Should there be separate indicators if player lose a race?

[Worldblender]

The current state of finishing a race is:

• 1st place: "You won the race!", and winning SFX played
• Other places: "You finished the race!", and regular SFX played
• Giving up a race: only regular SFX played

I personally think that this is not the most optimal state that isn't present in most commercial competitors to STK. The current soundtrack that plays during race results is the same for every position, even if during an event that is negative. There ought to be another indicator other than a kart animation (that may not be present in all karts) to tell players that they lost a race or otherwise didn't win. To complete this list, I suggest some more states, especially if a player finishes in a losing position:

• In a losing position (lower half of the total karts): "You lost the race!", and losing SFX played (not yet present in assets)
• Not in 1st place, but in a better position (higher half of the total karts excluding 1st): "You finished the race!", and regular SFX played

In race results, different soundtracks should play depending on which position the players finish in:

• 1st place: either the current soundtrack, or another one that is more energetic than it
• Not in 1st place, but in a better position: either the current soundtrack, or another one that is slightly less energetic
• In a losing position: another soundtrack that is not quite happy-sounding
• Giving up a race: same soundtrack used for in a losing position

For grand prixes, I noticed that the win screen has received an overhaul, but not the losing screen (its overhaul is much more minor, making it more of vestige from the 0.8.1 days). The losing screen might need an overhaul that matches the effort put into the win screen (I can help out if needed).
The necessary soundtracks, if not found in the assets, could be obtained from somewhere such as OpenGameArt; no need to reinvent the wheel. I just would like to see a little more polish that could bring STK up to par with some commercial competitors (although I can help out with this by myself if needed).

[QwertyChouskie]

The losing scene never got an overhaul because rain doesn't work it cutscenes and it never got fixed. (https://github.com/supertuxkart/stk-code/issues/2874) If you can get rain working, I'd love to give `gplose` another shot

As for race result music, OzoneOne had WIP music, but it seems to be lost to history, with no known remaining copies. If anyone (Auria? Samuncle?) has a copy, maybe post it here? I'd love to add it to my archive (https://jacobspctuneup.tk/STK/Music/)

[Alayan]

Technically, everybody but the 1st has lost the race. I don't think it's very useful to rub it in by adding a "You lost the race!" text, the "You finished the race!" one is fine.

Win/Loss animations should be present in every quality kart, and do play an important role. Animations/SFX may be expanded, however

Right now, karts only have two end animations, one for "good" results (on many karts, it looks rather neutral) and one for bad results. Having a third "neutral" state, and making end animations more visible in general would be a significant improvement.

As for music, as far as I can tell there is only one "end of race" music played no matter what your place and no special winning sound effect. I do agree that having different tunes that are not too intrusive (the race is finished) but give a mood matching the result, would be welcome. Splitscreen multiplayer would need some custom code to handle this well, but it shouldn't be a significant issue.

Generally speaking, using music to match in-game events is a great way to make a game more fun. MKWii had menu music that got progressively more energetic as the player went through the race setup screens, for example.

I agree the loss screen for GPs is ugly and outdated. The win screen isn't that great either imo, it's just not too bad.

[Wuzzy]

Just write e.g. "You finished in 4th place!" when you didn't finish first. That's more informative as well. The rank in which you finished the race is kind of important information, after all.

To properly support localization of “2nd”, “3rd”, “4th” etc., just manually add a translatable string for each rank from 2 to 20.

[fracture]

Speaking of the end of race music, how long has it been in this game? It sounds extremely old and dated and needs a replacement.

[Worldblender]

I made a pull request concerning part of this topic (the music part and displaying the rank at the end of a race) at https://github.com/supertuxkart/stk-code/pull/4445. At least I didn't sit by idling, waiting for someone else that would unlikely fix this issue.