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[marcgfx]

this is a HTML5 racing game, but it currently only works in google's Chrome browser. Safari also works, but you will have no music and it's a little slower.

you can steer using the arrow keys and make a kind of powerslide if you hold down control (I have heard that the control-part can give jumpy screen reaction). there is also an alternative control method using the num-pad. numbers 1-6, just try... it's odd at first, but I really like it.

what I am really interested in is the driving experience. how does it feel? I've been playing around with it for so long, I just can't tell if it's good or not anymore. Is it fun?

what would you like to see next? should i priorize adding computer-opponents, or would you rather race against the worlds best time?

----more rambling----
I've been working on this project in my spare time for about a year. I did not really think it would work as well as it does, but I have done quite a lot of tweaking.

----technical stuff----
as mentioned above, it's all HTML5. I heavily use javascript, it uses SVG(track) + Canvas(minimap+). It has been working fine localy, but the current version does not work in many browsers due to an annoying security concept (same-origin-policy, can't access my own subdomain with javascript. yay). nearly all my data is on a CDN, as my server is not such a power horse. got to find a solution, but currently I am just pissed off...

----there are more tracks----
the game's tracks are generated. no hard work on my side besides generating the elements. there are millions of tracks, I've probably not even tried one hundred myself. just add letters/numbers to the end of the url to get a new track. e.g. "_TRACK_oj"

----origin----
graphics & code were made entirely by me, the music was composed way back by a very talented guy who called himself Sola. this was for an rts called SCAW I was working on with a group of people, that never got past alpha (in many years). many of the ideas i had back then are also now integrated in this game. It's not entirely out of the question that an rts could be based on this in a few years.

----what's with the name----
I have no name for the game, as it was never really intended to be what it is now. It started off as cyberlympics ... the idea was to have artificial intelligence challenges. e.g. tank-battles, racing, cart-soccer and freaky stuff. this has been sidelined for the time-being, as interest was more minimal than maximal, but I am intending to get that part running again.

[flavio]

what I am really interested in is the driving experience. how does it feel? I've been playing around with it for so long, I just can't tell if it's good or not anymore. Is it fun?

Yes, it's fun so far! The driving experience is very good, but I think there is an aspect you could consider: it's difficult to brake with the keyboard, so I'd slightly increase the braking effect that happens when you release the throttle.

what would you like to see next? should i priorize adding computer-opponents, or would you rather race against the worlds best time?

I vote for computer opponents...

[marcgfx]

Yes, it's fun so far! The driving experience is very good, but I think there is an aspect you could consider: it's difficult to brake with the keyboard, so I'd slightly increase the braking effect that happens when you release the throttle.

interesting point. it is possible, but it will have an impact on a few of the other parameters . the car will require more power to speed up and therefore more energy. but these are also just simple parameters. thank you for that idea, I had never put any thought into this aspect!

one vote for AI noted .

[Chromanoid]

http://data.cyberlympics.com/html/practice.html?param=220_1_-_TRACK_chromanoid  ^^

[marcgfx]

quite a few things have changed in the last few years. unfortunately not enough to call this project finished.

new things:
- AI
- webgl engine instead of html
- webaudio instead of flash
- extras & speedups
- more variable landscapes
- more music

todo:
- create some nice tracks for championships
- improve loading times
- better entry screen/menu handling
- you win screen
- saving progress/achievements or something like that
...

would like:
- websockets for network gaming, not sure if this will be possible for me to achieve

http://data.cyberlympics.com/html/start.html

[Quicksand-S]

That plays really well. I don't generally enjoy top-down racing games, but it works better than most.

It did seem, at times, like I was playing at a low frame-rate with a bunch of frames being skipped but I'm not 100% sure. It never slowed down, though, which is good. (Played in Firefox Developer Edition)

The second track that came up had bright red ground which looked really ugly to me and also made it harder to see my red car.

Without a progress bar, I thought the game had frozen between the first and second race.

Holding Control around corners didn't do anything visually. I thought my car would actually look like it was skidding. It didn't seem to do much control-wise either, so I'm not entirely sure if it worked or not.

Those are my only "issues" with the game, from what I played. I still don't enjoy this sort of racing game that much, but I was fairly impressed by it. Your todo list sounds good.

[marcgfx]

thanks quicksand-s,
makes sense. i must make the transitions before and after the race smoother and more "readable" for the player. some tracks will be ugly, there is not much i can do about that. well, I could, but I dont want to interfere too much with the random chance of a cool track.

skipping frames is possible. or better said, the game tries to give you the best framerate it can. the larger the screen, the more cars, the slower it gets. it also depends a lot on the graphic-card power. retina-displays are also an issue, as so many pixels are rendered. i guess my environment is not the best for a fast paced game and maybe my optimization efforts were just too feeble (i have tried).

I'm glad you liked the feel of the game controls. the ctrl-sliding information is out of date. the current default config is actually using the "DELETE"-button. not sure if thats the best choice, but its how i tried to fit 4 players on one keyboard.

[Quicksand-S]

some tracks will be ugly, there is not much i can do about that. well, I could, but I dont want to interfere too much with the random chance of a cool track.

Maybe just keep the track color from ever being the same as the player color?

the current default config is actually using the "DELETE"-button. not sure if thats the best choice, but its how i tried to fit 4 players on one keyboard.

If I've got four players playing, that makes some sense, but maybe when there's only one player all player's keys should be available so I can play more comfortably.

Have you looked into gamepad control? I think I read that both Chrome and Firefox now support gamepads to some degree, but I could be wrong. I know at least one of them does. No idea about Safari.

[marcgfx]

I actually only just ordered 4 xbox360 controllers, this is something I would really like to implement. so far I have tried with super-nintendo gamepads, but the keys had to be mapped painstakingly.

I wont be able to solve the color issue by simply preventing red, as the tracks can be any color and the cars will also not be limited in color in the final version. I dont want to make them all dark or gray either. I guess the choice of car color will also have to be part of the experience. what could be an idea, is to surround the players car with a circle (i did used to have that, but i didnt like it).

fixed a few bugs and uploaded a new version. by the way: on the start screen you can change the shader quality, by default it is on the lowest setting. this mainly affects your gpu.

[marcgfx]

http://data.cyberlympics.com/html/nav.html

what I would love to know:
- engine sound has been overhauled, annoying or ok?
- I have gamepad support, does anyone use gamepads? I would be interested to know how the game feels to you.
- I've finally reworked the menu. some features are still missing, but it works with any input method and should be easier to handle. what did you think?
- shaders have just been updated, it should run faster now. did it run smoothly?
- I've added some default tracks, did you find them boring?

still missing:
- better loading times
- you win/are the best screen
- progress/achievements
- less costly AI
- multiplayer/keyboard/single track selection... in the new menu

[marcgfx]

my apologies if someone has experienced a bug, where the game would start without an active player and end again after 10 seconds... I messed up with the new menu. It worked, if you had played with the old menu before (as data gets stored local). should be fixed now!