Car Racing Game, Still going...

I'm still going with the car racing game.

I've been beating my head on the table for a few days and wasted a lot of paper trying to work things out, regarding the AI movement, and how I am going to create the tracks,.

The computer car movement still needs to be improved, but it does look like I'm getting somewhere with track creation:

My two initial options where either to create the track as a flat 2D image, which would have been the easiest, yet least visually appealing option, or create a 3D track.  I've finally decided to go with the 3D track option and have made several attempts to create an initial track, that I can work with in this demoing phase, although I haven't added hills or trackside objects such as barriers.  But this means that I hopefully can add elevation to the track and give the game more options and possibilities for the future, such as I could have an American banked-oval style circuit or the Eau-Rouge section of the Spa F1 circuit?, that's if the game changes from being a BTCC/WTCC touring car based arcade racing game.

Touring Car Arcade Racing Game, Update of Afternoon 5

Seems like I get most work done on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as the last 5 entries have been on the nights of these days, interesting to know!

I'm still working away on my game. I call it a 3D arcade touring car racing game.  Im thinking of two possible names for it using abbreviations:

1. TCAR (Touring Car Arcade Racer)
2. TC-CAR (Touring Car - Championship Arcade Racer)

What do you think?

#Progress

As the screenshots below, I've added barriers to the game, I do this by driving to the start and end point of each race track straight and recording the position and angle of the car.  I store this in a textfile under the circuit name, and then the game loads the barrier positions and works out how many sections of barriers can be fitted between the start and end positions that I recorded.  I've also added trees, which are automatically created a certain distance behind the barriers.

It's not perfect, as it's only working properly down the x-axis at the moment, but that's a small fix to make in the future, the important thing is that the system is in the game. 

I've also created the sky dome  Which draws a graphic representing the sky on the inside of a giant 3D sphere that surrounds the whole game, this means that the sky is different in each direction.  The current sky graphic has been borrowed from Google images, and I'll eventually replace it with my own. 

#Fixes and Improvement

• Better checkpoint detection
• Improved the cars initial grid positions so they start all lined up in a 'zig-zag' way down the road as in top motorsport racing. (I still need to add the graphics to show the grid lines)
• Fixed a problem with the game creating too many checkpoints.
• Fixed a problem with the game increasing the car's current checkpoint at the start of the race before the car has reached that checkpoint.

#Latest Screenshots:

Update, Afternoon 4 on my touring car arcade racing game

Today, I've been working on three areas:

 I'd already implemented a basic system where I can drive around the circuit and record the path the computer cars should follow, but now I've added braking and acceleration areas. The computer movement is still not perfect and needs to be improved (especially the turning which is very jerky) but at least for the moment the computer cars don't whizz around the track at full-speed.

If this game succeeds and I manage to finish it (fingers crossed) I want this game to be editable and mod friendly, so I've created an easily editable file with all the car stats and drivers. So, the player will be able to change the characteristics of the drivers such as their names as well as of the car such as the car's speed, acceleration, braking and weight. Also, the Windows/Linux PC version should also allow the user to create and draw new car liveries (any maybe even 3D models for the PC version).

 Finally, I've implemented the system that keeps track of who is in which position, depending on lap-times and checkpoints, although it needs fine-tuning. For anyone who has followed my blog or seen previous posts, they will see that after the initial week, I have often lost motivation for games, when the coding becomes overwhelming, and therefore there are a lot of unfinished games on my hard-drive ( As shown on the basement section of my website).
This time, I think I've started to manage myself better through two tactics; the first, is that I've created a nice colour-coded spreadsheet with all the task I have to do, and organized them by 4 columns:

1. Priority: how urgent is it that I create this part of the game now.
2. Time: How long will it take me.
3. Difficulty: How difficult will it be to do
4. Importance: How important is it to the final game.

 This has allowed me to sort tasks out, with the most important at the top (such as the game engine) and less important ones at the bottom (such as little graphical touches) 

Also, I continue to watch races from the BTCC each night, which are very exciting and make me want to get back into the code. Below are some screenshots showing the different teams (currently just colour coded) as well as a temporary table of race positions in the second.

 

small update on my 3D car racing game

I've now added acceleration and braking points to the invisible path that the computer cars loosely follow, which guides them around the track, so now the computer cars don't go at 100% speed all around the track and slow down for the corners. It's a bit jerky, so will need improving in the future, but for now it's okay. Will be watching the BTCC 2012 review tomorrow as well as highlights of this years race for inspiration. Here's a screenshot of the current state of the game, using an above camera view, the computer cars race towards the first checkpoint:

3D Arcade Racing Game, 3rd Afternoon

I'm still experimenting with creating a 3D racing game, who knows if it will turn into anything serious or if it'll end up in unfinished demos/projects like most of my other attempts at games.

Today, I've added a system that allows me to record points around the track as a drive around to create a basic racing line for the computer (AI) cars .

Here are some screenshots:

Oops! My first attempt at adding more cars

More ordered, they're on the grid, but no movement yet.

Still haven't setup collisions yet

Lots of cars!

We have basic movement! With the computer controlled cars erratically going from point to point around the track.

I'm back. Just playing around...

A car on a 2D image of a track..

A car on a 2D track graphic

2 Cameras and it moves!

My first attempt at modeling a BTCC type racing car

Lots of cameras

I'm not sure what's happened here.

The new track model I made is a little small... and white...

That looks better!

Acceleration feels better!

A couple of corners

Testing the sky-cam

Zoomed out to the max!

GPSM - Race Simulation . Overtaking & Accidents

This week, I'm finally starting to get some good work done on the race simulation part of Grand Prix Super Manager.

I've added basic overtaking to the game which, depending on many different variables, has currently has 4 outcomes ( a successful pass, an unsuccessful pass, a slight off circuit moment and a big crash). I'll eventually add more.

I've also added the possibilities of a random accident, with the probability depending on the weather, tyres, car condition, driver command, driver abilities. The current possible results are: locked tyres, a moment going off the circuit or a complete spin or crash. (Again, more will be added).

The bodywork and some parts of the car will also be damaged to a random amount after a crash.

Grand Prix Super Manager, Update

I'm back working on my F1 management game.
Unfortunately, progress has been very slow again, as I've been very busy. To be honest, I can't say when this will be finished as I don't have a lot of time to work on it, and there's a long way to go.

I've been working on the race simulation part, and mainly the overtaking, updating the car condition and the transition between the qualifying and the race.  As well as the in-race messaging system, which will provide text updates of what is happening in the race to the user (although the graphical display of the text isn't complete).

The screenshot shows a race in progress and some temporary output in the debug console.

Grand Prix Hero. They Move!

After a weekend rest, I'm back working on my games.

Today, I've worked on Grand Prix Hero for two hours.  

The computer cars now move around the circuit, following the checkpoints, although I haven't sorted out the computer cars rotation yet.

Start Screens (GP Hero and Grand Prix Super Manager)

The current start screen for Grand Prix Super Manager

and a ' classic F1 poster' type image that I'm thinking of using for Grand Prix Hero

Still alive. Update. Two F1 Games

I'm still alive.

Since my last post, I hadn't done much work on any games until this last week.  I'm working on two games, Grand Prix Super Manager, which is a F1 management game for Android, PC, flash and also Grand Prix Hero a top-down 2D classic F1 racing game...


Main Project Update: Grand Prix Super Manager

I restarted (GPSM) my F1 management game last month, and have started working on it again.  To be honest, I'm not going to make any promises about when it will be finished.  All I can say is that it will be finished when it's finished. whether it takes a month or a few months.

All screens will be redesigned, and I'll be focusing on the Grand Prix weekend simulation first, as that is the part that stopped me in the past, and once that is finished, I'll just have the easier parts to do.

Here are some screenshots:

The beginnings of the Pre Race Press Screen, where you can select how much promotional work you want your drivers to do.  Hopefully this will be more interactive eventually.

The team select screen.  I'll eventually include more detail and maybe graphics and make the HRT team editable, but for now it works and is functional.

The current state of the Grand Prix weekend session screen which I'm currently focusing my efforts.  It will eventually look better, but I just want to get this monster finished first.

Second Project:  Grand Prix Hero
I'm also working on a small 1960's F1 racing game called Grand Prix Hero.  Hopefully it should be available for Android mobiles and on the internet via flash.
Right now, I have the beginnings of a basic track editor, and also in the game you can drive a car around the track.  

The current state of the game.(Graphics are temporary)

The current state of the track editor.

2013 F1 Teams

...and running in a browser.

(although for official releases, I'll probably have to change the team names)

GP Super Manager home screen update

I've been playing with many different ideas for the home screen, some displaying a lot of data from the game and some more simple.  Anyway, for the time being I've decided to use the following style for the Android version (whether I'll also use this for the Windows and Linux PC version is still undecided).  The colours and theme could change in the future, but for now I'm happy with the layout.

GP Race Manager. Small Update

I've added a new feature where you can choose to start the game as a brand new 13th team, who (as the screenshot of the team select screen shows) have no drivers.  They can be edited with the editor, but I may allow the user to change the name and colours from the team select screen.  If you don't choose to play as them, they aren't included in the game.

  I've also started to work on parts of the race weekend engine.   I think the first version won't be a totally involved experience, but will give results based on the drivers, teams and tyres, and then I'll add features to it at a later date.

GP Race Manager Editor

I've been away for a week working.  But today I've returned.  While I need another days rest before I get back into working on GP Race Manager, I have started making a basic editor for myself, to quickly edit the games data.

here is the current progress:

GP Race Manager Update: Potential and Fixes:

To the screen that shows the list of drivers, I've added a bar which shows their overall rating in red, as well as their potential ability. The potential ability is only worked out by their age motivation and ambition at this moment (that's why drivers over 32 don't have any!).

Before, saying "driver A isn't that good!" please remember that I've entered mostly random numbers for each drivers statistics.

and the team select screen, now with 3 drivers, their rating and potential:

Other Fixes:
*Can add upto 200 drivers to the drivers.txt file.
*Each data file now has a description of what each attribute means (if anybody wants to make an editor in the future )
*Added an engine data file, upto 15 engines.
*Fixed a couple of problems (3rd driver on team select screen, some drivers not being released from the team at the end of their contract,
*I've also started a bit on setting up arrays and things for the big task of the race weekend engine

GP Race Manager Update: Driver contracts and updating

Today, I've made progress in two areas of my F1 manager game.

Firstly, the main screen now has a continue button, that advances a week if their is no Grand Prix that weekend.  This updates the drivers contracts (if it's the end of their contract they leave, if they have a contract with another team they join that team), and sets the designers to work on parts of the car that have been selected to be worked on, and updates the car part with any progress made.

Also, it's now possible to sign drivers from other teams or the free driver market, and they either join immediately or for next year, depending on contracts.

I will go back to this and add contract negotiation and add different factors such as a big driver not wanting to join a small team.

The ability to sign a driver:

This screen shows who the drivers are for next year, shown after the word 'Next':

GP Race Manager. Slowly getting to where I was previously.

As mentioned before, my full attention isn't currently on my F1 management game, so I'm only working on it a couple of hours a week, and only doing small things.

But, I'm slowly getting to the stage of development where I was the previous time I attempted to make a Formula 1 management game.  But, it's a lot easier going this time, because I still remember freshly how I did things in the previous project, so for the moment, while I haven't started programming the actual race day engine, I don't have to think HOW I'm going to program a certain feature. Also, again as mentioned before, I'm only using one programming language to program the game for Android and PC (Windows and Linux) called processing, although I do miss programming in BlitzMax, which is great for making PC games.

Anyway, today, I have implemented some buttons that allow you to resign your drivers for next year or sack him (although, they will be improved in the future).
Also, I've added the third or test driver to each team, these updates can be seen in the screenshot below, which shows the game running on an Android mobile.

Finally, I've found a couple (not many) images of Ferrari and Toyota F1 cars which are royalty free.  One is shown in the screenshot of the game running on a linux PC below:

GP Race Manager. Garage Screen

Today, in my restarted project GP Race Manager, I started to do the R&D
screen.

As shown in the screenshots below, currently you can:

• Set the budget of how much money goes into R&D
• View the quality of each part.
• Click the parts to get the designers to start trying to improve that area of the car.

Eventually I'd like to improve this screen, maybe have a graphical representation for each part and also be able to set how much resources go onto next years.


Current screen on an Android mobile phone:

Current screen on a PC running Linux:

GP Race Manager. Drivers market

Just a small update on the GP Race Manager (Android/linux/windows) F1 style management game.  Today I've added the ability to browse and see all the drivers in the game. This will eventually be the way that new drivers can be signed.

I'll probably change the look in the final version, such as having two columns and nice graphics behind each box. But, for now the most important thing is getting the basics working.  I've also set the screens to show the players teams colours, these are stored in the data files.

The screenshots below show:

1. The driver browser on a mobile screen
2. The driver browser on a PC screen.
3. The current driver details screen that appears when a driver is selected.