Bubble-Gum

[Wuzzy]

This is a very interesting idea; i like it. STK absolutely lacks a defensive item. It gets annoying being blasted away by 1000s of cakes without any chance to avoid them.

Some questions remain:

1. When you’re in a bubble, …
   
   1. … what happens to you if you collect a banana?
   2. … what happens to the banana if you collect one?
   3. … what happens if a lower-ranked player activates parachute?
   4. … what happens if you activate another bubble?
   5. … does it repel the plunger from behind?
   6. … does it repel the plunger aimed at your face?
   7. … may the bouncy ball still aim for you?
   8. … what happens to the bouncy ball if it hits you?
   9. … what happens if you drive into normally slowing-down water (seen in Green Valley)?
   10. … do you get resetted if you crash very hard?
   11. … what happens if a hazard from the track hits you (for example the cannonball on Fort Magma)?
   12. … what happens if you use a weapon (like the bowling ball)?
2. When you activate a bubble, …
   
   1. … what happens to your flyswatter if it was activated?
   2. … what happens to your anchor if your kart is currently slowed down by one?
   3. … what happens to your parachute if your kart is currently slowed down by one?
3. Should a rare gift still contain three bubble gums or should gifts only contain up to one bubble gum?

Here is some suggestion from my part:
Let’s assume a bubble is active for a living time T with a starting value of X. T gets reduced by one each second and the bubble pops if it equals or is smaller than 0. Now I have an answer for question 1.4.: simply add X to T. Each time a hazard hits the bubble, T is reduced by X. This means that if you activated one bubble shield and a cake hits you, the bubble is immediately destroyed. If you activated two shields very quickly, T equals 2X and your bubble could take two hits (the possible “hits” are to be defined) before being destroyed or, alternatively, passively exist for X seconds (at this time it would be normally destroyed).
T could also be interpreted as “thickness” and get visualized as such, this means, the bubble should be/appear thicker the bigger the T. As T shrinks with time, so does the bubble thickness until it pops. There should be a maximum value of M; If a player activates too many bubbles in a short time (so that T > M), the bubble collapses under it’s own weight and causes a big SPLAT (SPLAT has been suggested by others) but this time it slows down the player, too. Additionally, or alternatively to this the player’s screen could look like S@F suggested. In this case, the “Ew!” sound must play. This penalty should prevent players from using bubbles excessively and enter “god mode” . Of course M should be a reasonable number, but at no time be smaller than X because the bubble can impossibly be used then. Maybe this M value could be even a variable to be configured in config.xml? Who knows?!

If this proposal gets part of the game, I suggest to change the icon of the bubble gum because it would be not accurate enough because it implies that the only purpose of the bubble gum is to place it on the road. I think the wrapping of a fresh (=unchewed) bubble gum would be okay.

[Totoplus62]

1)
1. The bubble explode but you are safe.
2. It disappear and respawn after ...
3. No effect you are protected
4. ---> See below
5. 6. The plunger make your bubble explode
7. 8. Yes and the bubble should be useless for this weapon
9. Nothing
10. The bubble is no more effective
11. The bubble should be useless for this, it does not protect you
12.Good question ... your weapon make your bubble explode but your weapon for example bowling ball is effective and follow his path (It is no "deactivate" by the bubble)

2)
1. It deactivate your flyswatter
2. It deactivate anchor
3. It deactivate it

3) Should a rare gift still contain three bubble gums --> yes


3 Level of bubble gum (The 3 versions are usefull for one attack -->no "double-shield", and the "gum on the ground" is the same for the 3 versions)

Level 1 --> Appearance:Small bubble (with small sound); last 20 sec; let gum on the ground behind you

Level 2 --> Appearance:Bigger bubble, less transparent (with current sound); last 30 sec; let gum on the ground behind you; Player’s screen could look like S@F suggested for short range players

Level 3 --> Appearance:Bigger bubble, less transparent (with big sound); last 40 sec; let gum on the ground behind you; Player’s screen could look like S@F suggested for short range players; the weapon is sent back to the attacker due to the blast effects

---> so you are protected for one attack but it is dangerous for players to attack you

I will think about a new icon

[RaceAce]

This is a very interesting idea; i like it. STK absolutely lacks a defensive item. It gets annoying being blasted away by 1000s of cakes without any chance to avoid them.

Some questions remain:

1. When you’re in a bubble, …
   
   1. … what happens to you if you collect a banana?
   2. … what happens to the banana if you collect one?
   3. … what happens if a lower-ranked player activates parachute?
   4. … what happens if you activate another bubble?
   5. … does it repel the plunger from behind?
   6. … does it repel the plunger aimed at your face?
   7. … may the bouncy ball still aim for you?
   8. … what happens to the bouncy ball if it hits you?
   9. … what happens if you drive into normally slowing-down water (seen in Green Valley)?
   10. … do you get resetted if you crash very hard?
   11. … what happens if a hazard from the track hits you (for example the cannonball on Fort Magma)?
   12. … what happens if you use a weapon (like the bowling ball)?
2. When you activate a bubble, …
   
   1. … what happens to your flyswatter if it was activated?
   2. … what happens to your anchor if your kart is currently slowed down by one?
   3. … what happens to your parachute if your kart is currently slowed down by one?
3. Should a rare gift still contain three bubble gums or should gifts only contain up to one bubble gum?

1. The shield explodes and the banana disappears.
2. The banana regrows normally.
3. You don't get one.
4. You have a double shield.
5. Yes. (explodes)
6. ^
7. If you are first, then yes.
8. It pops the shield but doesn't hurt you.
9. You slow down on all slowdown terrain. Otherwise you could take shortcuts.
10. If you rescue, the shield will disappear, but if you don't rescue then nothing happens.
11. It pops the shield but doesn't hurt you.
12. It fires normally
13. It disappears.
14. The shield removes baddies.
15. ^
16. There should still be occasional triples still.

[Wuzzy]

Okay, here is my reply to the replies:
1.1: OK
1.2: OK
1.3: OK
1.4: see notes below
1.5: OK
1.6: OK
1.7: OK
1.8.: nobody of you answered the question. I did not want to know what happens to the bubble or the player, I wanted to know what happens to the bouncy ball if it hits you. Does it get destroyed, too or does it bounce even further or does it do something completely different?
1.9.: No, no, no, you don’t seem to understand. In Green Valley there is a small part of the track partly covered with water. If you drive into it, you slow down. My question was wheather you should slow down in that water with a bubble or not. And if the bubble may take damage by that. My question was not refering to the general “slow terrain”.
1.10: I also thought that. OK.
1.11.: Hmmm difficult choice, I am not sure about this.
1.12. I like Totoplus62’s answer more. Losing the shield when firing a weapon makes the shield way more tactical. Players can’t be defensive and offensive at the same time. I would even say even if you fire just one weapon it would destroy the shield entirely, no matter how strong it was.
For the answers on all other questions I say: That’s okay, thanks!
2.1: OK, although it seems slightly illogical but who cares about that?
2.2: OK, I would wish an animation for that, like a anchor falling down or something like that
2.3: OK
3.: OK

For question 1.8 there are differences here: Totoplus62 says the bouncy ball should destroy the shield and explode the player (useless shield). RaceAce says the bubble should protect as usual.
I do not like the idea that the shield should be totally worthless against the bouncy ball. The whole point of the shield is to protect you. On the other hand, if the shield always protects you against the bouncy ball, it would defeat the purpose of the bouncy ball (sort of).
I have a comprimise for that: If you have a normal shield, you and the buble get destroyed, if you have a stronger shield, the bubble gets destroyed but it protects you. If you have an even more stronger shield it protects you against the bouncy ball, does not get destroyed but weaker.
For Totoplus62’s suggestion on how to handle strong shield this would translate to:

You get hit directly by a bouncy ball because you are 1st
No shield: you explode
Level 1 shield: you explode and the bubble gets destroyed
Level 2 shield: you are protected but the buble gets destroyed
Level 3 shield: you are protected, the bubble doesn’t get destroyed but falls down to a level 1 shield

A bouncy ball explodes close to you (no direct hit)
No shield: you are affected (a bit) by the explosion
Level 1 shield: shield protects you and gets destroyed
Level 2 shield: shield protects you, becomes level 1 shield
Level 3 shield: shield protects you, becomes level 2 shield

A bouncy ball bounces on you on its way to the 1st
No shield: you get stomped
Level 1 shield: shield protects you and gets destroyed
Level 2 shield: shield protects you, becomes level 1 shield
Level 3 shield: shield protects you, becomes level 2 shield

However, if you translate all this to my suggestion from my previous post, a direct hit means a reduction of T by 2×X (a damage “worth” of two bubble gums). A close explosion means a reduction of T by a value between 0 and X (larger than no damage, lower than a damage worth of one bubble gum) and a bounce on your head always reduces T by X (damage worth one bubble gum).
Oh, I would like to add another general rule to my shield suggestion. In my previous suggestion, I suggested that the shield gets destroyed if T ≤ 0. I would add another rule: If T becomes ≤ −X, not only the shield gets destroyed, you also are not protected from the impacting weapon. This means if you have just activated a bubble (T=X) and get directly hit by the bouncy ball, you substract 2X from T, resulting in T=−X, so both you and the shield explode. But if you have had two bubble activated (T=2X), T only gets reduced to 0, resulting in popping the bubble but keeping you safe.
Just in case you forgot it: T stands for the living time of the bubble, X stands for the time (in seconds) added to T by activating one bubble gum shield. The proper value for X is yet to be determined.

Here is question 4: What are your comments on my suggestion on handling stronger bubbles so far?
Question 5: Did you even understand it?
Of course I think my suggestion is better :P after all because it allows a more fine-grained control of the living time of the bubble. It is important for close explosions; I do not think that close explosions should do the same amount of damage than a direct hit.

[Tuxfan]

Hi!

I am trying to implement the new bubble gum shield feature, since I think that this is a nice improvement. In order to speedup this effort, I have listed some issues that could become quite time consuming for me in the future and should be seen as an invitation for others to join in.

In my opinion the shield should be implemented as an "attachment". (An attachment is anything that is associated with the kart for a certain time. Like a bomb, a parachute, an anchor, a swatter or the recue button).
1. I already created an icon for the attachment (or rather a first draft), but somehow it is not displayed as intended. (In this case I am quite sure that it is not a coding issue, since using the images that already existed in the repository before worked fine.)
The attachment icon should be displayed on the character icon on the upper left part of the screen, if a player has used the shield. In my case a different image seems to be displayed instead (you need to enlarge the screenshot to have a closer look at it). My shield-icon is a 128x128 png image. Everything that is white is actually transparent. Is there anything more I have to consider when creating a new attachment icon?

2. The recue button in the image is currently a placeholder for bubble shaped 3d model, which will be attached to the kart as long as it is protected against attacks. So far I have no experience in blender - I would be grateful if someone would create the bubble gum shield model. And if it should behave more realistic, two animations are needed. One for the shield generation/inflation and one for the shield's explosion/destruction.

3. Sound effects: If the bubble gum gets destroyed, how about something like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-DuC0tE7V4&t=0m17s ? Another sound would be nice that illustrates the shield's inflation/creation process.

It would be quite convenient for me to implement the shield as an attachment. But as far as I know, a kart can only have one attachment at a certain time. By implementing the shield as an attachment, the swatter's ability to remove parachutes and bombs would not be unique anymore - the shield would do the same.

[Funto]

Good to see that you started this, I may try to help you if I get time
No idea for your icon problem.
Considering the model, I would go with a procedurally generated mesh instead of a mesh made in Blender. Maybe take inspiration from the "custom scene node" Irrlicht example.
Good luck!

[Totoplus62]

Good to see that you started this.

Nice ! I agree
Just follow the current specifications people gave, i think they are quite good .
Why don't you use the icon in the first post for the character icon on the upper left part of the screen? I don't really like the color you gave it .


And someone ask for a new bubble icon: So i can create a new one when i will have free time (soon). Does people want me to create something like this with a bubble in the background ?
(i found this image on the internet i did not create it) i think it could be great

I don' t really agree about this sound effect, i've already think about it: It will be difficult to hear ingame . I think the sound i put in the first post will do it nicely IMHO.

[Tuxfan]

Why don't you use the icon in the first post for the character icon on the upper left part of the screen? I don't really like the color you gave it .

My first attempt was to use the icon in the first post, since I really liked it - and I wanted to save some time. But unfortunately it was not displayed. When I looked at it, I saw that it is not a square image with a size of the power of two, so I created a draft, in order to get it displayed in game - which also currently does not work.
Another aspect is that I do not know under which licence the icon in the first post is released.

[Totoplus62]

Ok,
I don't really care about licenses but maybe i should...

Another aspect is that I do not know under which licence the icon in the first post is released.

From now on, i will release features (like the bubble on the first post , feel free to make what you want with my stuff) with one these licenses, moderators could choose one of them when they have too (i changed my signature).
CC-BY 3.0
CC-BY-SA 3.0

I don't know how to solve this icon problem

[antoine]

Awesome work everybody!

[ctdabomb]

sorry, I am really late to the party, and have missed most of the discussion, and sorry if I throw a wrench into the works, but a soap bubble, or a bunch of stars (like in SuperTux) would work (and look?) a bit better than a bubble gum bubble, which we already have a weapon.

[Totoplus62]

I disagree, bubble gum bring fun and add variety to weapons which already exists (Now bubble gum is very interesting, and basicaly there are 2 ways to use each weapon in this game) IMHO

The bubble gum is nice but i also see two alternatives that could make us "kill two birds with one stone" (it also permits to solve the problem of the cake you throw behind):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 1
Weapon: Soap instead of a bubble gum

Ahead --> It has the same characteristics as the bubble gum we want to create in this topic
Behind --> It make your kart slide straight ahead during 2 second without losing speed (very tactical )


Weapon: Cake a "jelly " more funny

Ahead --> It has the same characteristics as the current cake
Behind --> You stick on the road like chewing gum and your whells leave a green trail behind you

So (1) we keep the "Chewing-gum", (2) No more problem with the cake you throw behind, (3) shield with bubble + slippery path, (4) more variety of existing weapons
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDEA 2 the one i prefer... !

Weapon: Bubble gum
Ahead --> It has the same characteristics as the bubble gum we want to create in this topic
Behind --> It has the same characteristics as the bubble gum we want to create in this topic

Weapon: Cake (the current cake)
Ahead --> It has the same characteristics as the current cake
Behind --> You let the cake on the road and it make your kart slide straight ahead during 2 second without losing speed (very tactical )
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's just an idea we can keep continue the bubble gum

[noname120]

I really like the original idea and the bubble throwing parts to other players screen when exploding!

I think a star would make people think that's it's a rip off Mario Kart (which is actually not).

Maybe should it last 2-3 hit and explode anyways at 10-15 seconds?

[Totoplus62]

i also think this is the best solution

[Totoplus62]

I worked tonight on this new bubble-gum icon which is adapted to the new function. What do you think of it ?



---> this is for the upper left part of the screen (character' icon)

[Auria]

I like this icon

[jymis]

Nice !

[S@f]

Very Nice !
With this icon we have the two functions of the bubble gum, very good idea!

[Funto]

Not sure I would keep the circle for the icon displayed at the top of the screen...
I wonder what a parody of the Malabar guy using a penguin would look like in this context

[Totoplus62]

With this icon we have the two functions of the bubble gum, very good idea!

This is what i wanted ; and the "malabar" is only known in france
It has to be "universal" and i think this icon is clear (I will add little grain to the chewing-gum, it will be better)

[antoine]

This is a really nice addition to a forcefield, having it animated. http://youtu.be/stTp0T8kVm8?t=4m45s

[betharatux1]

wow, good icon ... make i feel can't wait appeared in game

[Tuxfan]

Status report:

I have been able to program the main functionality of the bubble gum shield.

If you use the chewing gum weapon while looking backwards, the normal chewing gumis used. If the player is looking forward and uses the bubble gum, he will receive a shield.
How long the shield lasts can be configured. As default value I chose 10 seconds - the same time the swatter lasts.

The shield is implemeted as an attachment. Since a kart can only have on attachment at a time, activating it will remove any other attachment that had been previously attached.
So activating the bubble shield removes the anvil, the bomb, the parachute or the swatter.
This can be seen as a drawback of the shield, since the swatter's ability to do the same is not unique anymore.

So far a shield can take one "hit". A "hit" would be a cake, a bowling ball, a plunger (either from behind or from ahead), a parachune, a banana or two hits by the swatter.
The bouncing rubber ball (now it has become a basket ball) is an exception. You need two shields to repel a rubber ball. If you have only a single shield activated, you will loose the shield and get squashed instead.
By the way I indirectly introduced the shield accumulation feature. If you already have an active shield, you can strengthen it by using another bubblegum powerup as a shield (as Wuzzy has suggested).

I coded a feature that can be turned on, if it is needed: If the player is under a shield and shoots a powerup (a bowling ball, a cake, a plunger or a rubber ball), the shield will be lost. This makes the shield usage more tactical, but also less usable.

What is misssing:
Chewing gum: I still need to programm what happens if a shielded kart is driving over a bubble gum on the track. (I woukd suggest to leave the bubble gum on the track, but to remove the shield.)
Dealing with indirect hits: A shield should be able to take two indirect hits.
AI: The AI needs to be updated to be able to deal with the new possibilites.

Where I would like to have help from the community:
A shield model: I am glad, if some else would create a model, since I have not modelled anything so far. The model should be transparent, such that the player can look through the shield. If the shield is animated, I will make sure that the animation is displayed in game at the rigth moment. Animations I can think of are an inflation animation, a burst animation and a whobble animation.
Sounds: An explosion/pop/plop sound, an inflate sound and maybe a whobble sound.

Testing:
If anyone wants to test what has be done so far, follow the build from source instructions on http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/Ins ... rom_source
but use

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

svn co https://supertuxkart.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/supertuxkart/branches/bubblegum/trunk

, instead of

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

svn checkout https://supertuxkart.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/supertuxkart/main/trunk/ stk-trunk


@Totoplus62: I really like your icons and was able to use them successfully. They look good in game. Unfortunately their resolution might be a problem on older graphics cards, since your images have no size of power of two. Such sizes would be 128 pixels * 128 pixels, 256 * 256, 64 * 512, ...
In this case I would suggest images of the size 128 * 128, since all other powerup icons and character icons have this resolution.

@ctdabomb : It could be still possible to transform the chewing gum powerup in a soap powerup. But then someone needs to provide the corresponding models and icons.

@Auria/Joerg: I 'm a feedback junkie. If you see something that I coded that displeases you, dom't hesitate to let me know.

[Totoplus62]

Good Work !!

---> 128*128

How long the shield lasts can be configured. As default value I chose 10 seconds .

Too short, put 15-20 sec.

I coded a feature that can be turned on, if it is needed: If the player is under a shield and shoots a powerup (a bowling ball, a cake, a plunger or a rubber ball), the shield will be lost. This makes the shield usage more tactical, but also less usable.

What is misssing:
Chewing gum: I still need to programm what happens if a shielded kart is driving over a bubble gum on the track. (I woukd suggest to leave the bubble gum on the track, but to remove the shield.)

An idea: When you run on a bubble gum maybe you earn an "extra shield", then if the player is under a shield and shoots a powerup the shield will be lost.( Players can’t be defensive and offensive at the same time.)

I want to test it ! But i can't because i don't know where is nightly build for ubuntu x32
There is one sound in my first post...

[Tuxfan]

I want to test it ! But i can't because i don't know where is nightly build for ubuntu x32

Yes you can - if you can open a terminal an do copy and paste. You have to build the code yourselft, since the code is not merged to the trunk while I am still working on it and though will not be available in the nightly builds for some time.

1. Install all dependencies. Note that I added subversion here. You will have to press Y in oder to allow some packages to be installed.

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

sudo apt-get install autoconf automake build-essential cmake libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libopenal-dev libxxf86vm-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev libfribidi-dev subversion

2. Get the code and content:
This instruction will create a folder called "trunk" and download the code and content. This might take some time. If it does not work try to use "http" instead of "https".

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

svn co https://supertuxkart.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/supertuxkart/main/branches/bubblegum/trunk



3. Build Irrlicht. Go to the Irrlicht folder:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

cd trunk/lib/irrlicht/source/Irrlicht/

Build Irrlicht. The number after j is the amout of parallel processes you start. You can increase the build speed by increasing this number, if your CPU can deal with that many processes.

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

NDEBUG=1 make -j2

Go back to the trunk folder.

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

cd -

4. Build STK. Create a build folder:

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mkdir cmake_build

Go to the build folder:

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cd cmake_build

Run cmake. This will create a make file.

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cmake ..

Build STK. This will take some time.

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

make VERBOSE=1 -j2

5. Run stk:

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

bin/supretuxkart

There is one sound in my first post...

The sound is too harsh in my opinion.

P.S: The new images you posted are already included.

EDIT: Fixed svn path.