Re: [TuxKart-devel] GOTM release?

[Matze B. <ma...@br...>]

On Wed, 25 Aug 2004, James Gregory wrote:

> Well, it's a little less than a week until the originally proposed
> release date for GOTM.
> 
> I assume we're extending the target date? Even so, it might be nice if
> we had a definite list of what we will and won't be doing and who will
> be doing it, and sticking to our list as much as possible so we don't
> end up with new half-finished features/multiple people working on fixing
> the same small problems, otherwise this is going to go on for ever.
To me it seems like we need at least 1 more likely 2 extra months... I 
must admit that I didn't really get into the code yet so that I could 
fully concentrate on a single thing and make it perfect...

> 
> Also, if Steve is still refusing to use the Tuxkart Sourceforge account
> to host a download (Steve?) has anyone got any ideas about where else it
> might be hosted?
> 
> A list of what I can see really needs fixing before a release (much of
> this is already in the wiki):
> 
> - AI!!! Still noone has touched this...
> - Grand Prix mode and saving best race times, grumbel seems to be on the
> case with this
> - FPS issues. Grumbel said he hacked a patch for VBO support into
> TuxKart, are you going to commit it grumbel or is it too buggy? Also,
> maybe we could reduce the default number of karts in a race to perhaps
> 6? Even with double the FPS the game will still struggle on slower
> computers as it now stands.
I think we need more research in this area. At the moment it seems we're 
not using any culling at all, which results in the whole track getting 
always fed to the 3d hardware.
VBO might be an option (if plib isn't getting ready for it soon enough, 
then we could implement a custom VBOVtxTable or something in tuxkart). 
However you should keep in mind that VBO is only available on 
geforce2-class hardware, would this be our target audience?

> - sometimes the kart models flick right round, grumbel said this was
> just a rounding error and he could fix this in a few minutes though?
> - The tire tracks are sometimes blue? Plus on some tracks they just look
> messy (I'm thinking Star Track/Gown's Bow in particular here), maybe it
> could be a track-defined option as to whether they get used?
> - Tire tracks appear even if a kart is currently airborne
> - Though you can't see that you are leaving them, if you reverse you can
> see that tire tracks are left even when you are on a straight
> - Input configuration should be finished. I started but people were
> telling me I was doing it wrong so I left it. Should I finish off the
> job or is someone else going to do it the way they want it done?
> - Why do karts start off in the air before a race begins? Is it some
> hack to avoid having to work out exactly what height karts have to be
> placed at? Even if it is, it looked silly to begin with, and with the
> new start sequence it looks even sillier
> - The smoke coming out of karts is, apart from anything else, too big,
> it makes the karts look really messy and polluting, when they're
> supposed to look cute and cartoony
> - The text in some of the menu screens is too small but fixing this is a
> 5 minute job
> - maybe all the Race GUI stuff could be converted to use the widget set
> and SDL_ttf, or is this not worth it?
> - The new tracks don't have track data
> - the old TuxKart had a bug whereby it often couldn't keep track of laps
> correctly, I guess it's probably still there
> - depite what "pole" has written in the wiki, keyboard input still isn't
> inter-polated
> - I can see through the head of the new Penny model
> - Game probably still memory leaks a shed load when you quit a race

-transparent parts in the subsea track are not z-sorted. So sometimes you 
 don't see the stuff behind the transparent parts...
-Kart smoke looks very ugly. We should either improve or remove it, 
 currently it doesn't look good...
-We should make the tracks a bit more attractive by adding more 
 background stuff. It would also be a good idea, to add a possibility for 
 skydomes (ie. 6 images projected on an infinitely far-away cube), that 
 typically improves the look alot.
-physics is totally pointless at the moment: no sliding, breaking or only 
 drawing skidmarks when the kart is really skidding. Also the collision 
 feedback didn't improve (velocity is simply set to 0 which feeld odd).
-in-game gui is still not nice
-specials disappeared

all in all we totally lack a funny gameplay at the moment, our first goal 
should be to get the game into a state where it is fun to play. So I think 
our first goals should be to improve the physics and bringing back AI, 
special and the different game modes.
The rest should come by itself then I think...

Greetings,
	Matze