AGS Kart

[SinSin]

So I've been wondering if we can achieve a kart racing game with AGS?
This topic was raised in 2006 so I wondering have there been any substantial developments which would make this possible?   
I was thinking      ===> SNES Mario kart <===      styling with inportable players.

Come on whizz kids is it do-able ? 

[Icey]

I think it's do-able. Mostly from a birds eye view. But I'm sure it would work.

[Darth Mandarb]

Awesome!!  I had this same idea back in ... 2009 I think?  I actually made up some of the tracks.

I was envisioning it as Mode 7 (like Mario Kart on the SNES!) where the track (a large 2D graphic) would be an object and you would place other objects on it (for pipes, sandtraps, etc) and using some kind of scripting wizardry create the pseudo 3D (mode 7) effect and the kart would stay centered.  I was also envisioning multiple layers for the background so you could get some parallax scrolling as you went around the tracks.

I wasn't able to find a willing code-slinger who would/could do the scripting (as 3D is slightly out of my purview) so the idea died slowly!  I'd still be VERY interested in the concept though!!

edit - I was also playing around with the concept that the outer edges of the "track" graphic would use an alpha channel to fade out the track and blend into the bg layers behind it to create a very pleasing (I should think) horizon effect .

[Monsieur OUXX]

Now that there's a 3D-rendering plugin it should be rather easy.

Not that scripting the old-school fake 3D is hard, but, eh, why do something complicated when you can do something simple.

[Snake]

I back this idea 100%. I've been thinking about this for years. Mario Kart kicks ass and so would an AGS Kart.

Is it do-able? With all the great scripting minds from around here, fuck yeah, no doubt.

PS
By the way, Sinsin, your Mario Kart Wii racing skills also kick ass. Have we raced yet, or was it just you beating all my time trials - which I hate you for by the way

[Darth Mandarb]

Could be cool to do it similar to the swarm development thing from a few months ago. 


Get a bunch of contributors ... each person could make their own kart and their own level/track as well (after the mechanics of the scripting are worked out and some guidelines and methods are established of course!)

[SinSin]

@ Everyone   Did not expect this much excitement  :o

Would be fantastic to create a game which would captivate so many minds. I thought things would have been different these days what with the flood of coders and all (where are all the artists these days hehheh)

@ Snake hehheh   I dont think we have raced man to man yet but it can be arranged  

Also with the superb work on Multiplayer games being done. This could possibly also be incorporated.

[Icey]

Maybe their could be a swarm for this. It would be nice if the game was able to feature racer sprites made by different swarm members.

[SinSin]

Im useless at scripting so I would defo recommend a swarm for this    (hmmm not so sure)

@monsieur :  I suppose for nostalgias sake, Then again How fun would building 3D  Models be?

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=41581.0 Would this be the right direction ?  If so DKH has said that implementing multiplayer FPS would be possible although time consuming.

[DoorKnobHandle]

It would be very possible to do this with my Razorblade3D plugin if you want to go for a modern 3D looking racing game! You need 3D artists to create the tracks (or track pieces) and karts of course, as far as I know there aren't a whole lot of 3D artists around these parts (for a good reason)!

You could also go the retro pseudo 3D route where you need to hand-draw or render out the karts from all angles (think F zero for example).

[Darth Mandarb]

As I mentioned previously I think a swarm would be a good idea for something like this.

I think the pseudo-3D route would be more appealing (to me at least) with sprite based objects and pre-rendered karts.

[WHAM]

If we can get specs written up, I would be glad to provide a driver and maybe even a track. This sounds like an awesome project!

[SinSin]

Definatly psuedo 3d route for me too for nostalgias sake.

Also we could (if permission is granted) incorporate AGS game characters ie  Trilby, Roger, Girl from Spooks, Annie Android  etc. Not too difficult, probably 10 views each (lets say 8 views mirrored for the opposite rotation ) and 2 for victory airpumps etc.

Darth how would we build the traks again using the method you were thinking?

[DoorKnobHandle]

Yeah I agree, pseudo 3D would be the way to go (F Zero would be, again, my main reference as far as the graphics are concerned)!

I wish I could help out with the coding as this sounds very interesting but I just don't have the time right now - at all!

But I vaguely remember seeing tech demos where people have included the track rendering with 2D 'slices' in AGS before, would be worth finding that out!

[SinSin]

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=35278.0 is the only thing I can find so far will keep hunting tho

[Darth Mandarb]

I haven't scripted in AGS in AGeS (it's literally been years).  So a) I'm not sure I'm even using the right terminology and b) I'm not sure if what I was thinking was even possible but...

Basically you'd create a top-down view of the track (in Photoshop, Gimp, etc).  It would contain all the stuff on the "ground".  You import that into AGS as an object (each "track" would be it's own room?).  You make the main background of the room a static image (the very back of the parallax scrolling that doesn't move... most likely just a color or gradient for the sky backdrop and other 'objects' would be the layers of parallax).  You could then place other objects on the 'track' object that would be the sprites interpreted by the game (like pipes, sandtraps, power-ups, etc).  Then, when run, all the objects would (through the aforementioned scripting wizardry) be handled pseudo-3D and you could cruise around the track!

I think creating the tracks/levels would be the easy part... we just need somebody willing to devote some time to figuring out the mechanics of the P3D! 

If I have some time later today I'll whip up some example graphics for what I'm talking about.  It's always easier to "show" rather than to explain

[SinSin]

EDIT due to irrelevance :

Was just looking on wiki about it. It turns out that the tracks are layers, flat like you pointed out Darth but also they incorporate tiles 128 x 128 each track maximum (each will have variables like resistance to acceleration) and the carts are just sprites that alter to degree of the turn.

The Tracks could need mini teams like an artist and a coder
 Its probably alot deeper but where scripting is concerned Im useless

The game itself would need a quality coder/mathematician

[Monsieur OUXX]

@monsieur :  I suppose for nostalgias sake, Then again How fun would building 3D  Models be?

I didn't mean that. I wasn't talking about the models. I was only talking about the 3D-rendered ground (like in Mario Kart, SpeedRacers, Whacky wheels, etc.). In those old games it was rough fake 3D (and in the case of the SNES it was even a dedicated circuitry). But nowadays you can do it in 2 seconds with a simple, flat 3D object.

PS: Tor all the Tiles manipulation I strongly suggest to re-use the code from other AGS projects: Either Technocrat's code from Project Forklift, or Abstauber's code from Shattenreize.
that would be pretty damn elegant.

[SinSin]

But nowadays you can do it in 2 seconds with a simple, flat 3D object.

but how ??   is it easy in AGS?

After wandering thru the forums I stumbled upon this
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/yabb/index.php?topic=26130.40
It looks like the correct plugin we should use. although will the code allow us to rotate the map rather than walking forward and backward

After countless edits and plenty of headscratchings

I believe Wretcheds plugin is the way forward. There is a section in the module which has something about character camera which may help keep the camera behind the driver..
But still Im a useless scripter/coder
I have decifered that the sky is just another layered background   and walls seem to have something to do with the room edges.

*Any luck with the track example Darth?

[Khris]

The biggest problem is drawing the track.
The only way I see doing this in the style of the original without using a plugin is to rotate a pretty big sprite, then draw it line by line to squash it into perspective.
There's room for optimization, but if you're near the edge of the track looking at the rest of it, pretty much the entire sprite has to be transformed.
I don't think AGS can do that natively without slowing down to a crawl.

One alternative is to draw the track using triangles, i.e. without texture.