Hi che, that's sounding like a great!
my first question though relates to the space bar being used to fire phasers. I love the idea of jumping and shooting at once, so as the space bar is jump by default, this might not be a great key to use. I'd suggest left ctrl or left alt to fire. As for weapon ideas, well shields, phasers and mines sound pretty good, as does the idea of lean for targiting. How about making the phaser lean angle specific, ie, you have to be at around the same angle of lean or altitude to your opponent to shoot them (either ahead or behind), but make the stingers lock onto the targit automatically, and thus likely to hit wherever they are, ---- though for an interesting twist you could also allow the mines the ability to act as stinger decoys, so that the missile will go for a dropped mine rather than the above racer (making an alternative to jumping mines if your in a hurry). then, have the shield as a manually activated force field with limited energy, but no reduction in speed when using it. so, if your on a curve and thus likely to be phasered, and cannot lean aside to avoid it as on a streight, or if your opponent shoots a stinger at you and you have no mines, you use a shield to deflect the fire. for damage, i like the damage reducing speed idea best, which would also give the option of buying armour for your racer in the shop. In power up terms, I like the energy traps and jumping idea. Even though they make me curse a lot, I do enjoyb the chance to fly through the air on my racer's jets, lol! but I'd suggest random power-up pickups, rather than a system of lean or something else. Perhaps allow the ability to buy power ups in the shop or install additional ports for stingers or more shield or phaser energy charges, but have the actual stingers, phasers and shields only available during the race at random, that way the player's skill and vercetility is really tested! alternatively, you could have different race types, battle race with random power-up pickups on the tracks, and the goal being first past the finish line, and head to head where you begin with a certain amount of amo and the last racer standing wins! I deffinately think this would add a lot of elements to the game, and I'll be looking forward to it. One question though, would this be an upgrade to the existing rail racer game, ---- perhaps with an additional charge? or would it be a completely separate game, ---- ie, rail racer two. I personally would prefer the first option sinse I like the idea of having battle racing or streight racing as separate ways of urning money and alternatives in the same game sinse it lets things be more flexible. well there's my ramble, hope some of it was useful! Beware the Grue! Dark. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Che" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: "Gamers Discussion list" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 12:42 AM Subject: [Audyssey] Battle Racing approaches > Steady and I have been testing some new ideas for a battle mode in Rail > Racer where you can shoot weapons at your opponents, drop mines, fire > missiles, raise shields and the like. Kind of a dogfight on the track. > I am convinced this can be done properly now, and I'm looking from > feedback from fellow racers on the idea. > Here is what I have roughly outlined so far along with Steady's help: > Once you go into battle mode with the caps lock key, the keys on the left > side of the keyboard change function. > If you are behind an opponent you can fire a phaser at them with the > spacebar, but you must match their lean angle first. Your Rail Racer > battle system will indicate to you if your opponent is right or left of > you, as well as when you are in range both in distance and angle. > Right now, I have it set up so you can only fire at a player ahead of > you, but it could be designed so the racer has rear mounted phasers as > well. > If you are being pursued, you can drop a mine which will be locked to > your current target player only, so other players don't have to worry > about jumping over it. To clear the mine, you must achieve an altitude of > at least 10 feet when you pass over it. > Currently this is all I have programmed into the system as a test, but > there are many more possibilities. > We could have shields that deflect phaser fire at a cost to speed, or > perhaps you only have a certain amount of shield energy to use. > Also, we could have stinger missiles that can be locked onto your target, > with accompanying chaff to throw the stinger off if it is released in > time. > Also, I would like to include power ups in battle mode, roughly what I am > considering now is a energy trap that lies on the rail, with a power up > hovering above it. You must jump the trap, but to get the power up you > would have to be a certain altitude above it as you fly over, say 20 to 30 > feet when you are at the point of the power up. > Another possibility here is the ability to select your power up based on > your lean. For example, if you are leaned 90 degrees to the right when > you hit the power up point, you may get extra shield energy. Or if at > zero degrees you may pick up another nitro, etc. > We may have to limit the number of players on any given track, as > battling with 10 people at once will get quite chaotic, but further > testing will reveal if this is an issue or not. > Also, due to the complexity of the battle system, the track designs will > have to be quite different overall. Based on testing with steady with the > limited battle system we can already tell that having lots of curves is > going to make things very hard to balance. > To this end I am going to reprogram the track editor into a new variant > that will allow battle tracks to be created. These tracks would include > inclines to the rail so you could be going up and down hill with > respective changes to acceleration and top speed. Of course there would > still be curves, but they would need to be strategically placed and > designed. > Also, the power up traps would be included along with anything else Team > Rail Racer comes up with. If you have an interest in playing Rail Racer, > You are a member of Team Rail Racer by the way, grin. > I want to get the feedback of players to these ideas, so I can build the > best and most fun system possible for all of us. Racing online has been a > blast, and I think this will definately take it to the next level, pulling > in people that aren't necessarily into the racing thing. > So here are a few questions I'd like input on: > 1. Should there be a points system to determine the overall winner of a > contest? For example once you get hit 10 times, you are out of the > competition with the last person standing being the victor. > Alternatively, damage could be taken with each absorbed shot, until your > racer is destroyed, losing speed along the way. Any other ideas here > welcome. > 2. What do you think about the power ups idea, is there a better way to do > it than what I have outlined? > 3. What kind of weapons would you like to see in the game, additionally > what kinds of defensive systems, shields etc? > 4. Should some sort of bonus be given for overtaking an opponent? We want > to keep the aspect of speed intact here as well as the fighting. > Feel free to write back to the list or to me directly at: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > I will be using beta testers for battle racer from a list of players that > own the game I have already selected, and I may give a wider call out for > testers when the project is a little further down the rail. > Thanks for reading all this, and I look forward to your input, I think > this is going to be another really cool game for us all to take part in. > Again thanks to Steady for his time and ideas with this, besides being > probably our best racer, he is quite a guy. > Later, > Che > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the > list, > please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG. > Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 269.23.7/1408 - Release Date: > 30/04/2008 18:10 > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. 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