Idea: Christmas mode

[Funto]

What about having some special decorations for Christmas, as is done with VLC?
VLC adds a hat to its cone:


I tried adding a hat to Tux, and I think it fits well


I was also thinking maybe we could add some snow falling during the loading screen...

Any thoughts?

[Hero]

Hmm, I'll come back in a couple of days and give you some junk.

I like it but it's a lot of extra work for the main people. Could you upload that kart.blend here please?

[Funto]

I don't think that would be a lot of extra work: it's just loading one model instead of another at a given period of the year.
This was just a test, the hat is not yet linked to the skeleton, and the UV-mapping should be tweaked a bit again.

[Hero]

Just please upload it.

No extra work? Extra download, modelling, testing... But YOU can do it. I was actually thinking of just redoing some models, tracks, karts and themes and allow an install for Christmas.

[Hero]

Okay, Christmas icons:

guichristmas.zip

(3.11 MiB) Downloaded 497 times

Some icons have snow on the top.

Some parts of the Glass skin have snow on the top.

Thanks,
Hero

[Funto]

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1815573/stk/christmas_tux.zip -> here is the .blend file, together with the .xcf, and the exported kart.
I attached the hat to the skeleton so that it follows the animation. Works well.

Here are screenshots in-game :



But as Arthur suggested on IRC, I'm concerned with the various religious beliefs of the wide variety of players of STK: maybe some of them would feel that having a Christmas mode would be unfair/bad/whatever...

[Hero]

A Christmas DOWNLOAD. That's what I want.

[Auria]

It's not a bad idea and looks cool, but this kind of thing should have been planned a couple weeks ago, sorry. The release is basically happening right now and it's way too late to include such last-second features, sorry

[Ludsky]

For me it's a good idea ^^

[Hero]

Hmm, I think I can solve this.

I remember the Halloween Edition was not up to STK standards. Arthur suggested we hosted it ourselves but we didn't have the space. But now I do. I'll come back in a couple of days with a site for STK Non-Supported stuff (everything we're not allowed to do on the site and everything we ever wanted in STK)... that is if the team is fine with it? I know it's open source but I think I should ask anyway.

Thanks,
Hero

[Arthur]

Sure, as long as you make it absolutely clear that it's not official and not supported you can do whatever you want while abiding the licenses.

[noname120]

Hmm, I think I can solve this.

I remember the Halloween Edition was not up to STK standards. Arthur suggested we hosted it ourselves but we didn't have the space. But now I do. I'll come back in a couple of days with a site for STK Non-Supported stuff (everything we're not allowed to do on the site and everything we ever wanted in STK)... that is if the team is fine with it? I know it's open source but I think I should ask anyway.

Thanks,
Hero

'everything we're not allowed to do on the site and everything we ever wanted in STK' <--The way you are saying it is shocking: as if the STK maintainers guys were bad guys refusing stuff that everybody wants etc. There is always a good reason for them refusing a suggestion/idea/concept/whatever.

[Hero]

Sorry. Everything they said we couldn't do at the time. And no, that is not what I intended to say.

[Hero]

Hello,

Just to check about the fact that the site is non-supported: do you agree with this:

"Please note THIS SITE IS UNOFFICIAL! The STK team neither encourages or discourages us. They do not support this project. Nothing here will necessarily be included in any STK release or package. Nothing here will necessarily be supported by STK!

THIS IS NOT AN ADD-ON SITE. That is stkaddons.net. This is not a forum for STK. That is on FreeGameDev Forums. This is not the official STK site. That is www.supertuxkart.net.

Everything here must be properly licensed or it will be removed!

It is best (but not necessary) for you read this site's Rules page. This site uses the MediaWiki software and is hosted by Zymic. We strive to follow their rules. More information again on the Rules page."

Thanks, Hero

[Hero]

Okay, here's what you can do on the site.

Host weird edits to STK.
Talk about how to play STK.
Talk about how to cheat STK.
Enter contests for best weird edits to STK, best tutorials and best STK tracks.
Present ideas for STK.
Rank STK tracks, karts, etc..

All using the MediaWiki software.

All on stkextra.zxq.net!

Remember: This is not necessarily supported by STK, STK team members or any particular member the STK community.

Remember: The site is not yet finished. We still need to add thousands of pages. But you can help!

[Funto]

Ok, so I created a Xmas branch on SVN that automatically switches to Xmas mode on December.
Here is a screenshot of what it looks like:


I'm not sure I will go any farther in this area as my time is very limited, and I wanted something very subtle initially...

[Hero]

I'll borrow the models for stkextra. What licenses are the edits to Tux under?

Could you also add the icon changes? That is also very subtle (but not so much).

[Funto]

Added Halloween mode (in code + model, with pumpkin from Mansion track), with the worst temporary icon ever:


It's animated, but the losing animation is broken (that thing with the terminal...)
Blender file here (with textures packed): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1815573/stk/halloween-tux2.5.blend
XCF file for the Christmas icon here (although that's really not needed, I did that quickly to test): http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1815573/stk/xmas-tuxicon.xcf

Let's say the icon and model are under CC-By and the code is under the same license as STK.

[Hero]

Instead of a terminal you can add orbiting pumpkins above his head, all of different sizes.

STK code is under GNU GPL I think.