Custom car models? :: Distance General Discussions

Californ1a

Mar 20, 2015 @ 6:13pm

This isn't in the plan at all. There is plan for at least one other vehicle to choose from as well as one more for kickstarter backers.

Last edited by Californ1a; Mar 20, 2015 @ 10:32pm

#1

Joey4Track has Distance

Mar 20, 2015 @ 10:23pm

Oh I meant are there any custom car mods..? didn't see anything in the workshop

#2

Californ1a

Mar 20, 2015 @ 10:29pm

No, the ability to have custom car models isn't in the plan - it's not going to be possible. The workshop is for level editor tracks and potentially track playlists eventually.

#3

Joey4Track has Distance

Mar 22, 2015 @ 8:31pm

Well it seems silly not to have custom cars in a racing game. And if they are only giving custom cars to certain people who donated to the game via Kickstarter, or for any reason really, that just strikes me as pretentious. Hell, even Nitronic Rush has 4 different vehicles. Pointless decision on the devs part to disallow custom vehicles, if that is actually the case. Again, that's terribly pretentious and if you can give me a good reason why custom cars are off the table then I am all ears.

#4

Californ1a

Mar 22, 2015 @ 8:58pm

You've got the wrong idea.

First of all, Nitronic Rush wasn't balanced. Technically the Avenger (van) is the fastest vehicle but in order to use it you have to almost constantly be doing sidewheelies to get enough cooldown to keep boosting so it's extremely annoying to even attempt to use. All the current world records for tracks in NR are done with the Interceptor (default vehicle) because no one wants to deal with trying to play with that thing. If there were any actual competition in NR aside form the current speedrunning community then everyone would be forced to use the Avenger just because it's ultimately the fastest vehicle. All of the vehicles had different handling, speed, hitboxes, etc. and because of this there would be unfair advantage in any kind of multiplayer or competitive setting.

In Distance, they're trying to make sure things are balanced because of the multiplayer. They are working on another vehicle for everyone to be able to use, but there was a tier you could have bought during the Kickstarter for a special vehicle, so that also needs to be available.

Creating custom vehicle models for use in-game is just not within the scope of what they're going for. It's not something they are "disallowing" but rather something they'd have to actually create the systems in order to facilitate it, and it would take too much time for them to try to implement, even if it were purely aesthetic and didn't affect handling, speed, hitbox, or anything else. It's just not within the scope. No one, not Kickstarter backers, or anyone else, is getting "custom" vehicles - you can edit the colors but as it is, there are only plans on adding two more vehicles - one for everyone and one for Kickstarter backers, but not "custom" models.

As for the progress on the other vehicle, here is a highlight I recorded from a previous dev livestream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpI8e0TT-xc

Distance is very much a skill-based game where learning the vehicle mechanics and practicing them are rewarded with the highly skilled competition at the top of the leaderboards. Having a ton of different vehicle options with different "stats" would just remove the point of learning any of the vehicles and only one of them would ever be used because it is the best/fastest.

Last edited by Californ1a; Mar 22, 2015 @ 9:00pm

#5

Joey4Track has Distance

Mar 22, 2015 @ 9:19pm

I get it, so it's all about the leaderboards. That's kinda lame imo. It would be nice to see it implemented without affecting the few who are playing the game at such a competetive level if it's so important to them. Most of the people playing the game(maybe not now but certainly after launch) couldn't care less about the leaderboards so why cripple a game on behalf of the minority that do? I dunno, again it seems silly not to have customization in a game like this.

Last edited by Joey4Track; Mar 22, 2015 @ 9:23pm

#6

Californ1a

Mar 22, 2015 @ 9:56pm

Well it's a time trial and highscore game, so it kind of is about leaderboards whether you're at a high competitive level or not. If most the people playing don't care for leaderboards, then they're probably not playing the right game... It's an arcade racer based on leaderboards, time trials, and skill, not a party game. There are party game modes like reverse tag or stunt, but even stunt has leaderboards.

Maybe I'm biased because I am one of the people going for global ranks, but seeing as the only other point besides leaderboards to playing would be medals, I don't see how a ton of vehicle options are really necessary unless you're trying to cause unfair advantages or disadvantages.

Last edited by Californ1a; Mar 22, 2015 @ 9:56pm

#7

Joey4Track has Distance

Mar 23, 2015 @ 3:40pm

Just in defense- I care not about about the leaderboards but to say that I'm not playing the 'right' game is plain absurd and quite honestly sounds elitist. And to contest another point, Distance can very much be a party game or a solo game or whatever you want it to be because it is just a GAME. It's just a great and unique racing game, period.

You say "seeing as the only other point besides leaderboards to playing would be medals.." This is simply not true. The reason why I play this game is because it is FUN. Not sure why you can't fathom someone playing this game simply for the experience. I am not competitive but I can certainly appreciate the uniqueness and downright gorgeousness of the game. I sure hope that after release the Distance community isn't totally comprised of pretentious elitists who think they are the only ones who can appreciate the game and if you aren't in the top of the leaderboards then you are obsolete or that your opinions don't matter.

I'm not trying to offend you personally but you seem to be representing a specific view of the game whereas I am here trying to show the community another very valid portion of the player base. It would be nice to hear the devs view on this topic and hopefully they would be open to try to create a middle ground for all of its players.

Last edited by Joey4Track; Mar 23, 2015 @ 3:43pm

#8

Californ1a

Mar 23, 2015 @ 4:38pm

Like I said, maybe I'm biased because I am one of the people going for global ranks.

However, you don't develop a game without goals and achievements you intend for players to be playing the game for. You can play any game for fun, but most all games have a goal or specific purpose to be playing for - "fun" is subjective, you can't develop a game around fun, you develop around the mechanics and goals. All I'm saying is that the goal of Distance is medals or leaderboard ranks. Sure you can have fun without those, but that's not what they are developing for. Aside from reverse tag or soccer modes, the goals in mind for Distance are the medals, leaderboards, and competition.

#9

VoidBornPrime has Distance

May 13, 2017 @ 9:10pm

The best option here is to make like trackmania, and i dont think the slicing problem would be so hard to take care of since the actual physics don't change, and the "visual part" of the problem i dont think the devs would have much problems into solving it, But again only they can say, have they pronounce themselves about this?

Last edited by VoidBornPrime; May 13, 2017 @ 9:11pm

#10

Californ1a

May 13, 2017 @ 9:15pm

Originally posted by RD - ? ?:
have they pronounce themselves about this?

They said it would take a lot of work and isn't worth looking into until post-release: https://twitter.com/torcht/status/734086509700120576

Edit: The second vehicle used to have different mechanics from the current vehicle, but this has since been changed because trying to separate out the vehicles on the leaderboards was too much to do. Now the second vehicle has the same physics and collision as the first one so that they can use the same board for both vehicles:
https://twitter.com/torcht/status/831292897488023552

Try to keep in mind that Trackmania is Ubisoft-published and has many more developers than Distance does. Distance only has ~4 programmers (one of which also does PR and music/sound) and ~3 on the art team (one part-time). It takes a lot longer for supposedly "simple" things.

Last edited by Californ1a; May 13, 2017 @ 9:31pm

#11

VoidBornPrime has Distance

May 13, 2017 @ 9:33pm

Originally posted by Californ1a:
Originally posted by RD - ? ?:
have they pronounce themselves about this?
They said it would take a lot of work and isn't worth looking into until post-release: https://twitter.com/torcht/status/734086509700120576

Edit: The second vehicle used to have different mechanics from the current vehicle, but this has since been changed because trying to separate out the vehicles on the leaderboards was too much to do. Now the second vehicle has the same physics and collision as the first one so that they can use the same board for both vehicles:
https://twitter.com/torcht/status/831292897488023552

Thx for answering, and to be honest i was expecting it to be a post release thing, if it is to come. The thing is the game is in early access for 2 years or something like that, any idea when it will "release"?

Last edited by VoidBornPrime; May 13, 2017 @ 9:34pm

#12

Californ1a

May 13, 2017 @ 9:39pm

Originally posted by RD - ? ?:
Thx for answering, and to be honest i was expecting it to be a post release thing, if it is to come. The thing is the game is in early access for 2 years or something like that, any idea when it will "release"?

Most games that have been through Early Access and got released were in EA for between 2 and 3 years. The end of this year will be 3 for Distance, and the devs have said they're very committed to finishing this year - they even hired 3 community members (some of the top map authors on the workshop) to help them make maps which gives them more time to work on the programming/back-end of the game. They recently did a complete stunt mode rework.

As for "when" it will release specifically, it's the first question it in their FAQ:
http://refract.com/faq

Last edited by Californ1a; May 13, 2017 @ 9:39pm

#13

VoidBornPrime has Distance

May 13, 2017 @ 9:49pm

Originally posted by Californ1a:
Originally posted by RD - ? ?:
Thx for answering, and to be honest i was expecting it to be a post release thing, if it is to come. The thing is the game is in early access for 2 years or something like that, any idea when it will "release"?
Most games that have been through Early Access and got released were in EA for between 2 and 3 years. The end of this year will be 3 for Distance, and the devs have said they're very committed to finishing this year - they even hired 3 community members (some of the top map authors on the workshop) to help them make maps which gives them more time to work on the programming/back-end of the game. They recently did a complete stunt mode rework.

As for "when" it will release specifically, it's the first question it in their FAQ:
http://refract.com/faq

Cool, thx again for your time, came from the acceleracers community and staid for the game, i like both aproaches you can take with the game depending on what style you want to play (what i mean is i like both crazy stunt madness of the vanilla and the opportunitys it gives for the "sub-communities" like us) and the custom car will be the "ultimate freedom" they could gives us not just acceleracers community but to everyone.

Last edited by VoidBornPrime; May 13, 2017 @ 10:16pm

#14

76561199085745305 has Distance

Apr 2 @ 9:08am

Originally posted by Joey4Track:
Is this a thing yet?

#15

Distance

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