Ready, set, go sequence and penalty

[Funto]

There has already been some debate on IRC, moving to the forum.

In STK, when pressing the accelerate key too soon, you get a penalty, and you get to look at other players starting the race while being unable to move.
I find this incredibly frustrating and useless, plus that is the very first thing a new player sees of STK: "no you can't move, because you pressed the accelerate key too soon, you bad boy." "Wut?? But I didn't know that thing!"
I am for removing this penalty.

Hiker argued that such a penalty also exists in MarioKart. I ran some tests with MarioKart Double Dash today, and yes, there is indeed a penalty, but it happens when you press the accelerate key during a long time up to the "Go" moment. If for example you pressed it a long time, released it, say 1 second before "Go", then press it on "Go" time, you get a boost (in MK the boost happens when we press it on "Go" time).

My other reason for wanting to remove that penalty is that I want players to be able to make noise with their engines before the race starts, with smoke and shaking karts. I think that's part of the fun in a racing game: getting the engine hot

So my proposal is just:
- no penalty
- get a boost when pressing at "Go" time
- be able to make noise before the race (but you need to press just on "Go" time to get a boost - keeping the accelerate button pressed all the time won't give you a boost).

[Uni]

There has already been some debate on IRC, moving to the forum.

In STK, when pressing the accelerate key too soon, you get a penalty, and you get to look at other players starting the race while being unable to move.
I find this incredibly frustrating and useless, plus that is the very first thing a new player sees of STK: "no you can't move, because you pressed the accelerate key too soon, you bad boy." "Wut?? But I didn't know that thing!"
I am for removing this penalty.

Hiker argued that such a penalty also exists in MarioKart. I ran some tests with MarioKart Double Dash today, and yes, there is indeed a penalty, but it happens when you press the accelerate key during a long time up to the "Go" moment. If for example you pressed it a long time, released it, say 1 second before "Go", then press it on "Go" time, you get a boost (in MK the boost happens when we press it on "Go" time).

My other reason for wanting to remove that penalty is that I want players to be able to make noise with their engines before the race starts, with smoke and shaking karts. I think that's part of the fun in a racing game: getting the engine hot

So my proposal is just:
- no penalty
- get a boost when pressing at "Go" time
- be able to make noise before the race (but you need to press just on "Go" time to get a boost - keeping the accelerate button pressed all the time won't give you a boost).

I am kinda pro, but I want the penalty in there too. Repeatedly pressing could result in always having the boost, so that should be countered with a penalty. (If your meter is in the red part because of repeatedly pressing (or just holding it) when the "go" goes off you should get the penalty.)

[Funto]

I agree. In fact that seems to be really close to what MarioKart Double Dash is doing. But maybe we could just normally in this case, and not have a penalty?

In CTR, the accelerometer needs to be in a "medium" position to get the boost: if you keep pressing the accelerate button for too long, you end up "burning", so that you have black smoke coming out of the pipes and you don't have a boost (but I don't remember that you get "stuck"). So you need to be at that "medium" position at "Go" time, which you can achieve by starting to accelerate a bit before it (but it's not the only way to get it - you can try to maintain the accelerometer at that "medium" level during the whole phase, which basically means you will end up "making noise" before the race).

[Uni]

I agree. In fact that seems to be really close to what MarioKart Double Dash is doing. But maybe we could just normally in this case, and not have a penalty?

In CTR, the accelerometer needs to be in a "medium" position to get the boost: if you keep pressing the accelerate button for too long, you end up "burning", so that you have black smoke coming out of the pipes and you don't have a boost (but I don't remember that you get "stuck"). So you need to be at that "medium" position at "Go" time, which you can achieve by starting to accelerate a bit before it (but it's not the only way to get it - you can try to maintain the accelerometer at that "medium" level during the whole phase, which basically means you will end up "making noise" before the race).

That's fine too But it shouldn't be too easy to get the boost.

[Alayan]

" get a boost when pressing at "Go" time"
There is actually a boost for fast reacting to the "Go". There are no particle or such to indicate it, but there is.
After, the suggestion is kinda different of just that point but I wanted to outline this.

[Funto]

Alayan: good point, I think we need a way to clearly indicate when there is a boost.
I am for adding back the "wheelie" effect (where the kart goes temporarily on its back wheels), but maybe just as a graphical effect. Having this affect the physics or the steering (e.g when on a wheelie, you can't steer as well as without) is another debate.

Seeing how few people answered here, it seems there isn't actually that much interest from people on this particular part of the game? To me it's quite important, as it's the first contact you have with the game, how you prepare for the race...it should be as fun as possible.

[RaceAce]

Maybe some particles coming out of the exhaust pipes to indicate the boost? And possibly a bit stronger boost would be nice. If you press Forward too soon, when the race starts you should do a burnout, with the back end of the kart fishtailing with smoke coming from the wheels and the kart shaking.

[hiker]

Hi,

we will try some improvements to the startup boost and penalty, but not in 0.8.1 (I had a look and to do it properly requires more changes than I am comfortable to do so short before a RC).

Funto, could you perhaps open a ticket for that?

Cheers,
Joerg

[Funto]

Ticket opened here: https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/super ... icket/1095