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[Funto]

hiker: wow those are long messages, I will answer as soon as I have time to.

[Totoplus62]

And we have to deal with explaining to the player that there are different skidding styles (no boost, automatic, semi-automatic)...(tutorial mode, which BTW could be merged with history mode IMO, with some character explaining the things to us as progress to help us in our quest - again, as in CTR ).
Different features in karts are certainly planned, but I am not sure if a kart will no skidding boost. Automatic skidding might be a good idea, which could be in addition and independent of kart skidding parameters. Basically we could try to reuse the AI for players. But this is very hard to get right, and might be very annoying if the karts start/stop skidding at wrong locations. I admit I am not keen on doing this.

Solution: -Use nitro key for the trigger: we have to add a little delay (0.3s for nitro) so it will not have an impact a new skidding for expert
-no "automatic skidding" but the boost has to be really small for beginners (See kart characteristics in the first page)

I agree maybe we don't need tutorial.

[Arthur]

Why will delayed skidding boost make things better? Beginners will not skid since they don't know how to use it, nor do they need to since AI doesn't skid on Novice. Is it really that hard to not use skidding if you play with a beginner who can't use it? Over-engineering is what this sounds like.

[Totoplus62]

Not delaying skidding boost... but delaying nitro key to activate a possible new skidding boost for experts. That was just an idea (see first page) but there was a problem because we need a new key.

I LOVE the current skidding ! But it could be nice to add a new one for other karts (experts). The idea was that beginners could more easily play (with future online mode) with confirmed players if they have fast, simple, easy to drive karts... and slower, hard to control kart for expert players who are able to control this one (but with powerful skidding boost; in fact these kart will be the most powerfull if you are able to drive these beasts;p )

"Is it really that hard to not use skidding if you play with a beginner who can't use it?" Of cource ! I agree with you. The idea was just to balance the game between different players, but this is just an idea.

[Funto]

That's possible. How should we improve this? Make it last longer? Or even faster? I find the biggest problem is to distinguish the colours, but with current work on particle effects (in trunk) that might improve.[/quoe]
Well, my opinion is we have to wait a bit long for the green smoke to happen, and when we get it we don't really feel a difference from the yellow one, so, maybe make it happen faster and give a better boost? Not necessarily longer: I think boosts that don't last too long make you use more skidding, and therefore leads to a more "dynamic" experience.

I kept on asking for jumps and mentioned the cannon to whenever I am asked for opinion, but no one uses it Might be catch 22: unless people see those things in action, they might not think of it and use it. So: someone should just start

Artists will make it when they first see it and how to do it Can you make a very simple example track that shows how to make this?

Re jumping: this is (iirc still) partly implemented: you can actually skid while jumping, which means you will turn faster and get the bonus quicker when you touch down. I used this behaviour while tuning the skidding parameters (for a while the karts were fast enough that they would fly just before the 90 degree left turn in the canyon of Hacienda - skidding in air was quite fun )

That's not exactly the behavior I was thinking of (although it's a cool behavior nevertheless, and compatible with what I was mentionning ). In CTR, hitting the skidding key also makes the kart make a small jump, in a very cartoonish way. If you make such a jump when you arrive e.g at the end of a ramp, you get a boost when you touch the ground.

Also having the option to use skidding later (do I understand this correct) makes skidding easier, since you don't have to judge when to skid (so that you can actually use the boost).

No, I didn't mean something like skidding which would fill up the nitro gauge and could be used later. I was describing the behavior in CTR which you can see in the Youtube link I posted: a small gauge fills up and you need to unleash the accumulated boost at the right moment. It's actually trickier to do than the current behavior.

Automatic skidding might be a good idea, which could be in addition and independent of kart skidding parameters. Basically we could try to reuse the AI for players.

By "automatic" I thought of the current behavior, where the boost is unleashed as soon as you stop skidding (hence the "automatic").
I don't know if players would like a mode which decides itself when to use the boost, it's like you don't control the kart anymore...

I admit I am not keen on doing this.

Neither am I ^^

Why not put the jumps, ramps, and cannons in the story mode overworld?

+1 And maybe the overworld could be shrinked a bit? Travelling a big flat surface without jumps or anything is boring...

I have mixed feeling about the tutorial: how many people would actually use it? Would you prefer sitting in a tutorial race over and over, or try in a race anyway? Would it make STK look to complicated?

I would go with a special tutorial race, where a GNU ghost (his spirit ) could be our coach, to help us get him out of his misery!
Tutorials could be proposed to the player as the history goes on.

I want to support other input devices, esp. gamepad and wiimote, so the number of keys STK uses is a big problem. See separate thread in the mailing list.

Yes and the proposed key mapping for the wiimote seemed valid, and my proposition for skidding does not introduce a new key (as it's already the nitro key).

-Use nitro key for the trigger: we have to add a little delay (0.3s for nitro) so it will not have an impact a new skidding for expert

I suppose you mean, for nitro and skidding boost not to conflict, you would introduce this delay? I would rather use skidding boost if the key is pressed while skidding, and use nitro otherwise...

[Totoplus62]

Hum.. you're right

[antoine]

I disagree about making the overworld smaller. I think it just needs more to do. It should feel like a playground because it's the one place where the player is not racing or battling. They can take their timer to practice controls, learn what powerups are in the boxes (there could be certain boxes that only have a certain powerup), do stunts, use cannons, ramps, and jumps. It's the place where you could let a 3 year old take control of the controller.

[antoine]

My greatest wish:

Android port of STK

http://renzhi.ca/2011/05/19/programming ... et-part-1/