Good Game: Dice City

Another GTA Clone

Back in early 2004, when the internet was new and download speeds were hitting 30 KB/s there was the thriving of world of flash games and a little programming language some of you might have known as ActionScript. Among the many games was a title called Ray part 2. 

I was pretty young at the time and I had a computer with very weak specs, a Celeron processor. I could not play many of the AAA games. I would download their demos and wait at least a day for the download to finish, make sure the computer was switched on, sometimes the downloaded file would be corrupt so had to restart until download managers came around and saved me quite a few times.

Ray part 2 for me was no different than actually playing GTA vice city but I could at least play it. The good thing about it were the different choices available in the game. Along the years, I would check from time to time if Ray Part 3 was released and eventually I found out that the original author had abandoned the game. Therefore I decided to remake Ray Part 2 in a 3D world where you can drive around and the original animations from Ray Part 2 would make up the cutscenes.

 

I have done most of the work, however, I am yet to receive permission from the original author of the game.

Why GG Dice City?

When I was younger, I could not pronounce GTA and would shorten it to GG. In the below video, you can see early gameplay footage.

The Map

The original game also had a map as shown below:

Taking inspiration from the above map, I came up with what you see below. Lets Explore the map and its different areas.

 

Below is the in-game render of the whole city. 

 Mt. Billiard

So at the very bottom of the map is Mt. Billiard which is a parody of Mt. Chilliad from GTA SA. There is a tunnel running through the mountain which is appropriately called Useless tunnel as you can easily take the other road to get to the other side much quicker but I always wanted a tunnel in my game so its there. Also in Mt. Billiard you will find a secret military base that comes up in the original Ray game called Area 69 which I haven't built yet but its the yellow space in the gray mountain in the map. You also have a trail going up Mt. Billiard from Dirt Kwando which will be our next area.

Dirt Kwando

This is a very basic dirt race area inspired from the dirt bike area in GTA VC in the second island.

 

Park View Front

This is the main residential area of the city. Here you will find the Organ Dicer Hospital, a similar VC style mansion, my version of CJ's house against a contrasted Dice Police building and of course a park.

Disco Bar International 

This is the main Airport in Dice city and a word play on Escobar airport in GTA VC.

Dice Port

 It is a very basic port area with some containers and warehouses and a few stunt jumps.

Magucci Beach

Built from memory, this area attempts to mimic the strip in GTA VC and name is parody after Vespucci Beach in GTA 5.

Downtown

Can it be a sprawling metropolis without a business district? High rise buildings, high society fashion shops and luxurious hotels are all in Dice City's Downtown district.

Vehicles

At the time of writing there are only drive-able cars and a bike. Below is the Vehicle list:

1. Desperado

Slow car and first mission objective

2. Polygoniac Reseurection Turbo XRZ

Imported fresh from San Ander Yas, a sports car that is crazy fast.

3. Deep Tango XL

A midsize SUV.

4. Showerlet Coup D'etat

A compact coup with average performance.

5. Nishan Haiyah SS

A slow passenger bus.

6. MCJ 8000

The only bike. 

Businesses

This is a list of business that you will eventually be able to buy once the economy has been built in the game. You can also hear advertisements about some of them in the in game radio.

1. Nutter Tools Ammunition Supplier Incorporation 
2. Cuntachino Coffee
3. Officer Tenpenny's Colored Donuts
4. Star Garage
5. Pintos B**B Shop
   
6. Blue Diamonds Hotel
7. Zips & Ties High Society Fashion Co
8. Organ Dicer Hospital
9. Discobar International Airport
10. McTowels
11. Majestic Magucci Hotel
12. Dusty's Autos
    

Radio Stations

Disco 98.3 FM

At the time of writing, this is the only radio station in the game, I wanted to add songs from real bands but that is just a hellhole for licensing even if it is a free game so in the final version of the game, I hope to add a feature that allows you to put songs in a folder and let the game pick them up so its on you how you got the song. Driving around the city with the songs I mention below gives some really fun vibes:

1. Hot Chocolate - You sexy Thang
2. Daft Punk - Instant Crush
   
3. Musical Youth - Pass the Dutchie
   
4. KC and the Sunshine band - Please Don't Go
5.  Rainbow - Stone Cold