Understanding Mechanics

[Nautilac]

I would like to be able to understand the mechanics and how they function for the purposes of whether or not I will purchase this game. I am simply seeking to understand the functions of the mechanics and the depth behind them to understand what it is I am really getting into.

[korsaat84]

Hey there!
These are the major mechanics to control your ship.

- Accelerate (always). Brake (as little as possible)
- Steer
- Strafe (default: right analog stick, or shoulder/trigger buttons). This moves your ship horizontally on the track and it's very useful to adjust your trajectory and to face tight corners. It's different from the Wipeout airbrakes: those cause an increment in rotative force, while our strafing system acts on your trajectory by pushing your craft sideways.
- Pitch (default: right analog stick, up/down). This moves the tip of your ship up and down. It's useful for in-flight control, to fight the blackout/redout effect on steep slopes, and to avoid hitting the floor (that's a possibility).
- Turbo. Your ship builds up energy while racing. You can use that energy for an extra boost. Expecially useful out of corners.
- Powerup. You can equip powerups (extra shield, repair drone, one-shot hyperturbo, EMP blast) and activate them using the same energy pool.

Take a look at some gameplay videos to see our handling model in action, I'll paste a couple of those (mind they show the beta version).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2ORUIyHLqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwKy-yqAkkc

[Nautilac]

Wow thank you for that explanation of the mechanics! If you don't mind would you be able to go further in depth into the strafe and pitch functions and hypothetical situations where they would be useful? I don't have any prior experience with a game in the same vein such as Wipeout or F-Zero and I don't know what a redout/blackout are in this game.

[Tenka]

Originally posted by TrojanFlame:

Wow thank you for that explanation of the mechanics! If you don't mind would you be able to go further in depth into the strafe and pitch functions and hypothetical situations where they would be useful? I don't have any prior experience with a game in the same vein such as Wipeout or F-Zero and I don't know what a redout/blackout are in this game.

Assuming its the same as Wipeout, basically since your ship is a Hovercraft, it doesnt actually grip the track. So when you turn a corner you tend to slide out of it .. you counteract this by using strafe. By strafing into the turn while turning it makes it so your ship "drifts" around the corner. It takes skill master but its not actually too difficult to get the hang of.

It's a unique style of racing which has only really been seen in the Wipeout games, which it seems that this game is trying to replicate.

[korsaat84]

Originally posted by TrojanFlame:

Wow thank you for that explanation of the mechanics! If you don't mind would you be able to go further in depth into the strafe and pitch functions and hypothetical situations where they would be useful? I don't have any prior experience with a game in the same vein such as Wipeout or F-Zero and I don't know what a redout/blackout are in this game.

Strafe: avoid obstacles in front without changing direction (it's important at blazing-fast speeds).
Compensate the lateral drifting (as Tenka said), allowing for faster trajectories around corners.
More precise in-flight control.

Pitch: in-flight control too.
Control on slopes. Imagine tackling a loop-the-loop at 900kmh! Pitch allows you to point your ship nose *up* so you don't crash and slide onto the track. While that's not necessary in low-racing classes, it's a bonus for advanced classes where speed is sensibly higher.
Fight blackout/redout effects, which are black and red vision, suffered when there's a strong vertical force (so again, on slopes, loops, inverted loops). They don't slow you down, but they mess with your vision, so manoeuvring the pitch to counter them is useful advanced play.

[Nautilac]

Thank you both for the informative replys! I am now highly considering getting the game and will definitely write a review after purchase! Will most likely preorder some time in the next few days :)

[-Kite-Man-]

So to be clear - should I be drifting into, or out of, turns?

[Rhosta]

Is strafe binary(on/off) like Turbo or analog like steering?

[Drowne]

It's analog!

[MonkeyJug]

Can I ask, as devs, what is the preferred racing view at the office?

[Jack Trades]

Thanks for the explanation. I have no previous Wipeout/F-Zero experience but I am enjoying Redout so far.

Maybe you should consider adding that info to the actual game at some point?

[blimp]

this is another gameplay video : https://youtu.be/QZ-4TP4fDds

[GnoSiS]

Axial rotation was there in wipeout to help you use pitch to turn as well. This had *a huge momentum change for the craft as well. You could go around corners like crazy.

How does strafe work in this respect? Or is direction change & momentum given out for free with the left stick?

If I turn hard left with steering and use strafe left, I would push the craft on the ground if steering includes axial rotation?

[Neon1024]

I'm really struggling with the strafe. So I should be tapping the strafe multiple times to get around tight corners whilst in the turn? Or using strafe before I reach the turn to aim the nose across the apex?

I really enjoy the game, but my brain is stuck on airbrakes, and holding strafe to turn I just smash into the wall, if I let off accelerate briefly and repress after a strafe I lose all my speed.

What's the catch with this? I'm using the 'Classic' control set because my brain is programmed with Wipeout.

There is no "rail-ride" mechanic either, so turning is crucial.

[cbf]

Strafing in this game is very useful as it allows you to adjust your trajectory without playing with the throttle as much (or at all), and now going back to other games that don't include something similar is quite taxing to me.

I found several ways to use strafing effectively but definitely the most useful and important one is to make your racing line match the apex. So very simply point the stafe joystick to the side you think the apex is from your ship. It can sometimes require a bit of finess or to swing back and forth swiftly.
Here are a couple basic examples that should become second nature after a few hours of racing:

-In a straight, where the next corner is bending to the left, gently stafe to the right of the track instead of turning there

-In a corner strafe the same way you are turning to compensate understeer (angle is too wide) and strafe the opposite way whilst easing the cornering angle to compensate oversteer (essentially a drift)

Having to handle two joysticks consciously can become very confusing for my brain after a while, so to make sure strafing stays as unobtrusive as possible i like to do laps of new tracks (or one i am struggling with) without touching the strafe joystick. I then immediately feel where the ship is pulling wrong and where stafing would make my life easier.

[Trione]

I don't understand the pitch/redout implementation at all. If you are going through a loop (reverse or not) the tighter the loop, the higher the Gs, the more red/blackout. But from what the dev wrote above, It seems you are supposed to pitch up in a regular loop, down in a reverse loop, to avoid red/blackout?