Thanks for this!
Alayan {l Wrote}:I think it's nice if new tracks can include some dynamic elements and/or some ground zippers (which are often worthless for challenge but give a feeling of speed to noobs).
I think a few of the longer stretches could benefit from zippers, now that you mention them.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- The track felt really narrow. When driving alone, it's not too much of an issue, it mostly makes the track challenging, though noobs won't cope with it as easily as I did. It's much more of an issue when racing close to other karts. At the start, all AI karts would collide in a huge mess. Even with smarter human players, I think big collisions would be unavoidable.
I agree, I'll make most of the track wider.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- The start shouldn't be located just before difficult curves (be it in normal direction or reverse), some time should be left at the start for differentiation and to reduce the mess with collisions.
Good thinking, I should reorganize that section. I do want that long downhill onto a straight before the finish but the sharp corners there can be removed or moved.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- It's way too easy to fall off-track, as currently nothing prevents it and you better know your rescue key. If this track is F1-inspired, then runoff areas with gravel that slows you down would be welcome in many places. Other spots could do with barriers.
I forgot to explain that many pieces are missing, like sidewalks, and I haven't added almost any of the barriers I was meant to add. All the tight corners will have barriers once I'm sure of the layout, and it will also make those corners more visible. Widening the road will also help this. Spots of gravel or similar is a good idea.
Alayan {l Wrote}:Very tight corner should not incentivize trying to cut them short, and should try to minimize the risk that a kart having an accident will block the path for oncoming karts.
I'm guessing this will be a big issue for the track as it has many tight corners, I didn't really consider multiplayer. A couple of corners could be made less tight (like the one before the tunnel) and some of the others could be made wider.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- The AI being dumb in tight corners, on the other hand, is an AI issue. Track-specific hacks to make the AI less bad make future AI improvement more difficult and can't fix everything anyway. Make the track good for humans, make the drivequads match the truly drivable areas, and don't worry if the AI is dumb. If the track reaches the point where it has the graphics and gameplay quality for the main game, then you can be sure the AI will be worked on to handle this better.
Alright, good to know. It is worth mentioning on the X-Kart1 port track, I intentionally distorted the driveline of the first U-turn to make AI on SuperTux have half a chance at making it on the first lap, but it does ruin the reverse route a bit.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- Signs warning about upcoming strong corners would be helpful. Experimented player might just rote learn the whole track, but it needs to not be overly frustrating for newbies.
Great suggestion, will do.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- I've found there is very little places where the red drift is actually usable. Almost all the difficult corners are very short, so no drift or yellow drift are the only options, and the straights aren't favorable either.
With Tux,
I was able to get 8 red drifts (no zipper, the second may be cheating, first one in tunnel was taken late so normally it isn't close to the wall). Granted, that took at least 15 tries.
I didn't design the course with red drifting in mind, so if you think that's a problem then it is. I just don't really have an expectation of red drifting as normal.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- Very few safe areas for zippers, too.
Good point. Some corners are thrown in for the sake of it, so maybe I shouldn't be scared of straight track.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- A secret path or two, in normal and in reverse, would be nice.
Agreed, there are some opportunities for that so I should definitely take advantage of it. A shortcut through the buildings would take skill to navigate.
Alayan {l Wrote}:- In 2.0, I'm thinking of making the drift hop less OP for cornering. I think this would improve the gameplay on most current tracks, but it might make some of your corners even nastier... I don't think it's bad to have to brake at some points, but maybe making some of those corners wider would help both in regards to the collision issues and to not have these corners too nasty once the drift hop is nerfed.
Thanks for the warning. I'll be making many of the corners wider for sure. The left-right corkscrew with the arch over it was intended so that it couldn't be cut and required two turns, so I might have to make it a bit easier for 2.0.
Alayan {l Wrote}:My best lap (1 zipper) is a 52.708s in a heavy, quite far from perfect. Taking all the corners right without slowing down too much or crashing is not easy, need some memorization.
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Nice work. It might be a bit too hard so I'll focus on widening the track and making some of the corners less sharp or omitting them.