I liked 0.7.3 version more

[AleXoundOS]

Last year I played a lot STK 0.7.3 and I liked it a lot. I played with my little cousin and had a lot of fun.

But with 0.8.x coming the game experience has changed. The most important changes I noticed are the physics, control and sound.
The music was much better in game menu and in some tracks. Also I enjoyed the sounds of collision more. New physics is less funny, maybe it has become more complex. And control is what affected gaming experience the most, and in my opinion it got worse (and I'm not saying that it's easier or harder to drive, but new kart control style is not suitable or doesn't feel natural for such game).

The story mode is an improvement, and of course I'm waiting for the network multiplayer feature.
So I suggest to revise the changes that happened after 0.7.3 version. If there is a discussion of game menu music, I vote for the 0.7.3 variant.

[RaceAce]

Welcome to the STK forums!

My personal opinion is that everything has been improved and should stay the way it is. The developers have spent a lot of time making these changes and probably at least 90% of people are happy with them. It just doesn't make any sense to take a giant step back and lose all that hard work just for the small percentage who don't like it. Of course you can continue to play 7.3 if you like it better, nobody's stopping you from doing that. But new features like Story Mode, Mini Games and Network won't be available for older versions. You just have to decide what you want more and what you're willing to tolerate and go from there.

I think the kart control issue you're talking about is the new skidding? The new skidding is much nicer than the old and adds more strategy and a better chance to catch up if you're behind. And the new music is much nicer than that blasted Mayday Mayhem (which got old quick). Although I do think you should be able to pick between maybe 3 different menu music, similar to changing skins.

I hope you can figure out a compromise to your problem, and happy racing!

~Ace

[samuncle]

Hello

Unfortunately we can't make everyone happy. IMHO you are unexperienced with the new skidding so you don't like it. I remember when I tested the new version I was unable to control the kart. So Try to learn how you can use it for a maximum of fun. Now I love it because I understand how to enable it at the right moment.

Also changing the physic engine is a hard work. It takes time we can't go back.

But stk is open source, you can try to find different values. Everyone can change our game and make it's own version .

The license of the previous music was unclear. So we decided to make our own music exclusive for our game.

But you can easily change it to what you like

[AleXoundOS]

Thank you for replies.

Of course developers made a huge work and generally I agree that 0.8 is an improvement.
Ideally it would be awesome to have options to switch between some features, e.g. between different skidding modes as you mentioned as well as being able to select countdown sound.
I think tracks and grand prix from 0.7.3 should be also available since many of them have changed or been heavily modified.

Also with network multiplayer feature it will be easier to receive opinions of players about tracks and the game in general (maybe with the help of some vote system).

[samuncle]

Ideally it would be awesome to have options to switch between some features, e.g. between different skidding modes as you mentioned as well as being able to select countdown sound.

Have you imagined the work that this will require ? To be sure that one skidding won't provide you an advantage, what is the default skidding for the IA, ...

Many player want an option in parameter. Have you imagined how many options we will have if we follow this way ?

I think tracks and grand prix from 0.7.3 should be also available since many of them have changed or been heavily modified.

You can download them. They are in addons .

Also with network multiplayer feature it will be easier to receive opinions of players about tracks and the game in general (maybe with the help of some vote system).

Feedback is important for us to improve the game but unfortunately STK isn't a democracy. It's not possible to make a vote for every new tracks, new features, ...

But I want to make some statistics like, which kart the player uses ? What's the most played track, etc.

[AleXoundOS]

Have you imagined the work that this will require ? To be sure that one skidding won't provide you an advantage, what is the default skidding for the IA, ...

Many player want an option in parameter. Have you imagined how many options we will have if we follow this way ?

Maybe you are right about skidding, since it affects balance. But many games have options, moreover consoles for advanced options. If the game design allows, it shouldn't be a problem, since developers adjust many options anyway. Of course, I can be wrong.

You can download them. They are in addons .

You are partially right, because it's possible to get some of them from addons and then edit files here /usr/share/supertuxkart/data/grandprix/ to compose grand prix.

Feedback is important for us to improve the game but unfortunately STK isn't a democracy. It's not possible to make a vote for every new tracks, new features, ...

But I want to make some statistics like, which kart the player uses ? What's the most played track, etc.

I would also add balance statistics if any kart performs better or worse for some reason.

Anyways thank you for such a good game, I wish developers good luck in further development.

[bonifarz]

Concerning game mechanics and physics changes from 0.7 to 0.8:
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4516&p=46580#p46580

Personally, I really liked the sharp turn mechanics of 0.7, but the skidding system introduced in 0.8 adds so much more fun, especially when playing trial on maps that used to be rather dull and monotonic to drive in 0.7. To get an idea how useful skidding can be when executed well, you can take a look at the trial times topic (sig).
Concerning the collision rules for walls, the current solution is certainly not natural, but it really feels much better than the instant velocity drop we had in 0.7.

I would also add balance statistics if any kart performs better or worse for some reason.

The karts should still all have identical characteristics. Diversity and balance will be a challenge in later versions.

many games have options, moreover consoles for advanced options.

As you already noticed for the grandprix settings, many game variables are read from config files and can be adjusted without the need to compile. For instance, most aspects of driving mechanics and AI settings can be changed in stk_config.cfg. I don't think it would be worth the effort to add graphical user interfaces for these advanced options, as there are so many of them and customized settings are not officially supported, as poor choices can render the game unplayable.