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

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

No need to apologize. Everyone makes mistakes, nobody is perfect.

[docfo4r]

:+

Do we have a ship and a track model as .3ds file? If someone could give me a ship model and a track model, I could try to create those pickup-explaining animations with Vue. Doesn't have to be the final model. In fact, some untextured stuff is even better since I want to use the grid of it to make it look like some computer simulation.

[Xpand]

I'll take care of that. You need a ship, track and pickup pads, right? You're using that to demonstrate the weapons/item pickups, right?

[docfo4r]

Oh, yes the pickup pads! Yeah these 3 things.

I want to create little animations for each pickup with some electronic voice explaining it. Also add the impact sounds, pickup symbol etc. later on when we got them finalized.

[Xpand]

But isn't just a bit of the track enough? A straight section?

[docfo4r]

Oh, yeah of course. I didn't know how much work it is to extract a little section of the track. A straight one, yeah.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

It kinda sucks how much work has to be put into modelling and texturing a track, and of course getting the collision working. Now a simplified Track Creation system would be great, using a small set of tools to create a fully function track quickly and easily. Maybe Zero can get that figured out, that way we can all be making tracks like crazy. Imagine if you could make custom tracks for WipEout HD and WipEout 2048. I would love that.

--- Slightly Off Topic ---

I remember when the PTI Editor for Portal 2 came out, I made maps every other day.

[docfo4r]

For the developer team, sure would be nice and maybe "fastens" up the work... But I am not sure to give away such a powerful tool. Imagine you could do that in Wipeout: Like you said, lots of new tracks pop up every day. It'll become something like Trackmania, the original tracks as well as the custom tracks are not so special anymore, because you can make a track on your own. Get what I mean? ;)
I'd like to have our own tracks only in SSGX and if really lots of people play it in the future, we could later release an expansion pack like Fury in Wipeout.

[Xpand]

To make a track creator you can't use Unity. It would have to be completely made in a C-compiler: graphics engine, editing algorythms, import/export codes, etc. It was basically like making a 3D CAD software from scratch. It's not worth the labour, I suppose...

Here's the model for docfo4r:
6522

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I am not saying we have to make one, but I guess in the off chance we did, we would probably have to put some kind of limit on it.

For example;
In the PTI Editor in Portal 2, there are a lot of things that you can't do that you could easily do with Hammer (the much more complex, much more powerful editor that Valve uses for all Source Games).

And of course, you shouldn't make it until after the game has been out for at least few months.

EDIT: Sorry with all of the Portal 2 examples, but again, they are just examples.

[docfo4r]

I get your idea behind it. But still I think we should keep our hard work original. We spent months, maybe years already working on the tracks and stuff so I just can't imagine that when we release the game suddenly half-assed tracks pop up from everywhere.

Also you have to remember, creating the track itself is just half the truth. To fully implement it into the game, it needs logo, background story, you have to place speed & weapon pads, you have to place it in a way where they will be automatically removed in speed lap, zone mode etc. And speaking of zone mode: get's even more complicated if we create visual effects for our tracks. I am just afraid the tracks created by people outside of this project [who are not aware of our "basics"] aren't able to create tracks which fully go into SSGX or have to origins of our idea.

And like Xpand said, we'd spend hours of hard work to create a editor & half of the stuff people would create might be crap anyway xD


@Xpand: Thanks man, gonna check it out right away!

EDIT: When importing to Vue, it says the file "CERN_BAS.PSD" & "PADS.PSD" is missing... Track section itself could be imported and is perfect!

[Xpand]

Those are the textures that you said they wouldn't be needed.... It should import anyways.

[docfo4r]

Yep it did. Everything is black as for now, didn't even see the ship at first :)
Need to re-texture that stuff with unicolor grids etc.
Ship + Track section is perfect, thank you!

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I was watching the last episode of Startrek Voyager a few days ago, and it made me come up with an awesome idea.

What if we replaced the 'Shield' item with a 'Deployable Armor' item? Gameplay-wise, it would be exactly the same, but asthetically it would be complete different. Instead of an impenetrable bubble of energy around your craft, it is a very tough, very shiny layer of hexagonal armor plates that detach after an elapsed period of time (leaving behind a pretty (and harmless) shrapnel effect after it 'expires')

This is the Amature League, and I am pretty sure that Energy Shields would be WAY out of their budget.
Besides, who would resist the temptation of flying around looking like you were made of chrome?

[Xpand]

It is the amateur league, but carrying around a countless number of armoured plates in a ship is impractical even in professional leagues (weight, storage room, fuel efficiency, shrapnel, etc)... Besides, shield energy bubbles exist since 2097. I'm guessing technology in the Wipeout universe also follows Moore's law, so they would be pretty cheap after almost 100 years...

[BrunoDG]

And what if this "Deployable Armor" was a new type of, not a shield, but a "Reflector" from Wip3out?
Remember this one? It worked like a shield, but instead of only protecting the ship, it blew the weapon back to the opponent.
Maybe this could be a cheaper version of the Reflector, only lasting for 1 weapon reflection, since it's the Amateur League and their budget is not THAT high.

[docfo4r]

Got the basic scene for weapon animation set up and rendered a small picture out of it. You can see the weapon pad [which I colored red for now] as well as the victim ship [always black] and the user ship [always white].

6523

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

It is the amateur league, but carrying around a countless number of armoured plates in a ship is impractical even in professional leagues (weight, storage room, fuel efficiency, shrapnel, etc)... Besides, shield energy bubbles exist since 2097. I'm guessing technology in the Wipeout universe also follows Moore's law, so they would be pretty cheap after almost 100 years...

As for weight, it is possible that the Armor Plates were sipplied by Helios on behalf of Triakis, and thus the plates werre made out of Fullerenes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerenes) (for example, Graphene (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphene)). In addition, the plates would probably sassemble themselves at the molecular level or some other cool s*** like that.

If there were a WipEout 2025, that is probably what they would have used.

[Oryx Crake]

for standardized track pieces and such for modeling we could concievable build up a library of pieces that the modellers can use but we'd still have to do a lot of tweaking and such for each individual track though I'm not opposed to the idea. a fullblown track editor would be impractical though as we'd have to build everything from scratch and put in all conceivable models so we don't have to go back to blender or 3dsmax and make new bits everytime something is missing, also the envoirnments would become more background than they already are especially if we used standardized buildings.

[Xpand]

I agree with the idea of a part library to use in 3D CADs to make a track as a puzzle. That's fairily easy to make. Now a track editor that enables you to edit said parts in any form is everything but easy.
But there's of course the problem of importing the tracks into the game.... The game is closed-source up to now, meaning you can't edit the components after it is compiled... Zero would have to build a new version every time someone made a track... I know there is a way to make unity store the models and textures separately, I just don't know exactly how it works...

[Oryx Crake]

aye would likely take about as long as programming the game itself, at least if we started now... I really wouldn't mind having some standardized pieces for us to play around with. that could be very useful in fact.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

See? One idea will always lead to another.

[Xpand]

I can make some generic track parts like 20, 45, 90 degree turns, loops, semi-twisted sections (like that sinucit sideways waving section for example), straight sections, banked corners. Basically like those Scalextric track parts...

Actually, I'm going to dedicate my night to that... Tomorrow I should have a working kit with untextured track sections...

[docfo4r]

Yep :)

We just have to make sure that our future tracks won't suffer under copypaste stuff, like having the same corner sections used in three different tracks might make the game boring faster than we can imagine. But for playing around/testing stuff it's a good idea. Just like that little track sample Xpand offered.

EDIT: Whoa, Xpand typed faster^^

[Xpand]

Okay, here's what I have so far:
6530
List:
Rectilinear sections:
straight (100m)
wave straight (100m)
straight: into banked curve left/right 30 degrees (100m)
straight: twist left, right (100m)
straight: squeeze (100m)
Curved sections:
90 degree flat r=50m/r=100m
90 degree elevated r=50m/r=100m/height variation=15m
45 degree flat r=100;
90 degree bank r=50m

I'm using Cassandra's track texture just as calibration. I'll make a generic texture for you to edit at your own will...

[docfo4r]

Wow, you're fast!

Is there a little ship on one track section? ;)

[Xpand]

I used Helios as a calibration, since it's the largest ship I have. Do I need to make more sections? Give me examples.

Woooo!
A loopyloop!
6531
Let's hope that works in-game... But we have the mag-lock thing, so there shouldn't be a problem...

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

You should use both your largest ship and your smallest ship for calibration. Afterall, you can never have too much information.


That picture reminds me of my Hexbug Nano Habitat set that I got for christmas last year.

[docfo4r]

Maybe sections going up or down [curved ones maybe aswell].

[Xpand]

You should use both your largest ship and your smallest ship for calibration. Afterall, you can never have too much information.


That picture reminds me of my Hexbug Nano Habitat set that I got for christmas last year.

The smaller won't help me, I just want to know the minimal width of the track for an acceptable gameplay, giving the results obtained with the skinny track in Cassandra.

I think this is good to go for now, what do you think?
6532

[docfo4r]

Maybe the only thing missing would be transition parts from straight to the up- or downpointing piece.

[Xpand]

Nope, those have none. They are supposed to be assembled without rotating. There are soft up and soft down parts in the middle there, though...
How do you prefer this? All in one file or separate files for each part?

[docfo4r]

Oh okay. Just thought about it, in case you want to go further up than one level. But if it can be assambled to the straight part right away, it's fine,

[Xpand]

Welp, finished the blank texture. It's very comprehensive. It shows where the walls and ground are in the texture sheet and all the important stuff needed...
How do you prefer this? All in one file or separate files for each part?

[docfo4r]

I'd say make an all-in-one file so everybody can import all the stuff easily and can copy+drag/drop the next section needed for the track.

[Xpand]

Okay, here it is:
http://www.mediafire.com/?qpi2e8ci5c10957
Format:
OBJ
3DS
FBX

Put it on G.Doc too, for future reference.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Thanks. Hopefully, we should get a few tracks ready by the end of the month.

[docfo4r]

That would be today xD

Still I hope that maybe only one track built by these presets goes into the game. Nothing against your set, Xpand, but having several tracks with the same shape of corners & straights everywhere would just kill the originality of the game. Makes it feel like a poor TrackMania version or G-Surfers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJEeyR48oSI) [had the most awesome track editor ever, but guess why it's not famous ;) ].

Anyway, like I said, it's all cool for testing purposes.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Correction: End of the Next Month.

P.S.: How do you like my new Avatar? I decided to try something different for a while.

[docfo4r]

Looks good, Amaroq!

Some updates on our website (http://www.slipstreamgx.com/)! Kept it pretty basic as for now since I like the website to be informative instead of an overload of flash animations etc. I think we can change it into something eye-catching when we complete the game.
As you can see, I still need some more track logos [everything except Cassandra, Basin Park & Basin Park Hill]. Also I can create the Teams-site when someone can send me sideviews of every ship [like the one for Solaris on the HP]. Further on I created it for HD screens as I assume most of the people today have those. For other people, there might appear a nasty scrollbar on the right side. I searched through the web but could not find anything that makes the website fit to the current window size [don't know if we need that anyway, it's just a website after all :P ]

Anyway, if someone has some ready-to-use code for the website, feel free to get in touch with me.

Will be working on those pickup animations for now...

[Xpand]

Here are a few team-sheets you can use for now:

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

@docfo4r

I spotted a typo (two typos, actually)

work not startet
Correction: Work not Started

pashtun wheels
Correction: Pashtun Wheel (it only has one wheel)

@Xpand Looking good. Don't forget to include the Backstory and Attributes for each team (and a picture of any alternate skins).

[docfo4r]

@Xpand: Wow, awesome! Those are great. If you [or whoever did that] could create the same kind of sheets for the other teams and the future ones, it would be awesome!

@Amaroq: I'll include the backstory as text underneath that sheet for each team then. And I kept every grey and italic text in small captions [like "work in progress"] to see that this is actually an unimportant information for the viewer xD
Oh and according to Zero, the owner, it's Pashtun Wheels (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?7584-Let-s-make-a-Wipeout-game!-This-time-for-real!&p=216090#post216090). But thanks for checking that, if you find any other typos tell me :)

EDIT: As you guys can see we're actually having 7 teams now [most of them finished, two still in development]. For how many teams are we going in SSGX? I think we should not have too many [or each team would not get so much attention] & a straight number, maybe 8 or 10. So we actually would only have to create one or 3 more teams. But these are just my 2 cents, don't know how you think about it.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I guess Ti-Khana is going to make the cut afterall...

[zero3growlithe]

My newest ship half way to being textured completely: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/7IdRAke-z9BpslGap3dZhdMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlin k (album (https://picasaweb.google.com/106083964399065727105/Artezix?authuser=0&feat=directlink))
btw. Those "bunnies" on arms are just temporary, some will be replaced with other logos so they will not repeat :P
@docfo4r: "Pashtun Wheels" can be changed to "... Wheel", no problem, as for owning, I was modeling it but design goes to someone else... just don't remember to who xd
Update: SideShifts works smoother so it is much easier to use them and steer with ship after using.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Since that is the first AG craft ever (not counting the ones belonging to the hundreds of ancient civilizations that have long since vanished), it would make sense if it were an early AG Systems prototype Circa 2032.


---
P.S.: I already decided to switch back to my old avatar, so any feedback shall be returned

[docfo4r]

BTW I realized we could have 9 teams, for example 8 regular ones and a secret team to be unlocked in campaign mode.

@Zero & Amaroq, ok ok ok will change Wheels to Wheel then xD
Oh and that ship looks awesome, zero. I anyway like that picture somehow, parking there with the AG-device turned off^^ Still it reminds me of Zepher, shape-wise.

@TypeProton I remember you created some team & track descriptions, right? I was clicking through the past 150 pages for 3 or 4 times already to collect informations for the G-Docs & website but forgot those descriptions & can't be bothered to travel back in time with left-mouse-clicks again for now^^ The only describtion I found so far was from Oryx: CLICK (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?7584-Let-s-make-a-Wipeout-game!-This-time-for-real!&p=215186#post215186). Question: Do you still have those describtions and could you re-post them or PM me? Would be highly helpful xD

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

<message deleted>

[docfo4r]

Dude xD Seriously.... Was talking about the website, not every of my post lol

But now when we are on that already. Does anybody know how to turn the auto-correction to english? Everything I type is marked as an error. Is this some forum setup or does that depend on my browser?
By the way: How's the work on that logos?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

<message deleted>

[docfo4r]

Do you have some kind of problem?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Sorry, I'm not in a good mood right now. I amnot upset with you, and I even tried to put a little bit of humor into my post.

I'm sorry.

[Xpand]

Content filtering is very important when posting. Please take that in consideration next time...

[docfo4r]

@Amaroq Alright, no problem :)
If you find typos or errors or whatnot on the website, you can always tell me ;) And when I post here in the forum I sometimes don't care about the grammar that much.


Back to topic: A few [well, actually a lot of] pages back I saw "Raptor 1" wanted to create a logo for DC and he said it's his track. So does the original idea come from him instead of dusk113? Is Raptor 1 still around?

[Xpand]

Dusk118 is Raptor 1. Dusk118 is his Skype name... I still talk to him, but his interest in the project is minimal due to events of personal nature.

[docfo4r]

Ah, alright. Thx for clearing that up. For the credits I'll use Raptor 1 then since I used the forum nicknames for the rest of us aswell.

[Oryx Crake]

when it comes to the ships I think Type's myron craft is probably one of the ones we'll use, other than that we've a ton of different teams to choose from you who've scourred through the thread doc should know better than anyone how many.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

WipEout HD had 12 teams, and so did WipEout Pulse (if you count the DLC). As for WipEout Pure and WipEout Fusion, I can't even begin to count it.

[Oryx Crake]

yeah but considering we only have 3 modellers and only really one with top notch skill 12 teams might be a bit much... of course I think we should give all propositions for teams a fair chancebut then there is also the possibility for dlc in the future so 8 or 9 teams to start with I think.

[wildmorgan]

@Amaroq
Are you correcting other peoples grammar again? This may be an open and shut case now and I don't have all the info since you deleted two of your messages (just going by the other comments), but I seem to remember you correcting someone from Singapore not so long back for saying "anticlockwise" instead of "counterclockwise", even though both are correct in the English speaking world.

I see you're from the US and as a Brit I will say this to you; America is the UK's brother country, but while you may look and sound a lot like us, there are big differences between American English and British English (British English being the first incarnation of the language and therefore, in my opinion, the most correct ;)). It's only natural that someone who does not speak English as a first language may use a hybrid of the two, which sometimes conflicts, but that's hardly their fault.

As for general spelling mistakes and typos..... Who cares? We all do it from time to tome.

[TypeProton]

@TypeProton I remember you created some team & track descriptions, right? I was clicking through the past 150 pages for 3 or 4 times already to collect informations for the G-Docs & website but forgot those descriptions & can't be bothered to travel back in time with left-mouse-clicks again for now^^ The only describtion I found so far was from Oryx: CLICK (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?7584-Let-s-make-a-Wipeout-game!-This-time-for-real!&p=215186#post215186). Question: Do you still have those describtions and could you re-post them or PM me? Would be highly helpful xD

PM'ed. :)
Should be able to set my minds for making more track concepts this upcoming 2-3 days.

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

I guess Ti-Khana is going to make the cut afterall...

Not if the Mach One/Airbraker ship/team does not make it.

Looked at the site. Quite nice. Looked at the teams and saw one named 'Logos'. Could not help but think of Logos from Gundam Seed Destiny.

What is the 'requests' section in the document for?

[docfo4r]

The request section is when someone who is working on something needs stuff he can't do on his own or we have some people who can do it better.

I for example need the track logos, but since TypeProton made some great logos some time ago and I want that style of his to remain, I requested logos for the other track.
Other example: If you want to create the backstory and say you need infos about Cassandra, you can surely your request here but also in the G-Docs. Maybe here there are so many posts coming afterwards that your request remains unseen but everybody can easily check the G-Docs and will find your request on the first page :)

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Are we set on the Physics Programming yet?

--- Off Topic ---

Hey guys, I made a new thread (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?8912-Corrupt-a-Wish-Foundation)earlier. Now, it isn't related to the project, but I figured you guys should be the first to know. You guys are going to have a lot of fun, trust me.

[zero3growlithe]

Are we set on the Physics Programming yet?
...?
---------------------------------------------------------------
Newest version of project files for SlipStream GX Alpha: https://rapidshare.com/files/1863476075/SlipStream%20GX%20Project%20-%20020812.rar
Full speed link available to 2012-08-04 09:35: http://files.rapideo.pl/pliki/pv/6snn/gj41/SlipStream_GX_Project_-_020812.rar
Requires newest version of Unity 3D.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

How is the progress on the game's physics? That is what I was asking.

[Xpand]

'Sup? Back on DC! Started texturing the existing buildings and adding short grass/plants along the track...
6547

[zero3growlithe]

@Amaroq: Ah, well... it lacks some forces like "air momentum?" and every ship mass is 1 so some things are f***** if it comes to Unity's physics engine :/ Ima going to sport camp tommorow for 1,5 week so I'll do all things I have to do cos it will be boring there (I'm going there just to be close to sea xD)
@Xpand: lol, so many small details in racing game? I'm not saying that it is not good or something cos they enjoys eyes when they exist but just make sure to not overwork yourself xd

[Xpand]

Why don't you add a custom mass in the script itself? Just add a downward force as weight (W=m*g; m-mass, g-gravitic acceleration=9.81 m/s2) and work from there? Or will that imply that you change everything?

About the details, oh, you'll notice them. You can be sure about that... I'm doing that in case someone as observant as me might want to stop during the race to apreciate the track details, like I do in so many games.

[docfo4r]

Yep, I do that too. As long as SSGX does not require any super-computer to run proberly, details are fine with me. But also, Zero got it right: Don't overwork yourself :)

Also I have to announce that I can't really work that much on the pickup simulations for now for two reasons. Reason one is we should first set the list of pickups [can't start with something and then it appears it won't be used in game] and secondly holidays are over after this weekend and there's a nice girl which I wanna meet up next week and also later on so I hope you guys understand ;)
But I will keep on working on the website for sure, so if backstories, track logos, team sheets are ready post them here & I'll work with it.

[TypeProton]

Okay, here's [Blocky's countdown sequence (http://www.sendspace.com/file/qs1q70)] Xpand requested. .svg format.
[.jpg format (http://i.imgur.com/24ym4.jpg)]

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Looking great, but maybe you could add just a tiny bit of life into it? Like, making its parts move around slightly when it is idle?
It would also be cool if it winked at the first person to cross the line just before the final lap.

[Xpand]

'Sup, so I attempted to make the countdown sequence using blocky, but this keeps hapening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FNVToe_1_I
It just jitters back and forth instead of a steady change.
Here's the code used:


function FixedUpdate () {

Count();
}

function Count(){
var offset;
var num;
yield WaitForSeconds(1.5);
for(num=1; num<5; num++){
offset = Vector2 (0, -(num*0.1650390625));

renderer.material.SetTextureOffset ("_MainTex", offset);
yield WaitForSeconds(1);
}


Anyone knows what's going on?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Why don't you just use an animated texture?

[zero3growlithe]

First of all: FixedUpdate () is ONLY for physics related functions because it runs between normal frame rate (faster than 30 times a sec, you can set how fast it executes in Time options of project)
Secondly: Don't use 'for' loop for this, it is for another purposes, use something like this instead:
var Timer : float = 0;
var time : float = 0;
function Update (){
Timer += Time.deltaTime;
if(Timer >= time){
// place something here
Timer = 0;
}
}
You can check RaceStartCounter's script as reference ;)

[Xpand]

Why don't you just use an animated texture?

I'm using a normal texture sheet and scrolling it down so it has a 3, 2, 1, GO! animation. Unity Free doesn't support animated gifs, png, flv, flash animation, etc.


First of all: FixedUpdate () is ONLY for physics related functions because it runs between normal frame rate (faster than 30 times a sec, you can set how fast it executes in Time options of project)
Secondly: Don't use 'for' loop for this, it is for another purposes, use something like this instead:
var Timer : float = 0;
var time : float = 0;
function Update (){
Timer += Time.deltaTime;
if(Timer >= time){
// place something here
Timer = 0;
}
}
You can check RaceStartCounter's script as reference ;)

The problem is that I want an integer variable to be multiplied by the distance between two slides, like: Between countdown start (texture offset 0) to "3" is "y" (y=0.1650390625 in this case) pixels, 2*y is the distance between the 0 and "2", 3*y is the distance between 0 and "1", and so on until GO!. Each of those cycles are paused by one second. I didn't want to use continuous offset, rather a "jump to" action, that's why I didn't use the default Time systems and used the "for" loop... My teachers always suggested me to use for loops whenever I want to link the loop code with variating values that affect it. I use it all the time in MATLAB, but I guess it's not as stable in Unity...

I guess I found what's causing the problem: It's the yield WaitForSeconds(); pause function. But I don't know of any replacement for that. I wanted the script to pause 1 second after each loop...

No matter! I turned Time.time into an integer and it worked, sort of. I just have to sync it with the ship release.

[zero3growlithe]

The problem is that I want an integer variable to be multiplied by the distance between two slides, like: Between countdown start (texture offset 0) to "3" is "y" (y=0.1650390625 in this case) pixels, 2*y is the distance between the 0 and "2", 3*y is the distance... blah, blah, blah
Let's look at our tools:
- we can create variables
- we can increment them every frame or by time
soooooo, look, without 'for' loop same function:

private var offset : float = 0;
private var num : float = 1;
private var timer : float = 0;
private var timer2 : float = 0;

function Update(){
timer += Time.deltaTime;
if (timer >= 1.5){
timer2 += Time.deltaTime;
if (timer2 > 1 && num < 5){
offset = Vector2 (0, -(num*0.1650390625));
renderer.material.SetTextureOffset ("_MainTex", offset);
num ++;
timer2 = 0;
}
}
}
This method is much better for timed events because u'r sure nothing unexpected will happen :P

[Xpand]

Thats what I ended up using and it works. I just can't put the closed position in between the numbers.


function Update () {

Count();
}

function Count(){
var offset;

var Timer : int = -1;

Timer=Timer+Time.time;


if (Timer>0 && Timer<5){

offset = Vector2 (0, -(Timer*0.1722));

renderer.material.SetTextureOffset ("_MainTex", offset);



}

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGCZNW0PDo

[Germanistgeek]

Did you capture some gameplay footage ? I'd like to make a trailer.

[Xpand]

We have some, but it's very basic... Maybe after zero3growlithe corrects the details in the game and tracks you can get some clips.... The latest version of the game was uploaded recently. Try searching back a 2 or 3 pages to get it...

[Germanistgeek]

Searched back into the thread and found nothing, for now.

I think i can come with a song for one of the races or for the credits. All i need is a permission and a free race track to integrate the music that i will make.

[Xpand]

Hmm, the link doesn't appear to be working...
Let's see what the others think about this....
This is what I have on my end, none are in-game footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuCAYJ6n6-U&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v91mS3dDvJE&feature=relmfu
This is zero's gameplay video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whdj42DurRs

BTW zero, here's the countdown board plus code:
6548

[Germanistgeek]

Well, i think that i can collect as many footages as possible, put them together and make a first render of the trailer.

[docfo4r]

You can make a trailer for the game? That would be awesome. I wanted to create a trailer in first place but my holidays are over and I barely have time now atm, unfortunately :(

I'm excited to see what you can create...

[Germanistgeek]

I don't think i can create really awesome trailers with decent video editing programs, like NCH VideoPad. But i'll do my best to make a trailer that includes as much material as i can. I'll try to do it in HD, despite having a not much powerfull computer.

[TypeProton]

Thats what I ended up using and it works. I just can't put the closed position in between the numbers.
-snip-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIGCZNW0PDo

Errr Xpand, can you add idle picture in-between each count? This looks off. :/
No progress on Hubian lol. I need to take an exam tomorrow.

[zero3growlithe]

@Germanistgeek: Imo trailer of game should be made when all tracks and ships cos trailer on one track is a bit... well, not nice. Just my opinion ;)

[Germanistgeek]

Okay, so maybe i can wait a little for mor tracks and ships and focusing on other things lik, fake sponsors or fake ads on the track, kinda like wipeout HD.

[Xpand]

Errr Xpand, can you add idle picture in-between each count? This looks off. :/
No progress on Hubian lol. I need to take an exam tomorrow.

That's exactly the problem... I can't seem to make the image return to origin between each number.... Every time I add the code for that the image get's all warped...

[zero3growlithe]

RaceStartCounter script is there to help you although it uses seperate textures for numbers and switch...

[Xpand]

The problem is not the countdown. That's correctly made and it's in sync with the actual countdown. The problem is putting the idle stance in between the numbers like so: idle, 3, idle, 2, idle, 1, idle, GO!

[zero3growlithe]

Sorry creator of blocky for copying but my photoshop don't want to install ( too old for win 8 ) and on sport camp i don't have normal wifi net xd. Anyway, i was doing my best to make it clear to ou Xpand:
Blocky texture should look like this: 6549
And script should look like this: (not tested)

private var offset : float = 0;
private var num : float = 0;
private var timer : float = 0;
private var timer2 : float = 0;
private var timer3 : float = 0;
private var timerTrigger : boolean = false;

function Start (){
renderer.material.SetTextureScale ("_MainTex", Vector2(0.125, 1));
}
function Update(){
timer += Time.deltaTime;
if (timer >= 1.5 && num < 9){
if (timer2 < 1){timer2 += Time.deltaTime;}
if (timerTrigger){timer3 += Time.deltaTime;}
if (timer2 > 1){num ++; timer2 = 0; timerTrigger = true;}
if (timer3 > 0.2){num ++; timer3 = 0; timerTrigger = false;}
}
offset = num * 0.125;
renderer.material.SetTextureOffset ("_MainTex", Vector2(offset, 0));
}
Write any error messages u get :P

[Germanistgeek]

Zero, as i can't make a trailer or intro sequence yet, maybe can i make fake sponsors or ads, like i said a few posts ago. I can handle photoshop 8 and CS3. What do you think?

PS : sorry for reapeating that same question.

[Xpand]

Yeah, I was going to make the texture like that, but I wanted to know if there was a way to do this without messing with the image...
I'll take care of that now...

Okay, I think this is what we aimed for:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQNidJv0Le8

Here's the pack with updated stuff:
6550

Code:



function Update () {

Count();
}

function Count(){
var offset;

var Timer : int = -3;

Timer=Timer+(2*Time.time);


if (Timer>0 && Timer<8){

offset = Vector2 (0, -(Timer*0.08642578125));

renderer.material.SetTextureOffset ("_MainTex", offset);



}


I only had to double the Timer speed and add 2 seconds to the delay...

[zero3growlithe]

@Germanistgeek: Sure :) I didn't mentioned anything that you can't :P

[Xpand]

6552
Draco Caverane polycount: 49,712 polys
Cassandra polycount: 95,642 polys

Still have a lot of room.

[zero3growlithe]

New Main Menu script is working (much easier to edit it and it is 80% smaller xd), navigation system script is now scanning for nodes itself, that means it detects how many nodes is on track and saves them in array so no need for gameObject.Find function to slow down your PC :P
btw. New 3D modeler is heading our way, waiting for him to present himself here.

[bountyhunter]

Hello guys im new 3d modeler zero mentioned..
I must say that im big fan of Wipeout..
im using maya 2011 atm and can model pretty much everything you guys need.

Here is just one test vehicle i made in very limited time...will improve it :)
6553
6554
6555

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Welcome to the team. Here is your flight suit.

[Xpand]

'Sup! Welcome on board! Can't wait to see what you've got under your sleeve!

[Germanistgeek]

I've got a slogan idea for solaris : how about ''shining through speed'' ?

[Xpand]

Sounds cool, I like it.

[Germanistgeek]

i was thinking about it because after some research, i found no team slogan for solaris. Can someone tell me which font was used for the solaris logo? I'm planning of making a advertisement which can be placed on the tracks further on.

[Xpand]

You have the logo itself?
The logo is here: http://wohdcup.sommarpojkarna.com/links/slipstream-gx/teams
The font is called T.C. System:
6556

[Germanistgeek]

thanks xpand, that's all i needed.

[Germanistgeek]

6557

Tell me what you think and if needed i can modify it.

[docfo4r]

@bountyhunter Welcome to the team & awesome ship you made there. I really like it since the shapes look like it's something new and refreshing!

@Germanistgeek nice logo, keep up your good work. The only thing I see here that might need work is the plain yellow background, maybe you can add some shades there, some kind of background or structure, I don't know :P

@Xpand do you have sheets of the other teams like the ones you presented here a few pages back? I will improve the website then as soon as I can although I have very limited time at the moment :(

Also I talked with Cipher and since he has a new comp he might render the weapon animation videos since he might get a higher quality faster than my lap so kudos to him!
Oh and the countdown looks great, maybe give it a little more life somehow with making the smiley moving a little bit but I can see it's going to be awesome. I love the attention to details SSGX is experiencing.
BTW: Is test racing on a pre-DC track possible? ;)

[Xpand]

Those and LOGOS (which is on the way) are the only teams I have. I still haven't converted and textured Zepher since I forgot to ask zero for his model...

@Germainstgeek: That's a bit plain with all that orangeness behind the ship. I got to be honest, for now it just seems like you glued stuff on an orange paper... Try to make that over the default white background and then add the team colors as lines or something around the ship.
I can give you other views of the ship instead of always being the same side profile view everywhere, so you can edit it further...

Sorry for being such a tough critic, but that's the way you can improve.

[Germanistgeek]

Well, everything has a hard start but, i think i will need other views of the ship. And maybe i can use a metallic background as a mesh. You're right to tell me that, i need to improve the handling of photoshop. I'm using the 8 CS becaus my friend's computer doesn't take SSE2 instructions set. Maybe when i get my computer back of repairing, i can move on to CS3.

[zero3growlithe]

@Xpand: I remember sending you my ships through Skype...

[Xpand]

Oh yeah, that's right... Damn my cloud head...

[Oryx Crake]

hey folks idea!, how's about we ask robb foxx if we can put the animated wipeoutzone logo on a few billboards? (we might've to ask novide too as I think he was the one who animated it but yeah let's do that no?)

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

I support the motion.

[Xpand]

I like the idea! Just give me the animation frames and I'll take care of applying them to the bilboard and animating the image!

[docfo4r]

Great idea, maybe we can intregrate it to the website aswell.

[Germanistgeek]

@Xpand : Can you give me other views of Solaris, pkease? I'm kinda stuck with the side view right now.

[Xpand]

Here you go. They are all transparent png, so you don't have to worry about cutting out the white background.
http://www.mediafire.com/?gkc6zoqb1xg45t7

[Germanistgeek]

so, do you hane any idea to make this ad better than the first mashup ? I think that i can use metal-like background but i want your opinion before restarting to make the picture.

[Xpand]

Well, I have this:
6559

Maybe you can make something in this style perhaps?

[Germanistgeek]

Can i take this and modify it to make an ad out of it? But i might use a metal background for it.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Xpand, that picture is a little dark. Do you think you can brighten it up a little?

Edit: I decided to cook up a slightly modified version (slightly improved color, brightness, and contrast), however the attachment system doesn't seem to approve :(

[Xpand]

So, I had this thought... Is it ok with you guys if I make a version of Porto Kora for the game? I really like the track, and since the plans are available on-line, plus having WO3's as a visual reference, it would probably be an easy task... At least for the modeling part...

[feisar rocket]

Ah man... i just disappeared... sorry bout that

Well, how far behind am I?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Welcome back FEISAR Rocket. Looks like you rocketed a little too far into the future. Much has changed, my friend.

--- Off Topic ---

I know that this isn't the right thread to ask this question, but I am looking for a download link for 'Messij" so that I can play it on my computer. Does anyone have it?

[rdmx]

You can find Cold Storage's work here: http://www.coldstorage.org.uk/music.html

http://www.icecubes.org.uk/mp3/messij.zip

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Thank you, now my life is complete.

[zero3growlithe]

Somebody help meee! I've run out of bugs to fix in SSGX on this boring sport camp xd Not only that, cos photoshop is not working i can't make anything else in exchange xD Anyway, full optimization of ship place checking script and navigation system is complete and i guess it can't be written any better :P Many lines of code replaced with just a 3 'for' loops ^^ Hmmm... maybe I'll just try to improve AI to be almost ready for everything if only my netbook will somehow manage to degist it...

[Xpand]

I'd say work on the AI to make it "smarter". Make it judge its moves on their own, or to use other ships as reference for their position, instead of a pre-programmed path, or instead of using the current node system which works pretty well, but takes a lot of time to set up. Maybe using a set distance from the track wall just for guidance and a way to increase speed if a ship is at a short distance from at front so the front ship can be overtaken, or if a ship is at a short distance behind so it can avoid being overtaken.

[docfo4r]

Yeah, like Xpand said, make the AI smarter, but also maybe a little bit more "human". Let them make a mistake in breaking/steering from time to time, at least on easy and medium difficulty, you know... Something more individual.

Some minor changes on the website, placed a text list of our pickups so far.
Oh zero... Maybe you can start to code the pickups ;)

[Xpand]

6560
Is that a statue!? WHAAA? :g

[docfo4r]

Haha awesome idea. I love it!!

[dreadofmondays]

I made the basic plan of a track a while ago and showed it to you, xpand.. I haven't done much work on it since. I finished the basic landscape but I haven't created any buildings even though it;s been so long; I'm guessing a combination of school (pointy end of year 12) and just general laziness. I also am not very good at doing buildings, so I may need some help (not that I want to offload it to someone else just because I'm lazy - that's selfish XD)
I will try and do more work on it in the coming weeks, but I can't promise anything.

[Xpand]

Take your time.
This, believe it or not, is Porto Kora with the correct length and elevation! It took a bit of in-game analysis but the basic track is done.
6561

It's a fairly easy track to make, actually. Even the terrain is quite simple. And with all the references available.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Which game is Porto Kora from?

[Germanistgeek]

Wip3out

[TypeProton]

[[WIP] - HuBian - Pavilion (Starting point) re-entering (http://i.imgur.com/gCc7d.jpg)]

Yes yes the elevation charts. I know. But I still have pictures of Scribe Hall, Bamboo Run and Woodwork Split in queue.

[docfo4r]

Looks awesome, Type. You really have a hand for this. I hope your track idea can get ported into the game.

By the way: Do you think you can design another logo for DC, Tristans or Delcor City?

[Xpand]

Hmm, all I really need to make tracks is actually the top elevation chart. Otherwise it will be like building a house from the roof...
Looks pretty cool, though...

[docfo4r]

The only thing I see is that it's waaaaay to tight. That one speed pad sents you right into the wall. Also you have to make sure the track is raceable at least on phantom speed [and increasing @ Zone].

And like Xpand said... Do a bird-eye view sketch :)

[bountyhunter]

Hey guys, im doing ship model and im curently stuck with texturing.
can some1 give me few sponsor logos or maybe team logos.
anything just to stick it to the side of ship to fill empty space :)

[docfo4r]

Hey man, why not using a photo editing tool and create a few logos by yourself to stick them to the ship.

I anyway suggest we should think about self-created fantasy trademarks & logos to fill up the game with ship decals and advertisement to give it a little more life. Could be something funny, scientific, related stuff to Wipeout, maybe even add a little easter egg just to add some fun details to the game.



Any teams still need someone to write a history for them?
Do we have history's ready for existing teams? Like iFreet, Zepher, Amphithere, Logos, Solaris, Cern & Helios?

[bountyhunter]

ok...i thought maybe some1 already made some :)
ty anyways.

[Xpand]

Do we have history's ready for existing teams? Like iFreet, Zepher, Amphithere, Logos, Solaris, Cern & Helios?

Nope, that's what this thread (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?8809-Slipstream-GX-Campaign-stories) was created for.

[Oryx Crake]

amphithere has a story, Cern is a joint russian, and swiss team based in the CERN facilities in switzerland crewed mostly by disgruntled former qirex employees (who quit when tigron took over) iFreet is Moroccan... I envisioned it to be sort of a pre-cursor to mirage, in spirit.

[docfo4r]

Hmm yeah their origins.

Sorry, didn't think about this thread. The only thing I had was a list of short stories TypeProton created for potentional teams so I thought we have stories for the teams in development finished...

[feisar rocket]

hey, any tracks need describing?

Xpand, I been working on a track lately, and got me a map book, so i can make a map basically (can make drawing more "descriptive"). Meh, how is everyone doing?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I know that this is off-topic, but does anybody have an FX-400 Icarus logo in .PNG format? Don't use the forum's upload system, it will just convert it to a .JPG

Here is my email address: amaroqthewolf@gmail.com

[docfo4r]

@feisar rocket

I don't exactly know if we have any description finished for a track so yeah if you like to, go ahead. You can find the locations of each track in our Docs (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1EiywCTH3PVV4DHLhIx-GIjgguQkICMnck12JuRah8/edit). But maybe the authors wanna make a description of their own track by theirself ;)

[Xpand]

BTW zero, any updates on the ship's animations?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Xpand, how's the soundtrack going?

-
-
-

Also, does anyone want to do a little Role-Play for Slipstream GX? Not only can we have some fun, but it will help us develop the story, both the backstory, midstory, and forestory (and yes, I made up those last two terms).
Just to be on the safe side, mabye we should do it in a seperate thread.

[docfo4r]

Maybe also use the seperate story thread which exists already.

I like your idea, but I don't know how we could create a roleplay on the internet. Or do you want us all to make a meeting ;) Well, if you pay my airplane ticket, no problem xD

---

In the story thread Oryx talked about an introduction track. What I am thinking about now is to create a really hidden track for a bonus. Nothing that can be unlocked in the campaign mode, more like a really secret track. Accessable by selecting a special race mode & class or just a hidden link in the track selection menu in racebox. Of course, since it's just some kind of extra, the track could be some pre-rendered stuff [nothing which is detailled out like all the other tracks].
Maybe some of you know I am doing animation videos for our weapons. The track has just a single structure and the ambience is just a ground with flashing lights like in some computer simulation, no buildings & other stuff. Maybe, we could create a nice track in that area, should be a 4 days work or so since there is nothing else going on, the track routing itself should be the interesting part. Could be the effect like "Wow, I am racing on that digital track used for weapon animations...". Stuff like that keeps a game interesting for me even I played it through completely.

---

I am trying to create the first animation scenes now. Note that the ships fly without turbine flames [yet] and it would be useful to have typical impact sounds and visual weapon effect off the race so I wanna ask what's the status here.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Maybe also use the seperate story thread which exists already.

I like your idea, but I don't know how we could create a roleplay on the internet. Or do you want us all to make a meeting ;) Well, if you pay my airplane ticket, no problem xD


I never said dressing up and acting it out. Have you never heard of those RP threads?
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?7911-JX350-RP-OOC-(Out-of-character)-chat-and-information
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?7912-Jx350-rp

My idea is similar to that, but instead of the FX-500 and JX-350, we are talking about the FX-150

[docfo4r]

Haha yeah I get your idea, was just kidding ;)
I like the idea, it sure helps and I think it's best if we all work on the story together more or less since I think everyone has nice bits of ideas & you & F.E.I.S.A.R. can make it into one complete story in case F.E.I. is still around.

Finished a first simple Turbo-Animation now. Consists of 161 frames, takes around 1,5h to render it to 720p as my Rendercow tells me. Let's see how the quality is after that...

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

As for those 'Secret' tracks (the WipEout games have really been lacking 'Unlockables' lately);
Why not take everything from Hellfire's 'Courses from Hell' video and use that information to make the most difficult track in existence? Outward-banked right-angle corners, broken sections of track, undulating chicanes, bulkheads, multiple routes, etc.

[Oryx Crake]

i'm all for a hard track but the bulkheads in question are only annoying and thats it.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Make them few and far between, make them open from further away, and make them not close once opened. But in that case, what is the point of having them? To give the track that Temtesh feeling to add to the Silverstream feeling and whatnot.

Fine... no bulkheads.

[feisar rocket]

Cool, that would be a quick way to get the story no ^_^

Oryx, how is the site going?

Doc, turbo animation? Let's see the doctor at work ;)

And I made a track, I'll upload by the end of the week, it was hard making a reverse version because of the big jump >.< but I got it, I got it... I just need to add elevation points :)
Longest lap would be 55-1:10 on Vector I think, is that too long?

[docfo4r]

You made the track on your own? Like... You have a 3D model of it? That's awesome, would like to see it.

Haha my work now depends on my lappy, it couldn't handle the animation rendering from yesterday due to some openGL error, but I updated stuff & changed settings, gonna go for a 720 instead of 1080 solution as for now.
But like I said, animation is very very basic for now. No sounds, and for weapon animations I need the actual explosion effects, bombs & rocket models and whatever. So for now I can make Turbo & Phantomizer only ;)
When Turbo is finished finally, I gonna upload it first so you guys can have a look and tell me to change camera path, ambience & whatever if you're not satisfied :)
Oh and I turned off all sort of motion blur as for now since the first result video looked very blurred out xD

@Oryx: If you like to, you can help out with the new website. Just tell me and I'll pm the access data. I'm busy with the animations atm anyway ;)

@rdmx: Now that I see you lurking... How's your HUD going?

[dreadofmondays]

A thought struck me late at night, so I stayed up to work on it. The downside is it's now three in the morning. The upside is, I can now present this! (http://i48.tinypic.com/66jifs.jpg)

It is a track infographic that I can periodically update, and it looks sweet, too. I'm proud of it. :L
Maybe these sorts of datafiles could find their way onto the website? One for each track, displaying vital information.

[Oryx Crake]

looks supersnazzy man, my worry is that it looks a bit too much like the hdfury GUI. we don't want to be stepping on any toes after all. also lads I think we should decide on an official logodesign, I've seen a few different versions, and while I pretty much like them all I feel we should stick with one all encompasing and final version of the SSGX logo. I myself am a bit partial to the one used in the game interface thus far, it's simple and classy just the way the rest of the design is intended to go. (though I admit a really liked typeproton's proposal aswell.)

[docfo4r]

@Oryx good idea. I also didn't know which one to use for the website. Let's all decide or create a official SSGX logo. Although I don't exactly know which one you mean from the game interface...

@dreads I actually like it very much. Yeah, it looks a bit HD-ish and it's definately going the right way. Make a little work-around on it, it would fit perfect to the website! BTW: Did you create that track? It looks amazing so far!
I really love that status update thing on it. So you have the basic template for creating such pictures? Mind if you keep every track sheet up to date then? Would be awesome :rock

Turbo animation finished rendering, I am actually happy with the quality result. Tomorrow or on weekend I will add up some sound [if I find something] and the electronical voice and then upload it so you guys can have a first impression. If it's ok, I will continue to the Phantomizer at next.

[feisar rocket]

Wait, SSGX and FX-150 are two different logos right?

Doc, XD no! A drawing! I have no modeling skills... except with clay ;)

Dread, right back to the classics... reminded me of the first and hardest WipEout. :D

[docfo4r]

Hey guys... Am about to finish the turbo animation soon. Will add electronic voice tmrw explaining each pickup, but I have one request.

We need [next to an official SSGX logo] our official SSGX font. Shouldn't be much of a discussion and I need it rather quick, so if Oryx or someone else have set their minds about that already, let me know :)

[dreadofmondays]

@dreads I actually like it very much. Yeah, it looks a bit HD-ish and it's definately going the right way. Make a little work-around on it, it would fit perfect to the website! BTW: Did you create that track? It looks amazing so far!
I really love that status update thing on it. So you have the basic template for creating such pictures? Mind if you keep every track sheet up to date then? Would be awesome

looks supersnazzy man, my worry is that it looks a bit too much like the hdfury GUI. we don't want to be stepping on any toes after all. also lads I think we should decide on an official logodesign, I've seen a few different versions, and while I pretty much like them all I feel we should stick with one all encompasing and final version of the SSGX logo. I myself am a bit partial to the one used in the game interface thus far, it's simple and classy just the way the rest of the design is intended to go. (though I admit a really liked typeproton's proposal aswell.)

Well I had planned to try and mirror HD's ui style for it. I didn't know SSGX has a website, so I will look that up and see if I can change the factfile to match. And I can probably keep the track sheets up to date for multiple ones, so long as there's a way to create the track map (this one was simply deleting the terrain and print screening).
Once we decide on an official logo, we can start using it everywhere. :)

I've had a look at the site, and I'll see if I can put together a coloured logo for my circuit.
I'm thinking it might be time for us to start putting a serious plan together of what the game should be. This way, Xpand can for example designate a UI design, and we can all use that in our promo materials and whatnot. It'll be all in sync :) Maybe we should all go on skype or something and have a proper meeting where we can flesh some of this stuff out and decide exactly what it is we are doing?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I need a list of all of the teams as of the current time of development. Yes, including the ones that might not make the cut.

[dreadofmondays]

Hey guys... Am about to finish the turbo animation soon. Will add electronic voice tmrw explaining each pickup, but I have one request.

We need [next to an official SSGX logo] our official SSGX font. Shouldn't be much of a discussion and I need it rather quick, so if Oryx or someone else have set their minds about that already, let me know :)
Should be whichever font is in the logo. I need to know too.

In addition, I was thinking that some circuits are sort of 'home grounds' for certain teams. You see this in WOHD with Talons Junction - tons of FEISAR paraphernalia everywhere. So I figured I'd have lots of billboards for Torus Advancements, who own one of the larger skyscrapers in the circuit. Therefore, you can possibly add Torus to the list of teams and create a ship to put their logos on. A friend of mine might want to do this, in fact.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

The RP is up.
http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?8928-Slipstream-GX-Roleplay

What happened to Rotaional_Aspect?

[docfo4r]

Whoa things are going forward. I wanna take a second and applause to everyone for the high motivation. It's fun to work with you guys.

But also I have to emphasize we make sure that we're all working on the same lines. Like dreads said, maybe it really would be a good idea to have a skype meeting or something like that so we all can discuss what's coming next so everyone knows what the other one does and everyone knows where his own wheel is placed in the engine ;) Although I know it might be difficult to find a time for everyone to chat. Anyway, my Skype name is "kai.hartmann89" - feel free to add me up.

@dreads official website is slipstreamgx.com (http://www.slipstreamgx.com) but I didn't work much on it, everything is pretty basic HTML there and there is no official font or logo on it yet. You seem to have some nice ideas about art design so if you like to help out on website/logo & stuff like that, let me know ;) I anyway am busy with the animations now, so I can't improve the website atm.

@Amaroq teams in a higher stage of development or even finished teams are Zepher, Cern, Solaris, Amphithere, Logos, Helios & iFreet. I didn't keep track of all the other teams where we only have a suggestion and/or backstory yet.

Gotta work on the voice [& background sound] for the pickup animations now. I hope I can upload the first example of the Turbo animation today, if not then tomorrow.

[zero3growlithe]

Indeed, everyone is working hard what motivates others to make their best :P Anyway... ima back from sport camp, some things changed, like my TV broke, new cat in house and my best keyboard stopped working xd As for SSGX:
- Xpand, no new animations for ships right now, but finally time will come for them too :)
- I have schemes and ideas ready for intelligent A.I so I'll take care of it now (although this crappy USB keyboard i have now is making me sick...)
- Lightmapping of track changed a bit so it looks better (@Xpand: billboards and all lights fixed)
- Better explosions (https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JWH48OiWukyimGs3Pq3VNtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink) :P (I made use of particle animator to create nice effect of burning particle with smoke trail (with (https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6oaYKAjLC6LnUElgxKzjeNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink)/without (https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jta_3qOXuhfSSh9ne1aLx9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink) flame smoke animation made in PS CS5))
- finally ships have mass (previously each one had 1 unit of mass xD) so physics engine makes everything work better (now each ship weights 6000 units but we can later discuss their parameters when everything will be ready)
Things to do after A.I:
- Race start counter with much better animaton and more (text when u'r on first place or when you are low on energy when close to finish line it will show something and of course everything followed by sounds (I'll try to make some voice sounds and let you hear them before getting them in-game if no other sounds will appear before that))
- set-up new HUD and add option to main menu for changing HUDs
That's all from me now i think... (GDocs updated (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z1EiywCTH3PVV4DHLhIx-GIjgguQkICMnck12JuRah8/edit?pli=1))

[rdmx]

@rdmx: Now that I see you lurking... How's your HUD going?
o.0 It was a concept. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do?

[TypeProton]

I do have an idea for FX-150 logo. (I don't like the last one somebody made) But as you know I'm busy with exam and remaining SSGX tracks concept...
Damn people being fired up when I'm busy with other things. Dx
edit: I see track logo request in Gdocs. Please describe each track to my PM.

[docfo4r]

First animation of the Turbo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNSHba5JH2s&feature=youtu.be

Beware that information + logos are just placeholders. Please tell me whatever I need to change :)
BTW: Yep, it's my voice with some MorphVOX layer. If anyone knows a good and easy to use "real" electronic voice generator, let me know.

@TypeProton, yup. Would be helpful ;)

@zero: Great so far. Expecially the explosions look awesome!!!

[Xpand]

Ahah, that looks awesome! It reminds me of WO3 for some reason. But I reckon we could work out better camera angles.
Oh and zero, those explosions look awesome. But please tell me that isn't the final lighting of cassandra. I was aiming for something more like this:
http://threedmaniak.deviantart.com/gallery/25962541#/d4x0reg
A dark-ish scene.
iFreet texturing: 40%
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Oryx, I changed the scheme a bit instead of the all red one. Hope you don't mind!

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

That new scheme looks WAY better. Think you could add some Gold highlights to it? And maybe change the Red to more of a Dark, Metallic Crimson?

[zero3growlithe]

@Xpand: (Comparision (https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/xh_yP-q_Z_E9VFaxJkLba9MTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directl ink)) Erm... any ideas what is wrong? Cos for me this one on the left is better... well, maybe there is a bit too much of this orange light... I'll render it again someday with new settings.
btw.... more boooooom xd https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LS_yjzO_oFqx27ezLuHNONMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink

[Xpand]

Hehe, looks awesome. I saw the bright orange light and I got scared! xD
@Amaroq: Gotta see what I can do. I'll refine the textures after the parts are all mapped onto the photoshop file.

[zero3growlithe]

K, rendered Cassandra again with new settings and now it looks as it should, even better with ambient orange from sunset =.=
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RXijlzp242Q4QsZ4IS58cNMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YHNOmWVYs8D0yu6J_dqFWtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink
(Explosions included xD yhyhyhyh)
btw. Oh hell... my scheme for AI was easy to understand and all but then came scripting... OMG O.O Totally got tangled....

[Oryx Crake]

I dunno I'm not terribly bothered about color schemes in general but I would like the stars to be in there and also the green, it doesn't have to be the same way I made it first but the idea was to have it be the colors of the morrocan flag. change it all you like so long as those 2 parts of it are in there, the green and red and the star design.

[TypeProton]

Got a rather funky idea : I'd like a databank section in main menu. (Just name it Help section) Where it will contain the basics of the game, team info, pickups info, track info, et cetera. Maybe we could ask HellfireWZ to narrate them to players! (Maybe too much but that'd be cool imo.)

[Xpand]

I dunno I'm not terribly bothered about color schemes in general but I would like the stars to be in there and also the green, it doesn't have to be the same way I made it first but the idea was to have it be the colors of the morrocan flag. change it all you like so long as those 2 parts of it are in there, the green and red and the star design.

Yeah, the logo and morrocan flag are going to be there. The green too, I just haven't found a good place. Maybe a thinner stripe next to the red one.

@TypeProton: That's a cool idea. And having sHellfire to narrate the stories is even cooler! But we still don't have anything beyond a simple description for each ship.

[docfo4r]

@Xpand thank you. Yeah, I was also thinking if the camera should just travel a straight line without rotating at all, or some kind of spectator view. What are you & the other guys thinking? Wanna fix that out before I move on to Phantomizer ;) Oh and still the voice is what I don't like at all. I am thinking about using & filtering some TTS for it. I'd like to have a voice like this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhvAUUiImD4&feature=related)!

@zero Whoa that explosion is awesome!! Now just the blue bits are a bit strange IMO.

@TypeProton that's an awesome idea. I anyway thought we are going to include the pickup animation videos into the help menu rather than having just text explaining each pickup like in WOHD.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

As for the blue bits, of you look carefully at a campfire, you may notice taht the part near the bottom of the fire is kind of a blueish-purple color. The coommon associationg with blue being cold nad red being hot as actualy wrong. For example, blueish-white stars are hotter than reddish-orange stars. Blue plasma is usually higher temperature than red plasma. It goes on.

[zero3growlithe]

Actually those blue bits are from rockets not their explosions xd But that aside, small problem I forgot to mention is "video playback" in Unity which is ONLY available in Pro version :/ And now, my suggestions are: videos will be in help folder located in game files in which player can use their external software to play those OR make those movies using Unity's animator and then play them in-game using unity's engine... yeah, i know this sucks :| I probably can't use kickstarter site to get funds for Unity Pro license so it drops out xd
Now onto the "intelligent AI" thing I have one question: Should enemy ships use data which they gather during their flight to move around the track (some info is transferred by nodes and some ships gather themselves) or data I'll record during my around 10 lap race using "save to file" feature which AI then use like this: Example: [When player was "around" this position he was turning around 76% for x seconds and used sideshift once followed by turning in opposite direction, his distance from wall was around x meters and my is around the same so I'll keep executing current instructions]? If there is any other idea then shoot :P

[dreadofmondays]

When making my track, will you guys accept a unity file? I'm stressing over how much of the track should be done in blender. If I used unity to piece it together, I could use instances of different models, for example, or add sound emitters directly to the track, and other cool stuff. I can also directly add any animations and stuff without needing anyone else to do that out of blender. :)
Hopefully this shouldn't be a problem.

[docfo4r]

Hmm that video problem could become an even bigger problem if we are going to include a few cutscenes for the story, intro/opener video, a video when finishing campaign mode etc.
I will check if there are workarounds for including external videos...

About the AI: Maybe you can make a mix of both versions? For example, giving them several paths to fly from the beginning but make them able to learn from other enemy or players behaviour would kick ass. Oh, I hope I got your question right...

[zero3growlithe]

Video Playback problem solved :) Docfo4r found it on the internet, although it was not free but gave me idea on how to make it :P
As for AI there is 3rd idea: Make them learn track by themselves with player playing with them, they make mistakes but correct them later, but yeah, I can just use some of 1st, some of 2nd and some of 3rd idea to create it :P Now let's see if i'm capable to do it...

[docfo4r]

Oh, okay. I hope you can write a working script for the videos or however you are doing it ;)
So I will continue to render the animations with Vue as for now. If the video importing won't work after all, then we can use those finished videos on our website maybe & redo the animations in Unity.

I think it would be nice anyway if you can make the AI being "intelligent enough" to be stupid xD I mean, if a mistake happens to them once in a while, it would just make the game better in my opinion instead of having an AI which will always do kind of the same stuff. An AI mistake isn't always a players advantage ;)

BTW: Zero, I updated your Gdocs section but mark that video problem as solved as for now.


EDIT
dreads & I just discussed that it really might be helpful to have a MEETING once in a while. It is highly useful as we can discuss problems, progress and tasks directly without having to wait for an answer in the forum [for example if there are several questions one after another^^]. I see some of us already exchanged Skype accounts, so how about we all add each other up in Skype and create a repeatable meeting, like once in a month, all 3 weeks or so. We can open our Gdocs in that meeting and we can all use this to write down stuff & see what the others mean.
I know a meeting is not easy to set up since we all live in other parts of the earth, maybe not everyone can attend every meeting, but we can use this tool (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedform.html) to at least suggest a meeting and everyone can check his actual local time for the meeting.

[Oryx Crake]

again my Skypename is frumpman1 I urge everyone to add me and add other people

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Maybe we could ask HellfireWZ to narrate them to players! (Maybe too much but that'd be cool imo.)
You read my mind. When I was writing the backstory for Ti-Khana, I was imagining him talking about it. However, I am 110% certain that none of my ideas will ever make the cut. For anything. At all.

[docfo4r]

Why so negative? I also had ideas which got into my own brain-trashcan or weren't accepted. Every idea itself helps for the game since there might be some info in it which helps developing other ideas. And I see you're doing a good thing by suggesting teams, creating story-threads etc.
But as you could see we already have lots of teams ready, it's not like creating a team is big problem. Didn't you say you could create logos for the tracks? Why not start working on them since this would be highly helpful for the website for now and of course for the game ;)

Turbo animation in spectator mode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk7WDFjwsxU&feature=youtu.be

About the voice: I tried some text to speech with filters and natural readers but in every case the voice was too monotone and boring. The text should be spoken by a human just to give it some kind of "life". I wonder if you guys mind if I ask my friend from Japan to record her voice for me since her voice comes closer to the thing I am aiming for [I think female voice is better in that case anyway]. I'll still apply some filters then.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I don't think I told you how much I suck at making logos. Very rarely do I make something that is genuinely good, and even then I can't do it on a computer, I have to do it by hand (the FEISAR logo I made is an exception, since it was pretty much a happy accident). Computer Art is not my Forté.

As for the Computer Voice, just give Hellfire_WZ a Vocoder.

[docfo4r]

That Vocoder is the thing I am looking for by myself ;)
Maybe I re-install my MAGIX 2008 since it had a nice Vocoder plugin and I could add up audio recorded voice with anything ;)

[dreadofmondays]

I can probably come up with a bunch of different logos, companies, and general logo sets.. What is it exactly that you need?
Also, TypeProton, I noticed your team was from Hawaii. If there are already some logos created for it, it could be appropriate to place them around my track, which is located there. So are there any logos for it already or do they still need to be created?

[docfo4r]

@dread maybe you can create the symbols for the pickups? You can find the list + description in Gdocs. For the pickups, I thought about something not too complex. Something that goes into the direction of the WOHD symbols.

Oh and my friend will help me out with the voices for the pickup animation videos.
So whoever is free for creativity can check the Gdocs file/weapon section/read description and develop a short text to be spoken. I don't know what is best, to make it just scientific or add up some cheeky fun into it, you know what I mean?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

A while back I created a symbol for the Afterburner (Turbo replacement). Basically, the Afterburner is like the Turbo, but it is feel based, so you can either use it in short bursts (that way it lasts longer and you don't go flying off the track, but it isn't as powerful), or you can hold it down to use it all at once (in which case, it is identical to the Turbo). It has fuel which works kinda like 'ammo' for the item.

The symbol is designed to combine the style of WipEout HD's Turbo with that of WipEout Pure's turbo. It has three arrows, one of them is thin, the next one has a medium thickness,and the last one is extra thick. In addition, they have varying opacities.

Basically, like in WipEout Pure it visually describes the concept of Increased Distance over a Fixed Timespan, but it is still recognizable as Turbo because of the arrows. Also, I rotated it 45 degrees.

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Now, it is only a mockup, so it isn't High-Quality. I also included the WipEout HD/WipEout Pulse version so that you can compare them.

[docfo4r]

Hey if you could make it high quality & delete the green section, I think it would be a pretty nice turbo symbol :)
I am thinking about having no background color at all, but the problem might be while racing and having a white sky, the symbol is hard to read. But on the other hand, if we use rdmx HUD, there are white letters anyway.

I just think we should go away from the hexagon-shape, it's too much WOHD-alike and actually I don't like it [don't like it in Wipeout either^^]

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I don't think you understand. I CAN'T make it Hihg-Quality with any of the software I have. In order to make it High-Quality, I would have to make it again from scratch, but then it would look like crap.

Also, the green part is there because I couldn't get rid of it, and unless you use the 2097 or Wip3out HUD when playing WipEout HD, you may notice that there is a colored hexagon around it that tells you what category it goes in (Defensive, Offensive, Deployable).

Finally, I said Mock-Up for a reason.

[docfo4r]

Oh, okay sorry. Then I just don't understand why you posted it anyway :P
& yeah of course I know about the colorisation of the hexagon for displaying the cathegory but I anyway think it doesn't look nice to have some non-transparent whatever-shaped place with a color and a symbol in it. I'd rather have a standalone symbol.

Maybe TypeProton & dreads can make some nice symbols then.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I just gave it to you guys for reference.

[dreadofmondays]

Doc, what I will do is create a concept page with all the pickups on it. If you do a google image search for 'wipeout HD fury concepts', you'll see they create 'style sheets', and place a bunch of stuff on there to present it to their superior. I'll be doing a similar thing here. Should be done with the first one by wednesday, but I might make more to cater for all the different HUDs we have. And regarding the hexagons: it all comes down to the style of the HUD that the player is using.

[docfo4r]

That would be awesome :)
But don't rush anything, take your time!

[rdmx]

This is a vector loosely based off amaloq's turbo icon.
http://xhair.net/turbo.svg

[docfo4r]

Looks good so far rdmx!

[Xpand]

Yep, looks pretty cool!
Here's something from my end:
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The outside is almost complete. I only need to add the logos and map the airbrakes and some other details.
Then I'm moving on to the insides of the ship.
I was wondering on a soundtrack for the ship selection menu... And I came up with the idea of making something like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPf28OoMHus&feature=relmfu
That music kept playing on my head while I made the ship hangar models. :g

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

This is a vector loosely based off amaloq's turbo icon.
http://xhair.net/turbo.svg

Amaroq, not Amaloq

Anyway, that looks cool. But don't forget the opacities.
The thin Chevron is completely transparent, the medium-sized chevron is slightly translucent, and the wide chevron is opaque. Also, I rotated it 45 degrees, to compromise between the newer games and the older games.

TL : DR: It looks great! Keep up the good work!

[docfo4r]

The iFreet ship looks awesome, Xpand! I love the mixture of the white & red color. Although it is a little similar to AG-Systems, I think this one will be my favourite ship in SSGX already, hehe. Music sounds good, if we can create something like this on our own, it's okay with me.

Uhh yesterday I created the scene for Phantomizer but made some mistake in track placement, the ships didn't hover but scratched over the track, I saw that too late xD. Anyway, I set up Vue on my lap & on my comp now so I can multi-render stuff now.
Now for rendering Rockets, Missile, Canon & stuff like that, should I also use a "placeholder" for the actual projectile or do we have models of a rocket, a missile etc. which I should use?

[dreadofmondays]

I think you should do mock ups now, and re-render them with the actual tracks and models once each weapon comes online.

[dreadofmondays]

Sorry about the double post, but I've completed the pickups design sheet :) You can see it here: http://i47.tinypic.com/1pyqhe.jpg
That picture is a jpeg, but you can PM me on here or skype and I'll send the png. I didn't upload it because of the file size, what with all the extra vectors and stuff.
Please read the 'information' blurb in the image!
I've also given the most recent build of the game a play and here is my wrap-up. Aplogies if you already know about stuff here:

Cassandra is looking really sexy. :O The graphics overall are really nice, like the explosions and that start-line-laser.
The soundtrack is very nice, although a bit hard to hear over the sound of the ships. But at least we have sound now :)
The game plays really well when using a pad or 360 controller, the ship is very easy to handle. By contrast, it plays horrible with the keyboard. The keyboard keys need to have a turning rate at least 150% what they have now, as it's impossible to get around corners that are easy with the pad, which is instant. So yeah, speed up the keys!
The ship has a tendancy to crash into it's own bullets when you fire them. :/ At least, that's what it looks like.
Double-check that AI ships respawn correctly if they fall off the track. I've caught one that was left in the void.
Sometimes bumping into the guy in front will shunt you backwards as if you t-boned a wall.
The side shift needs to be tweaked a bit. At the moment, you need to sideshift as you enter the corner to give yourself enough room - sideshifting as you exit to pull yourself away from the wall is unweildy and seems to fail a lot (although that may be just me being bad at the game; I got used to the sideshift after a while). Regardless, try looking into: Instead of a sudden jump to the side, try a constant push over the length of a second or so, like in HD?
There appear to be duplicate options for Side Shift (+) and (-) in the input menu.

That's all! The game is fun, plays smoothly, and works well! :)

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

A second may not seem like much in everyday life, but in the context of a game that is a lot of time.
Make the Side-Shift's 'push' last about 250 or 500 ms.

Also, what about my idea of making the mouse emulate an analogue stick? Where if you move your mouse further away from the center of the screen, the ship would move faster in that direction? Similar to being able to move your crosshair around a screen in an arcade shooter, but it also controls turning.

[zero3growlithe]

@dreadofmondays: Sorry, but everything u mentioned was fixed long time ago after releasing the demo xd Duplicate of input for sideshifts is because one is for keyboard and one is for game pad.
@Amaroq: Or use mouse to pitch and steer left/right OR real crosshair just for aiming with weapons as mentioned reaaaaaaally long time ago, before I became a programmer :P

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Hold on. Let me show you what I'm talking about. It will take a few minutes.

EDIT: I'm done with the picture. This is what I was talking about.
The dots present the location of the mouse, the text tells you what the ship is doing.

[dreadofmondays]

@zero: good to hear :)
@amaroq: Seems easy enough to do, just reset the pointer in the window at the beginning, and then compare this resetted position to the position it is currently in for x and y, normalize those two numbers and apply them to horizontal/vertical input. :)

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

School is coming back around, so I won't be as active. Fortunately, as it is an Online school, I can still be at home, and I am pretty much required to be on my computer >:D

[docfo4r]

@Amaroq I get your idea with the mouse. Although I don't know if I will use mouse to play the game, I really like your idea, should be working fine!

@Dreads Dude that's AWESOME! You created all those logos on your own? How could you even come up with all the ideas? I saw rdmx' & Amaroq's turbo symbol in it, hehe.
So to give you some feedback:
-> First of all, I love the idea to place the cathegory color of the symbol into the symbol itself instead of using the background, that's great.
-> The only thing I am not really a fan of is having different pickup symbols for each HUD... I think it would be too confusing to re-learn each symbol's meaning when choosing another HUD. I prefer to stick to one symbol for a pickup in the entire game.
-> The ones I like the most are "sprites" [they should face right side I think], "Assembly" & "Quintuplets". I assume we pick one of these styles and you create logos for each weapon in that style then, right?
-> The picture design itself is great, but it's a little too much going into the original Wipeout thing IMO. But if you all guys are ok, I'd like to use this one on our website. Or, you could re-create it & make it look less-WOHD alike [and maybe on white BG for the website].
-> I also really love that Slipstream GX logo on the upper right corner. You used it before, right? Do you have a bigger HQ version of it? What do the other guys think if this would be our official logo?

[rdmx]

6599
I had that in a really old menu mockup.
You should try and keep everything as clean and simple as possible. Some of the designs are pretty, but needlessly complicated.

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I also had an idea of being able to us the WASD keys instead of the arrowkeys for movement. Why? Because in most computer games I've played, there was an option to use the WASD keys instead, and it just feels more natural to me than reaching for the arrow keys with my left hand.

[docfo4r]

Yep, agreed. And also the other keys like shooting, absorbing etc. can be placed better.

Since I totally messed up my Phantomizer-animation yesterday [must have been tired] I went for something easier today. Am rendering Impulse now...

[Xpand]

Idk, I kinda suck at racing games using the WASD for navigation. I'm okay with it in shooters, but whenever a racing game comes with that setting I have to change it to the arrowkeys so I can play with my right hand. It just feels unnatural to me, and my left hand coordination sucks. I'm used to use that side of the keyboard to accelerate, brake or use any other features of the game. Maybe you're left handed, I guess? That's why you use the left hand on the arrow keys, right?

I guess we can put two key settings and select them on a menu...
Anyways, I made the cockpit for the iFreet. Added a low poly roll cage to give it a bit more detail, since it has a very large empty area...
I also added the green on the top, but it kinda looks like a large bird took a cr*p there and the owner of the ship just let it stay out in the sun for a week:
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[Amaroq Dricaldari]

No, I don't use my left hand with the arrow keys. The reason why I can't use my right hand for the arrow keys is because I can't use my mouse with my left hand, I have to use it with my right hand.

[docfo4r]

Actually I play shooters with WASD & can play racing games on both WASD and arrow keys. Oh and I am right handed.
iFreet looks great but I also think the green part doesn't really fit to the rest of the ship. Maybe another shape and black color would do it, but it's hard to imagine it for me right now how it looks alike then :P

Since Impulse is still rendering [laptop is crap for handle 3D rendering stuff], I will try to write some nice descriptions for each pickup...

6601
10hours time calculation FTW. Vue's calculator is awesome sometimes xD

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Don't know what docfo4r's problem is. I think the green looks fine.

But you really should take my suggestion of making the red just a tad bit darker. And maybe add a tiny yellow stribe just above the red one (much thinner than the red one, and with a tiny bit of white in between).

After looking at this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_Combat#Music), I am really looking forward to hearing some electronic music in the game that focuses more on things like synth instruments and ambience and whatnot. Just imagine a set of calm, ambient tracks for the various menus and zone mode and stuff.

[docfo4r]

Hmm I wouldn't put too much colors on the ship... White, red, black, green, yellow. Feels like an overload then.

Xpand if you like to use the green, then maybe put it on the top of the ship only, maybe that wouldn't look like bird sh*t anymore ;)

[Xpand]

I found a way to make it blend well:
6602
I guess that's it for the exterior.
BTW I'm on skype if anyone needs to talk.

[docfo4r]

Uhh yeah I love it, good work :)

[Oryx Crake]

great stuff xpand I approve. you got all the stuff I wanted though in case we might want to avoid directly using names from the real wipeout franchise I did make a logo for what I imagined becoming mirage in the future the "imagine" logo if you remember very simple black and white thing (though thats only if we feel we cant use mirage there but that's up to the commitee

[Xpand]

The imagine logo is on the other side. Well, mirage has a very broad meaning... But I'll change it for something less suspicious...

Anyways, here's an attempt to make some soft menu music...
http://soundcloud.com/rbng-1/ozone

[Oryx Crake]

ah ok hms hms... well I wasn't thinking that we neccesarily need to change it but if we all agree that we do then maybe we should change it until then though I'm happy to have it there man :)

also I approve of this menu music, and on the subject of music does anyone know whether xpandrome is still roaming around the forum? he made some smashing tunes intended for wipeout (as a fan project but inspired by and intended for listening to when you're playing wipeout) perhaps we should ask him if he wants a song or two in SSGX?

[docfo4r]

I like the music! Can already imagine scrolling through the menu while listening to this tune :)

[dreadofmondays]

@Amaroq I get your idea with the mouse. Although I don't know if I will use mouse to play the game, I really like your idea, should be working fine!

@Dreads Dude that's AWESOME! You created all those logos on your own? How could you even come up with all the ideas? I saw rdmx' & Amaroq's turbo symbol in it, hehe.
So to give you some feedback:
-> First of all, I love the idea to place the cathegory color of the symbol into the symbol itself instead of using the background, that's great.
-> The only thing I am not really a fan of is having different pickup symbols for each HUD... I think it would be too confusing to re-learn each symbol's meaning when choosing another HUD. I prefer to stick to one symbol for a pickup in the entire game.
-> The ones I like the most are "sprites" [they should face right side I think], "Assembly" & "Quintuplets". I assume we pick one of these styles and you create logos for each weapon in that style then, right?
-> The picture design itself is great, but it's a little too much going into the original Wipeout thing IMO. But if you all guys are ok, I'd like to use this one on our website. Or, you could re-create it & make it look less-WOHD alike [and maybe on white BG for the website].
-> I also really love that Slipstream GX logo on the upper right corner. You used it before, right? Do you have a bigger HQ version of it? What do the other guys think if this would be our official logo?
Thanks man :) Don't worry if it looks like a lot of work, it's fun and fairly simple to knock out.
Those 'sheets' in the future I'll do them in a more unique style than the WOHD menu ;)
Okay, well I will focus on Sprites first and make a literal 'sprite-sheet' ;) of them. Should be done in a couple days.

6599
I had that in a really old menu mockup.
You should try and keep everything as clean and simple as possible. Some of the designs are pretty, but needlessly complicated.
Ahah, been looking for this. This is a nice logo, we should be using this one.

[Xpand]

Well, I also have this one that I released a while ago:
http://soundcloud.com/rbng-1/future-mist
Pretty monotonous in a good way, like for some sort of stat menu or something. It reminds me of the main menu music "Gateway" from AC4 for some reason...
Shorten the intro and voilá...

[docfo4r]

@dreads
Yeah I also think that logo is great! If you ask me: That's our logo!
Nice, I can't wait to see your work, but don't rush ;)

I created some text for the voice in the pickup animation video. Some of them are informative only, others are a bit naughty, if you guys have other ideas or corrections, let me know. If not, I'll send the text over to be recorded & vocoded... [Maybe, dreads, this text might also help you for creating the symbols - would also be helpful for me if you can send me over each symbol in hq on an one-color background so I can key them out for the videos]

Turbo Highly compressed kerosene will be added to your engine for a brief moment pushing your ship infront of your enemies.
Phantomizer While your own ship is almost invincible, a hologram will be placed on the track distracting any autoaim-systems and confusing your enemy for sure.
Gravitron An intensified AG-Device makes handling of your ship easier as it won't take off the track anymore.
Teleporter Shoot a portal to travel through and recur some meters ahead. Beware that the portal won't last long and can be shot down by other weapons. Also enemies are able to use your portal.
Impulse If you have an enemy scratching your rear, use the Impulse to send out a shockwave that clears the track for you.
E.M.P. An electromagnetic pulse will turn off the AG-Device of the enemies close by. See them grinding on the ground while you're passing by.
Rockets Shoot two rockets in the direction of your ships nose. Immense damage on the impact when hitting the enemy ship.
Canon Shoot 30 bullets in the direction of your ships nose. A single bullet won't create much damage but unloading a whole magazine on your victim will definitely distract his raceline.
Missile In case you have an agile enemy ahead, use the missile to make sure to hit him since it's a homing rocket. Beware that the missile becomes a ricochet if the autoaim-system could not find a target.
Tractorbeam Send off a short laser beam in the direction of your ships nose. Whoever touches the beam will experience mediocre damage.
Tractortrap If you think your enemy needs a break, place a Tractortrap for him. If he traveles over it, he'll surely have a short moment to enjoy the ambience.
Magnets Drop some magnets onto the track and bring the life of your enemy out of balance if he is passing by close enough.
Mines If you need to make sure that nobody will catch up with you, place some mines on the track which slow down and damage whoever is travelling straight into them.

@Xpand
I like this music aswell... But will we have different music for each sub-menu? Maybe it might become a bit annoying then. Another option would be to have a playlist with just a few songs on random for the menu...

[Xpand]

Not diferent musics. I'm just showing some I have. We'll make a selection of them when the time comes...

[docfo4r]

Ah, okay alright.

[dreadofmondays]

You could simply randomly choose a music from a selection... pop up with a little box whenever you enter the menus that says: "Now Playing: X by Y"

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

I got a little too excited when I saw the number of people currently viewing the thread.

[vincoof]

Missile In case you have an agile enemy ahead, use the missile to make sure to hit him since it's a homing rocket. Beware that the missile becomes a ricochet if the autoaim-system could not find a target.

I don't know if it's the place/moment to talk about it, but isn't it a bit weird that a weapon strikes you ? I mean, apart from that weapon, nothing can turn against you (well, Turbo can be a bad idea sometimes but that's truly different), so having a single weapon that has a negative side effect doesn't seem right. At least not for a weapon that only is an homing missile.

I for one would take a risk of a side effect only for a huge weapon. For instance when I have a Plasma Bolt I sometimes run into a wall if it helps me hitting the opponent because if you hit him, he's almost dead. Big risk, big reward. With the above missile, the risk of hitting yourself is too high for the reward of removing only ~20%HP of some random opponent.

my 2c

[docfo4r]

Hm yeah I get your idea and I agree. Actually when I re-think about it, the behaviour is strange anyway. I mean, if the missile hits the enemy it will explode but if the missile hits the wall it will bounce off... So how does the missile know if it hit the wall or the enemy?
My idea: If the missile is triggered without a target it will just travel straight and explode on the next wall or whatever will be hit. This makes the weapon a bit more tactical aswell.

So the text could be changed to this:
Missile In case you have an agile enemy ahead, shoot the missile when the autoaim-system found a target to make sure to hit him. The missile will travel straight if it's triggered without a target.

Better?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

The missile explodes when it makes contact with a ship's shields or engines (or when it runs out of fuel, in which case it explodes anyway). The reason it ricochets is for gameplay reasons. If it didn't ricochet, it would be only 60% as useful.

Missile
Category: Offensive
Range: Medium-Long
Ammunition: Single Use
Explosive: True

This long-ranged homing rocket uses a sophisticated targeting system, allowing it to lock on to an enemy vessel by tracking heat and energy signatures and cross-referencing the data with a continueous radar feed. Even if it fails to acquire a target, it is still a very devestating weapon.

While it doesn't turn very quickly, it is still a very tactical weapon as it can ricochet off walls, allowing it to hit targets that have just cleared a difficult corner series (such as a single (but not a double) hairpin).

[dreadofmondays]

I really did like the bouncing missile in HD though. Being able to hit an opponent around corners is a thrill, and hitting yourself because of a mistake or bad judgement (or just luck) is a thrill for the opponent, who escape the missile in a lucky way. Either way, a player has fun.

[docfo4r]

So it should have the ricochet ability as I can read...

@Amaroq nice text, I will just shorten it a little bit if you don't mind.
Missile - If you have an agile enemy ahead, use this long-ranged homing rocket which will lock on to an enemy ship by tracking heat and energy signatures and cross-referencing the data with a continueous radar feed. Even if it fails to acquire a target, it can be used in a tactical way as it has the ability to ricochet off walls.

Also some changes here:
EMP - An electromagnetic pulse will interfere with the electronics of the AG-Device used by enemies close by. See them grinding on the ground while you're passing by.

Animation for Turbo + Impulse are done, just need to add up voice & info text. Am rendering EMP now. So, do we have an official font I can use for the each title? The font from the logo, or something else?

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

It doesn't need to be that short. I tend to hear what I'm writing in my head, and it was about the same length as Hellfire_WZ's explaination (in his 'Basics' tutorial for WipEout HD).

Also, I don't know of any fonts, but I think we can make one. Just let me contact my good friend in Missouri and ask him to make us a really awesome font (he once made a Predator font, so I think he can manage).

[docfo4r]

Remember we just have about 10 seconds time for speaking the text. I don't wanna make every pickup half a minute long just to add some technical information which isn't really helpful, after all it's just about understand what the pickup does, not how the missile is developed etc. Hope you get my point ;) So I'd keep the length like this.

About the font: I also think it's best if we create our own font instead of looking for something to download...

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

It isn't that long. I have seen weapon demonstrations in other games that are WAY longer. Plus, if we want it to look impressive, we may as well make it sound impressive.

[Xpand]

So I've been thinking of having a concept type racing class, where only concept ships can participate.
This would be a good spot for TypeProton's ships to fit in and I started redesigning other teams that we already have.
Here's a quick sketch of Solaris for example:
6604

Sorry for the crappy picture quality....

[Amaroq Dricaldari]

Is anyone new asking to join the team? We seem a little... shorthanded.

[Oryx Crake]

want me to give my ships a going over for the prototypes too xpand?

[TypeProton]

So I've been thinking of having a concept type racing class, where only concept ships can participate.
This would be a good spot for TypeProton's ships to fit in and I started redesigning other teams that we already have.
Well, concept class idea is good and all but is there anything special to make it worth while for players?
I originally intended them (my teams) to be unlocked for player after completing each speed class or other team's campaign at most. With themselves having campaign of their own.
Also, more important stuff : Do we really agree on current weapon list? So I can stop worrying about it.

[zero3growlithe]

@Xpand: Heeee, where do you take these awesome ideas for ships from? xd
@Proton: Well.... i think it is ok :) (weapon list)
Anyway, my try to make music for ship selection screen (although i would prefer to make it ship modification screen music, aka "garage"): http://soundcloud.com/zero3growlithe/chose-wisely-wip
As for AI i've finally pointed out how to make it work as it should, they will make mistakes, they will have same possibilities as player, that is: make barrel rolls, use side shifts/air breaks, and of course they will suffer the same as player: slow acceleration (xd) and slow down on collisions. They will also dodge mines (if possible) and I'll make them want to take revenge on those who "bully" them :g Maybe I can add them some memory too so they'll remember you so u better be careful ^^:+

[vincoof]

Let's forget what I told about the missile thing. I once thought not hitting an opponent would make you the opponent (i.e. it searches hot engines and if there is no opponent hot engine your engine would be aimed). If it's a HD-like ricochet then I think it's fine. There is very little chance the missile hits you back and even if it does you're kind of lame to be stupid enough to send the missile on this L-turn that was just staring at you.

[docfo4r]

@vincoof, yep, agreed
@zero Awesome work on the AI. Now the word artifical intelligence really makes some sense here. I love the part that it's possible to make one enemy to go nuts on you if you shoot him all the time xD The music is nice aswell, I like it :)
@Proton yeah I'd also say the weapon list is set. 13 pickups, I wouldn't add more and everything in there right now is a good mix of classic stuff, low and high damage thing and some nice special effect stuff for your eyes xD
@Amaroq hmm yeah no-one new at the moment but I see we are moving forward anyways :)
And about the weapon animation. Ok, I agree something technical like a missile could be explained a little better but I wouldn't try to input as many technical terms in one sentence as possible. Imagine a 14yrs old will play this, he just won't care for that stuff^^ And you have to agree there's not much to say about things like a Turbo, actually everybody knows how a Turbo works. Soooo big question: Do you agree with the current textes? If you don't, then I'd ask you to create a text for each pickup by yourself. But still I'd go for something simple to understand. The video is meant to explain the basics of how you can use the pickup, I think the WOW-effect comes in when you use it yourself while racing ;)

I'll clean up the G-Docs for now, I found it's a little confusing. And I will store a copy twice a month so in case someone is accidentially messing it up, we'll have a backup.

Further on I felt free enough to create a date for a Skype meeting [voice or text chat is both okay]. It'll take place if you guys are okay with it and if enough people have time to attend it. So we can discuss some stuff and post a summary here in the forum for everyone who couldn't make it. Check the date & time for your city here (http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=SSGX%3A+First+Telco+-+Talking+about+progress+%26+tasks&iso=20120826T01&p1=2902)!

Side note:
Maybe you guys also read about the sad news that SL has been closed. The Wipeout future is uncertain but doesn't look good at all. Now it's our turn to make Slipstream the replacement for 2048 ;) ^^