2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby PCITechie » 23 Feb 2020, 17:18

So I was just playing STK and found a couple things that could possibly make the game more enjoyable and more natural:

1) When 2 items collide (e.g. when 2 bowling balls hit each other), there could be a splintering animation instead of them just disappearing to make the game feel more realistic.

2) When you go up a boost ramp (not sure what these are actually called, but I'm sure you get the picture), instead of launching the player to a certain location smoothly and doing mid air turns, which doesn't feel right at all, have the boost ramps instead ramp up the speed of the kart enough to make a large jump while still allowing the player to maintain some in-air control of the kart and land more naturally.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby eltomito » 25 Feb 2020, 09:30

PCITechie {l Wrote}:1) When 2 items collide (e.g. when 2 bowling balls hit each other), there could be a splintering animation instead of them just disappearing to make the game feel more realistic.


I agree, that would be nice. Also right now when a bowling ball expires (they have a limited lifetime) it just disappears. It could explode instead.

PCITechie {l Wrote}:2) When you go up a boost ramp (not sure what these are actually called, but I'm sure you get the picture), instead of launching the player to a certain location smoothly and doing mid air turns, which doesn't feel right at all, have the boost ramps instead ramp up the speed of the kart enough to make a large jump while still allowing the player to maintain some in-air control of the kart and land more naturally.


It think that would have to be a new type of boost ramp or whatever they're called and the tracks would have to be especially designed or modified for it. If you just replaced the current launchers with it, some track would get very hard. For example, Frozen Drive would require you to navigate a narrow and winding tunnel at high speed, hitting the barn window in Cornfield Crossing would be hard, too, and the same jump would be really frustrating in reverse. The same goes for the jump in Blackhill Mansion and come to think of it, probably every place the launcher (I think that's what it's called) is used.

So, IMHO it's a fun idea but it would require careful track (re)design.
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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby tempAnon093 » 01 Mar 2020, 00:30

PCITechie {l Wrote}:1) When 2 items collide (e.g. when 2 bowling balls hit each other), there could be a splintering animation instead of them just disappearing to make the game feel more realistic.

Agreed, as well.

PCITechie {l Wrote}:2) When you go up a boost ramp (not sure what these are actually called, but I'm sure you get the picture), instead of launching the player to a certain location smoothly and doing mid air turns, which doesn't feel right at all, have the boost ramps instead ramp up the speed of the kart enough to make a large jump while still allowing the player to maintain some in-air control of the kart and land more naturally.


The current name for those are Cannons. However, what you describe might already be another existing feature, a Zipper, placed on a ramp.

The main reason to use the cannon is for jumps that would be too hard for players to get right. Like eltomito said, some tracks can't just replace them without serious redesign (I know the Cornfield Crossing jump feels strange, but imagine newer players making that jump manually!)

I think the main problem with the Cornfield Crossing cannon is how unnatural the path is! The incline of the ramp is nowhere near high enough to launch someone into the barn, the cannon forces the route out to the left, then swinging back to the right in-flight, and landing perfectly on the edge.

By making the ramp a few metres earlier (so it actually points at the barn) and making the ramp larger would make it seem much more natural. I think the landing is so perfect, because it probably serves as an entry for the cannon in reverse mode. I'm not sure if a Zipper jump would work, because the landing it too unpredictable.

eltomito {l Wrote}:For example, Frozen Drive would require you to navigate a narrow and winding tunnel at high speed

It's even harder; I used a cannon at extreme speed to create a teleporter! See the image below. This is what it looks like driving without the artificial darkness.

So yeah, cannons were absolutely necessary unless you want to spend another 10 seconds driving up the mountain.

cannons.png
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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby eltomito » 02 Mar 2020, 00:17

tempAnon093 {l Wrote}: This is what it looks like driving without the artificial darkness.

I see a blank page instead of the video...

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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby tempAnon093 » 02 Mar 2020, 12:23

eltomito {l Wrote}:I see a blank page instead of the video...

I had that a couple of times last week, working for me know. I guess they had server issues.
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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby Wuzzy » 20 Mar 2020, 06:06

1) When 2 items collide (e.g. when 2 bowling balls hit each other), there could be a splintering animation instead of them just disappearing to make the game feel more realistic.


Or just an explosion. Basically, just having something is better than nothing. There are also other situations in which bowling balls and other things just disappear without any animation, I think explosions should do the trick, even if it's just a graphical effect without any physical force behind it.

It doesn't look nice when items disappear into nothingness when they die.
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Re: 2 Ideas That May Make The Game Feel More Natural

Postby tempAnon093 » 20 Mar 2020, 14:12

Wuzzy {l Wrote}:I think explosions should do the trick, even if it's just a graphical effect without any physical force behind it.

Yeah, either that or a puff of smoke cloud. Much better than just disappearing.
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