runtime vs prefabs

• Default: cars and track meshes are built in code (fast iteration).
• Shipping: assign prefabs on NeonLapContentCatalog (Resources/NeonLap/ or scene reference). Menu: NeonLap → Production.

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Configuration

Asset / setting	Purpose
Resources/NeonLap/VehicleProfiles/*	Handling profiles
Resources/NeonLap/Tracks/*	Per-level track stats
GameLapSettings	1 / 2 / 3 / 5 laps (menu)
GameDifficultySettings	Easy / Medium / Hard AI
GameRaceModeSettings	Active mode rules
GamePoliceSettings	Police for career/custom (TT uses TimeTrialSettings.PoliceEnabled)
TimeTrialSettings	TT rivals, ghost clip, optional police, time ranks on/off
GameQualitySettings	AI count, rain, helicopter, pickup density

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Leaderboards & achievements (local)

Leaderboards — LeaderboardService writes JSON next to player saves. Boards are per mode + track (time or score).

Achievements — unlocked into PlayerPrefs; hook platform SDKs:

AchievementTracker.AchievementUnlocked += id => {
    // Map AchievementIds.* to Steam / Game Center / Play Games
};

Events — RaceEventHub.RaceFinished, LapPersonalBest, PoliceEscaped (also used internally).

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Audio

Procedural placeholder clips can be generated:

python3 Tools/generate_neonlap_audio.py

See Assets/NeonLap/Audio/README.md for clip names.

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Rendering

• PC: Assets/Settings/PC_RPAsset.asset
• Mobile: Assets/Settings/Mobile_RPAsset.asset

Switch active pipeline in Project Settings → Graphics.

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Git & Unity

Standard Unity .gitignore. Commit .meta files with assets.

Ignored: Library/, Temp/, UserSettings/, etc.

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Docs

Doc	Contents
Assets/NeonLap/SETUP.md	Short wiring reference
docs/PRODUCTION.md	Prefabs, Addressables, builds, SDK hooks
Assets/NeonLap/Prefabs/README.md	Baking hover-car prefabs

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License

Provided as-is for learning and development. Add a license file before distribution.

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Author

Omar Brome — github.com/omar-brome/neonlap