SlotCar coming soon

Shockman

appropriate at this time
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WIP 4

- Set number of laps to race before the game starts.


- Cursors up and down to select track
- Press 1 to add car 1 and 2 to add car 2
- Cursors left and right to change cars

- SPACE-BAR for Green Flag.

F1 for instructions. Left CTRL is player 1, the red car on the outside and KEYPAD ENTER is player 2, the blue car on the inside.

F4 ... Window / Full Screen
F5 ... full track view
F6 - F8 ... Split-screen Zoom levels.
 

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Brings back some memories. :) What happens if you take a turn too fast?
 
Your inertia will send you off the track spinning and slowing. The motor sound is disabled, and a series of bumps plays. You may fall off the table (leave the screen) or stop somewhere inside the screen. Either way you are put back on the track at the exact spot you left it in 2 seconds, the motor sound is re-enabled and you are good to continue.

In the latest version I added guard rails to every turn which you will bounce off of and usually come to rest on the track, but after the two seconds the car often re-spawns at the starting point of the race instead of on the spot you left the track. I have yet to sort that bug, but have determined it involves the physics of hitting the rail, and does not ever happen with the rail gone.

I had added a third track, which has an over-pass.

Another bug I need to squash is the collision detection of the cars. It will loose track of the position at times, but when it does not it works very well (the front car is boosted by the remainder of the ratio and the car that hit it is slowed based on the speed the car it hit)

The speed that you will loose it on a curve will be based on the radius of the curve, but I am using just one radius right now which will be the tightest one, but for now it is acting like the looser one will (spin-out at near top speed, but not so close that all you have to do is let up when you hit it...You do have to slow up a bit as well)

I will have a demo out soon. I want to count laps so it will be a game first. Very easy, but I have been trying to sort the issues i mentioned above.
 

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I have the facility to create a track editor. The hard part would be patching together the path based on track section and placement, but there is a rich set of commands that look like just the ticket. Probably easy, but an huge task as far as time and data streaming. It might have to be an advanced editor where you would have to draw a path as the final step by tracing the slot with straight lines and beziers, just the way I am doing it inside the kit.

I also plan a select-able car set and a garage. That will be relatively easy.

I guess the scenery will be coffee cups and ashtrays instead of grandstands, trees, and ponds. JK.
 
I guess the scenery will be coffee cups and ashtrays instead of grandstands, trees, and ponds. JK.
actually i've seen my share of mini-car racing games that used the former scenery. it's a perfectly good theme IMO, although personally i'd probably prefer the latter.
 
Very wicked looking Shockman!
I can't wait to fiddle around with the track editor!
So how much longer must we wait?
 
I haven't even started on a track editor. It will take quite some time, if I even can find it in me. I have not seen a game made with GM that has user drawn paths. I am about ready to try.

I'll put up a demo with the tracks I built (by cutting and pasting from my first track) at the end of today.
 
just to play this retro game would be cool enough
never mind about the editor!
 
SlotCar WIP 1

The WIP is up. Download from the first post
 
Kewl beans! Now lessee if I suck at slot cars as much as I suck at playing pins!
Thanks Shockman!!
 
It not a matter of sucking. Some people are not happy until they find the breaking point, even when they know they are at the threshold, then it is two late.

The next release will have, at least, as they are in, mini coopers, and F1 carts with relative thresholds. Also the sounds are improved with better revving, and a subtle drag sound which is only heard when coasting.

I want to get the tail ends to orbit the pins at the low end of passing the threshold without leaving the slot most of the time.
 
mini coopers! What? no rickshaws?
I love mini coopers only when I see them stuck to tractor tire treads!
they look cute revolving around and around! :D
 
It's just a couple of the many cars I gathered resources for and were the easiest to shop into sprites.
 
SlotCar WIP 2

Uploaded to first post.

- First select a track with the up and down cursors

- Press 5 to zoom into the terminal

- Press 1 to plug in the controller and put car 1 on the track

- Press 2 to plug in and add car 2

- Press cursor right and left to change cars

- Press SPACEBAR to toggle split-screen

- Press CTRL to get car one going

- Press KEYPAD ENTER to run car two

F1 info

F12 resets the game

F10 no crash cheat (in for now, for testing) Turned off each track change. There is no other way to tun it off.

The game starts with the foreign stock cars. press left cursor to change to minis or right to change to F1 carts. The minis are the easiest to control. Though they spin out at the slowest speed of all, they accelerate slowly and decelerate quickly. The stock cars are the medium difficulty, as they accelerate more quickly and can take the turns faster than the minis. The F1 carts are the hardest as they accelerate very fast and coast to a stop the longest.


Much interface work needs to be done, including a proper car and track selection screen, a car adjustment shop, and genral presentation and stats. Also more collision detection work needs to be done.

Adding a second car is optional. You can run just car 1 or car 2.

The spinout speed is going to be based on curve radius of course, and the radius of the track sections in so far will be some of the tightest, but now is set to hold the car at near full speed. Not so close to full speed that all you have to do is let up and coast through however, you will need to slow up before as well if going full speed.

After a crash, you will be put back at the exact spot you left the track in 2 seconds.

The pivot point is of course the pin in front of the car (under the front axel) that sets in the slot. This means that the tail of the car will swing into the outside lane on tight turns, such as the ones used so far. If you bump into the other car when it is at a curve, it is possible, if you are going faster than it enough, to make it crash.

The first track, the short track has a crossover so you will change lanes, and both cars can be in the same lane as the other. The second track has no crossover and unfortunatly ended up with a lane advantage and needs to be adjusted, as all tracks added in the future will need, with crossovers or the correct ratio of inside and outside curves to make the slots equal distance.
 
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See what you started faralos.
 
Two tracks added. The smallest one and the largest one which you will not see in total until the track selection screen is created.
 

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SlotCar WIP3

available to download in the first post

New

- Key changes (no spacebar anymore. F5 for full track view in one pane. F6 - F8 for split-screen zoom settings) The split screens are centered on the respective cars if they are set on the track with the 1 and/or 2 keys.
- Fishtailing at higher speeds.
- Full track view regardless of size (zoomed out to for the larger than viewport tracks) plus 3 levels of zoomed-in split-screens.
- Redraw of the cars.
- Dynamic simi-transparent shadows for the cars.
- Until the settings menu is built, all tracks have 20 lap races.
- Each player gets a white flag on the last lap and only the winner gets a checkered flag at the end, at which point the lap counter is disabled for both cars. You can continue to run the cars at this point as no circuit mode is yet created.
 

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SlotCar WIP 4

- I added a number of laps per race setting before the game starts. Any number from 5 up in increments of 5. (Temp.)
- Pressing 1 and/or 2 to add cars no longer enables them to run but instead just sets them on the track.
- Press the SPACE-BAR after the car(s) are set to show a green flag. After 2 seconds the flag will wave and the race can start.
 

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