Sadak means road. Sadak Fury is a bike race and fight game set on the highways of India, and this devlog is where we'll show how it gets made: what works, what breaks, and what we change after every playtest.
If you have ever ridden through Indian traffic, you already know the setting. Buses that own the road, autos that appear from nowhere, a cow parked calmly in the middle lane. Now add seven rival riders who want you off your bike, and a highway cop with a lathi who wants all of you off it.
Race and fight with one thumb each
The whole game is built around one idea: you never stop racing to fight. Your left thumb steers. Your right thumb punches, kicks and brakes. A rival pulls level, you swing, he wobbles into the verge, and you are already looking for the next one.
We wrote down five rules before building anything, and every feature has to serve at least one of them:
- Speed and fighting in one thumb. A first-time player should land a kick within 30 seconds, without reading a tutorial.
- Classic feel, modern look. A low chase camera, a dense roadside rushing past, crests, two-way traffic, bike-to-bike brawls and cartoon crashes, drawn in a bright, painted style.
- Unmistakably local. Every stretch of road should have something you would only see on that road.
- Payback and personality. Rivals have names, and they remember what you did to them.
- Fair and readable. Every hit has a wind-up you can see, and every crash has a cause you can point to.
One more rule sits under all of them: crashes are cartoon crashes. Riders flop, roll, dust themselves off and run back to their bikes. There is no blood in Sadak Fury.
The first road: Kerala
We started with Kerala because it packs more variety into a short ride than almost anywhere else. In one run you pass the Chinese fishing nets of Fort Kochi, ride under the metro viaduct, cross the backwaters with houseboats drifting beside the road, and climb through rubber plantations and rainforest towards the tea hills of Munnar. Somewhere on the way there is a waterfall in a forested gorge, facing the road so you can't miss it.
Getting all of that to look right on a phone screen at speed took a few rounds. The next post covers how the Kerala road came together.
What already works on the road
Here is what you can already do in the current build:
- Ride. The handling is arcade, not simulation: grippy, quick to turn and forgiving. A real 5-speed gearbox sits behind the rev counter, and every bike's brake light glows when you brake.
- Fight. Punches and kicks land with an impact star, a short hit-stop and a kick of the camera, so you feel every one. Knock a rider off and his bike tips over; he picks himself up, runs back and climbs on again.
- Race named rivals. Eight rivals from across India, each with a name, a look and a few lines to shout at you.
- Dodge traffic. Buses, lorries and autos come both ways, and the roadside has villagers walking about, along with cows, goats and the odd elephant.
- Run from the police. Highway cops on bikes patrol with lathis. Get caught off your bike near one and you're BUSTED, with a fine to pay.
- Burn nitro. Hold the button for a hard shove of speed, then let the tank refill itself.
The game also runs on a real Android phone now: landscape, touch buttons or swipe steering, and graphics levels with an AUTO setting that picks the right one for your phone. The screen stays awake for the whole race, so it never dims while you ride.
Made for phones, made to play offline
Sadak Fury is a phone game first. Races are short enough for a bus stop, and you can play the whole thing offline. You don't need an account or a connection to race.
We also care a lot about how it runs on everyday phones, not just flagships. That's its own story, and it will get its own post.
What's next
Kerala is the first road, not the last. More states are on the map, starting with Rajasthan: a run from the Pink City to the Golden Fort.
We'll post here as things come together, with screenshots, the problems we hit and how we solved them. If you want to know what Sadak Fury is about right now, the home page has the riders, the bikes and the states. Thanks for riding along.
