New item : nitro-gum

New item : nitro-gum

Postby Alayan » 06 Feb 2017, 06:13

[Update 07/02 : Having another gum item seemed a bit confusing and not that interesting to samuncle ; and Arthur_D came with the concept of the Electro Field. It would recquires more work on the art side, but the basic item effects would be the same as the below suggested nitro-gum ; except that it wouldn't leave a bubblegum on the road behind once used. The gameplay would remain as good, so I'm currently favoring this option. Original post follows.]


Adding a new item has a lot of implications - redoing some GUI, some networking code ; plus art and core code.

It would also need a weight-list rebalancing, but changes there are incoming anyway once we'll have agreed how to tackle this (for reference my list of issues made at the request of Auria : http://pastebin.com/D1GhC2Xc).

So let's start : why does STK need a new item ?

Currently, only two positive items exists : the bubble-gum acting as a shield, and the zipper giving strong short speed boost.

There is one "neutral" item, the switch. The plunger is weak but is a bit positive and a bit negative so hard to classify.

All the other items involve attacking opponents : the cake, the bowling ball, the basket ball, the parachute, the swatter. There is a good diversity there.

So ; some more variation in positive effects would be appreciated. But that's not all.

Currently, the items do not fullfill properly their goal of helping a bit these in bad positions to catch up. It's a core goal - @auriamg agreed on this. A weight-list rebalancing might help a bit, but not much.

Except the parachute, all attacking items affect kart near you, so this doesn't help to truly catch up. The bubble gum is more defensive. So we get only the zipper for this. It's an item which isn't that strong and can only be used where it isn't too curvy ; so while fine, it isn't enough. A cake make you lose 3 time more time than a zipper will ever make you gain.

Now we established we need a new positive item (mainly given to those in bad positions), let's talk about its effect.

It needs to give more speed. We discussed and thinked about this, and all other ways are impractical.

In the discussions on the IRC, we got two main ideas : an item which makes the kart bigger, a bit faster and more resistant (like the mega-mushroom in MK) ; and a nitro-gum.

While I'm not against the first - I suggested it after all - if only one can be done I'd choose the latter.

And now I'll explain why.

First, how would it work exactly ?

It would be a blue bubble gum. It would work as the bubble-gum for the shield, but would have two added effect : increased max_speed (could be common with nitro (nitro-gum after all) or separate) and increased engine_power (I tested +30% which was a bit weak ; and +80% which was wonderful). The added effects disappear as soon as the shield disappear, letting a bubble-gum on the road behind.

Second, the art and the code specific to the item wouldn't be very hard to do. It took me 5 minutes to add these effects to the regular bubble gum ; separating things with a new one wouldn't be hard. No need to invent complicated things to make it work. The art could be probably mostly copied - changing the shield and icon colors.

Third, it feels great while playing. The effect is strong enough for you to really catch up, but since it's not as strong as the zipper you don't fear getting off-track too easily. The engine power boost also allow to reaccelerate very quickly after hitting a kart or a wall (which usually makes you lose 2-3 seconds), which is great.

The shield is very useful : between the bananas and all the thing other karts throw at you, it very often protects you from something which would have make you lose 2-3 seconds. But it's not excessively strong (like some kind of invulnerability would be) - and karts who attack you get to make your speed boost end, so it doesn't make those attack useless either.

All in all, it would be a great addition for STK. The recquired work is certainly worth it.

To transform the regular bubble-gum into a "nitro-gum" to get a feeling, simply add this to updateEnginePowerAndBrakes in kart.cpp :
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
    if(m_attachment->getType()==Attachment::ATTACH_BUBBLEGUM_SHIELD)
    {
        engine_power*=1.8f;
        m_max_speed->increaseMaxSpeed(MaxSpeed::MS_INCREASE_NITRO,
                                     m_kart_properties->getNitroMaxSpeedIncrease(),
                                     m_kart_properties->getNitroEngineForce(),
                                     m_kart_properties->getNitroDuration(),
                                     m_kart_properties->getNitroFadeOutTime());
    }

And increase bubble-gum occurences in powerup.xml to get enough of them.
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby Tuxfan » 10 Feb 2017, 22:21

Hi Alayan.

I agree with your basic analysis. The effect the items have on the players is that the players at the top of the race get away and all the other players kind of slow each other down. I was a little involved in creating the bubble gum shield. During its creation I was a little afraid that it might make this balancing effect even worse, since now the players at the top are more likely to be protected.

The buggle gum shield is something that gets attached to a kart. Like the things you get when you hit a banana (bomb, parachute & co) or use the swatter or the parachute item.
The point is: You can only have one thing attached to your kart at a time. Using the swatter or the shield automatically removes the bomb, parachute or anvil you previously had and dramatically decreases the danger a bomb or a parachute creates. And I love the tension a ticking bomb creates making you desperate to pass it on to another player. If too many items are able to remove the bomb before it explodes, these situations get even rarer.

So please, if you design a new item be sure if you want it to be another thing that gets attached to a kart and renders the bad items more meaningless.

Sincerely
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby QwertyChouskie » 10 Feb 2017, 22:34

To solve that issue, I would just make it so that you only get it if you are far back enough (maybe this should be done to the regular shield too).

I would:
If player is really far back, give them nitro-gum
If player is in the middle-ish, give them regular gum
If player is in front, don't give them any gum
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby Alayan » 12 Feb 2017, 00:45

TuxFan : you have quite a point.

Here are the current rates of object removing bomb/parachute :
1st : 43,75%
Top33 : 21%
Mid33 : 22.7%
End33 : 9,5%
Last : 3,1%

As you can see, it really won't be hard to balance it better when I will redo the item weights. And since the new-item (I opted for the electro-field option after considering it against the nitro-gum one) will only help those in the middle (a bit) and in the back (more), it will go on those who really would need more protection against all the bad things which can happen to a kart.
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby Wuzzy » 28 Mar 2017, 06:40

This is an interesting idea and I agree with your rationale. Except for the gum part.
Do you think this is different enough from the zipper?

But it needs a better name (also rename the thread, please) and (of course) an icon. “nitro-gum” is terribly misleading, first because you already removed the gum from your suggestion and second because nitro is a different item in STK.

Icon ideas:

- Toolbox (symbol of tuning)
- Hammer and spanner
- Big engine (symbol of replacing your kart engine)
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby eltomito » 28 Mar 2017, 11:39

If the idea is to give the player extra engine power + protection from bad things, it really is the same as getting nitro and bubble gum at the same time. What about bubble gum in a racing-flag wrapper? Once activated, it would create the regular bubble gum shield AND fill up your nitro.
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Re: New item : nitro-gum

Postby QwertyChouskie » 30 Mar 2017, 00:37

Nitro doesn't really change acceleration, while this would.
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