Proposal for overhauling items

[Jooost]

Let me start off by acknowledging I'm not really the right guy to say this. It might be hard to take a proposal such as mine seriously as I'm unknown to most people here and haven't been involved a lot. However, this might also make me the right person to say this, as I'm fairly unbiased.

Also let me say that I absolutely love this game. Me and my girlfriend play it all the time, and have a great deal of fun doing so.

For a while now though I've been a little annoyed by how the items in SuperTuxKart look and feel. They feel like a random collection of junk, implemented apart from eachother without any overall design. I know this is partly true, cause I've seen the introduction of the swatter and the rubber ball. Don't get me wrong, I like how all items behave, I just don't like their cosmetics.

Let me list all the items currently in use:

Blue boxes
Bananas
Nitro

Bubblegum
Cake
Plunger
Bowling Ball
Parachute
Anchor
Bomb
Swapper
Rubber Ball
Swatter

I think these items need to be rethought to make for a more cohesive whole.

With Auria's proposal of a story mode, I think we should take a look at the story behind the original SuperTux game (if you don't know it or haven't played it before, look it up! it's quite entertaining) and what parts of their gameplay you could reuse in STK.

In SuperTux, Tux (obviously) is the main character, a penguin. He has a girlfriend, a purple penguin named Penny (of whom we've all been reminded recently by a person nicknammed Juliet120STK). At the start of the game, Tux's girlfriend is kidnapped by the badguy, Nolok, whose kart is in STK already. Tux then goes on a quest to find Penny and defeat Nolok, starting off on the South Pole.

The game features several badguys, some of whom could replace some items to make the game more cohesive. Even if you think the following items are a bad idea, I hope you will atleast discuss the possibility of overhauling the items, maybe think of other that will better suit the SuperTux universe.
Jumpy is encountered commonly in SuperTux. I reckon he could be used instead of Rubber Ball, bouncing over the track towards the player in lead position.
Mr. Bomb could be an excellent replacement for the current Bomb, attaching itself to the back of a kart and with an evil grin on it's face, it's fuse slowly becoming shorter until he blows.
Snowball. Could replace Bowling Ball, shooting forward and bouncing of walls and other obstacles.

Some other badguys from SuperTux:
Bouncing Snowball
Flying Snowball
Mr. IceBlock

Ofcourse, if you decide to go in this direction, a whole lot more items could come to mind that fit this theme.

I hope you will consider my proposal, and even when you don't like these items per se, I hope you will rethink some of the existing ones anyway.

Regards,

Joost

P.S. I'm fairly proficient in Blender, so I could help design and model a lot of them before you reach milestone 0.8.

[Iridium]

Meh. I'm familiar with SuperTux, as are most of us - and I think this is a very good idea actually

We could use those icons up top for the item selection as well.

Some more thoughts:

Flying Snowball = (Red Shell)?

Ice Block is a character, but could also be used as a replacement for the Bowling Ball; in the same way that Koopa Troopa is a character in the Mario Kart series, but there are also Green Shells used in-game.

[Silvian_Bruno]

One large difference I noticed between STK and other kart racers is the lack of unique obstacles on most courses. Maybe more Super Tux characters could be implemented as a way to give a little idiom to certain tracks.

[Iridium]

One large difference I noticed between STK and other kart racers is the lack of unique obstacles on most courses. Maybe more Super Tux characters could be implemented as a way to give a little idiom to certain tracks.

This is largely due to STK's REAL bad bumping effect at 0.7.3

[Auria]

I am not convinced that the items "lack cohesion". I do acknowledge that they are totally random, but I think that perfectly fits the cartoon nature of the game
And I must say I am not convinced that throwing ice cubes or ice balls would be an improvement, sorry ^^ a big difference is that STK is played by a big bunch of characters in many different worlds, not just by Tux in antartica like in the latest stable Supertux. So I'm not sure it really makes sense to have Suzanne throwing snowballs in the desert?

[Jooost]

Well, as I said, these things are just an example of the changes that could be made. Ofcourse you'd need a long brainstorming session to have it all make sense, to come up with items that really fit the game. I'm just saying that, in my opinion, it would make the game a bit more awesome.

[hiker]

Well, as I said, these things are just an example of the changes that could be made. Ofcourse you'd need a long brainstorming session to have it all make sense, to come up with items that really fit the game. I'm just saying that, in my opinion, it would make the game a bit more awesome.

I agree with Auria, the 'snow' setting does not really work with STK - the tracks are just too different. But obviously if you come up with better models for anything, that would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Joerg

[cheesebrother]

Talking about a weapons for stk, i've got a suggestion. My favorite weapon from mario kart is the bomb. If you drop it behind you it goes on a timer and then blows up. If you throw it, it goes straight ahead much like the muffin except that you have to aim it which can be for fun for the person throwing it and give the targeted person much more hope of getting away, unlike the muffin. Mr Bomb could be this weapon except with a change from the blue ice to metal. Just throwing an idea out there, Cheesebrother.

[Silvian_Bruno]

I don't suppose there are other tracks that could include nuances from open source programs? Like you said, it would only really make sense for the ice level to include many super tux references, but what about, say, GIMP-related effects in the rainbow track, Construction workers wearing Slackware themed outfits in the urban settings, etc.

Sorry, I know talk is cheap when more artists/modelers are what's really needed, just saying that I agree with Aurora while also thinking the idea may have a little merit.

[Funto]

I personally agree with the idea of giving as much as possible coherence to STK, and the SuperTux universe in general.
Note however that in SuperTux, the enemies change according to the explored world: Tux fights against walking trees when in the forest, and there are no jumping snowballs anymore.

So, as Auria and others mentionned, using "ice-themed" items in all worlds would make little sense, but the existing maps could be enhanced with elements from the SuperTux universe

[Nick1000]

yes! It is a very good idea. Then we have the normal items from STK and the items from Supertux. It would be very cool.

[hiker]

I personally agree with the idea of giving as much as possible coherence to STK, and the SuperTux universe in general.

I actually don't - they are after all different games, in somewhat different settings, developed by independent developing teams. Unless we intend to create a full 'open source' universe with well defined characters etc, I don't think that this kind of consistency is important - it would be (an interesting, but different) project by itself to define this.

Note however that in SuperTux, the enemies change according to the explored world: Tux fights against walking trees when in the forest, and there are no jumping snowballs anymore.

So, as Auria and others mentionned, using "ice-themed" items in all worlds would make little sense, but the existing maps could be enhanced with elements from the SuperTux universe

I don't think that using different items would make sense, getting used of what an item looks like and what it does is important (except perhaps the easter egg now and again, like the wrapper in math class ).

Cheers,
Joerg