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New Track: City lights

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 01:06
by Wolfs
Hi all!

I'am currently creating a new track in which you can drive in a city at night. It's a work in progress, but it can be played. It would be great to get comments about the road, textures, models, length and so on :). Please note that since it is not finished lots of buildings next to the road are simple cubes with a texture on them, but this will change ;).

BTW, there seem to be no textures for buildings at night that are under an acceptable license. Thus most of the textures have been created by myself and they don't look that good ;). Does anybody know where I can find some good building-at-night textures that are licensed under CC-BY-SA or something like that?

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 06:23
by betharatux1
hm ... links looks alive, but after 5 second or ? when i try download it, process is failed.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 13:28
by Wolfs
betharatux1 {l Wrote}:hm ... links looks alive, but after 5 second or ? when i try download it, process is failed.

This is strange, the link works flawlessly for me :|.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 16:32
by Ludsky
This Track Bug. She trembles a lot

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 18:39
by Binky
Perhaps make the traffic lights double-sided so players can tell which way to go?

"Silent City" would be a good name

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 18:50
by Wolfs
Binky {l Wrote}:Perhaps make the traffic lights double-sided so players can tell which way to go?

Thanks for your feedback! I'm still figuring out how I can indicate the way better, for example by creating traffic signs and adding traffic cones that lead the way. The more different possibilities, the better :).

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 18:53
by Tuxfan
This track looks already awesome. Nice skybox.
But: I have trouble to find my way through the city. So please add more hints that show the player the way. Turning the wrong way just feels :x

@ other Testers: Do you think the track is too dark? That was my first impression.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 19:21
by Wolfs
Tuxfan {l Wrote}:@ other Testers: Do you think the track is too dark? That was my first impression.

Feedback on this would be indeed good because I have only one screen to test the track.
Tuxfan {l Wrote}:But: I have trouble to find my way through the city. So please add more hints that show the player the way. Turning the wrong way just feels :x

Don't worry, I will add hints for the correct way :).

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 20:25
by Binky
I agree that is too dark.
The drop down after the bridge was very hard to find.
The signs in the industry track are good, though - maybe something like that?
Some interesting objects in the wiggly bit of the track would be good

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 22 Jul 2012, 20:53
by Wolfs
Binky {l Wrote}:The drop down after the bridge was very hard to find.

I will add some traffic cones there that lead the way out of the highway. I am also thinking about adding a slow-down texture because you are IMO too fast to drive the curve correctly.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2012, 18:02
by Wolfs
Ludsky {l Wrote}:This Track Bug. She trembles a lot

Hm, what do you exactly mean? Does your kart tremble?

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 23 Jul 2012, 18:26
by Binky
Near the start/lap/finish line the physics seems confused - karts wobble and bump around even when stationary

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 00:28
by hiker
Wolfs {l Wrote}:
Binky {l Wrote}:The drop down after the bridge was very hard to find.

I will add some traffic cones there that lead the way out of the highway. I am also thinking about adding a slow-down texture because you are IMO too fast to drive the curve correctly.

The track does indeed look good, but I found it nearly impossible to see where you are supposed to drive. Not only would this need arrows (on the road, or better side of the street), but the 'dead ends' need to be blocked. I found myself way off track, which I only realised when I looked at the minimap :p Traffic cones are not the right item to block the incorrect paths: in most (all?) tracks they can be pushed around, so to the player this would indicate that they can still drive that way.

I would suggest to either remove the dead ends completely (just put a building there ;) ), or block them with something else: e.g. park a car there, a row of bushes, a fence, a statue, ...

Re slowdown texture: yes, the 90 degree curves are difficult to take correctly. Instead of a slow down texture I'd say to make the roads (a lot?) wider - think of a plaza or so? This way even if you don't know the road, you have enough time to turn, but if you know the way, you can take a more narrow curve (and/or start skidding which we will have in 0.8).

The narrow path (with the lantern) looks more like a shortcut to me (since it's more difficult to drive, less forgiving to driving errors), not like the main path on which karts should drive - since it's very difficult to find where to get on it, I'd actually say this would be an ideal hidden shortcut ;) At least this part of the road should be wider if it's supposed to be driven normally since it's more or less impossible to overtake a kart there, which makes it more boring (though difficult to drive on the other hand) - but admittedly I am generally not a friend of narrow roads, other might disagree with that ;) .

Of course, a feature suggestion: what about some traffic on the road, i.e. (IPO) animated cars that might drive around the city, which needs to be dodged by the karts ;)

Cheers,
Joerg

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 13:36
by Binky
I think using the wiggly part as a short-cut would be good - the main route corresponding to it could be a busy area with neon lights, and parked taxis that you have to dodge, especially if they have been bumped by other karts

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 22:42
by Wolfs
hiker {l Wrote}:The track does indeed look good, but I found it nearly impossible to see where you are supposed to drive. Not only would this need arrows (on the road, or better side of the street), but the 'dead ends' need to be blocked. I found myself way off track, which I only realised when I looked at the minimap :p Traffic cones are not the right item to block the incorrect paths: in most (all?) tracks they can be pushed around, so to the player this would indicate that they can still drive that way.

I would suggest to either remove the dead ends completely (just put a building there ;) ), or block them with something else: e.g. park a car there, a row of bushes, a fence, a statue, ...

I agree, the way is indeed rather impossible to find if you are new to the track :). I want to remove the crossing only if it is absolutely necessary, because IMO a city has to have a lot of them :). So I have been experimenting with road barriers for several hours and I'd like your opinion on this since I know the track by far too well to put myself into the position of someone who is new to the track ;). Would something like this be enough to see where the way leads to?
screenshot1.jpg


hiker {l Wrote}:The narrow path (with the lantern) looks more like a shortcut to me (since it's more difficult to drive, less forgiving to driving errors), not like the main path on which karts should drive - since it's very difficult to find where to get on it, I'd actually say this would be an ideal hidden shortcut ;) At least this part of the road should be wider if it's supposed to be driven normally since it's more or less impossible to overtake a kart there, which makes it more boring (though difficult to drive on the other hand) - but admittedly I am generally not a friend of narrow roads, other might disagree with that ;)

Hmm ... I intend the track to be rather challenging to drive and I like narrow roads where I have to battle for better ranks ;). But of course it should be visible where you have to drive next, so would some arrangement like this one be enough to see it? I also added a "SLOW" texture to the highway short before this turn, because I have the impression that all those zippers make you simply too fast to get the turn right, even if you know where it is.
screenshot2.jpg

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 22:44
by Wolfs
Binky {l Wrote}:Near the start/lap/finish line the physics seems confused - karts wobble and bump around even when stationary

That's weird :?. I cannot reproduce this error. Could you provide a short video that shows me this issue? On my computer the kart drives absolutely smooth.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 23:32
by david herrera
congratulations, this track have a wonderful effects !!!!!


this arrows are a example for use in side of the street
texture.jpg
texture.jpg (4.2 KiB) Viewed 18267 times


good luck¡¡ :)

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 24 Jul 2012, 23:34
by ctdabomb
Wolfs {l Wrote}:Would something like this be enough to see where the way leads to?

sure, that should be fine

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 00:10
by hiker
Hi,

could you just post a new version of the track (of perhaps only with the files that were changed/added)? It's hard to judge it without actually driving.

Cheers,
Joerg

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 00:44
by Wolfs
hiker {l Wrote}:could you just post a new version of the track (of perhaps only with the files that were changed/added)? It's hard to judge it without actually driving.

Sure. These should be the files that have changed.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 11:48
by Binky
Wolfs {l Wrote}:
Binky {l Wrote}:Near the start/lap/finish line the physics seems confused - karts wobble and bump around even when stationary

That's weird :?. I cannot reproduce this error. Could you provide a short video that shows me this issue? On my computer the kart drives absolutely smooth.


Does this work:
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/166/s63x.mp4

It should be an ogv file

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 14:08
by leovilok
BTW, there seem to be no textures for buildings at night that are under an acceptable license. Thus most of the textures have been created by myself and they don't look that good ;). Does anybody know where I can find some good building-at-night textures that are licensed under CC-BY-SA or something like that?

Maybe you can find (extract actually :oops: , yes there is still some work) stuff here :
Licencies are good and quality is high-ranged ;)

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 14:34
by ctdabomb
leovilok {l Wrote}:Licencies are good

most licenses are good. you will have to check each picture.

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 14:40
by leovilok
What are the bad ones ? Is it GFDL ?

Re: New Track: [Track in a city at night that is still unnam

PostPosted: 25 Jul 2012, 21:40
by tstrike
Tried to load up the track and got:
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
ERROR: no valid starting position for kart 0 on track changed.