a zune racing game I am planning out

Lucifer · 06-13-2008, 04:53 AM

I've asked the help of a member of the GFX crew to make me some models / sprites and whatnot, I'm still in research of what codes I'd need, but I know what concepts I will use. I'm working on this in the background, as well as helping with the Jewels game, and helping with Pacman, and thinking about optimizing the speech code in my talking clock, and personal life business. This game may not be in a Beta stage until sometime next month, but I'm planning it out and this is what I have so far:

* Main game design is going to be like Pole Position

* Graphics are going to be much nicer than the original Atari release in the early 1980s

* Will be drawn onscreen as a perspective view, but all the game engine will be calculated and run from an aerial view of the track, with a shape of the course (GP style), and probably little rectangles for the cars so that the zune can track the position and placement of each car, and possibly even poll that 'virtual view' (which won't be seen by the player, and in fact won't even be drawn, but will have rectangles and vectors in it, mainly for math) for collision detection against the other drivers (AI), and the stuff off the sides of the track (grass / etc or pixel people watching the race..)

* will use some sort of simple AI algorithm for the drivers other than the player, currently looking for possibles... one that I found while not even looking is called "A-star pathfinding algorithm for C#" http://www.virtualrealm.com.au/blogs...-example-in-c/
but each car would mathematically consist of a rectangle(for positioning and collision detection) and a Vector (for direction, and speed converted from MPH to pixels per frame)

*My current concept is to draw the sky behind everything on the top 1/3 or so of the zune screen, horizon just below the 'sky box' (in this case just a rectangle.), a section of road (straightaway, left curve, right curve... the turns will be rotated onscreen simply...XNA supports rotation of a sprite, right? I remember seeing sprite rotation in another game's code.) drawn in the center (left and right) just under the horizon, and the cars will be drawn on the road track... depending on their position (if they're x distance ahead or behind, don't draw them) and location (draw various viewpoints of the opponent cars left, right, behind, and front of vehicle at the distance they are from the player's car.)...

* My idea is that the player will feel like they are playing the game from the 3rd person perspective of seeing their car as they drive in a pseudo 3d view, while the game itself is being handled as if it were a simple 2 dimensional aerial view game. No need for fancy pseudo 3d collision detection, I'll be polling collision detection data from the invisible rectangles which will be invisibly racing on an invisible 2d rendition of the race course...

* The game will check the player's position on the track, and decide which section of track to draw (left turn, right turn, straightaway) in a probably fairly short view of it (< 200 pixels long) and re-checking what kind of section of track the player is on at that moment about once every 50-100miliseconds.. drawing a section as need be, blending from one to the other will be interesting.. which is why I plan on using sprite rotation on the track section being drawn in order to make varying turns and whatnot.

* Also The player's car will bank a bit to the left or right as the Player turns while driving, just like in Pole Position.

* The cars will most likely be some of the following: supercars, LeMans racers, futuristic cars --- but I'm not sure yet which will be there.

* if there is not much grass on either side of the track and just viewing stands, that will make the off-track collision detection MUCH easier.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

NONE of THIS is COMPLETED yet, I'm still reading up on driving AI, mechanics of racing games (2d-3d perspective concepts etc), and some collision detecion ideas and issues.. My current collaborator is working on the cars and other elements of graphics for this game, because they can be designed and produced before game code, and I SUCK at graphics. I hope people can leave productive comments, advice, ideas, etc... I'll take everything in, but I won't guarantee you will see your ideas in this game, it's conceptually finished already, now I just have to build the realization of the concept, using C# with XNA3.0 code.

skyroket · 06-13-2008, 05:08 AM

Its great that you are making this, or beginning to. However, personally, I would like to see a top-down destroy-your-opponent's car type game (via wifi? which makes any good game better) with gameplay reminiscent of BURNOUT for xbox. Wouldn't this be easier to create? I have no experience in programming and rely solely on all those who do for my games...so thank you for the hard work anyway...just a thought

ps. i never really got into the traditional pole position, seemed kinda bland.

zunebro · 06-13-2008, 05:08 AM

those pole position, outrun type of game need no ai if you win or not was determine by how fast you go and your skills. for those you could easily grab photos off the net of car rears and be done in no time

Lucifer · 06-13-2008, 05:47 AM

maybe so, but a simple Aim for finish line in a left-and-right-turning race track by a simple point-to-point AI such as A* for C# would be awesome to race against, since they'd have to learn to 'slow down' sometimes... this could be interesting as I have never written the code for calculating how hard a turn is possible at x speed in order to make it around a turn... could be VERY interesting indeed. (but if you're suggesting I ditch the AI idea and go for a pre-determined racing script, I suppose I could do that too.)

zunebro · 06-13-2008, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by umisguy

maybe so, but a simple Aim for finish line in a left-and-right-turning race track by a simple point-to-point AI such as A* for C# would be awesome to race against, since they'd have to learn to 'slow down' sometimes... this could be interesting as I have never written the code for calculating how hard a turn is possible at x speed in order to make it around a turn... could be VERY interesting indeed. (but if you're suggesting I ditch the AI idea and go for a pre-determined racing script, I suppose I could do that too.)

yeah i understand where you're coming from you could also have if the computer randomly hit and timing of hand braking into the curve to determine if they make it or not.

most of us would be happy with a bump-n-run clone to start

but do what you do man waiting in anticipation.

dabeastofdamusic · 06-13-2008, 07:10 AM

yes ive been wanting somebody to do this! i will be glad to test for you and to help some, i dont know much about programing but i think i could do a few small things.

saab900 · 06-13-2008, 07:44 AM

Umis your awesome I cant wait! I know it would be more work but I think if you did it in like a city setting it would be that much better. Will you be able to choose your car? Id be more than willing to help with testing and Id deffinatily love to help with the cars, I dont understand the whole psudo 3D so I couldnt help with the background but I can do cars, PM me if you need any help!

Spike! · 06-13-2008, 09:21 AM

One thing that has always bugged me about top down racing games; when you speed up, rather than your car staying at the bottom of the screen, it moves to the top, so you can't see anyone who's coming. So, if you do go with a top-down view, please don't make it like that

skyroket · 06-13-2008, 10:07 AM

i agree--and hopefully those cars are actual cars...the futuristic car idea seems a bit childish, in my opinion. Cars like porshe, Lamborghini's, Camaro Z28, etc. Trucks, semis, etc. Bikes...that'd be fun. oh, and if we are going with the top-down idea, (IF) maybe we can have pedestrians crossing the streets, like old grannies, moms and childs, etc.
and/or it'd be cool to choose our car, unlock cars, upgrades, body paint colors. etc. This could be epic!

soccerfreak24 · 06-13-2008, 10:09 AM

Glad to hear someones working on a racing game, this sounds amazing. Good luck with your programming!

saab900 · 06-14-2008, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyroket

i agree--and hopefully those cars are actual cars...the futuristic car idea seems a bit childish, in my opinion. Cars like porshe, Lamborghini's, Camaro Z28, etc. Trucks, semis, etc. Bikes...that'd be fun. oh, and if we are going with the top-down idea, (IF) maybe we can have pedestrians crossing the streets, like old grannies, moms and childs, etc.
and/or it'd be cool to choose our car, unlock cars, upgrades, body paint colors. etc. This could be epic!

real cars are the way to go, but I think he made it pretty clear that its not gonna be an overhead game, it will work like one but it will look like pole position in terms of view.

adamburns123 · 06-14-2008, 09:25 AM

that sounds awesome i would really look forward to it thanks

adamburns123 · 06-14-2008, 09:26 AM

dont go over head it would be way to vintage unless someone wants that idk but i would not

Spike! · 06-14-2008, 11:50 AM

RAD RACER FOR THE NES. It's so RAD, when you press select the game goes 3D. How awesome would that be? Playing Rad Racer, on the Zune, in 3D, with 3D glasses.

skyroket · 06-14-2008, 01:32 PM

lol 3d glasses...i remember those...

SilentWalrus · 06-14-2008, 03:56 PM

z0mg is it going to to multiplayer?
Kidding.
Thanks for making this.
I now love you.

Lucifer · 06-14-2008, 04:07 PM

uhm, 3d glasses is a NO, I can't imagine the 3d calculations which would have to either be done by me beforehand, or live (realtime) by the zune.. I'll just settle for front - looking, rear - facing 3rd person perspective (as in Pole Position.) :

SilentWalrus · 06-14-2008, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by umisguy

uhm, 3d glasses is a NO, I can't imagine the 3d calculations which would have to either be done by me beforehand, or live (realtime) by the zune.. I'll just settle for front - looking, rear - facing 3rd person perspective (as in Pole Position.) :

Wow.
Psst.
Make it like Pole Position.

Lucifer · 06-14-2008, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by umisguy

* Main game design is going to be like Pole Position

* Graphics are going to be much nicer than the original Atari release in the early 1980s

SilentWalrus, no need to ask for what I already said I would be doing.

Spike! · 06-14-2008, 05:06 PM

Well, I was kidding about the 3D thing. There really was a game like that for the NES though, and when playing it with 3D glasses AND the Power Glove, it was the most ridiculous thing ever.

About the actaul game, that image you posted was what I expected. Though, in all seriousness you could probably make something that looked alot better, in terms of sprites, since obviously the zune isn't limited to 8-bit graphics.

06-13-2008, 04:53 AM	#1 (permalink)
Lucifer zB Programmer Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 509 Reputation: 62 $zB: 438 Donate	a zune racing game I am planning out I've asked the help of a member of the GFX crew to make me some models / sprites and whatnot, I'm still in research of what codes I'd need, but I know what concepts I will use. I'm working on this in the background, as well as helping with the Jewels game, and helping with Pacman, and thinking about optimizing the speech code in my talking clock, and personal life business. This game may not be in a Beta stage until sometime next month, but I'm planning it out and this is what I have so far: * Main game design is going to be like Pole Position * Graphics are going to be much nicer than the original Atari release in the early 1980s * Will be drawn onscreen as a perspective view, but all the game engine will be calculated and run from an aerial view of the track, with a shape of the course (GP style), and probably little rectangles for the cars so that the zune can track the position and placement of each car, and possibly even poll that 'virtual view' (which won't be seen by the player, and in fact won't even be drawn, but will have rectangles and vectors in it, mainly for math) for collision detection against the other drivers (AI), and the stuff off the sides of the track (grass / etc or pixel people watching the race..) * will use some sort of simple AI algorithm for the drivers other than the player, currently looking for possibles... one that I found while not even looking is called "A-star pathfinding algorithm for C#" http://www.virtualrealm.com.au/blogs...-example-in-c/ but each car would mathematically consist of a rectangle(for positioning and collision detection) and a Vector (for direction, and speed converted from MPH to pixels per frame) My current concept is to draw the sky behind everything on the top 1/3 or so of the zune screen, horizon just below the 'sky box' (in this case just a rectangle.), a section of road (straightaway, left curve, right curve... the turns will be rotated onscreen simply...XNA supports rotation of a sprite, right? I remember seeing sprite rotation in another game's code.) drawn in the center (left and right) just under the horizon, and the cars will be drawn on the road track... depending on their position (if they're x distance ahead or behind, don't draw them) and location (draw various viewpoints of the opponent cars left, right, behind, and front of vehicle at the distance they are from the player's car.)... My idea is that the player will feel like they are playing the game from the 3rd person perspective of seeing their car as they drive in a pseudo 3d view, while the game itself is being handled as if it were a simple 2 dimensional aerial view game. No need for fancy pseudo 3d collision detection, I'll be polling collision detection data from the invisible rectangles which will be invisibly racing on an invisible 2d rendition of the race course... * The game will check the player's position on the track, and decide which section of track to draw (left turn, right turn, straightaway) in a probably fairly short view of it (< 200 pixels long) and re-checking what kind of section of track the player is on at that moment about once every 50-100miliseconds.. drawing a section as need be, blending from one to the other will be interesting.. which is why I plan on using sprite rotation on the track section being drawn in order to make varying turns and whatnot. * Also The player's car will bank a bit to the left or right as the Player turns while driving, just like in Pole Position. * The cars will most likely be some of the following: supercars, LeMans racers, futuristic cars --- but I'm not sure yet which will be there. * if there is not much grass on either side of the track and just viewing stands, that will make the off-track collision detection MUCH easier. -------------------------------------------------------------------- NONE of THIS is COMPLETED yet, I'm still reading up on driving AI, mechanics of racing games (2d-3d perspective concepts etc), and some collision detecion ideas and issues.. My current collaborator is working on the cars and other elements of graphics for this game, because they can be designed and produced before game code, and I SUCK at graphics. I hope people can leave productive comments, advice, ideas, etc... I'll take everything in, but I won't guarantee you will see your ideas in this game, it's conceptually finished already, now I just have to build the realization of the concept, using C# with XNA3.0 code. Last edited by Lucifer : 06-13-2008 at 04:58 AM. Reason: Formatting.

06-13-2008, 05:08 AM	#2 (permalink)
skyroket Zuner Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 90 Reputation: 11 $zB: 75 Donate	Its great that you are making this, or beginning to. However, personally, I would like to see a top-down destroy-your-opponent's car type game (via wifi? which makes any good game better) with gameplay reminiscent of BURNOUT for xbox. Wouldn't this be easier to create? I have no experience in programming and rely solely on all those who do for my games...so thank you for the hard work anyway...just a thought ps. i never really got into the traditional pole position, seemed kinda bland. __________________ Yes, I believe in God.

06-13-2008, 05:08 AM	#3 (permalink)
zunebro Experienced Zuner Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 187 Reputation: 16 $zB: 161 Donate	those pole position, outrun type of game need no ai if you win or not was determine by how fast you go and your skills. for those you could easily grab photos off the net of car rears and be done in no time __________________ Jesus is Lord Celebrity wallpapers coming to a zune near you!

06-13-2008, 07:10 AM	#6 (permalink)
dabeastofdamusic Experienced Zuner Join Date: May 2008 Location: somewhere in NC my zunetag is username Posts: 171 Reputation: 11 $zB: 141 Donate	yes ive been wanting somebody to do this! i will be glad to test for you and to help some, i dont know much about programing but i think i could do a few small things. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. error occered, no keyboard, press (F1) to continue

06-13-2008, 10:07 AM	#9 (permalink)
skyroket Zuner Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 90 Reputation: 11 $zB: 75 Donate	i agree--and hopefully those cars are actual cars...the futuristic car idea seems a bit childish, in my opinion. Cars like porshe, Lamborghini's, Camaro Z28, etc. Trucks, semis, etc. Bikes...that'd be fun. oh, and if we are going with the top-down idea, (IF) maybe we can have pedestrians crossing the streets, like old grannies, moms and childs, etc. and/or it'd be cool to choose our car, unlock cars, upgrades, body paint colors. etc. This could be epic! __________________ Yes, I believe in God.

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06-13-2008, 05:47 AM	#4 (permalink)
Lucifer zB Programmer Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 509 Reputation: 62 $zB: 438 Donate	maybe so, but a simple Aim for finish line in a left-and-right-turning race track by a simple point-to-point AI such as A* for C# would be awesome to race against, since they'd have to learn to 'slow down' sometimes... this could be interesting as I have never written the code for calculating how hard a turn is possible at x speed in order to make it around a turn... could be VERY interesting indeed. (but if you're suggesting I ditch the AI idea and go for a pre-determined racing script, I suppose I could do that too.)

06-13-2008, 09:21 AM	#8 (permalink)
Spike! Experienced Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 175 Reputation: 13 $zB: 158 Donate	One thing that has always bugged me about top down racing games; when you speed up, rather than your car staying at the bottom of the screen, it moves to the top, so you can't see anyone who's coming. So, if you do go with a top-down view, please don't make it like that

06-13-2008, 10:09 AM	#10 (permalink)
soccerfreak24 Support Team Expert Zuner Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 2,894 Reputation: 178 $zB: 43 Donate	Glad to hear someones working on a racing game, this sounds amazing. Good luck with your programming! __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-14-2008, 09:25 AM	#12 (permalink)
adamburns123 Jr. Zuner Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 34 Reputation: 10 $zB: 31 Donate	that sounds awesome i would really look forward to it thanks

06-14-2008, 09:26 AM	#13 (permalink)
adamburns123 Jr. Zuner Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 34 Reputation: 10 $zB: 31 Donate	dont go over head it would be way to vintage unless someone wants that idk but i would not

06-14-2008, 11:50 AM	#14 (permalink)
Spike! Experienced Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 175 Reputation: 13 $zB: 158 Donate	RAD RACER FOR THE NES. It's so RAD, when you press select the game goes 3D. How awesome would that be? Playing Rad Racer, on the Zune, in 3D, with 3D glasses.

06-14-2008, 01:32 PM	#15 (permalink)
skyroket Zuner Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 90 Reputation: 11 $zB: 75 Donate	lol 3d glasses...i remember those... __________________ Yes, I believe in God.

06-14-2008, 03:56 PM	#16 (permalink)
SilentWalrus Large Walrus Support Team Jr. Staff Premium Member Super Zuner Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Omaha, Nebraska Posts: 1,770 Reputation: 141 $zB: -2914 Donate Awards Showcase Total Awards: 1	z0mg is it going to to multiplayer? Kidding. Thanks for making this. I now love you. __________________ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Thanks for the sig stkr. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

06-14-2008, 04:07 PM	#17 (permalink)
Lucifer zB Programmer Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 509 Reputation: 62 $zB: 438 Donate	uhm, 3d glasses is a NO, I can't imagine the 3d calculations which would have to either be done by me beforehand, or live (realtime) by the zune.. I'll just settle for front - looking, rear - facing 3rd person perspective (as in Pole Position.) :

06-14-2008, 05:06 PM	#20 (permalink)
Spike! Experienced Zuner Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 175 Reputation: 13 $zB: 158 Donate	Well, I was kidding about the 3D thing. There really was a game like that for the NES though, and when playing it with 3D glasses AND the Power Glove, it was the most ridiculous thing ever. About the actaul game, that image you posted was what I expected. Though, in all seriousness you could probably make something that looked alot better, in terms of sprites, since obviously the zune isn't limited to 8-bit graphics.

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