Re: [TuxKart-devel] The story

[Steve B. <sjb...@ai...>]

Willian Padovani Germano wrote:

> > 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:

Ah - OK.
 
> 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:

Yep - all of that should be do-able.

I currently have 5 'good things' (triggered by eating a Red Herring)
and two 'bad things' (triggered by eating a Green Herring by mistake).

Good things are collectables - just like MarioKart - you pick them
up by driving through the Red Herring (or "?" cubes in MK) and
activate them by pushing the 'C' button on the joystick.

Bad things happen immediately - and last for a few seconds before
'going away' by themselves.

Good Things:

  * Missiles - unguided but fast.  If they hit anything, they
    explode impressively.  The effect on a Kart is to stop it
    dead - so you have to accellerate again.  Not as bad for
    the victim as the shells in MK64.

  * Homing missiles - slower than the regular kind - but they
    track the nearest kart and are quite hard to shake off.

  * Fuzzy blobs - even slower still - a kart can outrun them
    quite easily.  They ricochet around like the shells in
    MK64 and only explode when they hit a Kart.

  * Magnets - if you activate a magnet then it hangs around for
    about 15 seconds. If anyone comes within about 20 meters,
    you'll be pulled towards them and end up glued to their
    tail until the magnet 'expires'.  Great for catching up
    with someone - hopeless for passing them.

  * Portable Zippers - these are just like the zippers on the
    track itself - they give you a sudden accelleration and
    temporarily increase the top speed of your kart.

Bad Things:

  * Parachute - this pops out the back of your kart and slows
    you down a little for a few seconds only.  Enough to drop
    you back one place if it's a close race though.

  * Anvil - gets dragged behind your kart on a rope for an
    even shorter amount of time than the parachute...but the
    drag effect is much stronger - your kart hardly moves at all.


To start with I'm going to put the kart's handling characteristics
on sliders in the startup screen - so you can play with the kart
without restrictions.  Once we are happy with the range of values
that work, we can relegate the sliders to a hidden 'easter egg' mode
activated with a password or something.

(Hmmm - we need to think about Easter Eggs - I *like* those).
 
> 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.

Yep - MarioKart was sadly lacking in those things...come to think of it,
so are all the other Kart games I can think of.

> 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.

Yes!
 
> > 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 :).

Yep - it has to be that easy so that my kid can do it!

We have two PC's setup next to each other - you can tweak the model in
AC3D on one of them - hit the 'SAVE' key and start up TuxKart immediately
on the other machine.  As you playtest, you can go back and tweak the
model on the first computer.

Development time is *short*...immediate gratification!

> > 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.

Do you have CVS on your machine?

It would be good if you could use CVS for updates between major versions.
 
> > 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.

Good!  I'll go and get you developer access rights on the TuxKart
site - we can add access to the TuxAQFH site when you get a yen to
hack on that game too.

-- 
Steve Baker   HomeEmail: <sjb...@ai...>
              WorkEmail: <sj...@li...>
              HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
              Projects : http://plib.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxaqfh.sourceforge.net
                         http://tuxkart.sourceforge.net
                         http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net