VietNamNet Bridge - After one week of raising funds, Drone Race, the game designed by a team of young Vietnamese, received 300 orders and $43,750 from donors at Indiegogo, the largest global site for fundraisers.

Drone racing is special as it mixes video games with virtual reality (VR) and physical activities. Gamers challenge each other to fight with apps and control their drones through VR glasses.

The most attractive aspect of Drone racing is that players can choose the days for competition and conquer the charts. All the races can be recorded to be shared with friends through social networks.

The authors of the game are Duy Huynh, a student at University of Maryland and his friends, who spent three years developing the software and finding hardware suppliers.

“The idea about the game arose 2-3 years ago, but I still did not dare start working on it because I could not find suitable hardware suppliers,” Huynh said.

“We were lucky enough that I found the suppliers. And my job was embarking on development software which increases the attractiveness, competitiveness and interactions for the game,” he said.

After one week of raising funds, Drone Race, the game designed by a team of young Vietnamese, received 300 orders and $43,750 from donors at Indiegogo, the largest global site for fundraisers.

A Drone racing standard kit includes two drones (unmanned aerial vehicles), flags, hats, VR glasses, control and an app. The hardware products, including drones, drone control and VR glasses, are provided by a prestigious producer.

The authors encountered difficulties when designing hardware for the game, because products not only need to have impressive designs, but also must have reasonable prices.

However, according to Huynh, the biggest difficulty was to create a new way of playing with new kinds of drones. 

The great efforts by the young people paid off with 342 orders from Indiegogo. The figure went beyond the initially expected $10,000. The next goal is $50,000 and $100,000.

“The prices of $99 or $109 for the first buyers covet the cost prices which are just high enough to cover expenses to develop the product,” Huynh said.

Drone racing is not the only game Huynh and his team has developed. They are also working on a project called ‘Robot City’. 

However, Drone racing is still the focus at this moment. They continue developing software to bring the best experience to players before the game is officially launched in August. They will also improve the hardware design to make the drone look more impressive.


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