(SSGX Origins) Let's make a Wipeout game! This time for real!

[docfo4r]

Yeah, that's a good idea Oryx!

BTW: Your track looks good so far. I'm sure it will be interesting to drive through it but of course there is lots of work left to do. Good luck with texturing, keep it up!

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

@doc and F.e.i. why not collaborate? I know I don't feel like writing an entire story myself, maybe 2 heads is better than one?

We'll do just that then
Though I wonder how we will collaborate...I use Hotmail and Gmail,but not Skype...

[Xpand]

Then get skype. It doesn't cost you anything. I already told people who are working in this project to add my contact, and I only have like 3 contacts...
ricardo.xpand it's not hard and it eases communication a lot. We don't have to use the forums as a chat board...

[docfo4r]

Yep, I totally prefer Skype aswell!

Also I have to announce that I am in school from Sunday till next Friday and then on holidays until July 18th. Can't use internet in that time so I won't post here for a time. Telling you about it to make sure you guys won't think that I don't care anymore or so
See you later!

[Oryx Crake]

people should add me to I'm obviously not as knowledgeable as xpand or zero on everything but anything I can help with I will My skype contact is: Frumpman1 or Theodor Andrén

[TypeProton]

last but not least:
-snip-

w00t!

Alright, I got some new track ideas :

Hu Bian Circuit (Hu Bian means lakeside in chinese. According to Google Translate.), LotusLake (If you want a shorter, more wipeout-ish name.)
General feel (Outside image, I do not own them.) : [link][link][link]
This one came from my time in China, but I forget about them until now.

China, being resourceful as ever, decide to create a new anti-gravity racing circuit. Based on ancient Chinese garden house style, Hu Bian Circuit features a long straightforward trip letting you admire lush garden and great Chinese architecture. While the track itself doesn't have many corners, they are packed with minor 45/90 degrees turn during narrow high-speed section under the shades of lakeside buildings with some sharp turns thrown in at both ends of the track. At one point you'll have to make a decision to choose a split-pathways. Faster or more loaded up. While another exciting section is a bumpy run through the garden where pilots will have to tackle a chicane at high speed.

tl;dr : A long-beautiful Chinese track. One part narrow indoor high-speed. One part bumpy semi-outdoor through the garden. One huge lake in the middle. Intermediate difficulty.

Highride (Someone think of better name for me please?)
General feel : Nighttime race on Tokyo highway.

A combined effort of Japanese government and construction firm. The space is limited enough in Tokyo. So they developed a modular highway which can be adjusted as needed. Turning your usual commute into a fully capable Anti-grav racetrack under a week. Designed under concept "Spectacular", it's layout is simple: Straight track with few corners, divined lane and high jumps. What make this track spectacular is the abundance of weapon pads. It's also have long chain of speedpads available through the entire track, if you're good enough to hold it. Racing under the lights of the city, the feel of highway battle is deliberately invoked here. Easy difficulty.

tl:dr : Wide high-speed nighttime highway track. Great for combat or duel events.
- - - - -
I'm going to draw a concept art for it later! Tell me what you think.

[dreadofmondays]

I've been making a track as well. I recently finished the 'landscape' and I need to texture next and start adding structures.
The general theme of my track is a twisty cutting on the side and basin of a valley. It has a huge sweeping turn at the end, and a twisty chicane across the cutting, as well as a three-way crossing and a high line through a small town. I'll probably figure out some lore to go with it after the track has been done.

[Mikahail]

You could use the name "Shutoko" (or modify it) for your Tokyo track. It's the name of the Tokyo Highway and this highway could be the base of your modular highway.

[F.E.I.S.A.R]

IIRC,Metropia is in Kyoto. And I thought this game is pre FX-300,putting it before 2197? If so,then Metropia would not be there(yet). Construction of such circuits began/begin circa 2202.

For tracks:How many tracks do/did we plan to have? I'm now thinking of a Singapore-Malaysia/Malaysia-Indonesia Supercircuit for the Mach One speed class and wonder if it will work. I'm also thinking of a tracks in both Singapore(the Central Business District) and Kuala Lumpur(Malaysia's capital city). Plan on calling them Singa(Singapore's Courtesy (Campaign) Lion) and Harimau respectively(The Lion and Tiger.How much historical links do both countries have?).

@Type:Yeah. Hubian is Lakeside,quite a good name. Wonder why you would want Lotus Lake,though. May I throw in Tao Hu(Peach Lake) Circuit as a suggestion?(I'm of Chinese descent,and Chinese is my mother tongue. First language is still English,though)

[TypeProton]

IIRC,Metropia is in Kyoto. And I thought this game is pre FX-300,putting it before 2197? If so,then Metropia would not be there(yet). Construction of such circuits began/begin circa 2202.

Woops. Fixed.

@Type:Yeah. Hubian is Lakeside,quite a good name. Wonder why you would want Lotus Lake,though. May I throw in Tao Hu(Peach Lake) Circuit as a suggestion?(I'm of Chinese descent,and Chinese is my mother tongue. First language is still English,though)

Maybe because all those weird Wipeout track names. But that just me, feel free to make it better.

[Rotational_aspect]

Zero: penny for your thoughts?

How perfect are you aiming SSGX to be? I ask as I've come across a quite complex problem in my game (my ships vibrate when they brake) and I'm tempted to just ignore it since I am not a pro programmer, but its kind of irritating.....

.....so really, should I really be worried about these things? I always wonder if by obsessing over small details I will kill my enjoyment of making this. What do you think?

[zero3growlithe]

Well, I want it to be as good as I'm capable of doing As for your issue could you show me what is happening? Or say what are you using to stop ships, force in opposite direction or translate or direct velocity control? xd
I would have repaired this issue on your place cos then you'll probably have pangs of conscience when you'll progress further and somehing will happen that make you unable to repair this issue without great effort and it will make game less fun

[AG-SYSTEMS]

I have put myself on as a whenever-you-need-it graphic designer. I'm working on the menu now.

[Rotational_aspect]

Thanks Zero! For a while I actually changed the movement system to get round this.

The problem I had was to control drifting in turns, as my physics model uses forces rather than linear velocity. As the ships go into a turn, an opposite force is applied in the x axis to stop the ship drifting out of control. The trouble was, the counter force is large (mass * speed) and the drifting threshold in the x axis small (between 1 and 10). So when the force was applied, the ship would respond but would visibly shake (if the threshold is =< 3) or jitter (threshold > 3). Since the speeds are quite high the stopping force is proportionally high too.

I then created a 'fork' in my game by replacing force based movement with linear velocity (just like WOHD, ironically). This eliminated the problem completely since linear forces act on an individual axis (so you can disable x y or z axis movement by not simulating that axis). This approach was much cleaner movement wise, but meant I lost the ships mass values (as the speed was set directly), so when a ship dumps its weapon, it no longer gained speed. I could simulate this with maths (like I had done years ago!) but it added complexity that I just did not want when the force based version did this for free.

I even contemplated having a 'driving' object that jitters (but is invisible) and parent a visible ship mesh to this (but with an animation offset to 'cushion' the vibration)- again I rigged up simple demos and this approach was plausible too.

After many swear words I realised the solution was incredibly simple. In Blender there are several modes of movement- in the logic block motion is an advanced movement system (servo motion).

....''At the heart of the servo motion actuator there is a PID servo controller: it measures the speed error (= the difference between the target speed and the actual speed) and updates the force based on the error by applying a force that is proportional to the error (the 'P' coefficient) and proportional to the integral of the error (the 'I' coefficient). The higher the coefficients, the "harder" the speed control (= quick reaction); the lower the coefficients, the "softer" the speed control (=slow reaction, sliding effect). Additionally you can limit the force along each axis so that the accelaration (or braking) force is limited''....

I used this in the x axis (so the target speed was 0 (i.e. the ship not braking in the x axis at all), maximum braking was 1500 units (i.e. the ship drifting in the + x axis) and -1500 in the -x axis). I then made a simple velocity check (if the x axis speed > n) and when true activated the servo actuator. This works really well and is butter smooth, with no shaking at all with only two lines of code.....result!

In a way I am glad this problem cropped up....its forced me to think creatively and I've learned a great deal, not to mention teaching me to not overlook the logic blocks in Blender.

[AG-SYSTEMS]

Test Menu.

menu.jpg

Comments?

Note: I went with worst case scenario for resolution.

Edit-Xpand informs me we already have a pretty cool menu. So this idea is spare stuff.

[Oryx Crake]

@AG have a look at the different HUDs we have and try to make menus to fit them, I suggest, that means making at least 3 different menus but it makes the whole thing fit as it were which would be awesome. (your current one fits fairly well with Zero's HUD though which is nice)

[wildmorgan]

I wish this topic had been around about 4 years ago, I designed an awesome Wipeout-esque track set on a black sand volcanic island. It was a abit like Arridos from the first game, made from blasted sandstone but the sandstone was black.

Anyway, good luck with this guys, love all your ideas, really interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

[Xpand]

Overused pads anyone?
Attachment 6399
Attachment 6398

[TypeProton]

@Xpand : Awww yeah.
We may need to put colored lights into it though, according to [this]

Working of Hubian's concept art will commence tomorrow if nothing goes wrong. As for the highway track I think I didn't quite got it nailed down yet.

[Xpand]

The cross light bars are colored. They have a reddish glow on this one, but I can make the colors more noticeable. But technically no one notices the color of the pads when they race. I just go over them and what comes up is used or absorbed. Actually HD's weapon pads are always red.
Also, anyone who has nothing to do, they can start designing visible weapon objects: Bombs, Mines, rockets.