Re: [TuxKart-devel] Thoughts on Kart Models.

[Ingo R. <gr...@gm...>]

Steve Baker <sjb...@ai...> writes:

> Character identifiability is CRUCIAL to these kinds of games.

Yep, and therefore its important that the character has some kind of
personallity to identify them. MrLaptop and MrBSOD didn't had any kind
of personality, they looked just like poor tries to do a bit Microsoft
bashing, thats why we dumped them in SuperTux, there was just no way
one could relate to them.

> If we invent a new character then nobody will know who the heck it
> is, whether it's a good guy or a bad guy, whether it's a stumbling
> idiot or a cunning tactician.

Doesn't really matter in a Kart game if you know the characters or
not, the 'cuteness' is quite a bit more important.

> Now - if every OpenSourced game of the 'cute' genre goes off and
> invents a new set of characters - we'll never build that set of
> characters that people can identify.

Well, maybe not, but I would prefer a wide range of different
characters in different games anytime about seeing BSOD driving or
walking around on my screen.

> Did you notice that Mario originally had a blue hat and red shirt
> rather than the red hat and blue shirt he always wears now? Do you
> think that was a mistake or a carefully thought out design decision?
> Read on...

Design decisions on early-Mario were in large part done for technical
reasons (limited number of colors, low resolutions and such).

> BSOD was my idea - Gown came from that other game who's name I've
> forgotten,

'xtux' I think.

> It is extremely difficult to get 'name recognition' for your
> characters, once you've got it, don't throw it away or screw it up.

Name recognition requires that one has a recognizable name in the
first place, thats why we dumped 'Gown'. There wasn't anybody that
liked that name and in a lot of languages it was simply
unpronounceable, thus not much recognizable.

> It's MUCH better to pick a set that most players will recognise than it
> is to invent a whole new set that nobody knows.

Only if the set itself is any good.

> I'm frankly horrified that you guys changed that in SuperTux...it was a
> really bad tactical mistake IMHO

Most of the players think different.

> - and I can only guess that you didn't think it through.

Well, there wasn't that much to think through, most characters sucked,
some names sucked, so we fixed that, plain and simple. Beside that I
simply doubt that the current character set has any much name
recognition yet, sure some geeks now them, but thats it. Neither
SuperTux, TuxAQFH or Tuxkart where at a stage where I would call them
playable back then.

> Certainly I'd like to see the BSD Daemon ('Beastie'), Mozilla, and
> Wilbur (The GIMP) added to our set. Wilbur is difficult because he
> doesn't have a body - which is the reason he's not in TuxKart right
> now.

I kind of have a strong dislike for just having driving
software-logos, neither of them really has anykind of personality,
beside that I don't think they mix all that well.

> See my previous argument for why this is stupid. You guys were
> undoing an awful lot of very carefully thought out work done by a
> lot more people than (probably) participated in your vote.

Well, it wasn't really a vote, it was more that all people agreed on a
name chance and nobody was oposed to 'Penny'.

> We RESEARCHED Gown.

It didn't seem to have worked much good, since the unpronounceability
of the name in many non-english languages didn't seem to have taking
into account.

> We carefully made her the same basic size and shape as Tux so that
> in games where it matters, the game designer can have them fit
> through the same sized doors and have them not look stupid when they
> can jump the same height and run at the same speed...maybe share the
> same 'bones' to cut down on the animation workload.

Which would have been ok for a 'brother' character, but for a female
character reusing almost the same body just doesn't work very well.

> Gown *IS* called Gown - and hundreds of thousands of Linux gamers
> know that. You can no more vote to change that than you could have
> Nintendo change Mario's name to Bob.

We didn't just changed the name, we basically started to create a new
character. Current SuperTux doesn't even contain a picture how her, so
the design is pretty much open for discussion.

> or introduct the possibility that Tux is two-timing his faithful
> companion of all these years. That in turn damages Tux's character -

Not really, Mario has Princess Daisy and Princess Peace (in some
countries called Toadstool) and nobody really seems to care.

> which erodes the plot line

Havn't yet seen a Tux game with something that is worth calling a
'plot-line'.

> Please understand - Game design is a SCIENCE - these decisions are
> things you arrive at after careful thought - not just on a whim when
> you say "lets have a poll about this".

Game Design should be art, not science, if we continue the route of
Microsoft bashing and walking logos we are doomed to fail.

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