skyroads

An endless runner built in C++ and OpenGL 3.3, inspired by the classic Skyroads game. The game layer is original work; the engine layer (window, input, GPU buffers, shader loader) is the ACS framework provided by the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers, University Politehnica of Bucharest.

This project was the motivation to build pingu-engine — a full 3D graphics engine from scratch.

All rights to the framework reserved to Universitatea Politehnica din București, Faculty of Automatic Control and Computers, and all framework authors.

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Gameplay

You control a sphere rolling across floating platforms in 5 parallel lanes. Platforms scroll toward you — jump between lanes, manage your fuel, and survive as long as possible.

Controls:

Key	Action
W / S	Increase / decrease speed
A / D	Move left / right between lanes
Space	Jump (only when on a platform)
C	Toggle first-person / third-person camera

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Features

Platforms & Power-ups

Platforms are color-coded by their effect when touched:

Color	Effect	Probability
Blue	No effect	50%
Green	+Fuel	20%
Yellow	−Fuel	10%
Orange	Speed boost (15 units, 5 sec)	15%
Red	Instant death	5%
Purple	Currently active (any type)	—

Platform lengths are randomized per spawn. When a platform scrolls off screen, it respawns at the back with a new random length and power-up.

Physics

• Gravity accumulates on vitezaCadere each frame, clamped to min/max fall speed
• Landing on a platform zeroes fall speed and resets jump availability
• Falling below the platform level (or running out of fuel) triggers the death sequence
• Ball shrinks to 0 on death animation

Fuel System

• Fuel drains continuously over time (0.05 * deltaTime)
• Green platforms refuel; yellow platforms drain; red platforms empty immediately
• Displayed as a vertical bar (outline + fill) in screen space on the left side of the viewport

Deformation Power-up

When a power-up platform is touched, a 1-second deformation effect activates on the player sphere. Implemented in the vertex shader — each vertex is displaced along its normal by a pseudo-random value derived from texture coordinates:

gl_Position = Projection * View * Model * vec4(v_position - v_normal * random(tex_coord), 1.0);

Camera

• Third-person (default): position (0, 1.6, 2.5) behind and above the ball
• First-person: position (0, 0.4, -0.5) at ball level

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Language	C++
Graphics API	OpenGL 3.3
Framework	ACS / UPB lab framework
Math	GLM

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Known issues / possible improvements

• Power-up deformation visual could be smoother
• Fuel counter border renders with diagonal lines from box mesh triangles (no hollow mesh available in the framework)