#126278 - Rajveer - Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:25 pm
Hi guys. For my 3rd year Comp Sci project (and an excuse to learn C programming), I've been trying to create a racing game for the Nintendo DS. I haven't done much programming before this (a few Java examples in my 1st year and Visual Basic in college). Not much has been implemented when compared to what I wanted and it's REALLY SIMPLE, at the moment it's just a ship which can be moved along a single track, but hopefully I aim to one day evolve this into a full game! I'd like some criticism and thoughts, keeping in mind that I've never programmed anything properly before and that this is my first real foray into coding and game development :)
P.S. If you mind me using your reply for evaluation purposes in my project, please let me know and I won't use it!!
Download Futuristic Racer 0.0.1:
http://www.MegaShare.com/580264
Controls:
Ship Selection Screen:
* Left and Right - Select Ship
* A - Confirm Selection
Main Game:
* Y - Accelerate
* B - Brake
* A - Manual Grip
* L - Strafe Left
* R - Strafe Right
* Left and Right - Turn
* Select - Reset ship position
* Start - Render Skybox On/Off (With the skybox on, you can see the graphical direction I was going for, but not the track ;) I'll fix this later)
Points:
* A box is rendered to show the direction that the ship is moving in.
* ManualGrip defines whether or not the ship will attempt to counteract the ship moving in a direction away from where it's nose is pointing. Will be useful in the future for turning at sharp edges in hairpin turns without slowing right down. Play around with it when not accelerating!
Problems:
* The track can't be seen when the skybox is being rendered.
* The camera jerks sometimes, will be fixed.
* Sometimes when the ship falls off the track and replaced on it, it doesn't get rotated properly and starts jerking. For the moment reset with Select.
Last edited by Rajveer on Sat Jan 31, 2009 5:10 pm; edited 2 times in total
#126282 - Devil_Spawn - Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:47 pm
nice demo!! i like it
#126308 - HyperHacker - Sun Apr 22, 2007 2:36 am
Nice, but if I may rant: The SNES got it right when it came to buttons. In racers, Y=brake, B=gas. In platformers, Y=run/shoot, B=jump. This is the most comfortable configuration. Why suddenly are DS developers not using it anymore?
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#126311 - tepples - Sun Apr 22, 2007 2:48 am
I think Nintendo lot check requires a GBA-style mapping for the A and B buttons.
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#126312 - xler8 - Sun Apr 22, 2007 2:49 am
| Rajveer wrote: |
Hi guys. For my 3rd year Comp Sci project (and an excuse to learn C programming), I've been trying to create a racing game for the Nintendo DS. I haven't done much programming before this (a few Java examples in my 1st year and Visual Basic in college). Not much has been implemented when compared to what I wanted and it's REALLY SIMPLE, at the moment it's just a ship which can be moved along a single track, but hopefully I aim to one day evolve this into a full game! I'd like some criticism and thoughts, keeping in mind that I've never programmed anything properly before and that this is my first real foray into coding and game development :)
|
Very impressive for first project. I see the palib icon on the menu. Did you use any other tools?
Looks great. 3d feel is satisfying. I get good sense of speed even in this early build.
I had fun trying to flipping the ship off the track, tryng to see the graphic on the side of the blue ship. Will you release the source in the future?
A basic timer or finish line would be satisfying too.
Tested on R4 (w/512mb ADATA microsd card), DS lite (USA vers)
#126313 - m2pt5 - Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:04 am
| HyperHacker wrote: |
| Nice, but if I may rant: The SNES got it right when it came to buttons. In racers, Y=brake, B=gas. In platformers, Y=run/shoot, B=jump. This is the most comfortable configuration. Why suddenly are DS developers not using it anymore? |
In your opinion.
I happen to prefer A/B where you prefer B/Y. (Well, for racers anyway. I'm kinda undecided for platformers.)
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#126315 - Dood77 - Sun Apr 22, 2007 3:39 am
| HyperHacker wrote: |
| Nice, but if I may rant: The SNES got it right when it came to buttons. In racers, Y=brake, B=gas. In platformers, Y=run/shoot, B=jump. This is the most comfortable configuration. Why suddenly are DS developers not using it anymore? |
Yeah, I hated this about the new Kirby on DS (the name escapes me...)
So they have A and B on the NES controllers;
SNES controllers have them switched, so they make B=A and Y=B;
N64 and Gamecube move them back to their NES positions;
DS adopts SNES style buttons, yet many games still use A and B as original functions, what gives?
</rant>
#126332 - LiraNuna - Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:39 am
| m2pt5 wrote: |
| HyperHacker wrote: | | Nice, but if I may rant: The SNES got it right when it came to buttons. In racers, Y=brake, B=gas. In platformers, Y=run/shoot, B=jump. This is the most comfortable configuration. Why suddenly are DS developers not using it anymore? |
In your opinion.
I happen to prefer A/B where you prefer B/Y. (Well, for racers anyway. I'm kinda undecided for platformers.) |
That is exactly the reason why you (should) implement keypad layout configurations, different people prefer different key configurations. Making your game likeable by more people is always the best way to create a successful game.
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#126368 - Rajveer - Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:14 pm
Thanks to all you guys for the replies and support, nothing better for a first time programmer than support! I'll definately be continuing work on this project after university exams are over.
@Devil_Spawn: Thanks! :-D
@HyperHacker: I guess the controls were setup for how I found them easiest during testing, but I see there is no general favorite control scheme so I'll implement configurable controls!
@xler8: Cheers for the kind words! I did use PALib but only for text output (guess I find it easier for debugging!) I used Sausage Boy's TexMex 0.04 (highly recommended!) for texture conversion and created MAXscripts for exporting levels and 3d models. I will eventually release the source code, although I don't think it's anything "pretty" right now ;)
@LiraNura: You're exactly right!
#126478 - Mr. Drayton - Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:47 pm
Hi, I am a new user here, right from Italy. I own a NDS Lite with R4 and a 4GB Sandisk MicroSD. I registered here first of all because I seen this project... I tried this demo, it's really good, I think it would be a fantastic HB at the end of the project! I will be pleased to help with the graphics, I'm quite good with simple 3d models and with Photoshop CS. If you need help with 2D and 3D graphics, I'm here to help, but I can't speak a word in C programming... Go on with the project!
PS: Rajveer, you have a PM!
EDIT: Wow, I find a nice bug!!!! When jumping, try to press down on D-Pad so your ship is upside-down, then land on the track. The ship starts to jerk, and it won't be controllable until you rotate the ship correctly.
#126503 - Rajveer - Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:18 pm
Hi Mr. Drayton, I've just sent you a PM, thanks for the offer!
P.S. About the bug, yep I know what's wrong and am already thinking of ways to correct it ;)
#126566 - Devil_Spawn - Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:49 pm
i really like the steering with manual steering off, its great !
#126586 - Mr. Drayton - Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:25 pm
If the project goes on, the graphics may become like this (but with smaller buildings textures, and of course a smaller viewport)!
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/706/futuristicracerscreenshwm7.jpg
Rajveer, can you upload the track that you currently have in the game? I'd like to take some measures to make good tracks!
#126709 - HyperHacker - Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:04 am
I tried this, it's very well done, handles nicely. Just wondering why there's a sky-textured cube in front of me. o_O With the skybox on the track is visible, but only the portions nearby (which is kinda neat); possibly a depth problem.
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I'm a PSP hacker now, but I still <3 DS.
#126755 - Mr. Drayton - Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:53 am
| HyperHacker wrote: |
| I tried this, it's very well done, handles nicely. Just wondering why there's a sky-textured cube in front of me. o_O With the skybox on the track is visible, but only the portions nearby (which is kinda neat); possibly a depth problem. |
The skybox in front of you indicates the direction of the spaceship! I think that the problem of the track visualization (with the skybox on) will be solved later. ;) Try ro play without skybox, you can see a nice portion of track! Very good.
Look at these images: they are two tracks I made, maybe they can be added in the game!
http://img63.imageshack.us/my.php?image=simpletrack1wr2.jpg
http://img260.imageshack.us/my.php?image=frminitrack1xe2.jpg
#127078 - six-five-two - Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:39 pm
This is awesome! I really hope this project finishes.
Sorry for the bump.
EDIT: Mr. Drayton don't forget to make it futuristic themed if you can!
#129801 - dub3000 - Sun May 27, 2007 2:28 pm
great work! can't wait for the next release!
#129848 - Eclipse - Mon May 28, 2007 6:38 am
if you guys need some help with the graphics I might be able to help out, send me a line either via PM or email me at Eclips3@gmail.com
Nice work so far!
#129989 - Sweater Fish Deluxe - Tue May 29, 2007 10:26 pm
This is a really fun racing engine. I totally like the way you can drift around a turn rotating your vehicle and then hit the accelerator to boost out of it. I guess this is an aspect of the Manual Grip system you mentioned. It's excellent and really has me wanting to keep playing the demo even as simple as it is.
This game absolutely MUST be continued beyond the current demo state. A lot of school projects get abandoned, but hopefully this won't be one of them. If you end up too busy to work on the design elements, I hope you will release the source so that someone else can continue it.
Is there anything you think can be done to increase the draw distance, by the way?
...word is bondage...
#136241 - iainprice - Mon Jul 30, 2007 2:54 pm
How do you store the track and do collision detection? I was working on something similar a while ago but found sliding plane calculations too time consuming.... the project looks really good, I hope you finish it.
#136317 - default - Tue Jul 31, 2007 6:55 am
hey man, this is pretty cool. i can help you with some 3D models if you'd like. send me a PM of email
#136490 - Nintendo Maniac 64 - Thu Aug 02, 2007 6:53 am
aw what the crap... I'm a huge racing game fan so I was dying to try this and guess what? It freezes when I select my vehicle D:
Using an M3 Perfect microSD (Kingston 2GB FAT16) booting through Moonshell 1.71 on a Flashme v8 blue DS phat (originally firmware 4). Game is completely unpatched.
#146534 - Mango - Wed Dec 05, 2007 12:51 pm
If you need ideas for tracks I would suggest checking out a game called Trackmania. Since the game runs off a very similar engine and has an in-game track creation system you can find some extremely fun and creative tracks on there that would go very well with this game.
#146643 - dantheman - Fri Dec 07, 2007 5:02 am
Didn't this turn into Whee! DS at some point? Seems like a very similar engine, if not the same.