Vehicle Customization Discussion Topic

[RedstoneParadox]

Since Vehicle Customization/Vehicle Building has been a highly requested feature, I think it would be a good idea to have a topic for gathering up all the vehicle customization ideas for the devs to sift through. :)

[Aloan]

Vehicle customizer / choose engine type (train, boat, automobile, aircraft)
once chosen, a window shows available wheel types (choose wheel)
wheel is placed. Now you can build from there!

[Sentient Kiwifruit]

You should be able to customize how ever you like in this game. I would love it to have vehicle customization, because so far, no modern Lego game has had anything like customization, besides character customization that is. This would make Lego games the closest to a sandbox game for this type of game.

[xX_FAZE_GARDENSHED_Xx]

I think having something like RoboCraft would be nice for building vehicles. Before they add that they should fix the vehicle controls, how can a plane hover? Why does the plane not need any runway at all for takeoff or landing? I don't like how the vehicle controls work like the player controls (the player controls are fine for walking around) but in a vechicle the direction of movement should be relative to the vechicle not the camera. Back on topic, something like RoboCraft would be nice, you would open the editor and the screen goes to a seperate scene for building the vechicle. Instead of doing something like Aloan suggested I would rather that you just build something (add wheels, wings, etc.) and then when you drive it everything you added takes effect. So if I only added wheels I could not fly, if I added wings I could fly and drive, if I added a propeller (maybe even a sail?) I could go in water too. This way people can build anything (like a boat that is also a car, a float plane, etc.) and are not limited by premade types of vehicles.

[RedstoneParadox]

I honestly feel that a system similar to Robocraft would be best. The idea of having to choose which type of vehicle is is rather than what it can do based on what pieces you use does not really represent LEGO all that well.

I hope that if they do add this in, they don't limit the pieces to the ones in the regular brick builder.

P.S. I also agree that it's weird that planes can hover.

[Greg the Mad]

Like I think the others said, a physics based system would be the best. You basically have a lego model you can build all around. If you add wheels it'll role (and drive). If you add a propeller and wings it'll fly. If you add a ships's propeller it'll swim. Add ballast and it'll dive.

I think it would be best if you build those vehicles in a seperate, free 3D space (so not having it placed in the normal world). With that you could easily add parts at the bottom, which is normally hard when building something in the normal gaming world. You start with a normal 2x2 brick and then add and remove what you want on your vehicle. When you're done the game would compile/bake the model into more simple model (so hidden studs for example don't get rendered). Including the necessary physics- and collision-primitives.

Alternative could they give use basic chassis like in the good ol' Lego Racer and let use build atop of them.

[BaronLuke]

Good topic. I feel like maybe vehicles should just be based upon what areas of the world they can traverse. For instance, you could have checkboxes that allow the player to control whether a vehicle is a submarine, a boat, an aircraft, a car, or all the above. Perhaps even you could only choose two or three of these types, to encourage people to build more than one vehicle. Then, once the travel type(s) were chosen, the player could build however and whatever he/she liked. This would allow for flying ships and cars, land boats, and all sorts of wacky and cool stuff. If you included the car type in your model, then it would automatically throw down two axles which you could then outfit with any wheels you liked. You could even, say, insert more axles for six-wheeled vehicles and such.
I agree with @Greg the Mad in that vehicles should be built in a separate 3D space outside the world.
Since Lego Worlds is very discovery-based and involves a lot of unlocking, I think it would be best if you could only use parts and bricks from vehicles you unlocked. Thus, the more vehicles you discovered, the more you could build. It would be best, though, if you could paint the vehicle bricks you discover any colors you like, otherwise things would begin to look mishmash-y.

What'd you guys think?

[Sentient Kiwifruit]

Yes, I agree that there should be a vehicle creation part of the game, seperate from the distractions of the 3D world. As an example, you could use Rocket League. A load of customization options is always wanted, however you want to have a nice and organized table. As a suggestion, the options for customization should be something that is easily grasped, because this game is for all ages.

Also as BaronJames said, the vehicles could be customized with crossover parts. This is already something with the minifigures, as they use customiser parts, so you can create mock ups of characters.

Currently, I am not sure if it is wise to walk into the complications of axles, and physics based features. Instead, as I said earlier, it should be fun for all ages. However, Minecraft is like this too, just with Mods. I have a feeling that because some of us want those complex features, others will want those feature as well. That is why there should be a community for modding. The feature others don't want, do not have to be a part of the game unless they choose to add that feature.

[Keeden]

have look here http://steamcommunity.com/app/332310/discussions/0/535151589893250828/

[Nick McName]

Briliant idea!

More something to think about implementing down the track than a must-have - destructability.

When I was a kid, my mate and I used to build these massive vehicle - this was in the days before custom bricks were easily obtainable so we were using Basic Set parts - and the best part was the demoltion derby we'd have when we'd finished.

The last vehicle roling on more than three wheels was the technical "winner" but see bricks flying in all directions was the best part :)

Destructability is there in a form already with the bash-an-object-for-coin mechanic, it just needs to be expanded a little for a demolition derby function :)

[LadyErica]

Custom venichels should be fairly easy to make, in theory. What we need is a simple chassis for each type: One small, medium and large chassis for cars, planes, boats and helicopters. Each type is the bare minimum we need to have a vehicle that does what we want it to. A "small car" would be four wheels barely attached to each other in a small frame, with a seat and steering wheel. It's enough to drive around, though it obviously won't be pretty. But we can then put bricks on the chassis to build the car we wantm whether it's a Ferrari, vaccum cleaner or a can of RedBull. The basics are the same, so they operate the same (except for the physics-bit, if we have that in the game.)

Just give us a basic chassis to sort out the physics, then we'll take it from there. Easy peasy. :-) But we could also get unique bricks like bulldozer, submarine and so on. Attach a submarine brick, and now your boat and drive underwater. Attach a rotor to it, and now it can fly like a helicopter. It could give us some really amazing vehicles, and it won't be hard to create at all for the devs. I mean, if you stick a huge tree on top of your real car, it will still drive like your real car. So why can't we do this in the game? ;-)

[BowtiedTrombone]

I'd like to see something along the lines of deciding which type of vehicle (car, plane, boat, etc) and then starting from either a basc chassis or even from scratch. (I don't know how easy it would be to program the ability to start building from the ground up) The special thing I would like to see, however, would be the ability to assign actions to each brick: this stud can shoot out flames, or this brick will rotate when the player jumps into the vehicle. This stud could shoot lasers when the mouse was clicked, or this brick would light up like a headlight in a specific direction and color. Again, this is just a rough idea, and I don't know how easy it would be to program. I just think it would be cool to see.

[Greg the Mad]

Originally posted by CommanderRed:

Nothing is easy to program, especially things not originally planned and compatible within the engine. Having a vehicle builder would be very cool, but don't expect it anytime soon, because it won't be easy for the developers to design.

As a hobby developer I can say that's not true at all, it all boild down to how well written and documented the existing tools are.

If they're using Havoc physics, or something similar, they already have basic colliders, and most important wheel collider, and springs for the vehicles. That's probably already have the job they'd else have to figure out. (they already have vehicles so that's a given)

Then they also have a building tool already in the game for the world. This may not translate well to cars if you want special, non-grid parts like steering wheels and chairs, but they can use the part picker and placer code for this. They basically would have to recreate the Lego Digital Designer (LDD) within the game. This however should be easier as (I think) they have access to that programs code.

The next challenge would be storing the information basically. So you'd need a system (file-system, class system) that stores creations just like in LDD. And they also already have that as you can already import files from the LDD (I think). I believe all the non-world objects (like bushes) are already using the LDD system also.

So they already got most of the things they need for this. It still takes some work to plug it all together and into the game, but it's a lot less than if they had to create it from scratch.

On a side note, this has little to do with "designing" this feature, but more coding/implementing it. A basic concept for this could be created in an afternoon by a designer, and then it's only leg work for the programmers. Depending on the man power, and how solid the existing tools are, this could be done within a week (a lot of programmers), to some month maybe (a single programmer).

[T-Knocker]

I found a lot of cool things in this lego game, but no submarine or diving gear. Is it in the game already or is it coming?

[RedstoneParadox]

Originally posted by T-Knocker:

I found a lot of cool things in this lego game, but no submarine or diving gear. Is it in the game already or is it coming?

Both are already in the game, but neither of them can be used to go underwater until the next update, which is in a few days.

[CommanderRed]

Originally posted by Greg the Mad:

Originally posted by CommanderRed:

Nothing is easy to program, especially things not originally planned and compatible within the engine. Having a vehicle builder would be very cool, but don't expect it anytime soon, because it won't be easy for the developers to design.

As a hobby developer I can say that's not true at all, it all boild down to how well written and documented the existing tools are.

If they're using Havoc physics, or something similar, they already have basic colliders, and most important wheel collider, and springs for the vehicles. That's probably already have the job they'd else have to figure out. (they already have vehicles so that's a given)

Then they also have a building tool already in the game for the world. This may not translate well to cars if you want special, non-grid parts like steering wheels and chairs, but they can use the part picker and placer code for this. They basically would have to recreate the Lego Digital Designer (LDD) within the game. This however should be easier as (I think) they have access to that programs code.

The next challenge would be storing the information basically. So you'd need a system (file-system, class system) that stores creations just like in LDD. And they also already have that as you can already import files from the LDD (I think). I believe all the non-world objects (like bushes) are already using the LDD system also.

So they already got most of the things they need for this. It still takes some work to plug it all together and into the game, but it's a lot less than if they had to create it from scratch.

On a side note, this has little to do with "designing" this feature, but more coding/implementing it. A basic concept for this could be created in an afternoon by a designer, and then it's only leg work for the programmers. Depending on the man power, and how solid the existing tools are, this could be done within a week (a lot of programmers), to some month maybe (a single programmer).

Sorry, I deleted my original post before I saw anyone had responded to it.
I agree with you in-part, having certain features implanted already can definitely speed things up. However, I don't think they can take almost anything from LDD (weather or not they would have to license) there are so many differences between LDD and LEGO Worlds.

Also, their vehicle physics have problems right now, getting custom working vehicles to be kid friendly could be a lot of work. So if this is going to be added, I wouldn't expect it until a few more updates come.