Outline

ROLLHILL is dear to our heart, but it doesn't cover our livings costs just yet and we are not certain if it ever will, but we want to push out a quality product! Therefore, we only have got so much time to work on it.

With that said, as much as possible, we have committed to deliver the features below in their respective timeframes.

Vision

We started this off as a means to make a PC-like competitive game for ourselves, with skillful mechanics but for mobiles, as we no longer have the time and means to grind long games of Quake, Counter-Strike and others that scratch that competitive gaming itch. 

Our game development philosophy is that we always want to have natural input, which for mobile means in ROLLHILL's case - no UI joysticks, no steering arrows, no gas, no brakes. It's input simplicity is akin to infinite runner, while the gameplay is akin to TrackMania. 

From our years old (now updated) WebGL demo here on itch, feedback has come that it's also fun on PC's and we have provided the option for players, but our focus still remains on mobiles. We won't skim on PC version quality in any way.

Paid game, no ads

We will never run advertisements in ROLLHILL. There is no point for that for RH's true competitive nature, nor we support ads in games.

Leaderboards & UI

Q4 2023, v0.8, Early Access

This is already in progress! And was supposed to be what comes out for Early Access, but it turned out much more intensive requiring framework refactoring, essentially touching all facets of the game.

At the heart of ROLLHILL is competition. Casually rolling down hills is all fun, but it's even more fun when you have a time to beat!

Leaderboard

Leaderboards are going to feature best times set by each player on a given track.

While not displayed in the image, you will also have option to load other ghosts, to learn about new routes and check trajectories.

Because we are all for fair play, alongside WR's, we will display which attempt it has been for each player. So if somebody is sitting in #1 spot, you get to know how many attempts it required to get there. If you'd only know many runs it took to get FOREST from 55s down to 43s. Oh, wait, now you will! And also get to see how it was done.

Track Stats

Averages / sums of results per some period

Just random stats about track, to keep the playing atmosphere feel alive: Average Speed, Average Run length/time, Total Attempts across all players for last 7 days.

Bests besides WR's

1. TOP SPEED - top speed set on track.
2. LONGEST RUN - now this one is quirky, you get a chance to hold a record for not having the best time, but for endurance. Having the longest run means you have managed to stabilize the wheel like a mad man, not letting it fall, and still getting to finish. This introduces a different kind of strategy how to set this and overthrowing won't be easy, as it might be even harder to set the slowest finished run than setting the best.
3. GRINDER - for all the hardcore players, if you are grinding like crazy for a record or whatever, or just outright enjoying the game on the same level for a week, you deserve a medal! Having a stat card is the best alternative for medals for now.

All stat card values will be derived only from finished runs.

UI

Main Menu: Featuring player profile, settings

Updated HUD

Leagues & Challenges

Q4 2023 - Q1 2024, v0.9, Early Access

While competition is at the core of ROLLHILL, it can be disheartening to try to reach the best results on the global leaderboard.

Leagues

Enter Leagues! These are going to be like mini communities in ROLLHILL.

You will be able to CREATE LEAGUE and even protect it (password or invites or both, will see). You will be able to JOIN LEAGUE. You will be able to switch ACTIVE LEAGUE IN LEADERBOARD. It won't be a setting, but an easy to access selection from LEADERBOARD.

Your results will still be published on the global leaderboard as they will also be published on all of the LEAGUES you are participant of. So even if you make a solid run while focusing on one LEAGUE, no worries, both the run and the ghost will be stored and should you nail a record, everybody will know about it. And with that, you don't have to play under pressure to enter the big leagues.

That also enables the option to create a LEAGUE together with your friends/colleagues/families, even all at the same time and don't fuss about global leaderboards, and just have fun trying to win over each other.

Challenges

We have found that setting a challenge for other, like - all tracks, one run each, sum of times, least time wins, DNF on a track adds 1 minute - adds a different kind of challenge and refreshes the world record grind.

So instead of having to coordinate, you will have option to CREATE CHALLENGE, where you will be able to set rules, akin to: 

• which tracks in what order, 
  • how many runs per track, 
  • how the multi-track challenge should total the result; 
• OR one track, 
  • how many runs per track (Best of X), 
  • or how many totals runs and sum of results, or average... you get the idea.
• Also, as you make a challenge, you will be able (based on rules) to select what kind of commitment the challenge is:
  • Start to End in one go
  • Days over which you can compete
  • Total attempts
  • etc; while we know the base of CHALLENGES, we will figure it out in detail as we get to implementation.

We will try to add as much rules as possible. Given how short the game cycle is, you could even use ROLLHILL CHALLENGE instead of Rock, Paper, Scissors at times.

As you might have guessed, as you CREATE CHALLENGE, you get to INVITE PLAYERS, lock the rules and then participate. There will also be option to set INVITE EXPIRATION, so you don't have lingering challenges.

Runs and results will only be revealed as the CHALLENGE is settled: when everyone has participated and/or abandoned and/or expired.

We might explore options to score challenges based on rules, and add some CHALLENGE ranking as well, so your wins get recorder somewhere and you get to brag, that while you don't hold WR's, you can beat everyone in a CHALLENGE!

Seasons & Trophies + Polish

Q1 2024, v1.0, Out of Early Access

Seasons

Not fully sketched out yet, but we want to also award consistency not just WR's. We are looking to introduce some kind of seasonality in the game, that would feature different tracks, maybe variations of already known tracks and some time period, to compete for trophies.

As this is a mobile competitive racer, we expect that prolonged support and competitive features will both grow the community and increase replayability.

We are investigating a  "PRO" membership, for those who are super dedicated to ROLLHILL. Who knows, we might figure out a way to make this as an esport.

With seasons, we look to also introduce skill groups, so you can get trophies without having to be the best-best in ROLLHILL.

Trophies

As the game is simple in nature, while we will have some easter eggs and other bits you will be able to achieve, this is mainly to display the player progression, global ranking.

Together with LEAGUES, CHALLENGES and SEASONS, you will have means to acquire all kinds of trophies, and a cabinet is needed to display these.

Polish

We intend the game to stay simple in nature, including graphics, but it is nowhere near the quality level we want to achieve.

We want to improve on sound design, level graphical quality, and add some fun interactivities in game, to loosen the mood a little.

It doesn't end there...

To make ROLLHILL the experience we want it to be, it needs to have a bunch of tracks, so sooner or later, we will provide option to make custom tracks, via some kind of TRACK EDITOR.

For now, adding new types of rollables is off the charts due to physics constraints, but we will add support to CUSTOMIZE YOUR ROLLABLE. Ideas: colors (of course), tyre patterns, tyre labels, shape of dust particles, wind trails. Earning trophies will probably unlock rarer kinds of customization options.

REPLAYS - what good is a racing game, if your only option to see other players run is through following ghosts? And with improved visuals, and our natural looking landscapes, there could be some lovely sight to behold!

Thank you if you read it this far, let us know in the comments what features you like and what you would want to see in ROLLHILL!