Pulse Concerns

[Colin Berry]

There are several reasons for the length of the tracks in Pure and Pulse (which are similar to Pure in length)

Some reasons are technical, longer tracks simply take up more memory due to increase in texture size / quantity and polygons etc, to retain the high quality look you have to set an upper limit and work to it. X amount of polygons in the track and environment, spread over 5km of track will look better than the same amount spread of 10km


Another reason is preference, the designers who make the tracks have preferences. Personally I like short tracks because they are easier to memorise and offer really cool opportunity for shaving corners and identifying exact spots to make up time in time trials.
I also think they can be extremely intense experiences.
My own personal belief is that longer tracks ultimately do not lend themselves as well to time trial events as shorter tracks. I am sure some people will disagree, but thats a preference. Though I think Longer tracks can make for ace race experiences.
Having said that one of the other designers has a thing for more technical tracks etc which can include longer tracks. We do try to have a balance and a range, we dont set all the tracks at 4km. Indeed in Pure including all the downloads the average length was over 5km as I recall (I think Sinucit was the longest at close to 6.5km)


Ultimately though we dont judge a track on its length or on how long it takes to do a lap, its judged on how it plays and flows and how it tests the player. we may well push the track length a little longer in some cases in future especially as technology improves it becomes a viable option, but nothing is done for the sake of it.

[zargz]

Thanks for the info Colin!
I guess Pulse is already done, designways, so there's not much to add to that.
Also I'm just now getting my psp (in two days!!!) so I'm more than exited over that!
I lost 2 wipEout years in the far east .. but I had some fun.
Anyway, I've been watching the multiplayer VDOs by members of the woz and the tracks look great, especially for multiplayer!
Also I read that the game is harder to beat than 2097 and 3!
As I see it no wo game till now has had a good AI (Pures though seems better than any yet, I'll have to wait and see)
so after completing the game the most exiting part of it is the multiplayer part, that before was just competing on the time tables.
Seeing you are just fine tuning the last pieces, I'm guessing the chances of any major changes are .. eer .. slim to none?
Exept perhaps some minor details for the multiplayer, like .. choosing nr of laps, say up to 10?
The choosing weapons and ships we could add to the PS3 wo wishlist!

Cheers!

[Dr. Angryman]

Also I read that the game is harder to beat than 2097 and 3!

Harder than those.... Wow, now I'm really psyched about Pulse!

I'm still not getting my fix of new WO information though....

(steps away from the computer and starts crying in the corner.)

[zargz]

eer .. I was talking about Pure .. hihi!

Do you think it was?

[q_dmc12]

no, quite the opposite - but not by much

[Dogg Thang]

No, Pure wasn't harder to beat - it just takes longer due to medals being assigned to each and every race in all modes. The time trial golds were (thankfully) a challenge - whoever set those times had the good players in mind and I really appreciated that!

Interesting to hear the reasoning on the shorter tracks. From a technical point of view, I guess that makes sense, though it does seem strange sometimes that advances in the hardware seem to have brought more constraints rather than less. I guess with each new system, rather than just being able to build on what has already been achieved, you are starting from scratch again and having to build everything again.

Actually on that, I have always wondered about the screen in screen bits that were seen in the PS1 games (where you could see yourself racing as if on a huge screen in the background - like in Gare d'Europe). I've never seen that feature in any game on any system since (including the WO games). Was that a unique-to-PS1 feature?

[Dr. Angryman]

I guess with each new system, rather than just being able to build on what has already been achieved, you are starting from scratch again and having to build everything again.

BINGO! If you build on what you already have, then you have an add-on. An entirely new sytem leaves unexplored ground to trek, but it's well worth it!

[rageagainstgeorge]

Dogg Thang - the F1 games still do that. Neat effect I think.

[Dr. Angryman]

I think that if WipEout will have those giant televisions, it should not only show your ship, but other ships as well. That way is more realistic....

Or is it? What do you think?

[RJ O'Connell]

You mean, like seeing a "TV feed" of the race in those screens? Absolutely.

Also, thanks for the explanation of the short tracks. I guess since I've been playing so much WO1 and XL I'm used to slightly more spacious tracks on larger screens, making Pure feel slightly smallish....

[Mark Of Insanity]

I think they would have big TV feed screens, but near where the crowds are so that they can see what's going on when the race isn't visible at the time.

Dogg Thang - there was one other, on Megamall I recall shortly before the spiral. Still the PS1 though.

The Comment on the AI of WO games, I actually feel that WO1 has quite neat AI. If you're travelling slightly behind another racer, they'll try to block you as you try to swerve around them. Annoying, but very pleasing to see AI doing this, but I don't remember this AI tactic being used in any other WO, even Pure.

[Dr. Angryman]

I have no problem with the AI on any of the WipEouts.... Except when they use mines against me. Then I'm pissed!

[rdmx]

I watched the pulse trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5htd98vCeE
you said acceleration had improved.
I noticed that the triakis was now accelerating as fast as a pure ag-sys!
how fast is an ag-sys?

[RJ O'Connell]

According to the preliminary ship stats, it's slower than the Goteki 45 now! And the AG Systems will be on par with EG-X, so I'm assuming all three will get to top speed in like, instantly. Can we handle that? O_O

[Mark Of Insanity]

Colin Berry said something somewhere about increasing the acceleration of ship's all around, so AG Systems will be like...

[RJ O'Connell]

That's a really good thing, because - well, it's been said before and I'll say it again - Pure's worst flaw is the poor acceleration after being hit by a bomb, missile, etc - coming to a dead stop and waiting three seconds (an eternity in WO time) for the ship to get going again.

I was exaggerating on the increased acceleration, I'm sure us veterans can handle the speed.

[zargz]

I watched the pulse trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5htd98vCeE .. how fast is an ag-sys?

at the end of that trailer, there you have all the stats, just pause the movie
I did it and notice that AG and Feisar have the same speed -> 7 wich seems to be the lowest.
I see now we got both "ready Go!" and "3, 2, 1, Go!"
the tracks look sweet! I like the virtual track too, if it is virtual that is.

[Dr. Angryman]

I like the virtual track too, if it is virtual that is.

You mean the Arc Prime reverse circuit on Zone mode?

[zargz]

!!? so this is a Pure vdo? ..
any way nice trax!

[benjahman]

wow thanks!!! First time I see this trailer!! The new bomb look awesome with this orbital detonator on it!!!