AGS Kart

[Ryan Timothy B]

So.. I've got mine at 800x600 and for some reason it's running steady at 40fps (when early this week it was running at 35fps when it was only 320x200 - must be because Photoshop is open, I'll test that later). It's not nearly complete yet or doing everything it needs to do. I have a ton of distance optimizations that need to go into play. It's starting to look more and more possible that this might fly.

BUT I doubt it would become the official version that everyone will want to use. It's more of an experiment, really. So don't stop working on your versions guys, mine is likely just the test tube project.

[Khris]

Any chance we could take a look?

[Ryan Timothy B]

I'd love it if you could. I need to work out a few glitches and the distance optimizations. Maybe a week?

Have you thought of how to make racing AI yet? I've been pondering about it while at work, I've got a few ideas, but I'm not sure what the best approach is just yet.

[Khris]

I had a sudden insight about that and I'm going to try it over the next few days.
I hope it's going to pan out; the biggest issue is avoiding obstacles though I guess.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I was thinking for how you control where they drive you add nodes on your roads every so often or before/middle/after turns that the drivers randomize to where they're heading (within a reasonable amount to avoid zig zagging drivers). As for avoiding walls, objects, or people, that's a little different.

[Slasher]

I tried to run it with DD5 and it froze after preloading screen came up and I had to restart computer (plug out). On restarting it froze on a black screen and would not boot up. Had to reboot from disk.... Windows running now..

[Monsieur OUXX]

That's a neat little piece of code!
I got so gutted after I discovered that integer-computing wasn't optimizing anything that I completely forgot about this

But PLEASE give a way to change the keys assignment, hehe.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Hey Khris, your game seems to run easily at 40fps, have you tried to up your game resolution to 640x400/480? Assuming yours is as easy as mine at changing game resolutions.

Edit: I actually PM'd SteveMcCrea, 2 days ago to ask for his assistance on my temporary math issue (using parts of his source code), but didn't realize he hadn't been on since April 1st. Does anyone know if he's okay? Does anyone have him on Skype or anything?

[Ryan Timothy B]

Just to stir the dust and create anticipation, I'm currently working on the level editor for mine. Trying to decide what kind of gameplay I'm shooting for. I've ALWAYS had a strong passion for Diddy Kong Racing. It's probably the best karting game. But that's a lot of work.

I think I'll shoot for a direct copy of Mario Kart for now - maybe later versions of Diddy Kong? I still don't have a 100% test on rendering the whole map.

[selmiak]

I'll just leave this here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybb0Yjrebmk

[Ryan Timothy B]

Thanks for posting that. It's actually quite embarrassing the glitches the players can exploit.

I ended up watching a regular speed run of SNES MK and it's terrible. Laps are super short. Sound effects are really bad. I don't quite understand how the steering all works out. I'm really just going to design my own system that feels right to me (unless people don't like it).

[SinSin]

Go with what you feel, as long as its tweakable it shouldn't matter!

[Ryan Timothy B]

Man. My post saying it would only take maybe a week was a month ago! There goes that estimation.

Turns out making a level editor (with my obsessively terrible OCD) is a little more taxing than I had expected. I'd love to say soon that you can all see a preview, but even now it's still not drawing the map completely. I've asked Steve McCrea for some programming assistance, but haven't had the chance to implement it just yet as the editor is taking the majority of time. Maybe I should've just made the maps in notepad. Ha!

[Calin Leafshade]

If you post what you have then maybe we can assist you in a collaborative way.

No need to shoulder the entire burden yourself.

[Ryan Timothy B]

The only reason this AGS Kart idea intrigued me was for the programming/math challenge. If I start outsourcing my burdens, there goes all my fun.

For the physics of Karts bouncing into each other or walls, I'm at a complete loss to figure that out (a single Kart bouncing into walls, easy! But not with more than one Kart and each being able to bounce into each other. Imagine a Kart pile up against a wall - GLITCH TIME!). It's something I do want to figure out though as a challenge to myself. I never did make Road Racer 2 because of this reason alone, so I might just study, read, and work my way through this.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Khris, where in the world did you get your sprite sheet? I'm trying to add some new features and would like to just temporarily use the Mario Kart sprites and I can't for the life of me find one with all the dirt/dust/smoke effects and such, plus any other cool sprite.

[Khris]

Believe it or not, I fired up zsnes and took lots of screenshots

[selmiak]

*believes nothing*
*nods knowingly*

[dactylopus]

Try this:

Spriter's Resource

I've been doing a lot of sprite art research there, and they have a lot of material.

[Dervish]

Is this still moving along or has it fallen apart?