Boost Pad Madness - Anthony B. - Aug 15th, 2025

Hey everyone, Anthony here from Syntax Error Studios working with my Team on Hypertrack! Today's update is all about one of the most exciting features we've been working on: Boost Pads.

What I Set Out to Do
The idea is simple: place pads on the track that give racers a sudden burst of speed! Sounds easy, right? But I quickly learned that making a boost feel good is a lot trickier than just slapping extra velocity onto the car.

The Problem
Early tests had a few issues:

• Sometimes the pad launched you out of control, spinning you off the track
• Other times, the boost felt underwhelming and didn't really change momentum
• I also had to think about placement - if pads were too common, they broke the flow; too rare, and they felt pointless

The Solution
I built a Boost Pad class derived from a reusable track feature base. Each pad has a BoostMultiplier property that applies forward force through the car's movement component. This lets us fine-tune the strength directly in the editor without touching code every time.

The best part? Once the system was in place, I could drop pads anywhere on a track and instantly test different values. After some tweaking, the boosts now feel more powerful but still controllable, adding that burst of excitement without wrecking the player's rhythm.

Boost Pad Logic

What's Next

• Adding Visual Effects (Glowing Arrows, Energy Trails) so pads pop out on the track
• Adding Sound Design to really sell the impact of hitting one
• Balancing placement so pads enhance races without making them too chaotic

Boost Pads might be simple, but they're already making Hypertrack races feel faster, more dynamic, and more fun.