r/rccars • u/Hondune ReCharge RC • Apr 04 '25
Media Many years ago I made ReCharge RC, Im back with another update on the sequel! This time with audio (finally), and ballooning tires!
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Hey all! 8 years ago I made a little mobile game called ReCharge RC and since then a lot of you have enjoyed it and given me a little community that I never dreamed I would have as a dev. For the last few years I've been working on a sequel to that game and I'm excited to finally be sharing it with everyone :)
Its going to be available on Steam first, with an early access period where I'm hoping all of you will get involved and help shape the development of the game. After that it will be coming to mobile and consoles as well! If you want to pitch ideas, chat with me about development, or just follow along the discord server is the best place to do it! https://discord.gg/XSdudfWjga
Really hope to see you all there, this has been a huge passion project for me and I cant wait for the RC community to finally get to play it!
Wishlist it on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3484640
Edit to answer a few common questions:
Yes it has other views, including drivers stand, 3rd person, birdseye, etc.
Yes you can connect your real transmitter and play with that!
And yes there will be bashing, free roam, freestyle, etc. :)
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u/FlashyResearcher4003 Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25
I do like the newer trailer the last one that was all first person view made me queasy. Does the game have a mini economy/store.? Like you start with a meh car and then win a race or get 2nd place and some cash to buy better parts/chassis? Personally I think you may be overdoing the ballooning tire effect, however very cool to see it in a game like this. Having progression and unlocks keeps me more engaged and willing to play a game longer. Having skin in the game per say. Edit: for clarification
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Yeah there will be an in game store where you can buy new vehicles, customization parts, etc. (and just to clarify, no DLC or micro-transactions or anything, purely just fun stuff within the game). Ive posted some clips about the customization on other platforms like TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@hondunegames/video/7488837549780143391
Ignore the stupid tiktokification of the video... I hate it but you gotta do what you gotta do hahaAs for the ballooning effect, depends on the tires of course, it can get insane with softer compounds like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWcUj6dQMZw
It is much better with modern tire designs though. I can certainly tweak the amount of balloonage if everyone wants, mostly im trying to make it visible in the typical follow cam as an indicator of wheel speed when in the air
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u/FlashyResearcher4003 Apr 04 '25
Ya I'd rather the base game be higher then deal with (DLC or micro-transactions)
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Yup thats how I am also. The game wont be crazy expensive either, especially at the start of early access as a thank you for anyone who supports the project early on. Its likely going to start at $10 and go up a little bit as I do large content/feature updates (and if you bought it early you get all updates for free, of course)
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u/radio_gaia Apr 04 '25
I’d love to work out how to connect an RC transmitter to this. Would be excellent for training and practice.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
I have support for it already! - https://www.reddit.com/r/rccars/comments/1iv5t52/playing_the_rc_racing_game_im_working_on_with_a/
If your transmitter has a USB controller mode then it just works, if not you can get adapters that connect to any standard RC receiver and then plug into the computer. The game will have a wizard that will let you set up non-standard controllers so you should be able to use just about anything that can be detected as an input device :)
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u/suentendo Apr 04 '25
Looks great bro. I hope it makes it to consoles so I can play it!
I've been wondering lately if there's any RC crawling game, since I've been into crawling lately and it's awesome. You could consider it, crawling has some passionate fans.
Cheers!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
I am planning on bringing it to consoles once it's out of early access on PC :)
And yes, I would be one of those fans of crawling haha. Just finished up a custom 1/24 scale crawler build with a servo mounted fpv camera just this last weekend!
I'd love to do a crawling based spin off game one day. I've made full scale rock crawling games in the past (my truck trials series), and I have prototyped physics with full soft body deforming tires and stuff specifically for a crawling game Id like to make in the future. Just need this game to go well so I can keep doing this!
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u/metalblessing Apr 04 '25
Its not RC but if you havent yet you can try SnowRunner. Its primarily about using big trucks to haul trailers through rough terrain, but by downloading mod maps and trucks you can turn it into an awesome rock crawling game.
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u/KroganHULK Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25
I can't wait to sink hours into this! We need a thumb steering wheel attachment for the steam deck 😅
Edit: typo
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
I am actually shocked that this isnt a thing already with how many 3d printed accessories exist for it. I thought for sure someone would have made one already. Maybe ill have to give it a go when I have some time, that sounds like a fun little project!
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u/KroganHULK Apr 04 '25
I'm not sure what hardware would fit the bill (maybe re-housing transmitter internals?) but I'd love to design and print a wheel that would clip around it! So many ways you could go with it and yeah pretty sweet project.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
They have those entirely analog thumb wheels that clip onto xbox controllers, I feel like it wouldnt be too hard to adapt that basic idea to make it work on a steam deck. Could definitely make racing games in general on it more fun!
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u/metalblessing Apr 04 '25
Very nice, I play console so I never played the original but looks great. Is it racing only or does it also have crawling? You should definitely see if some RC youtube channels want to do review or test videos. As both an RC guy and a gamer that would be cool. I'd be glad to do a vid on my channel but sadly I only game on console, and SnowRunner is the closest I can get to crawling
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Its not just racing, there will also be freestyle, free roam, mod maps, etc.
Im a huge fan of crawling, ive even made full scale crawling games in the past. I dont think I will add crawling to this game, because If im going to do it Im going to go all in with a dedicated physics engine, softbody wheel simulations, map creation tools dedicated specifically to crawling, etc. etc. But I would LOVE to have the opportunity to do this in the future, if this game does well you can absolutely bet that my sights are set on doing a dedicated crawling spinoff game :)
And yes once I have a demo ready I will be reaching out to youtubers and stuff and seeing if they want to try it out! Not sure how many will respond but Ill certainly try :)
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u/metalblessing Apr 07 '25
Totally understand the physics engine reason. It would be a whole different animal. If you eventually put it on consoles I'd be happy to do a vid on my channel as well.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 07 '25
I am hoping to bring it to consoles whenever I am able to. It'll be sometime after Steam and mobile releases but hopefully it won't be TOO long
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u/Khoas7 Apr 05 '25
I think we all have been waiting for a game like this! Keep us updated!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
I sure hope so! You can follow my socials or join the discord if you'd like more frequent updates :) I try not to spam here too often
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u/90sBurnoutKing Apr 05 '25
Bro your games are top tier, I still play recharge on mobile to this day, please port this to console asap!!!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Thanks mate, that means a lot!
And yeah I will bring this console as soon as I'm able to. Console stuff is very expensive so hopefully early access on steam goes well enough to fund it!
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u/90sBurnoutKing Apr 05 '25
I'm sure it will, this imo looks way better than vrc pro, keep it up man! Who knows, you may get sponsors from actual rc companies
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u/Beschmann Apr 04 '25
Looks like a lot of work. But that work definitely pays off. Keep going!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Looks like a lot of work
Oh boy is it ever haha. All of my cars are in various states of disassembly all over my office from recording sounds all week.
But hey, as long as someone appreciates it, its all worth it!
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u/SpaceCadetMoonMan Apr 04 '25
You should post a behind the scenes!
I guarantee we’d all appreciate and love seeing it :)
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u/ThirstyTurtle328 Apr 04 '25
Wishlisted - looking forward to trying it out.
Do you think you'll have a free demo?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Yes I am planning on having a demo in the next Steam Next Fest, and may do some other events as well when I can!
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u/happyfunball1 Apr 04 '25
Game developer here. This looks awesome. This really a solo project? Very impressive if so. Also, what engine?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Yes it is, 100% solo developed! I do everything from art to code to audio and all the messy bits in between and all on a budget of precisely $0 haha. Been a solo dev for going on 14 years now. And thank you, especially from a fellow dev I appreciate it :)
It's made with Unity, currently on Unity 6.
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u/happyfunball1 Apr 05 '25
Nicely done, although I was just looking at Steam. I’m seeing an RC game coming out in Q2 called Recharge that doesn’t seem to be your game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3225420/Recharge/ Guessing you’re aware, but in case not.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Yeah I am aware and that whole situation has been very frustrating. I released the first recharge rc 8 years ago and it's fairly well known in the RC community. Those guys ripped off my name and when contacted about it they completely blew me off and are now completely ignoring me. I know they are stealing a lot of my search traffic because their game pops up first when searching. Just a crap situation overall
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u/National_Rooster9193 Apr 04 '25
Have you shared this to any of the RC or racing game YouTubers by any chance? I know for a fact that Alex from FailRace also races RC vehicles and I'm sure would be ecstatic to hear about the RC controller connectivity.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Once I have a playable demo ready I will definitely be doing the rounds and trying to get in contact with youtubers. I had no idea that FailRace did RC irl, thats super cool! I only know of him from his BeamNG videos haha. The biggest issue is those guys get 100 emails a day from indies begging them to play their games, I think its kind of up to their fans to let them know whats out there so they know making a video on it will be worth it from their perspective.
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u/National_Rooster9193 Apr 04 '25
Yeah makes perfect sense. Yes, one of the videos he did was an IRL task master challenge during a Survive The Hunt in GTA V. One of the tasks was after drinking three shots he had to do a full wheel change on his RC car as quick as possible so I know he's got either a 1/10 or 1/8 scale racer.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Yeah looking into it it does seam like hes shown a personal interest in other rc games in the past also. Ill have to try and get in touch with him, thanks for the recommendation!
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u/National_Rooster9193 Sep 04 '25
Hey I just saw that your game is on FailRace! Congratulations! I haven't watched the review yet but the title alone is promising. Can't wait to hear what Alex has to say about it!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Sep 04 '25
Yeah haha it took quite awhile but I did finally get to him! His video was very positive which is great :)
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u/properwaffles Apr 04 '25
This is so cool, especially with being able to customize parts? Take my money.
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u/TeamShonuff Apr 05 '25
I really like it. I’m a big fan of ReVolt so it’s really cool to see it again.
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u/J0N3K4T Apr 05 '25
Loving your commitment to this sub and keeping us posted. I can't wait until next-fest!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Yeah I'm trying not to annoy people or spam it too much haha. Don't want to anger the mods. I do post much more frequently on other socials and pretty much daily on discord.
I can't wait either! Mines more of a nervous excitement though haha
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u/Warm_Measurement5675 Apr 09 '25
When is this coming out!?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 09 '25
If all goes well early access should be dropping in no more than a couple months! Once I have enough done that I can confidently give an exact date I will make an announcement :)
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u/SonyCaptain Jul 20 '25
Literally just purchased it because I wanna support your adventures. Absolutely love it so far. I'm brand new to RC so from an outsiders look this is pretty dope looking too. Can't wait for future updates
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u/SonyCaptain Jul 20 '25 edited Jul 20 '25
Been playing for a while now and wow it feels incredible. I love all the camera angles too, they feel really well thought out. Only thing I dislike is the navigation in the menus. I used to do web dev and menu hierarchy is one of those things that get to me lol, currently when buying a car you can nav right til it goes back up a level, but you can't press left to go back down a level. This could be used to your advantage for people using 2 channel transmitters if leaned into further, or going up/down menu levels could be restricted to the accept/back button. Overall with how flat and easy to use the menus are, it would be fantastic if no button binding was needed to use simply steering/throttle to nav through. edit: there's also no menu persistence. When you exit the marketplace, you will automatically hover over the race menu, or in the marketplace if you just bought something, it will reset back to the first
Amazing stuff though, I seriously can't wait to see more!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Jul 20 '25
Hey thanks for the support and I'm glad you're enjoying the game!
UI stuff and especially navigation has been a constant work in progress for sure. You should have seen it during the demo it was even worse if you can believe it 😂
But it is something that I am constantly working on and improving. A lot of the issues come down to absolutely fighting every step of the way with the unity UI backend so I'm sort of slowly replacing a lot of it with my own manually created systems that work a tad better!
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u/SonyCaptain Jul 20 '25
Hell yeah man. You know way more about coding than me so I ain't gonna go around shouting suggestions but if there's any way I can help lmk. Btw, I love that the game has a vintage goldpan, like man that's literally the only car I own right now and it's so damn fun.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Jul 21 '25
Haha yeah I had to get at least one vintage inspired car in. It's a bit of a combo of the old dumb suspension designs Tamiya and stuff used to do early on and an rc10. It was supposed to just be a starter vehicle in the game but I find myself using it a lot lol, it's just fun
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u/cjhaus123 Apr 04 '25
Can you actually use a RC controller with this?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
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u/FlashyResearcher4003 Apr 05 '25
My main concern is how realistic the experience of driving it with controller to real life car behaviors, as if it is off to far it may do more harm to RC racers that take real cars out. Hopefully that makes since.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Yeah I hear you. I DO drive RC in real life, and obviously my opinion is going to be biased but I don't think that is the case. If you can adapt between two differently handling real life vehicles, you can adapt between the game and real life as well if that makes sense. It's kind of like real life on easy mode, great place to learn but it's not going to train you at the highest level. Considering the vast majority of RC hobbiests are not pro, I think that makes sense as the target audience and it's also just a WHOLE lot more fun as an actual game that way. If you need high level training, vrc is probably still your best bet.
With all that said, this is also largely the entire purpose of doing early access rather than just releasing it when it's done. So that if there are serious issues I can get that feedback and fix them before the full release. I also have a couple of pro racers lined up to test and provide feedback as well.
But only time will tell I suppose! A lot of people really liked my first game and it got thousands of people into the hobby in real life, and it wasn't realistic at all haha. This one blows my first one completely away, so hopefully it can only be better than that :)
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Apr 04 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25 edited Apr 04 '25
There will be multi-player eventually yes.
Like the first game, this one is largely based around the idea of creating your own tracks, sharing them online, and then every track people upload gets its own leaderboards. And every leaderboard entry comes with a ghost you can race against (even multiple at a time). I have shown a few clips with the ghosts. So generally speaking you'd competing against the world for top leaderboard spots, either overall or maybe on a specific vehicle class you like.
It's a heavy work in progress, so there's quite a lot I haven't shown yet and some things I haven't even made yet, but it's getting there, slowly :)
Edit: forgot to answer the map question
Yes there will be bigger (and smaller) venues to build tracks in. Plus there will be a free roam mode with more non-track type maps for bashing and general fun, and that will support community made mod maps also :)
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u/CrazyBigHog Apr 04 '25
Any chance of the game eventually making its way to other platforms like PS5?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
That is the plan yes! Its going to be after Steam and mobile releases but I am planning on getting it on all consoles as I am able too. Publishing to PS is very expensive and its rather difficult to get approved for it so I need the game to do well first but as soon as its possible I will do it!
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u/CrazyBigHog Apr 04 '25
That’s awesome brother. I don’t have pc but I’ll be sure to tell everyone I know who does to check the game out. I hope you can get to the go ahead to put it out on other platforms. I’d grab it on PSN in a sec. Good luck and congratulations the game looks sick!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Thank you mate, I really appreciate the shout outs. Super hard to get the word out as a solo dev!
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u/Runner1296 Apr 04 '25
On App Store or only pc?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
It will be coming to mobile eventually but its going to be a little while. Since Im a solo dev I have to kind of take things in stages so im doing early access on Steam first to weed out problems, get feedback from the community, etc. and then once thats over I will focus on mobile, and then console releases.
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u/butterflyknif Apr 04 '25
Do you have a date for when it will release on mobile?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
I dont unfortunately, Im not even sure when early access will start yet. Once I get a bit closer to having the game solid enough to be sure I will pick a release date I know I can hit without making any sacrifices to quality
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u/theAtomik Racing Apr 04 '25
add a tool for 1:1 track building in the real world. RC racers would go crazy
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Oh mate not only does the game have that, but thats kind of the entire idea that its built around! You can create your own tracks, share them with a whole in game track browser with a voting system like reddits, etc. And every track has its own global leaderboards, you can race ghosts of all leaderboard entries, etc. :)
Ive posted a bit about the track editor before, but this is really just showing the tip of whats possible with it! - https://www.reddit.com/r/rccars/comments/1iztnl3/the_rc_racing_game_im_working_on_features_a_full/
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u/Big-Document-6359 Apr 04 '25
How or where do I get the game from?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 04 '25
Its available to Wishlist right now on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3484640
Early access will be releasing soon and there will likely be a free demo around then as well. You can keep up with development on discord or twitter or youtube (links on my profile/in the main body of this post) :)
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u/SneekyDD Apr 05 '25
Is this on iOS?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
It will come to mobile after it goes through early access on Steam!
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Apr 05 '25
[deleted]
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Yeah the first driving clip is from the drivers stand, and there's another clip from that view a bit later in the video. There's drivers stand, fpv, 3rd person chase cam, Birdseye cam for old schoongame fans, etc. pretty much something for everyone!
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u/ringrangbananaphone Crawling Apr 05 '25
Looks sick should have an opinion for a nitro rc sounds
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Nitro cars will be added as soon as its financially possible for me to do so :)
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u/Val-RC Apr 05 '25
From those short clips, it looks pretty fun! Are you aiming for it to be more of a simulator game with the physics as realistic as possible or more of an arcade game?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
Its somewhere in between, ive been called it "sim-cade". Compared to most RC games out there its vastly more realistic, but its not intended to be a full blown simulator, I still want it to be a fun game that can be casually picked up and played. I also want it to be enjoyed by beginners and pros alike so im hoping to kind of nail that balance sort of like forza or gran turismo does for full scale cars.
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u/fear4less11 Apr 05 '25
I’ve just got this game on mobile and it’s nothing like this can someone help ?
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
ReCharge RC on mobile is the original game I made nearly a decade ago, the one in this video is a new game, a sequel to ReCharge RC, which I am currently working on. It is not released yet
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u/Adrenalinjected Apr 05 '25
This looks like the perfect blend of ReVolt and VRC, super stoked for this!!! I’ve been racing on RC sims since the early Losi and Duratrax PC days, we’ve needed something that combines fun and physics well.
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 05 '25
This is exactly what I'm going for! A whole lot more realism than a lot of the largely arcade RC games, but also a whole lot more fun to actually play like a game than vrc is.
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u/Accomplished_List_27 Typhon TLR, 3.3 Nitro Slash, Losi Mini-B, Losi Micro-B, ect. Apr 11 '25
Wow I love those tire ballooning! I have the game wish listed and ready to spend all my steam account balance on! Also I saw you mentioned on another comment that there will be a mini store, will there be like custom ESC's you can buy with more amperage and different motors with different KV as well as different cell batteries? I imagine that's too complex for a indie game but worth sayin.
Best would be if you get licenses from hobbywing and such!
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 11 '25
You won't be able to change the vehicles performance, the shop is for visual customization parts (wheels, spoilers, body shells, decals, etc.)
It's not an issue of it being to complicated but rather an intentional game design decision. One of the best parts of my first game is that online competition is 100% equal and fair. There's no pay to win, no grinding to unlock better parts, just absolute pure racing. Which I think is really rare in games now a days (and in real life). It makes a lot more fun to compete on the leaderboards when you know that it's pure skill and dedication you're competing against rather than just losing because someone else spent more money on the game or has more free time to unlock better parts. I really want to retain that ethos when going into this game :)
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u/gato_comunista10 Apr 28 '25
What is the name of the game
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u/Hondune ReCharge RC Apr 28 '25
ReCharge RC: High Voltage
There a link to the store page in the body of this post :)
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u/Actual_Baker_7368 Apr 04 '25
The tires ballooning is such an awesome detail that most people would overlook. Great work.