Re-introducing the cube

[asciimonster]

A while back I created my first track called the cube. It turned out to be a track you either loved or hated, no in betweens. I'll try and upload a new version to the Addon Manager.

Lately I have been working on the aesthetics and preventing shortcuts. Hope you like it.

P.S. Hikers main comments on the track was:
- It's too long (I hope the STK 0.7 version with multidriveline technology(TM) will fix that)
- Some parts are too steep (That will not change, it's the appeal of the track!)
I guess it will never be Hikers favourite...

Try out the different drivelines of the track:
- Go to the track directory.
- Copy some files from a subdirectory (copy DrivelineX/*.* . , where X is 1, 2 or 3)
- Start STK.

[Auria]

Hum, the package seems to only contain the .blend, textures and exported files are missing

[asciimonster]

I tried to upload, but is was slightly too big (11 Mb ). I took out the music, should upload now

[asciimonster]

the music

[hiker]

P.S. Hikers main comments on the track was:
- It's too long (I hope the STK 0.7 version with multidriveline technology(TM) will fix that)
- Some parts are too steep (That will not change, it's the appeal of the track!)
I guess it will never be Hikers favourite...

I agree, though I was surprised how nice it looked last time I played it. But the problem of steepness (=slow driving=boring) and narrow roads is unavoidable (imho). But it's probably a great track for people who like this kind of track

Cheers,
Joerg

[charlie]

Perhaps you can make the steep bits more fun by putting speed boosts up them - that way there can be a bit of skill to those bits as well as you can put the speed boosts in zig zags or other arrangements.

[Sebert]

Just played "the Cube" and I really liked it. Comments:

• Most STK tracks are rather easy to remember sooner or later, but this one so huge at least I easily forget what is coming next.
• This would be a good candidate for several possible routes.
• Unfortunately the minimap is really useless in the cube.
• This kind of track seems to suit the AI very well. I am having more problems to beat the other drivers than usual.

[hiker]

Perhaps you can make the steep bits more fun by putting speed boosts up them - that way there can be a bit of skill to those bits as well as you can put the speed boosts in zig zags or other arrangements.

Spped boosts in steep uphill (or downhill) section usually don't work too good: the sudden push forward tends to compress the suspension, which then pushes the kart away from the track, which means that mostly you can't really steer since the wheels are not touching the street (even though that might not be apparent visually). We have similar issues with the canyon track. I'll try to improve the physics somewhat, but probably not for 0.7. Zippers in zig zags are an interesting idea - it would usually mean to avoid them as the risk of being kicked off road is rather big, but if you can manage it then that's fine. But again the risk is that even small bumps in the road means that you can't steer, which is just deadly in tight zig-zagged parts.

Cheers,
Joerg

[portets]

yeah, i really like the zig zag idea.

and i know what you mean about the canyon track
especially with wilber. that track is impossible with wilber if you use the boosts. let alone boosts, nitrous, and uphill with wilber.....

[rudy85]

The cube ---------------the better track

[ProtoSphere]

I like the new version, but I have a couple of things to say:

There is no longer transparency in the walls of the cube. It makes the colours brighter and kinda hurts your eyes...could you re-add this please?
All the shortcuts are gone! ... At least you left the best one in though!

[hiker]

Re the problem with the minimap: I intend to add a "no-minimap" flag to the track data files, so that the (in this case confusing) minimap is not show at all. Or do you have any better and easy to implement idea?

Cheers,
Joerg

[charlie]

What about a 3d minimap that uses an isometric perspective?

[asciimonster]

Re the problem with the minimap: I intend to add a "no-minimap" flag to the track data files, so that the (in this case confusing) minimap is not show at all. Or do you have any better and easy to implement idea?

I was thinking about quadline highlighting. Whatever route you decide to take, that route is highlighted.
That way, a quadline marked 'hidden' would become visible once you found it.

[hiker]

What about a 3d minimap that uses an isometric perspective?

Imho that wouldn't help at all with the cube - and that's the only track that has that kind of problem.

I was thinking about quadline highlighting. Whatever route you decide to take, that route is highlighted.
That way, a quadline marked 'hidden' would become visible once you found it.

Well, we could take this as a suggestion for improvement, but it wouldn't help with the cube's minimap. Besides it would be somewhat expensive (currently the minimap is just a texture applied, which then becomes a rendering of all quads plus modifying certain parts of it) - and it has problems with splitscreen (what if one player has detected it, but not the other). For now I'll leave invisible parts invisible, lets see how this works once we have tracks that use more hidden ways.

Cheers,
Joerg

[xapantu]

Hi,
I have added The Cube to the Addon Manager : http://stkaddons.tuxfamily.org/index.php?title=tracksThe%20Cube
Asciimonster, can you add some information ?

[asciimonster]

Sorry, I am at my holiday address and have only brief access to the internet. I will upload them at earliest opportunaty.

[COOLTUX345]

Do tracks made for 0.6 work on 0.7? Because I want to race on the cube in 0.7 version of supertuxkart.

[Arthur]

COOLTUX345: No, they don't as the file format(s) has changed. They will need to be converted to the new format in order to work with 0.7.

[downer]

I really liked "the cube" and the ai does seem really fast in it's spiraling turns. I also like that the player comes out at the bottom for a change of scenery, even if the top of the cube is harder to spot. It kinda feels like a roller coaster trapped indoors!

Maybe for STK, add a minimap option to graphically show how close other racers are to the start/finish line for maps that would otherwise look like spaghetti or too confusing. Like maybe a bar for each player that would raise and lower with their position.
I also really like the animated turn-for-turn that I've seen in rally games. The player stays still in the minimap, and nearby track moves instead, with far away parts faded out.

(I've also been working on a driving map that also fits inside a cube, but its all inside a cave and its for another game. If my map stops compiling again, I'll try and bring it over to STK.)