PreviewLabs

This is a first post in a series about prototyping race games in Unity3D.

We looked into two tools that can be used to create race tracks, more specifically AndaSoft’s Easyroads3D and Six Times Nothing’s Road/Path Tool. Here’s what we found:

EasyRoads 3D

Pros: Track creation by clicking the terrain and adjusting marker positions. Generated road will deform the surrounding terrain, so there’s no terrain poking through. Can close the track to create a circuit. Offers a wide range of options to create interesting tracks, suitable for full games.

Cons: It’s not possible to generate a track from code. The Unity editor slows down when creating long roads.

Road/Path Tool

Pros: Track creation by using markers. Very easy to procedurally generate a track from code. Possible simply draw a road texture on the terrain, rather than creating a mesh.

Cons: Cannot close the track to create a circuit. The terrain smoothing under and around the track doesn’t work very well. In sharp turns, the generated track mesh can have overlapping triangles, causing the car from the Unity Car Tutorial to get stuck when it drives over it. Only suitable for simple tracks and paths.

The verdict:

EasyRoads3D is a very useful tool and the full version offers a lot of content. But bear in mind that this is a tool designed to be used in the editor.

Road/Path tool allows creating race tracks dynamically, and is perfectly suited for prototyping if you’re not using bumpy terrains or sharp angles in your track.