Idea Info Name: Portal Rider Index: Primary Category: Racing Submitted: 1/2/2003 2:44:53 PM Written By: ShiranuiMai Game Architecture and Design: A New Edition Book Highly Recommended !

In the year 2057, a new technology has been created to make trips across the galaxies alot quicker and less cumbersome. Splitter Gates. Instead of going from point A to point B in a straight line, Splitter Gates open up a dimensional highway so that you enter at point A and get out at point B.

Along with new technology, comes new lunatics that want to test its limits. A sport called Portal Boarding was born. It's like snowboarding only in a  zero-gravity portal with specialized boards for it. The people who do it are called Portal Riders.

Everything is all smiles and rainbows until this politician comes up and promises that if elected that he will rid the universe of Portal Riders. He calls it an abominaion to the advancement of the people of space. And vows to close all the gates down one by one. Starting with the player's favorite portal park.

The player, or players, job is to keep that from happening. They will have 15 characters to choose from, but start with 2 in the beginning. You will race in 13 different portals and win to raise enough money to save your portal park from being closed down.

In these races, there are obstacles. Such as black holes in the middle of the track. These holes will suck the player down until a rescue crew comes and gets them and dumps them back from where they fell from.

Another problem, shooting stars will knock you down on your butt faster than a flash.

Then of course, there is player-to-player confrontation. As you move through the portal, you will see certain parts of machinery floating around. Every character has a certain type of weapon they use. And they will find upgrades for it as they race.

Take Ravyn, one of the characters you can choose in the beginning. She uses a missile launcher. Her next stage is heat seaker, then match-head missile, then stealth and then in mecha mode, she has an infinite supply of rockets that lock-on automatically.

Mecha mode and the trick system work together. The more tricks you do, the more energy you put into your mecha mode. In mecha mode, the player's body is covered in a metallic body suit and their board is maxed out in speed for a limited time. If you have weapons, then you can use them in mecha mode but they are hyped-up as well.