Some small complaints/suggestions

[claymore]

I haven't posted on here in a long time, so I thought I would raise a few things that annoy me about 0.8.

• Cakes seem too powerful. At one time they weren't so bad... now they are extremely accurate (and quite difficult to miss with at close range), can be fired in reverse, and you can collect three at once. Given that they are next to impossible to avoid, and cause a good few seconds' worth of disruption, I think they should be reconsidered.
• Automatic rescues seem too pre-emptive. You need only ram into a wall now to be rescued, which can cost a good few seconds. Often it would be faster just to reverse and keep going.
• Gas seems to lack a real purpose. You can already pick up a speed boost item from a box, is there any real need for this mechanic as well? I'm not really convinced. Also, consuming gas doesn't always seem to work properly... I press the button and often nothing happens, or it happens at a moment that I didn't expect. And the boost I get is often imperceptible.
• Animations aren't that great, especially the kart victory animations. I think they let the game down, especially when it's relatively polished in other respects.
• Story mode and Grand Prix mode seem a bit pointless. It's just another normal race, with nothing really special about it. I appreciate the intention, but I don't see how you can make a mode out of nothing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm amazed at how far the game has come. I'm really enjoying the new skid mechanic, I think it's just what was needed. Also, I seem to find the strongest CPU much tougher this time around.

[NeonKnightOA]

The way I see it:

* Cakes: You're forgetting about the Bubblegum shield. That alone solved most of the problems regarding item balance.
* Automatic rescue: I agree.
* Gas: You're forgetting about the Time Trial mode, where there's no boxes to pick up boosts from. Also you have to be lucky to get a double arrow when you catch a box.
* Animations: I have not much of an opinion in this regard, but they can and should be improved, yeah.
* Story Mode and Grand Prix: I highly and completely disagree. There are people who care about this aspect, especialy when the game has no online mode (and even if the next versions do have online mode, there are people who don't want to play online).

[claymore]

Thanks for your reply.

The bubblegum shield is certainly a great addition, but I'm not convinced that it solves the problem entirely. Partly because there's just no way of anticipating a cake attack.

Sure, there are no boxes in Time Trial... but there could easily be, with boosts as the only item. Anyway, I'm not really sure what else I would suggest in this area... so I guess my real complaint is that the boost seems almost imperceptible most of the time (to me, anyway).

My complaint about Story Mode was only that it was just a normal race dressed up with a nice overworld, but maybe there are some conditions attached to each level... like finishing within a certain time, finishing with a certain amount of gas, and so on. It's been a while since I actually completed this mode, so it's quite possible it did have challenges like this... I can't really remember. If it does, I apologise. If it doesn't.... well, it might make things a bit more interesting.

[NeonKnightOA]

It does. You have a time you must reach, many maps also feature a place as well (normally 1st), there's a 1on1 Time Trial battle, nitro collection levels, a Follow The Leader level...

The nitro collection levels were really challenging, especially Shifting Sands in Hard with the track being bigger but the time staying more or less the same.

EDIT: Not to mention the fact that you have to play every stage in order to reach Nolok and the unlockables: GPs, tracks, characters, modes and even the SuperTux difficulty.

[samuncle]

claymore I agree with you for animations .

Problem is we don't have an animator, sure I can do animations but I tend to prioritize making tracks since it's a more visible part than animation. If you want to help us you are welcome you can start learning how to do good animation and improve the game

[JoeInMN]

The standard nitro canisters are effective; they just don't last very long. The larger canisters are more helpful (e.g. in Hacienda on the right side of the track going up the last hill). The nitro adds something of a strategic element on tracks like Scotland or Barnyard, where gift-boxes and nitro canisters are placed next to each other. You can choose whether to take the known quantity of the speed boost, or chance the unknown of the box; which you choose can make a difference. I like to spend the first few laps in second or third place, gathering as much nitro as I can, ignoring the boxes once I've found the three cakes, and then blast ahead on the last lap. I agree that the small canisters would perhaps be more useful if they had a little more nitro in them, but I find them necessary.

Unexpected acceleration might come from following close behind another kart; if you draft for a few seconds (see the contrails streaming from the kart you're following), you'll get a brief nitro-like speed boost.

[claymore]

NeonKnightOA: Okay, my bad.

samuncle: Well, I was really just mentioning it in passing... I shouldn't have mentioned it then, because I'm not really offering to address this. If I did make contributions, they would be code.

JoeInMN: Oh, very clever. Well, I'm not sure I believe that this should be a viable strategy.