Carpet Racing
Par Sun, rain in life
Statut actuel
À venir
Fin de campagne : 01/11/2027
Flick your car. Control your speed. Win the race!
A tactile racing game where you flick miniature cars across a textured track—balancing precision, damage, and pit strategy.
We are Building a new type of racing game! Help us prototype, test and shape it into the market!
Introduction:
Hello every one! Dimitris here! Welcome to Carpet Racing! Just a heads up, we are currently in a pre-seeding stage as a start up so we kindly ask for your understanding as there won't be any fancy illustrations or videos at this point of our journey. I try my best with whatever knowledge I have aquire on my own to present you this awesome game as best as I can so you can judge for yourself if it's something that you would love to support or not!
Budget & investment:
Our starting budget is 1000 euros (family contribution) and we are currently working with Kashav Infotech a team of developers from India aiming to conclude the game's application as a minimum viable product (MVP) so we get to have better and faster presentations of the game. We are working with their team through Fiverr to secure our limited fund in case we are dissatisfied with the outcome. All our progress will be posted in the "application development news" section so you guys can see how the app is developing!
Why we're here:
In case you find some thrill in Carpet Racing and you want to support it, we place our cap at 5000 euros, a budget that will allow us to gain some traction and move faster with the development of the application's MVP but most importantly with the development of the carpet racing tracks! Depending on your interest to the game, we will then set new goals and will go all the way to delivering Carpet Racing as it should be! Here is a sum of our current goals with your support:
1st phase -
- Complete the application (MVP) faster.
- Start working on some premium tufted racing track carpets seeking the best results in aesthetics, car traction and car acceleration.
2nd phase -
- Depending on your support and opinion, we are to see if we'll create our own miniature cars or collaborate with an already established company using their miniature cars instead.
- Conclude the racing tracks
- Add all features and modes in the Carpet Racing application companion so we have a fully functional app as it should be.
- Work on the racing track props
A moment of bland honesty - Please help?
This is my first crowdfunding campaign and I'm doing this on my own without any help! I'm not sure if I even understand correctly what to write where! Due to childhood trauma, I sometimes can't grasp very obvious and simple things but I'm a kindhearted and honest person (as you can obviously see here :D). My wife says I'm naive and I agree with her that I may be but some times we confuse kindness with naivety. What I kindly ask of you, is to please give me any directions and point at my mistakes so I can lead this campaign as best as I can!
Outro
So, I really hope everyone is doing well in their life and since we all have to strugle at some point, I want to wish to each and everyone of you, strength, patience, hope and a big humble smile all the way to eternity and the light! <3 Wanna know more on the history of Carpet Racing? Have a read on "The history of Carpet Racing" section below!
Let's get down to it!
🏁 Why back now?
We’re not offering a finished product yet—we’re building it.
By backing now, you become part of the development process and help bring this racing system to life.
Your support helps us:
- Build the MVP application
- Test track materials and friction
- Refine the core gameplay mechanics
As a backer, you:
- Secure your place early
- Gain access to the Pledge Manager later
- Influence how the game evolves
🔧 Developement status
Carpet Racing is currently in an early prototype phase.
We have already:
- Defined the core gameplay mechanics
- Tested the flick-based racing concept
- Designed the initial game structure and flow
- Initial prototypes tested with players
- Basic app logic already outlined
- Early material tests done
This campaign is focused on:
- Building the MVP application
- Experimenting with track materials and friction
- Refining the gameplay experience through testing
Our goal is to take this concept from prototype to a fully realized racing game—with your help.
🎮 How the game works
Carpet Racing is a tactile racing experience built around precision and control.
Each player takes turns flicking their miniature car across the track, aiming to complete laps as efficiently as possible.
Core mechanics include:
- Flick-based movement using finger control
- Tracking distance through “paces”
- Managing damage from crashes
- Strategic pit stops to repair your car
Every decision matters—push too hard and risk damage, or play it safe and lose time.
See the core mechanic in action:
"Prototype demonstration using placeholder miniature cars"
As seen in the video below, players are to tap their car on their rear or the front, never on its sides as many times as the round commands! In this video it is 4 paces/taps. Dragging your car with your finger is a penalty! Example of acceptable play:
⚡ Experience
Carpet Racing is not just about speed—it’s about control, tension, and precision.
Every flick matters.
Every mistake costs you time.
You’ll feel the pressure as your car approaches a corner—push too hard and risk a crash, or play it safe and lose your lead.
With every turn, the race evolves:
- Damage builds up
- Strategies shift
- The outcome stays uncertain until the very end
It’s a racing experience driven by your skill—not just luck.
Meet the team
The only photograph I found with the three of us together and all faces showing clearly is this one from 10 years ago!
From left to right we have:
- My little brother Pantelis Giordas with whom we created the basic rules of play
- Me, Dimitris Giordas in the middle, basic rules of play and extended features
- Andreas Varsos who is responsible for the backend application algorithms and also further expansion of the rules of play
The history of Carpet Racing
It's December 1998, I'm 20 years old with my brother Pantelis and our friend Andreas being still in their teens. We're in the living room feeling sort of outcasts from society having a million old toys scattered around the carpet taking a break from playing computer for hours... I don't remember who started this but we ended up putting aside all toys, keeping only some miniature cars in order to play.
Our creativity was running wild! We were so young, innocent and optimistic! That feeling of freedom overwelmed us and without any sense of guilt we started creating a racing game by setting up rules and putting it to the test!
Each one of us picked their favorite cars, we created our own racing clubs, we had some fake dollars from another game using them as our clubs' budgets and we made a racing track out of the patterns of the carpet we where on! The race was about to start!
He who would finish 3 lapses first wins the race! Each position awarded points and money just like real racing and every accidend cost money! Fuel was depleting and you needed to enter the pits in order to do repairs and refill!
The experience was unbelievable! I remember a causin of mine rang the bell, came in and saw us down on that carpet playing carelesly and when he left he was laughing at us for still playing with miniature cars in our age.
...but we were so immerse in what we were doing that we didn't give a flying f@ck! The game was awesome so for the next years we sat down and dedicated hours uppon hours to write down the rules. We did tests uppon tests and we made corrections uppon corrections. We created expansions and added features to the game that made it even better, to the point that we saw it more as a future sport that could host professional "drivers" earning real money!
And while we were all in for this project and in the middle of it, in the April of 2001, our dad died unexpectedly and this event changed everything in our life. The care free years were cut short suddenly, maybe they should have done so earlier for me since I now was in my early 20s but the kid inside me refused to give in to the "gray" that it saw in the faces of those who grew up around it.
In 2002 I got married to my highschool sweetheat and I had to find work! 2003 was the year that those three kids who where on that carpet back in December of '98 decided to stick together and not give up their dreams. Andreas's father had a liquer store, he was getting older and we decided to go there and work together in order to stay close with each other and why not, try to fund Carpet racing to fruition!
In 2004 though, twin boys came knocking at my door! Carpet Racing had to wait... "Life catches up with you eventually" they told me since I was a boy, only I didn't want to! I refused! But I had to succumb, because my love for my kids and my wife was the sole thing that could counter the love I had for the kid inside me...
So here we are my friends! 26 years later, my twin boys are now 21 years old! A daughter came in also! Now in her teens, 15 years old listening to Nirvana!? Not just smells like teen spirit but all albums! (who would have thought). Pantelis my brother has twin boys also and Andreas 2 boys too!
Today, that kid inside me pokes me timidly from time to time. It looks at me, a 48 year old man and without saying anything, just with its eyes is like asking me "have you forgotten about me?" -F@ck no!
So here I am! I've taken uppon this task on my own! Pantelis and Andreas are cheering for me from the bench! I might not have a clue about crowdfunding, Carpet Racing might not see the light of day but this one is for you kid,
I love you.
What's gonna be in the box?
We want to be flexible with our packaging and we are considering three different choices:
1. COMBO BOX > This is like the deluxe all in one box and It should contain,
- A racing track
- Racing track props
- Two pairs of racing cars
- Two application keys for two players to download the game app on their smartphone or tablet for free.
2. RACING TRACK > Contains a single racing track, for anyone who already has cars/app or who wants to buy a new different racing track
3. CARS > These should come as,
- A single car or,
- A pair of cars
So, a combo aims to be the perfect purchase for two friends or a family who wants to get into Carpet Racing while the racing track aims more to an already established player base that wants to race in a new track! Same with the cars, although they can also be bought as collectables.
KIND REMINDER: Please remember that since we are in our very early stages of pushing this on, everything you read in this section is subject to change as we also luck the knowledge on this field.
Risks & challenges
The investors challenge
The main challenge we have with Carpet Racing, is that it is a game that has no other like it in the market and any investors are hesitant to invest because there is no market for it to make comparisons and conclude with some certainty if it will be a success or not. Since there is no other game like it out there, they do not know how the public will react to it and so they tend to become skeptical about it.
The racing track challenge
The other issue we have is the creation of a trully unique, practical and perfect to race on carpet racing track. While we have tested to simply print a racing track on a carpet as a cheap and easy solution, it offers half the thrill that it should!
In the printed version the carpet is one dimentional, meaning that it cannot offer diverse terrains! While it is a pretty site to the eye, it is well... flat!
Carpet Racing needs to have hand tufted carpets with distinct textures for each type of road and also anisometric scenery like bushes or lakes. There is more to it but it is safe to say that we will need to create something that people will crave to race uppon!
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As we go on with our journey here, I will make sure to post in this section any more risks and challenges that may arise so keep an eye!
Carpet developement news
The first carpet to host a race, was a persian type of carpet like the one you see in the picture below! On the outer rim of the carpet there is a "road" forming. We used that road as the racing track on the very first day we decided to play with our miniature cars and on that very carpet we invented the basic rules of what later became known as "Carpet Racing!"
As we were writing and extending the rules of play, we needed to do some testing in order to conclude that what we write down on paper had actual practical use. To do that we needed more than a racing track that is composed only by straights. We needed curves, hard curves, narrowing roads etc. and we also needed to drive the cars on different carpet textures having a diversity in car traction/acceleration and an increase on the difficulty of the game.
In order to do that we started racing on different carpets that had different textures to emulate gravel, tarmac and dirt and we now could confirm that there was a significant difference and experience in driving on those textures!
We also used a monochromatic carpet without any patterns so we could form our own race tracks on it! To do that, we used a thread! We placed the thread in a way that it formed all types of curves and also narrow roads and we put our cars to the test.
Later on we made an effort to focus on the aesthetics of the racing track. To do that I created an illustration of a racing track (pic below) with whatever skills I had on the computer and then contacted a carpet company to print my design on one of their carpets with specific kind of hair so we had good traction with the cars. As you can see in the picture below, although the track looks alive with its vivid colours and distinct areas like the tablet/smartphone placement area, the road and grass etc. we were not satisfied because a printed track almost resembled those mass production child's carpets that depict roads in a city and are already circulating in the market. The track also kind of fell flat. It lucked a 3rd dimension and this is where props come in!
Now here is a printscreen from a presentation we made for Orange grove, an incubator program from Netherlads. This is how my illustration looks like on the carpet (Ignore Andreas in the corner).
I got zero experience in racing so please do not judge me too hard on the layout of the track! Hope you like it though!
Now, take a look at the illustration below for this is what we aiming for. Perimeter advertising boards, trees, protective tire fences etc, these props should be there to make a very distinct difference between your average road printed carpet and a Carpet Racing track. This along with the fact that in some of those racing tracks there should be alternations of road textures passing from tarmac to gravel, from gravel to dirt and from dirt to tarmac again.
More news to follow as we go!
Application development news
10/01/26
We are setting off the carpet racing application as a minimum viable product (MVP) that needs to have only the basic functions of the game in order for us to be able to test it further. The developers are now working on the "RACE MENU" of the application. Every screen that gets completed, we're going to post it here for you to see! To be honest I don't have high hopes when it comes to the aesthetics and general graphics of the app in this stage. What we aim for is for the backend calculator to work smoothly and properly.
The developers have been informed about the general screens of the application and they have started working on the "race menu" environment. In the screen below is the monitoring of your car condition:
Our challenge is to make a clear depiction of what has been damaged and needs repair for the player to make decisions such as to risk speeding up, play safe, enter the pits or decide to eventually run one more round despite all damages. We are currently in the early stages of brainstorming for this current environment but I wanted to share this screen with you just to let you in on what's happening! Suffice to say that everything is subject to change.
16/01/26
We are thrilled! Based on a clever placement of the UI assets by the developers, I got inspired and worked on my own on a "car dashboard display" approach! We are 100% keeping this, developers agree too, have a look!
I love the glow on the overall display and how slick everything looks in the eye! In the screen above, the driver can see how many paces they are to play this round (6), if any where is the damage (engine and battery) and monitor their fuel depletion!
The driver can now tap on any damage icon to see details of their durability and when their car is about to break down so they make a desition of eaither continue the race or visit the pits!
Fuel gus depletion ratio is 6 paces = 1 fuel bar.
20/01/26
Added penalty display: By tapping on the given damaged icon, now you can see the penalty that derives of the given damage based always on its durability loss.
Added padded dashboard elements: On the top left and bottom left corner of the screen we placed this padded element not that much for cosmetic reason as much for creating a space that can host the name of the player and their car brand.
23/01/26
Finished the Pit Stop menu: I'm not very happy with the visuals unfortunately but for the MVP I believe it will work.
Here the player can tap on the parts of the car that they want to fix. The more bars/durability of a part gets repaired the more the penalty for that player applies (penalty adds extra paces to the other players). In the pit stop menu a player can also track their lap times (number of paces they needed to complete each lap)
27/01/26
Finished the accident menu: Not that thrilled about the result but it is a simple and comprehensible way to input an accident. Again, since this is the MVP of the Carpet Racing app, we need to focus more on its flawless function than the aesthetics.
In this menu the player is to input the type of "accident" that happened in the race!
We added exclamation marks that when tapped they explain each icon so that the player knows what to input!
For example, in the screen above the player's car hit another car, went out of the road and turned over! Each of these types of "accidents" damage the car and add specific penalties to the player's paces each round until they are fixed!
31/03/26
Finished the MVP main menu: Input how many players/drivers are participating in the race > Give name of driver, their car model and brand and pick a colour. The MVP main menu is completed. I hope this link still works when you read this as it is a simple video depicting the functions described above. Nothing fancy as we said, it's just an MVP.
Stay tuned for more news!
⏳ Why join now?
This is your chance to join Carpet Racing at its earliest stage.
By backing now, you:
- Help shape the game as it develops
- Secure early supporter advantages
- Become part of the project from the very beginning
Don’t wait for the finished product—be part of building it.
Join the race early
Carpet Racing is just getting started—and this is your chance to be part of it from the beginning.
Whether you want to test the mechanics, follow development, or help shape the future of the game, there’s a place for you on the grid.
🚗 Secure your spot.
🎯 Help build the experience.
🏆 Be there when the race begins.
Budget distribution spreadsheets
I believe that I need to be transparent when it comes to the spending of our budget and more so when it comes to money that is not ours!
In this section I will include all spreadsheets that explain in detail what went where so anyone can have access and oppinion on how we run the budget of this project. Due to us being inexperienced with this industry we might have better options for contractors that we simply ignore. In case you happen to know anyone that would help us more with the quality and the budget fees for this project please let us know.
Starting fund: 1000euro
Application developement contractor: Keshav Infotech - India
Contractor rates: 5euro per hour
Mediator: Fiverr.com
Mediator rates: about 20%
1st payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 152,54euro
Mediator: 11,49euro
Total: 164,03euro
Remaining budget: 835,97euro
2nd payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 50,63euro
Mediator: 5,9euro
Total: 56,53euro
Remaining budget: 779,44euro
3rd payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 48,22euro
Mediator: 5,84euro
Total: 54,06euro
Remaining budget: 725,38euro
4th payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 25euro but due to extras 27,01
Mediator: 4,64euro
Total: 31,64euro
Remaining budget: 693,74euro
5th payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 24,39euro
Mediator: 4,51euro
Total: 28,89euro
Remaining budget: 664,85euro
6th payment spreadsheet:
Contractor: 52,31euro
Mediator: 6,09euro
Total: 58,41euro
Remaining budget: 606,44euro
Stay up to date by following this section.
Golden supporters
Since I run this campaign alone, I felt like creating this section to include all the people who went far and beyond helping me with whatever means they had to push Carpet Racing forward.
I wish I had more to give back but this section is all I have and it is dedicate to you:
The gamefound support team
Some will say "why include 'em in this section, they just do their job answering whatever your questions are" and I will answer yes this is their job but, they did their job with me and this is a whole different game!
I am a person who has, as mentioned in the opening of the campaign, some "special" issues that deprive me of quickly understanding simple things. What makes their support special to me is that despite my multi-bombarment of emails full of rather childish questions, they never yielded once!
People on support are obligated by their position to respond kindly to a customer's request for resolve in a specific issue. What they are not obligated to do is to respond to a train of emails from the same person with constant random questions like they have been hired exclusively just by you on a daily or weekly bases!
They were always kind, always willing to help and even when they started having this hunch that I may go on forever, they handled me as they would a friend!
Also keep in mind that people are preasured in their real lives and they have problems of their own and we must never forget that and always take it into account when asking support to help us.
So, thank you Gamefound support for being there for me the way you did! You may have earned your place in my digital section of Golden supporters, for the limited time that this campaign remains up BUT you also earned a place in my heart and memory, and THAT will live with me forever <3
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