Few ideas on the game

Hi,

here are few ideas for the codename Govern game, let me know if I go too off track.

Game Objectives - clear, as defined in design document.

Back strory - clear, as defined in design document

Game scene / City Details
I know we talked about the version where all races will take place somewhere in water. As the background idea is to win the race to govern city - it is a bit odd to see rendered city in city selection just in the beginning, and then just on the end "you made it, city is yours".

My idea is to make set of Potiemkin assets, typical for each city. It would be nice if there would be one broken wall in each city ( or something like that ) with some grafitty from Adrastos (= the rebel force, did I get it right? ). Else there is no evidence rebels mean it seriously, and you would "fight" invisible enemy.

I would maybe restrict the number of cities to 4 or even 3, to keep the amount of art to be done on acceptable level.
Surrounding track with assets from city will make it more eye candy, more rich for the gamer.
I do not want anyone to model city as seen in GTA or Assasins Creed, just some typical elements to be placed around the track.

To connect the racing with the goal of game more - after each race there could be short kind of animation with newspapers, with captions like "Racers of Adrastos won again, dawn of technology is getting closer" or "Talented racer from Ukko showed back to Adrastos"

I am sorry text got longer than acceptable, but I hope you will like some of the ideas.


Petr

I don't think I follow the comment about GTA...

Since these will essentially be a closed track, I was thinking cities would just be towering visual obstructions to the drop-off horizon. Possibly only seeing a tree-top, water and clouds.

I love the newspaper and city-wall idea. Each section having a track/race you have to win for control, for your selected "home". That can be made real political. Possibly gaining you items/weapons from that fully conquered city to add to your arsenal.

Would we have to reduce a racer per full conquer? (Since that would be you racing you. So to speak.)

We could keep the 7 people, but only have 4 cities.With each city having 4-5 tracks, already dominated by a defending racer. That specific racer could be harder, while we force the other non-dominating racers to purposely loos to him... so cities would not actually change dominance to anyone other than you. Or, that would be interesting. The city dominance changes, and it becomes an AI free-for-all, in any race you participate in.

The obvious "Foilers" would be the non-race-entrant vagabond guys. (Since they are not there for the race, they could just swoop-in and wreak random havoc on racers, before an AI-race-cop drives them off, or they get bored, and just drive away. We could safely assume that road-mines and mag-strips and anything else bad laying on the track, was a creation of them being there.)

Oh, I forgot to add... (From what I remember, when I was talking to Petr.)

I would like to suggest that the "Shields" we use for the game, be a universal "Orb" style... They do not have to be visually seen, just suggested by the impact-sparks, and collision sparks between two players colliding.

The reasons I am suggesting this, are many...
- It sort-of explains why things are not falling off of our ships when large weapons hit us, or we collide over and over.
- It super-simplifies collision detection, giving us more cpu-cycles for making the game play better, or look great.
- It is universal among strengths... No physical 3D "Bulking" needs to be done, to represent more powerful shields.
- It can help explain the, "Non-flipping", or cat-like, "Land on your feet", which most races have. (Possibly, a flip-over, but a tractor-beam re-positions you to the track, so you can finish with your lower time.)
- If there is time, and we use the TBEM, it can "Pulse" the shield, with an alpha-glow, for a dramatic effect. (Mostly to let you know it is there.)
- Force shields are the wave of the future, everyone has them... Why not us!
- Also helps to explain why we don't tarnish when fired at... (Burn marks.)

I think that is it... for that idea...

One more suggestion... in light of the news-paper idea... but taking it one step more into... well... odd...

Have goofy ads, purposely setup like a news-paper flyer, or a pamphlet, to advertise the weapons/shields/etc... which you select to buy.

Sample reading...

Picture a "ON-SALE" spiked star border, with an artistic drawn, or 3d, Missile in the center.

Below reads...
"Tiny's Super Mach-45 Nitro-Slicer!"
"Load ten of these bad-boys into your missile rack, and shave the skin clear off your enemies bones! It'll sting like pouring nitro into an open wound... Guaranteed."

Fine Print...
"Only the sensation of pouring nitro into an open wound is guaranteed, missiles are subject to user accuracy and non-obstructed collision targets. No other use will be reimbursed for a refund. Shaving is optional."

Followed by the Prices, Quantities, etc... where you actually select it. (As more becomes available, they show. Nothing shows if it is not available, or you are broke.)

Since you will be at the news-paper transition, and not into another race yet... it would sort-of go with the flow.

Good idea with those pamphlets.

Regarding my comment on GTA - you say you did not get it but your summarization is +/- what I meant:

Quote:

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Since these will essentially be a closed track, I was thinking cities would just be towering visual obstructions to the drop-off horizon. Possibly only seeing a tree-top, water and clouds.

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I agree on this, an maybe tops of some higher buildings.
That means not modelling mesh of whole city, just some elements like those tree tops, few types skyscrappers.

Your idea for about 4 races in one city seems good to me. Enough to enjoy the look and not get bored soon.


Petr

Like you said... it allows for more object recycle potential...

We could get real creative, and turn one building into four...

Upside-down, is another view. (Still one object loaded.)

Turned around is another view. (Still the same object.)

Can TBGL swap axis's? (Reverse left to right.)

Hi Jason,

Quote:

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We could get real creative, and turn one building into four...

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I would be happy to see this, it depends on artists. So even you and your Sketch-Up skills. Hurry up :)
More spectacular city, better.

Swapping axis ... this is possible for example using TBGL_Scale with -1 for some axis, but I do not recommend it much :)
Maybe some parameter on map loading could help to do it in some clean way.


Petr

I am on the wrong page in understanding I think... Seeing the track editor examples so far, I can't see how it will tie into the city designs?

Are we to make individual buidings? And then the track editor would place both items and tracks?

Or do we modelers model the whole city and track?

I would imagine that the editor would make the track, based on the city-type... and include the non-track items to be positioned around the completed track...

EG, once you have a "Closed" or complete loop/track... You would go into city edit? (As opposed to constantly moving everything around, and having to track two separate grids at once. Grids would not be available where a track covers that slot.)

Though, I do think the scale of the track needs adjustment. There is no mention of grid-scale, but the track suggests that it is only a few meters wide. A 90-degree turn needs to be about 30-50 meters square. (That would make the track, as it is now, over 50 meters tall, by that scale.)

Visually, it just needs to be flatter and thinner, thinner towards the center of the grid, as if the grid was actually a 5*5 grid. EG, a 5*5 with a straight pass would only be 1/5 as wide as the grid, but all 5 long.

In the sand-box, the vehicles are only 1 meter wide and 2 meters long, but a car is closer to 2 meters by 3 meters. The track should be able to hold 4-6 cars wide, which would make the width of a 1/5 grid be around 8-12 meters wide. (Lets just say 10 meters or 5 cars wide... not including the banked edges, which should be at-least 2 cars wide also. Plus, the banks need a wall to keep us in the track, and help reduce ground visuals. Lets say the walls are 1 meters thick. This pushes us to a track-width of 10 + 4 + 4 + 1 + 1 = 20 meters. That would be 1/5, so a full block would 20 * 5 = 100 * 100 meters per square. That gives us a 90-degree turn at the 2/5 inner edge, which is an inner radius of 40 meters, and an outer radius of 60 meters. That is still a tight turn, even for a race-car.)

I will make a full-size track using those specs, and throw it into the sand-box, so we can push the editor into a semi-final stage. That may help give some insight into how we may handle the surroundings better also.

Jason, which editor are you talking about?