A Decade of Renegade

Ten years ago this week—July 26, 2016—Riptide GP: Renegade went live.

If you were there, you remember the pitch: You're a champion hydro jet racer, framed, stripped of your title, and dumped into the illegal racing circuit. You have to outrun the cops. Pull off stunts that would get you arrested on land. Claw your way back to the top—and get revenge against Krex, the smack-talking rival racer who double-crossed you.

Riptide GP and Riptide GP2 were optimized for phones and tablets, but Riptide GP: Renegade was the first in the series designed as a true cross-platform experience: We shipped it on Steam PC, PS4 and Xbox, then Switch, then mobile, then a few places we honestly didn't expect. It's been played on TVs, on streaming platforms, on arcade machines…on hardware that didn't even exist when we started building it.

With Renegade, we also tried to create something bigger and deeper. Stormy levels with massive waves. Rider animations that reacted to every bounce and swell. A ton of over-the-top new stunts. And a world with an actual story running through it, boss races, a split-screen couch mode, and a dub-heavy soundtrack that still gets our heads banging.

things we still think about

The water

People always ask about the water. From the very first Riptide GP, "dynamic water racing" has been the heart of the franchise, and we've tried to improve it with each iteration. Renegade's version was the best yet (we think)—where the wake off the jet in front of you actually mattered, the vehicle physics felt responsive, and a race could be won or lost on how you read a wave. We also put a lot of work into improving the splash and foam effects.

The stunts

We wanted a trick system deep enough that a good player looked genuinely cool doing it, and simple enough that your first Breakdance felt like a magnificent accident. Watching the community's shared videos over the years, we hope we got that one right.

The cops

Some people liked them, some hated them, but they were unquestionably a big part of the vibe. Fun fact: the cops in Renegade descended from the "nuisance boats" in our studio's first game, the Xbox Arcade title Hydro Thunder Hurricane.

The tracks

Our ambition with race tracks is to try and make them play out like amusement park rides: you're invited into a cool looking place, we hit you with some surprises, and it builds up into an exciting crescendo as you race to the finish line. What we didn't count on with Renegade was how much time all those console-first details were going to take! We would have liked to ship with more tracks, but who know—maybe the next Riptide GP!

The story

It started out as a few intro lines and evolved into a multi-threaded soap-opera filled with anti-heroes and villains, supportive sidekicks, cop romance, a talking robot named 0xDEADBEEF...and of course, who could forget the glowstick-covered raver twins Pyta and Fryta?

Celebrate with Us

This week and next, there are lots of ways to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Riptide GP: Renegade, and just enjoy all things Riptide.

Community hub

Come join our Discord community and participate in a special #decade-of-renegade channel, now through next week. Post your favorite stunt clips, your first-ever screenshot, your worst wipeout. Coordinate online matches. We'll be there too, commenting and answering questions.

Race the devs livestream

If you want to test your skills against the Vector Unit team, join us for a Race the Devs livestream on YouTube, Wednesday, July 29. Tom, Matt, and other members of the VU team will be livestreaming our multiplayer lobby on YouTube (start time TBD). See if you've got what it takes to beat the makers of the game!

What? You don’t have it?

Maybe you haven't had a chance to pick up a copy of Riptide GP: Renegade for yourself yet. Well, we got you covered! This week and next we've put it on sale on multiple platforms. So get out there and make a splash!

Even more Riptide GP!

If you just can't get enough classic hydrojet racing, try out one of the older Riptide GP games -- for free!

The original Riptide GP is free on itch.io. The 2011 original is a VU Archive title now—we don’t make money off it any more, it’s just available for download—no ads, no IAPs, no price at all. It's fifteen years old and it still rips. (Android APK for side-loading only.)

Riptide GP2 is free-to-play on iOS App Store and Google Play. If you fell off the wave somewhere along the way, jump back in—no cost, no excuse!

The part that really matters

Vector Unit is a small studio. Renegade was made by a handful of dedicated artists, designers, and coders who really love building and playing games (especially arcade racers.)

And now it's been ten years! Ten years of leaderboard runs, split-screen grudge matches, stunt clips, bug reports, feature requests, and the occasional extremely polite email asking when the next game is coming.

So: thank you.

That's the whole point of this post. There's no Riptide GP without the players who keep playing.

See you on the next wave!

- Team Vector Unit