FreeGameDev

Hi to all,
How about submitting your ideas for tracks and those who know how to make them in blender or other 3d software can take these ideas and develop them further ?

to start I would like to submit a cross-over track, as in a train crossover except that it's another way for a race car to come instead of a train. The floor of course has hills and underground passages, that end up in a 2 way crossover.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/1618/crossovertrack.png

what do you think ?

Jorge

Hello mjminfo,

mjminfo {l Wrote}:Hi to all,
How about submitting your ideas for tracks and those who know how to make them in blender or other 3d software can take these ideas and develop them further ?

to start I would like to submit a cross-over track, as in a train crossover except that it's another way for a race car to come instead of a train. The floor of course has hills and underground passages, that end up in a 2 way crossover.

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/1618 ... rtrack.png

what do you think ?

Jorge

I like the idea of multiple ways to choose but I think it will be extremely hard to balance.
It's almost certain that one way will be the fastest, it could be possible to balance it by making a longer way with more bonuses.
And a shorter way with no/less bonuses.

There should also be some sort of building in the track.

My idea to balance the track would be :

- up hills and down hills , tunnels, curves, so that both ways be equal in length but to make it more difficult in the technicalities ( number of corners, angles of the corners, banking and/or antibanking) so that it's not just to push the gas and hope to make the curves/corners. You really have to brake and to get in to the right speed in order to make the corner, use the right lane in order to be the fastest, and in this idea of crossover track ; to not get hit by the next kart coming from the other direction.

now to put all this into perspective in 3D/software it's another thing. I've raced motorcycles (supersport/superbike/open class) for 10 years semi-professional level and a couple of years in go-karting (amateur level), so basically I know how to make the corners and what strategy to use to win the race, but to put it from paper to animation it's another thing ...

my idea number one would be "information superhighway". a high speed track (long straights with lots of zippers) with tron/tron2 look (i got the idea from "world of goo" ).

my idea number two is "fantastic voyage" (like the 1966 movie i really liked as a kid). miniature karts race through the human body. for example enter at the mouth and exit at the other side. would this be acceptable? (of course this should be made in a funny way without being gross or inappropriate.)

i really would have fun to work on those but first i have to bring back the city track (and maybe the racetrack too if the motorcross track doesn't turn out to be too similar).

i also have lots of other ideas but ideas never are the problem.

many nice ideas

and indeed, we have like 100 times more ideas than people who can actually make them

Auria {l Wrote}:many nice ideas

and indeed, we have like 100 times more ideas than people who can actually make them

That's why I've downloaded already Blender 2.49a and got the svn of the /media/trunk so I can take a look at the current tracks and see what I can learn from them and hopefully start to make my own.

One thing though, were I need help is where to get the best advice/training for a newbie of blender ? after all we all need to start somewhere ...

any links/tutorials (that apply to STK tracks ! ) would be greatly appreciated.

Maybe those who already know how-to, could help out those who just start, so if we get stuck, they could mentor us ??

how about it ??

Just found out by digging a bit further in the forum that there is already some sort of help/how-to for the tracks/karts in here:

http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/Track_Maker%27s_Guide

http://supertuxkart.sourceforge.net/STK_Browser

what would be nice to have would be a generic track ( or start of track) which includes just the plain "start-finish line and the karts positions".

this way we could start with the generic and modify/create our own but use the "standard start/finish" setup.

Any volunteers ?

comments Auria/Joerg ? how to make your life easier while receiving new tracks ...

Hi,

we can provide a basic track template; but still, it is my impression that people who are good enough to model a high-quality track won't really need this. Still, if someone makes this template, we will accept it

Auria {l Wrote}:we can provide a basic track template; but still, it is my impression that people who are good enough to model a high-quality track won't really need this. Still, if someone makes this template, we will accept it

I think the very old race course (not the one in a stadium) would be a nice example. It's nice and small - perhaps we could just port it (I admit I always liked that track ).

But re blender: main problem is to know how to use blender, and that's not trivial, and requires some time and dedication. So to start people should use some blender tutorials (I don't have a good link here, guess the blender web page would have some). We can't accommodate novices in our tutorials. The actual STK stuff is pretty trivial once you know blender.

Cheers,
Joerg

hiker {l Wrote}:But re blender: main problem is to know how to use blender, and that's not trivial, and requires some time and dedication. So to start people should use some blender tutorials (I don't have a good link here, guess the blender web page would have some). We can't accommodate novices in our tutorials. The actual STK stuff is pretty trivial once you know blender.
Cheers,
Joerg

Joerg I partially agree with you, Blender is very hard to get at first as it has so many options, but if we start/concentrate on the ones that we need in order to create/modify a project for STK then it's going to take us less time than to learn how to make a sphere or cube which it's not part of what we need to work on STK's projects.

That's why I said that if we can get a generic one from which we learn what we need to learn _AND_ get some mentoring, then it's gonna take us less time to be productive and never know maybe we can get to something really nice in a not so long time.

Remember we(beginners) are not alone in this, I create my track idea, then other people get into it and contribute their ideas/modifications and soon what do you know it's ready in no time never know maybe the finishing touch's can be done by someone who is a pro at Blender and can take him/her just a few minutes to improve while it would have taken us (beginners) a few days or more

Care to bring on your idea on porting that track ? I'll be ready to take on it and bring my idea into it.

jorge