An interesting aesthetic or bold use of color is a good way to get attention for your independent game, especially in today's world of big-budget games that seem to draw from color palettes of brown and gray. Nitronic Rush is a racing game that uses bold sprays of color to grab your eyes, and the acrobatic racing also helps it stand out.

I contacted Jordan Hemenway, the game's audio director and composer, to talk about where the game came from, and his passion for the game was more than enough to get me excited for the title's upcoming release on November 11. And one more thing: the PC version will be free.

The game's website lists the gameplay as "experimental," but they aren't fooling anyone; this is a love letter to the underappreciated Rush 2049, and I called Hemenway out on it. "I'd say that Rush 2049 definitely had a strong influence on the design and feel of the game early on, but we were also inspired by tons of other arcade racing games such as Trackmania, Wipeout, and Hydro Thunder," Hemenway told Ars. "We really wanted to keep the fun and arcade-like feel of racing games from the 1990s, but with something new in the way of modern graphics, physics, and sound design."

The team has been working on the game for 17 months now, and everything you see has been built from scratch for a project for the Digipen Institute of Technology, where the game's developers are going to school. "Four programmers and a designer started the project the summer before Junior year, and now 17 months later there are 11 team members in total," Hemenway explained. "This now includes four artists for concept art and some modeling, as well as a full time sound designer and an assistant composer."

Most junior year projects are finished by the spring semester, but the team has continued development for the upcoming Indie Game Challenge and Independent Games Festival competitions. Post-launch, they're also hoping to add new levels and potentially a level editor.

It's hard to watch the video and not want to pick up a controller. This sort of arcade-style racing game has fallen out of favor in the past few years, although games like Trackmania 2 have continued the trend of racing games that are easy to pick up and play while keeping the emphasis on the action. "[The team] has a burning passion for exciting action-based gameplay, and we all loved the idea of bringing back arcade racing into a modern context," Hemenway said when I asked about why they created this game. "For me it was taking the feel of arcade gameplay and showcasing it with more modern electro house music and a more intricate sound design."

The game will be free on the PC when it launches this Friday, so you'll be able to jump right in and enjoy. "There aren't any plans currently to make Nitronic Rush into a for-pay product, but I wouldn't say that it's off the table," Hemenway said. "If new developments arise we'll definitely make sure to update our website, Facebook, and Twitter with the new information." He's happy with the response the video has received, but we'll just be happy if the game plays as good as it looks.