[Suggestion] Playability improvements through SFX

[Haley]

My first impression on Super Tux Kart is that its sound effects don't show you what's actually happening in the game. Here are some of my gripes:

1: Enduring gameplay effects do not have enduring sound effects.

It's opaque how long and how strong drift acceleration bonuses, Nitro, and long-term items are. I suggest that each kart have an engine sound loop that gets higher/faster corresponding with the speed like most kart race games, and that Nitro have a "spray" sound effect for the time the Nitro button is pressed down.

2: Items' effects aren't telegraphed enough.

A lot of items feel unfair because you can't see it coming before they activate. I especially find the "swap items with hazards" item infuriating. It would FEEL a lot fairer if it took a second-ish to activate, with the items blinking and sound effect forecasting the switch, so that players could (have a chance to) avoid them in time.

3: Items kill all momentum and has an excessively long stun timer.

In other kart racing games, items don't stop you dead in your tracks and immediately set your speed to 0. It has inertia and has a more gradual stop. In addition, the stun timer after being hit by an item is overly long, and it's frustrating for a player to have to helplessly look at others zooming past. I think 60%-75% of the current stun timer is long enough, and judging by the dizzy stars visual effect, you also have a speed penalty after the stun, which is superfluous and should be removed.

Overall, I think the gameplay is almost satisfying but is marred by incomplete sound design and excessive item penalties.

[kimden]

3 is highly subjective, the player who was hit will always be frustrated over others passing by. And it's just not true, at least swatter, parachute, and bomb don't set your speed to 0. Do you, like, suggest that whoever is hit by a bowling ball is also gaining a slight advantage of it by moving 5m ahead on the track? I'd also say that "frustration" is part of the game, it's the player's goal to make others being hit and "upset"

Stars just mean invulnerability and not speed penalty, that is useful to not be hit every second, even if you sometimes manage to do it with certain settings. But if you don't like the items, you can consider a few other boring game modes like time trial, or you can make the changes working yourself or together with other people and show them to the community, I guess

Re 1 and 2, yeah, there are some problems with sound playing sometimes too, like last lap sound absence, but I'm not sure if that is related to the things STK uses

[Haley]

3 is highly subjective, the player who was hit will always be frustrated over others passing by. And it's just not true, at least swatter, parachute, and bomb don't set your speed to 0. Do you, like, suggest that whoever is hit by a bowling ball is also gaining a slight advantage of it by moving 5m ahead on the track? I'd also say that "frustration" is part of the game, it's the player's goal to make others being hit and "upset"

To be perfectly clear, I like how Mario Kart strikes the balance between frustration and effectiveness of items. All I'm saying is that Super Tux Kart's items stop you from playing the game for about 5 times longer than it should every time you get hit by an item. It's a game balance issue when every item that hits you feels like a frickin Blue Shell.

See the inertia and stun timer when the player gets hit by a red shell in MK8DX. Compare that to when you get hit by a bowling ball in STK.

[kimden]

To be honest, measuring the time when the player doesn't drive gives me 1.5-2 seconds on both links posted in this thread. I don't see how is STK 5 times more slowing down. Also, games don't have to be Mario Kart. I don't understand its physics at all, just because STK isn't MK at all. But I can understand that some things in other games can be more convenient for different people and feel differently, that's fine, I even feel STK differently after not playing it for a while

Anyway, while I disagree on this, I kinda agree with your sound suggestions and would even like to help when I'm enough aware of this type of things in the code and when I don't have only 1% of time free

[eltomito]

1) I agree that it would be nice if the engine sound gave better information about the current speed. As things are now, I have to look at the speedometer to see if the nitro/zipper boost is still in effect and it would be more comfortable if I didn't.

2) Yeah! It's really infuriating when you're looking forward to picking up that sweet nitro but it changes into a banana right in front of you. NOT FAIR!! I hate that too but I also love doing it to others. It's a common strategy that when you get the changer item, you wait until the kart in front of you is just about to pick up a gift box and then you turn it into a banana right in front of them. Imagining their frustration as you woosh past them is the cherry on the cake.

3) Much has been written about the swatter crippling your kart for too long (search this forum for "swatter") and I think the general expectation is for that to change in STK 2.0. There's an older thread on possible power-up changes here: https://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic ... 17&t=12690

As much as I hate to say it, IMO the best remedy for most of your gripes is to learn to drive better. I've been there myself - some years ago, I started this thread asking for more basketballs in online games: https://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic ... lls#p83672

[QwertyChouskie]

I suggest that each kart have an engine sound loop that gets higher/faster corresponding with the speed like most kart race games, and that Nitro have a "spray" sound effect for the time the Nitro button is pressed down.

Both of these already exist. Maybe something is just bugged on your system?

[Alayan]

2: Items' effects aren't telegraphed enough.

A lot of items feel unfair because you can't see it coming before they activate. I especially find the "swap items with hazards" item infuriating. It would FEEL a lot fairer if it took a second-ish to activate, with the items blinking and sound effect forecasting the switch, so that players could (have a chance to) avoid them in time.

There is something uniquely satisfying in using the minimap to activate a swapper precisely when a rival is about to take a nitro.

And there is the possibility to enable the display of held items in settings, which helps to anticipate potential attacks.

But it's true that sometimes there is too little that can be done (such as a kart getting a cake and immediately throwing it), so there is some room for improvement in this regard.

3: Items kill all momentum and has an excessively long stun timer.

In other kart racing games, items don't stop you dead in your tracks and immediately set your speed to 0. It has inertia and has a more gradual stop. In addition, the stun timer after being hit by an item is overly long, and it's frustrating for a player to have to helplessly look at others zooming past. I think 60%-75% of the current stun timer is long enough, and judging by the dizzy stars visual effect, you also have a speed penalty after the stun, which is superfluous and should be removed.

The inertia in MK8 Deluxe is essentially a visual effect with almost no gameplay impact, and from my experience I don't think the difference in how penalizing being hit is as big as you claim.

The "explosion" duration from items was already dropped significantly from 0.9.3 to 1.0, to make it less penalizing. Arguments can be made for even shorter times, but a too short duration makes the animation seem bizarre, so it's more complicated than just changing a parameter.

As for the dizzy stars, I guess you were quite new when making this statement, as it doesn't take that much experimenting to notice that it has 0 impact on the kart's ability to accelerate and go fast, and that their only purpose is to provide immunity against new attacks, to reduce odds of a player being attacked repeatedly in a short time span.