146 replies to this topic

[Irenë Hawnetyne]

Personally, I'd love that game, however it turned out.

[Pasidon]

Kart racing... seriously. Fun for us, maybe. If we put little Phil Heads and Ash heads on drivers. Fun. But kart racing implies multiplayer races. If we really want to make something to market, that's not it. It will not sell. If we want to just make something for us, sure. But that's alot of work for the group of us.

[duke_Qa]

Personally I think it sounds like 10% of the work you need to do compared to a 1-hour roguelike RPG. There's practically no levels and classes and skills to balance. Multiplayer coding in Unity is laughable simple compared to most things(as long as you don't demand flawless multiplayer experience, which practically nobody can create anyway).

What you'd need for a cart game is something like this:

• Basic kart physics with character based variation(weight, acceleration, grip, maneuverability would be basic stats)
• Maps with things like speed-boosters, weapon pickup boxes, art, different terrain modifiers(sand, water, ice)
• Basic weapons that you get from pickup-boxes, implemented in the kart
• Basic multiplayer coordination, goals like 3-rounds/3-ballons/whatever, basic AI and pathfinding for AI(this might be the biggest trouble, but doable. Multiplayer would be a higher priority though since that is easier to get working good),

Its not that I think the idea is God's gift to mankind, but it sounds relatively simple to create some basic stuff like that. to make it even more easy, go for a GTA1/2 (what was the name of that game, micro machines?) camera perspective with lowpoly models.

[Elvenlord]

Even if it doesn't really take off, something simple would be a good boost to creating something better.

[duke_Qa]

Which is half the point, whatever you start on is most likely going to be a mess anyway, better to start with something that isn't too serious but still enjoyable enough that you want to finish it. If it just becomes a basic prototype its not a loss.

[Gen.Kenobi]

Yeah. That was the main idea behind my idea.
Something simple - not that simple -, but fun and that would get us in the right path.

MP is a must, because we'll all want to play against each other.
@duke: I wasn't thinking about a 2D game, but an actual 3D, like Wii's Mario Kart... It would require some more work, but it would give us more experience in order to make more complex games.

[duke_Qa]

As long as you don't mind low-res textures up close it should be possible. Mostly a programming question how the camera behaves.

[duke_Qa]

Also, mario Kart wii.... BRRR. Terrible rubber-band game. mario kart 64 was the golden age. I'd also look at the twisted metal games for arcade-like multiplayer mayhem, twisted metal black being my fav. because I've not played any other.

[Irenë Hawnetyne]

Note that, whilst any prototype or experiment will be focused on programming and use of Unity, the polycount should not be so important given Unity's ability to handle quite a lot of them, and most of us here will have pretty capable computers. So, whilst for the sake of speed you might want to keep each kart under 2000 polies, I'm sure it'd be quite manageable to have, say, 12 karts at 4000.

[duke_Qa]

A kart would be sufficient at around 2000 triangles I think, although that depends on the roundness you want to have on things. worst-case scenario you can sculpt the extra details and add them as normal maps. The characters could then have 2000 triangles too, if you want to stick within the 4000 limit per unit. LOD is something Unity does on its own I believe, so it should be possible to get good framerates.

Edited by duke_Qa, 16 January 2013 - 09:01 AM.

[Radspakr Wolfbane]

DIGI has been working on a car game and I suggested he make it a Mario Kart type game.

[Mathijs]

I think this sounds pretty good as a practice round. It's a relatively easy to build framework to which things can be added.

[Gen.Kenobi]

@duke: Last time I checked, LOD was only availiable on Unity Pro. BTW, why were you talking about low-res textures up close? Unity doesn't support HD textures?

I think we should make it look good. Not AA, but good... don't think the poly count should be something to hold us back just yet, but yeah, we can always do Normal Maps.

[duke_Qa]

I think unity free has some basic lod adjustments, but I guess it would have been nice to have a pro licence. I know a buddy of mine got a license for free through school, but since the licenses are person-restricted it will be troublesome to have one available for all. I hope they arrange for some other sorts of licenses in the future.

Also texture resolution can probably be as high as you want it, probably limited right now around 8096 square pixels. Just leaving my two cents about what sort of things might be relevant for the art on that. A top-down viewpoint would have saved us a lot of work on detail levels, but if the camera is supposed to be up close you need details.

[Pasidon]

I should be, like, really angry and swear vengeance on your non-robot themed kart racing game and make my own... But no, it's cool. You dudes can make whatever you want, and I'll still help.

[Mathijs]

Yeah, designing levels and things for this sounds fun. I would go for stylized, 'artistic' graphics. Fairly low-poly, hard-edge stuff with relatively small texture resolutions. We can come up with the strangest settings to race in.

[Gen.Kenobi]

So... we're all good and set?
Can we dive deep into gameplay details, ect?

I think we could create the forums now

[Radspakr Wolfbane]

How about a cell shaded look it's been a while since it's been used and when done right it can look amazing.

Oh and you should call it Copro...

[duke_Qa]

Just start with a generic thread first, cel-shading is probably a good start.

[Phil]

A Revora kart game sounds awesome! Call it Revora Racers. Make it hilariously over the top. Graphics can be shitty, nobody will mind (see Minecraft). Use funny weapons and power-ups.
Naughty Dog pulled off a Mario Kart clone with Crash Team Racing for the PS1 and I still play that with friends from time to time because it's so much fun.

If you need funding, I'm ready to spend some cash. Revora can buy the rights for it off of you or something.