Free driving on STK in a virtual world of STK

[monway]

Wouldn't it be cool to have just free driving not racing with STK like a virtual world with maps and interactive levels with other online players. not some deathmatch or anything just maps of a city or something I think it's fun. the 0.8 alpha of STK gave me that idea. Who's with me?

[Arthur]

I'm not quite sure what you mean. However, some time back I started to model a huge city; maybe something like that would be not too far off?

[monway]

I guess what i mean is free driving as in off-road and just free for all with capabilities of playing with other players online. just like how it is like in story mode in version 0.8a of stk. only difference is there's no racing just free driving around anywhere on the level kinda like the game "Driver". So, if we had something like this as an option for stk would be fun.

[Arthur]

Well, without specially designed tracks there wouldn't really be that much to do. Anyway, online mode is coming for 0.9.

[monway]

awesome, I can't wait till i try it. funny how i like this game much better than some steam games i play. mostly because of how the developers keep up with stk. good on them all. they deserve every donation they get and more.

[ctdabomb]

they deserve every donation they get and more.

+500

[monway]

Just donated 10$ because, you guys deserve it.

[Arthur]

Awesome.
Think if every user did that; then there would be enough money to pay artists, set up bounties for best tracks of the month, project leaders could work full-time on programming, etc. etc.

[monway]

I support good games and good developers who actually put time into a game. While STK is free and open source it sure still has a feel like the commercial games only that it's free. Funny how when I'm bored stk never fails me.

[Hero]

Off road driving. Right now we have arenas (till death do we part with our wheels) but in that you HAVE to fight. If we could just have a mode where you may drive any track you wish without race or arena aspects that would be great. If models are needed I'd love to supply and frankly all the tracks existing would be fun to do it with. I remember my brother and I would set the AIs to 0 and just explore tracks.

[monway]

I concur with Hero. This would also be just a fun way to mess around and learn your driving skills especially with the skidding. I was kinda doing that a bit with the 0.8a before going to each level portal it's fun a bit though it's no level. on 0.8a there are map edges where you actually fall off if you go through the trees. things you find when you mess around

[Hero]

One track that was difficult to explore was Tux Tollway. Go off and fall to infinity. And then Start Track that would be improved if you could just jump on to Saturn's rings.

[Binky]

Expanding tux tollway to have loads of useable roads might be interesting.

[Hero]

I agree. That was EXACTLY what I was thinking.

[Arthur]

As said, Tux Tollway is not part of the official package, but if improved it might return.
Anywho, I really don't see any reason to just drive around on current tracks; I do that on new tracks a bit but the novelty soon fades away. If we had larger tracks made specially for that purpose it would be more interesting, and there has already been some discussion on improving the Overworld to reward exploring a bit more.

[Hero]

People are different. Just because you don't like the idea doesn't mean 5 others (by my count and probably a lot more) do.

I like the idea maybe of secret levels that you can access in the overworld. I would be happy to make some.

[Arthur]

Well, as you said you can already do this by driving without AI, so what's the issue then?

[monway]

Well, as you said you can already do this by driving without AI, so what's the issue then?

Arthur,
I think you miss the point originally. Yes there's room for racing, turning off AI would help learning tracks however, neither of those are the same as free driving off/on road. the purpose of the idea is to not only learn the track but to have fun with others. this also allows you to do things without being timed or warning of going the wrong way etc... While it's nifty that you can turn off AI but there's no fun in partial freedom. There's no democracy in that. :P
I still like the idea of having possible option for people IF they want to free play they can as part of the game options. I believe that would encourage more track designs, game play enhancement, so on, so forth.

Gotta give incentives to those who play in order to give good feedback with the developers. that's what i call success in development which also leads to donations to encourage more developments like this for stk. Just my cents here.

[Arthur]

What do you define by free driving off/on road then? And seriously, if you worry about time and which way you're driving when you're driving without competition I can't for the life of me figure why.

[monway]

I think it's pretty self-explanatory driving off/on road means to drive off the road or on the road. its not about worrying about time it's a whole different feature from racing all together. the idea is to do this with others online not just by yourself. the idea for this feature isn't about competition. It's about free play as in free for all whatever you want to do on the maps/tracks or virtual world. I hope this best explains it to you.

[Hero]

What do you define by free driving off/on road then? And seriously, if you worry about time and which way you're driving when you're driving without competition I can't for the life of me figure why.

So how do you get to work? Set up a drag race?

There is a faction (note that I didn't say small or large) of the population of this planet that like to explore, like to have adventure but not always competitively. Yes we like playing races and I admit that I'm an addict but it's always fun to just drive around and have non-competitive fun.

Yes we can do it without the AI but then not that many people will think of that in brilliance. Adding a message like "Play with out AI and go with out racing" makes it sound messy and unfinished. Maybe just a check with the reverse that says "No racing urgency" that would take out the wrong way messages, the place system and maybe even the minimap and timer. In this mode you wouldn't feel the urgency to race and allow yourself to explore more easily. Also with the track devs knowing that this is possible the tracks may gain in size, interest and fun. I personally would like the ability for you to start small minilevels from the main game by simply exploring a small off-road track.

Has anyone ever noticed the extra cave in Zen Garden right before the bridge where you can collect nitro? There is no path to it and no obvious route and you can't even see it. However in an off-road adventure my brother discovered it and we have used it to collect nitro in time trials ever since. Exploring is rewarding.

[Arthur]

So, you basically want that tracks should be interesting and bug-free everywhere, which will increase workload for track artists, and for programmers to spend time making something already possible more prominent even though there are few compelling reasons to do so, just to satisfy peoples curiosity. I get it.

[monway]

To be honest, I don't understand why you think that will happen Arthur. Creativity comes from the players and developers. Feedback is the strength of the game development. I think if there were more donations to support ideas like this one the developers would be more inclined to use that time. That's how it works in the development world. by your assessment Arthur you're making the developers look slacking. This isn't the case in my opinion. sorry you don't like the idea. no need to make the situation worse. I'd rather hear it from the developer himself telling me it's not worth the time/effort. I'd just let it go. I think there are others who like this idea than just myself. like how Hero explained it.

[Arthur]

Sure thing, but seeing as how there are basically 2 programmers and 1 artist in the core team, quite few donations and lots of more worthy features to be made, I don't see this happening anytime soon. Just trying to set your expectations to a realistic level.

[Hero]

Hey, hey, hey, the tracks are already good for this, they just need some easy-to-do tweaks.

Yes it might increase the load but slowly and it would make the game better. I can give you all (and more) the suggestions you want for things to do and if I was allowed even do it my self. If you want I can take every single track in STK and do this to them and then upload it to stkaddons.net and show you. What about it?

Note: It's not just him it's her as well.