Fabio Fontes' upcoming Buck Up and Drive! seems to be a whacky mix of racing games and fighters from the heyday of arcades, all rendered in a pixel art style true to the time period. The game's concept alone is pretty neat, and Game Rant spoke to the developer about his upcoming game.
Fontes is the only developer behind the game, and aspires to keep Buck Up and Drive! a personal project for now. In addition to a number of other things, he shared the history of the game's development and some hints about its potential future.
Fontes has been working on Buck Up and Drive! for almost a year after it started life as a general 3D experiment. His original vision behind the game was to create an endless version of OutRun, which was one of SEGA's biggest arcade hits. Buck Up and Drive! also features a 1v1 fighting game mode, which had its own unique inspiration, according to Fontes.
"I literally came up with the 1v1 mode while I was in the shower."
Game development can be daunting at times, and solo projects are known for having extended development cycles due to burnout and other issues. While Fontes didn't mention much on this note, he said the procedural track generation did take some time to get together. Given that the game is gearing up for a full release next month, he feels development was pretty smooth for the most part.
Buck Up and Drive! is a game with an intriguing concept, but it's relatively slim when it comes to the content. While this is understandable given Fabio's solo efforts, there are a number of modes and features that would be a perfect match for the game going forward. Fabio said he already has a number of ideas floating around, and it seems a campaign mode is one of the most enticing ones.
Fabio currently has no plans for porting the game to consoles, since he feels he should only bite as much as he can chew. That being said, he is certainly "up to porting to other platforms, but that will have to be looked at later."
In addition to Buck Up and Drive!, Fabio is also working on an action platformer called Dunkehr that will be relatively larger in scope. There's already a demo available for the game, but he also has a number of other ideas that he wants to explore in the future. There's already a lot on his plate, however, so it's understandable why he would refrain from taking up more projects.
"[Dunkehr] actually started before Buck Up And Drive!, which as I said began as a quick on-the-side experiment. Beyond these two, I do have other things I wish to do, but they will have to wait. Got enough to keep my head busy as it is."
Buck Up and Drive! releases August 21, 2021 for PC.
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