HTML5 + Box2D = Quick’N’Dirty Dakar Rally Sim

I very rarely mess with web development these days, but the power of current JavaScript engines and latest HTML5 features were just too juicy to pass on.

So sometime around early 2011, I took two afternoons and played with these technologies. Just now I remembered the project I had in hands, and decided I could give it a name and publish it on the net for your personal amusement.

Consider it pre-alpha, and expect bugs! 🙂

Features:

• Infinite landscape, using procedural generation (how else could I squeeze infinity into a few KBs?), and adaptive terrain features based on play style (namely, how fast you like to drive).
• Somewhat realistic physics (based on Box2dJS library).
• Incredibly detailed graphics engine based on WebGL. Nah just kidding, it’s the default HTML5 canvas-based rendering provided by Box2D itself…
• Physically-modelled rolling stones on the driving surface. Framerate suffers too much so they’re disabled by default. To re-enable, dive in the source code and hack away.
• Tested on major PC browsers, and on Dolphin Browser Mini on Android.

Controls:

• right-arrow -> gas
• left-arrow <- brake

Right now I’m in the middle of a physical home migration so the code is not githubbed yet, but you can access it by clicking the following link:

Quick’N’Dirty Darkar Rally Sim 2011

There’s no purpose as of yet, but you can try to race against the terrain and see how far you last before ending up on your roof or suffering a physics explosion.

License is GPLv3.