Track Editor?

[DazaKiwi]

Will there be a track editor? since this game is suppose to have a little more realistic driving physics for TD/2D having a track editor would be a neat feature, especially where we could make race tracks and street tracks- where there are some buildings and street roads to be placed.
Also you could have packs of assets, so one could place obstacles on a street track like as if its a post apoc race- overturned vehicles and whatnot. This would give some variation and would be quite fun, especially if some tracks could an option to have pre-gen stuff placed on the track- oil spills, debris that can have a chance of blowing a tire etc for an extra challenge. What about allowing cars either from Ai or other players who wreck their car to remain on the track as an obstacle?


Also i suppose you could have off-road tracks and jumps where the cars will appear to go up (get a little bigger) and down (go back to normal size) as they go over jumps which perhaps there could be a bar side on depicting pitch of vehicle to help get a jump right where you wont wipe out on landing.

What about weather? wet tracks, snow tracks?

So far the scene shots show oval tracks, what about other kind of tracks?

[juanitogan]

Thanks for asking. A track editor is a long ways out, if ever. It's on the version 2 wish list. The challenge is standardizing the structure of all the physics objects such as the barriers, the surface types, and other sensors, for reading into the game. That's a ton of design and parsing work. Even beyond that, it's a lot of work to rig up a track after the background art is done, and the complexity of this step will not be a pleasant experience for most. Precisely lining up hundreds of barriers with centimeter accuracy so that they don't rip your wheels off with the slightest hit is not fun work. Also, currently, some objects get tweaked beyond their default prefab, which is something a track editor would likely never support. We could maybe do a slot-car-style track editor to simplify a lot of this, but that would also be far less appealing. Anyhow, decisions for another day. In the mean time, I welcome art submissions for the version 1 tracks (but that is another discussion as to what the specs are for art).

Wrecked/abandoned cars already remain on the track...and break apart when hit... and leave an oil spill when broken apart. A bit more debris will be coming even though the debris levels can already get overwhelming at times, depending on the players and the mods.

Jumps and bridges are another version 2 item due to the challenges of faking the third dimension in a 2D physics engine. It's possible we may implement bridges for the fantasy track set in version 1, but I doubt it. Any bridges encountered in mini-realism track design will likely be simplified to an intersection. Intersections are welcome in this game.

Weather is planned for version 1. I currently have 6 basic surface types defined with wet and oily variants, plus mud as a lone type. Not all these types are in use yet with the current limited track selection. Go off the main raceway and you'll find some of the other types.

The 12 mini-realism tracks are expected to be: 4 ovals/tri-ovals/figure-8s and 8 grand prix tracks. Currently, there are 3 ovals/tri-ovals and 1 grand prix track (loosely based on Watkins Glen, USA). 6 of the other GP tracks will be taken from the other 6 countries represented in the game. The final GP (or other) track will be ???. The GP tracks have to be greatly minified and simplified for size and turning radius. The fantasy track set will probably be a bit more exciting for most players but still limited by the turn radius of the cars at medium speed.

[DazaKiwi]

Thanks for your reply. A slot car like track kit set editor would be ok. Are all your tracks sized to be contained on one screen, i mean like will you have tracks where it will zoom out for long straights and then zoom in when player either slows down or approaches a hairpin or tight corner? i think this would be quite fun compared to seeing the whole track on your screen. Another TD/2D racing car game had that in the past, cant recall its name.

[juanitogan]

Our target audience is multiplayer couch gaming. That is, all players sitting on the couch in front of the TV. So, yes, all planned tracks need to be one screen. I considered adding some zooming if all players are grouped, but decided against it. We have some hopes to maybe make multi-screen tracks and other sizes of tracks for mega-fans... but first we need to find those mega-fans. If you're looking for large tracks for single-player, split-screen or network play, many other games like Ultimate Racing 2D and Roadclub target those players. Roadclub looks like it might be better on the physics but I haven't compared them yet.