AGS Kart

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 17:00:05

Thank you Mr Kweepa you are a Legend through and through

Im going to do a few track layouts tonight and if you dont mind, test it out

Can I suggest we think about characters and themes.
Im working on track designs as they can be done in outline form just until we work out the overall Max width properties and general track lengths.

Characters need to be decided: Who we are gunning for and or should we design new ones.
Themes could well be tied into character choices quite easily as discussed previously e.g Spoonbeaks Circuit/Shipyard, Carnage Val Circuit (black and white themepark)
and maybe a city stage from a game. have a think people Im sure there are more bright ideas out there.

Icey · Wed 02/05/2012 22:00:34

Could a story mode also be possible? One were you would have to to around the world racing in different cities to become the ultimate racer? You can choose a racer for racer for the story and you go from there.

Also when I make a racer can he ride a motorcycle if it still fits the dimensions of the other racers?

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 22:10:46

Quote from: Insane-Icey on Wed 02/05/2012 22:00:34
Could a story mode also be possible? One were you would have to to around the world racing in different cities to become the ultimate racer? You can choose a racer for racer for the story and you go from there.

Nothing like making hard work out of a Kart racing game Eh? We should probably just stick to working out the basics first.

Quote from: Insane-Icey on Wed 02/05/2012 22:00:34
Also when I make a racer can he ride a motorcycle if it still fits the dimensions of the other racers?

NO!! for goodness sake please don't... this just adds more physics and work. (leaning and such forth)

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 02/05/2012 22:13:42

Quote from: Sinsin on Wed 02/05/2012 22:10:46
Quote from: Insane-Icey on Wed 02/05/2012 22:00:34
Could a story mode also be possible? One were you would have to to around the world racing in different cities to become the ultimate racer? You can choose a racer for racer for the story and you go from there.

Nothing like making hard work out of a Kart racing game Eh? We should probably just stick to working out the basics first.

Sticking to basics is an excellent idea!

Quote from: Sinsin on Wed 02/05/2012 22:10:46
Quote from: Insane-Icey on Wed 02/05/2012 22:00:34
Also when I make a racer can he ride a motorcycle if it still fits the dimensions of the other racers?

NO!! for goodness sake please don't... this just adds more physics and work. (leaning and such forth)

I think Icey's idea is perfectly fine, there's zero need for any different physics or leaning for a motorcycle in this kind of game, I'm sure?

Icey · Wed 02/05/2012 22:27:11

Basics is cool. I like basics too

Also I thought that each kart was going to be treated the same for speed, except for like turns or something?

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 22:39:33

I thought we were going with the light/med/heavy weights like the original snes game.
Dunno tho (im not completely against the idea of bikes) just as long as there is no real difference between the two (going with dkh) like on Mario Kart Wii whereas bikes reign supreme.

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 02/05/2012 22:48:22

How about four stats per racer:

TOP SPEED (how fast does the vehicle go max?)
ACCELERATION (how quickly does the vehicle speed up to top speed?)
HANDLING (how quickly does the vehicle turn?)
STRENGTH (how much damage [inflicted by crashing into objects/track bounds or from your opponent's weapons if that exists?] can the vehicle take before blowing up?)

You want to balance all these stats and make the game interesting for players, have cars with great top speed have bad acceleration. Have cars with great acceleration have bad top speed. Have cars with both great top speed and acceleration have horrible handling and so on. Bikes could have great top speed, acceleration and handling but extremely bad strength to counter that.

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 22:56:38

Yes
Yes
Yes
Strength.. We could possibly incorporate a pit lane that refreshes the health of said player which could cost 2secs whereas blowing up could take 5 secs for track replacement.

Its either that or when a collision takes place the stat could dictate how much speed is lost due to said collision.

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 02/05/2012 23:01:29

I don't like the idea of a pit lane at all, to be honest. It's fairly complex to implement and it's not fun at all in a race to have to take a pit stop. Why interrupt gameplay in an arcade racing game? What's the problem with having strength determining how much damage is taken whenever any is inflicted on the vehicle? Having it control how much speed is lost when colliding with something can work as well, depending on how collisions are implemented (if you hit a barrel object on the track dead on, for example, you'd stop dead on track anyways right?).

Snake · Wed 02/05/2012 23:05:31

I agree with DKH, I'm not too fond of a pit stop either.

What are the specs for sprites and the courses? Or are there any yet?

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 23:13:46

Yes quite literally a dead stop haha, however hitting a cylindrical item such as a barrel could send the player outward,
and oil patches etc could just slow the player down for a second but make them continue in a straight line (as always )

The pit lane was a bit of a far fetched idea. Maybe an item in the power ups could replenish some damage. etc but we can cross that bridge when we get there..
I'm gonna continue with track plans. and await the yummy new upload from Sir Kweepa

The blombo sprite is around 40x30 and looks about right from where im sitting/standing lol

DoorKnobHandle · Wed 02/05/2012 23:21:33

40x30 for 320x200 resolution sounds pretty good for racer sprites!

I think strength should affect how much damage can be taken by the vehicle AND how resilient the vehicle is to oil puddles AND how much you get bounced around when colliding with stuff! It's okay to have strength affect all that because the other three racer properties (top speed, acceleration and handling) are really, really important for racing in general and we don't want strength to be that forth property nobody cares about. They need to be balanced and roughly equally important!

SinSin · Wed 02/05/2012 23:23:34

Quote from: dkh on Wed 02/05/2012 23:21:33
40x30 for 320x200 resolution sounds pretty good for racer sprites!

I think STRENGTH should affect how much damage can be taken by the vehicle AND how resilient the vehicle is to oil puddles AND how much you get bounced around when colliding with stuff! It's okay to have strength affect all that because the other three racer properties (top speed, acceleration and handling) are really, really important for racing in general and we don't want strength to be that forth property nobody cares about. They need to be balanced and roughly equally important!

Agreed
However 320x200 sprites just add more blank space???
I tried and tested 320x320 and that works fine tho.
stick to just 320x320 for now fella and we will see (dont forget the current tech demo flips the tracks to a mirror image)

Icey · Wed 02/05/2012 23:39:55

Are their still going to be power items?

selmiak · Thu 03/05/2012 00:11:26

I think 2 additional frames for each direction a cart will steer (left and right) will be good enough. one at ~20Â°-30Â° where you just tap the direction for small turns and one where you hold the direction button at ~40Â°-50Â°

For keyboardkeys I'd suggest using both the arrow keys and wasd and space for using a power up.
And both ctrls for a secondary powerup. Or rather alt and altgr for secondary?
this should be default and also have the ability to define personal keys. and no zxc. I hate it when games have this and the z is so far away on my qwertz keyboard.

Icey · Thu 03/05/2012 00:58:42

How is this? I sorta wen't over 30 by like 2 pixel so will it still work?

selmiak · Thu 03/05/2012 01:08:26

have you ever played mario kart? Or is this actually a backview of a kart where you sit on sideways?

Icey · Thu 03/05/2012 01:11:40

lol I've played Mario kart since the one for the 64. the thing is I just started with the side view cause it's easier.

Kweepa · Thu 03/05/2012 01:32:14

Here's a new version with improved physics, extracted out to Racer.asc.
http://www.kweepa.com/step/ags/tech/AGS_Kart_2012_05_02.zip

Icey · Thu 03/05/2012 03:00:32

What ever you fixed sure made it run a lot smoother on my computer. it runs as fast at 17fps as it did in 40fps on my win8 laptop on my win7 laptop.

I tried to add a shadow sprite under the player and have it constantly update. Thing is the track seems to push it off to somewhere you can't see.