Re: [TuxKart-devel] The story

[Willian P. G. <wge...@za...>]

Hi Steve,

> OK - I have to say that I am not a great believer in plots.  On existing
> games they are universally (a) lame and (b) irrelevent.  I can tell you
> that *none* of the kids who I meet who play video games every even look
> at the story.

(a) lame: I agree totally. But they are only irrelevant in games where they
are actually very strongly set, well-rounded, like sports, doom, etc. In
these games your experience of how you'd feel in that situation creates a
background plot. In sports there's up and down, victory and shame, etc. It
drives the game. In doom you are in a bad place and gotta get out fast. They
are ugly and shoot at you. You get guns. Simple. This is not "flat", it
actually uses our own fears and instincts. Clever doom...

Of course puzzles like tetris need no plot at all.

> HOWEVER - I recognise that games designers and developers seem to set
> great store by them...god knows why...but they do. So I guess we have
> to have one too.

The plot models the overall feel and look of a game. Given a good one,
design decisions, art, etc. come up naturally. Besides that, if you like
Star Wars, think about the games made about it. Most are not very good, but
it's Star Wars, there's a whole captivating story behind it, so the games
gain a lot just from being Star Wars. A good story gives the player
motivation. Kids may be motivated by other things, but if you think about
it, there's a story behind:

1) the videogame itself is magical to a kid, the fact that they are playing
with it already sets the mood;
2) there's the challenge part, they want to say they 'finished' that game;
3) usually they know other kids and there's a whole universe around
videogames among them: competition, sharing, vanity, brotherhood, famous
games every gamer must play, etc. This is the motivation behind multiplayer
internet games also, of course.
4) children are much more open to fantasy. If a game has warriors, dragons,
etc., the young player becomes part of that story as he/she (though games
that appeal to most girls is another field, little explored) plays along.
You think they didn't need the plot, but actually they are immersed in their
own plot. That is strong.

> > That's where I'd grab a plot (we could call it a meta-plot): on the fact
> > that every mascot must have his kart game, no matter what. A humorous
twist:
>
> Teehee!  :-)
>
> I *like* that.

Great :).
> > where he is safe and well, warm, and throw him in a kart game.
>                              ^^^^
>                              No! "cool". He *likes* it cold
>                              he lives at the south pole.

Sorry, I used "warm" meaning what a penguin would consider warm (meaning
comfortable), that's why I used "well, warm". So yes, I meant cold, too.

> Hmmm - I'm actually a little reluctant to drag real people into
it...however
> subtly it's done.  I have visions of how this got out of hand in the XTux

I agree with you, actually I don't hate Bill Gates, though I do think that
he could have been really important if he had been generous and smart at the
right time. But what do I know about corporations ? Maybe that would not
even be possible, life is complicate, that's why I try to live mine
according to my principles and rather not criticize others. I mean a spoiled
brat like that rich boy from Tiny Toons, ressembling Gates just slightly,
for fun -- but you are right, maybe even that should be avoided.

> AT ALL!  I'd prefer that we just don't go there.

Ok, agreed :).

> Couldn't we do the awful Windoze dancing paperclip instead?

> I *don't* want the Windoze logo directly used either (lawyers...) - I
think
> BSOD is sufficiently subtle to not be a problem - and a paper clip is just
> that - a paperclip - so no copyrights are infringed there either.

I agree again, we don't have the right to use copyright material and there's
no need for it.

> I'd *really* like to do a parody of the 'fluttering sheet of paper'
animation
> that windoze does when copying files...the sheets flutter across the
screen -

> Finally Tux comes on-screen and quietly places a copy of Samba
> onto the floor - all the mess immediately vaporises and papers once
> again flutter neatly across the screen so it can all happen again.
>
> ...sorry - that was just a vision that popped into my head - I have no
idea
> if it fits in anywhere.  :-)

That's surely a funny animation. But for this game... maybe we could make
powerup attacks out of this.

> ...but hey - you are the artist!  Let's do some sketches.

Yes, I'll do some on paper :).

> > Another point: with Tux unwilling to play, not knowing how, we can have
a
> > first part of the game where all of the characters drive terribly (car
> > "dies" now and then, turns end up on the walls, jumps end badly, motor
> > doesn't start, car runs in "spurts" (my knowledge of English doesn't
help
> > sometimes...). This all independent of the talent of the player, till he
> > practices enough (like raising an rpg character) that Tux or the others
> > actually become good racers. Of course this phase shouldn't take too
long,
> > and should be restricted to a story mode.
>
> Hmmm - the code for doing all this may well be twice as complex as the
> whole of the rest of the game!  (Which is not to say that we shouldn't
> do it...but keep in mind that every line of sophistication we put into
> the intro sequence is a line of code that doesn't improve playability,
> etc during the actual game itself.)

No, I mean actual gameplay in the story mode, not cut scenes. I have to
touch powerups and the kart physics to explain this better:

We can have powerups that when cast on other players will, f. ex. mess with
the directions on their joysticks, cut their acceleration or max speed to
3/4 or 1/2 of it, mess with the brakes, make the car very heavy, etc. This
kind of atack *is* a bother when done well, with good sounds, etc. But
powerups are not being discussed yet (they gotta be well thought out, maybe
even allowing people to create their own under certain classes). Anyway, if
we have something like that, we have ways, probably variables on the
formulas, that may affect speed, weight, etc. without the direct action of
the player, like in MK 64. So it's easy to start the game (the actual game
itself) with characters that don't drive well:

a) They don't react well to joystick commands (turn less or more than
expected, accel too much (done via a boost followed by a sudden brake),
etc.). As the player progresses, for example by training especific tasks,
they get more responsive. The randomness in lack of response goes to zero.
b) The car "dies" now and then, doesn't run smoothly -- typical for newbie
drivers. Done via unnexpected (not controlled by the player) accel/brake.

This is just a trick to increase playability time, simpathy for the
characters, sense of hard work getting results, etc. Done well, the code is
trivial (I suppose, well possibilities can be cut down to what is trivial)
and the game gets better.

> Perhaps adapt some of the classic childrens games.  I wrote (and later
> discarded) a flying game with broomsticks and wizards (we were reading
> the "Harry Potter" books at the time.  Anyway, one fun thing to do with
> that (in multiplayer mode) was to do "Hide and go seek" - where one player
> drives off into the scenery and hides while the other one catches them.
>
> Also games like Tag and Flashlight Tag.

Find the hidden *whatever* that suddenly appears on the track, follow the
leader as close as possible but DON'T touch his/her car, run away, etc. etc.
Yes, children's games make some nice additions to increase gameplay.

> My games allow free movement anywhere in the scenery - collision detection
> happens on the full geometry - so you can go anywhere and "the right
thing"
> will happen.

Great, that's a playfield :).

> You can build literally anything in the modeller and load it as a track

Man, this "anything and load it as a track" got me suddenly smiling :).

> If I have time after that then I'll make a tarball for TuxKart and
> put it up on sourceforge - I'll email you instructions on how to
> grab it and install...but maybe not until tomorrow if this PLIB
> thing gives me any problems.

Don't worry with the time, I'll never push you. Besides that, I have plenty
of things to keep me busy here, as you know... Ah, today I played many hours
with Blender 1.80a. I can already model and transform simple things, apply
textures like bump maps, wood, metal, put lights and move the camera,
animate, etc. I'm trying always to reduce as possible the number of
polygons, of course.

> BTW: Do you have an account on Sourceforge?   If not, go to their

I got one before I subscribed to this list today, name: Willian.

--
Willian, wge...@za...