Opensuse 12.3, STK on fedora 0.7, fedora 17.
I decided to create a map for STK, and because I was using fedora's version
of STK I decided to get the latest before trying since the map file format may
have changed. I got the bz2 0.8 archive, built it (on opensuse,) and was upset about some of
the changes that have taken place. I'm not reporting this on your bug reports
because I don't know if these changes are intentional, or accidental, or something
in between.
The sharp turn key now called slide is not well suited to playing the maps. They
require sharp turns and the track tends to be way to skinny for large swooping
maneuvers. Further when you get to about a fortyfive degree turn you all the sudden
get a huge boost in speed which appears to be caused by an unwanted spring. This
tends to slam you into the wall you were just beginning to think you could avoid.
I've tried to adapt to this new configuration without success for over a week
(7 hours+).
The numpad which I used to play with a friend on is no longer recognized as having
separate keys from the home, up, down, etc. keys on my key board. It's not the num
lock; that's always turned on by me at boot.
"Climbing the walls" and or "Sudden perpendicular syndrome" has gone from a nuisance
to a night mare. When I touch the wall I expect to slow down a little and bounce and
or turn away from it. The new slide contro, however, halts all hopes of doing the
latter. This has led to a rash of PTSTKD (Post Traumatic SuperTuxKart Disorder,)
instead of the expected enjoyment in playing a (very) fun game. The AIs suffer too,
I clocked one as taking 31+ minutes to complete a four lap race (it took me
about 7 minutes).
The karts are also unbalenced, I'm talking physically, not that the've gone crackers.
This leads to an unfair advantage for karts such as Mozilla landing flat where as
others, such as Gooey, landing almost upsidedown. The AIs again suffer from this too,
and it causes many rescues.
I down loaded many of the addons and found that many of the tracks use springs to
speed you up so that it does not take to long to go around the track. This is bad
because if I get three springs from a box then what do I do with them? I'm already
going at three million kilometers per hour. Second, if I want to drive at a slower
speed and appreciate the scenery I can't because I'm too busy desperately trying
to get control of my kart that's on the ground only on ten percent of the track.
And last, but by no means least, is the new plunger in the face. Previously, it was
smaller and so you had at least a limited idea of where you were going, now you
don't. Also it moves. Though this might not seem a problem at first consider
the how perception works with the human eye. You don't have to trust me on this
one, go to your kitchen and pick up a cup and have someone, with out warning,
wave their hand in front of your face. Your eyes will temporarily follow the
motion. So, if the plunger starts moving and it's already extremely hard to tell
where you are going then you all the sudden become distracted by the plunger what
do you think becomes of your kart that's already going too fast because of the
over use of springs in the maps? I don't think taking advantage of the brain is fun,
or even challenging, it's mean.