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[MooseMouse]

Hi,

I've been working on my 3d multiplayer racing game for the past 9 months, and I think I am close to finished. All functionality and artwork is complete except for a few loose ends, and I need to add more content (cars, tracks, customizations).

To Do:
- splash screen art
- tutorial and help screen
- music
- achievements (trophies)
- more cars
- more customizations
- more tracks


I am initially targeting web browsers with the Unity webplayer plugin, but I also intend to submit a standalone build to Steam. So my main question: Is this game Steam quality? If not, what do I need to work on?

Link: Smash Da Gas!









Please feel free to be brutally honest! I can take it and I really have no clear perspective on this game at this point.

Thanks a ton!
Shawn

[bateleur]

Had a quick play with this. A few comments:

* Generally nice visuals.
* Driving controls smooth and easy.
* Vehicle motion and physics feels like slow motion. (See below for a tip on this.)
* Not clear what I'm supposed to be doing (other than driving around a weird stunt sandbox).

Most of the good and bad aspects of my experience were as a consequence of the above. For example, I found it really hard to work out what speed I needed to drive at for various sections because it felt as though I was moving slowly, but then when I left the track I flew miles into the air.

I can't comment on whether it's potentially "Steam quality" since at the moment it's nowhere near close enough to finished. In particular it needs lots of playtesting by people who aren't you to help you tune the gameplay.

Unity tip: The "slowness" effect is most likely caused by having all your models at the wrong size. Scale everything down and this effect should disappear.

[MooseMouse]

Thanks for the feedback

The "weird stunt sandbox" is what I am calling the "Multiplayer Freestyle Hangout". It is supposed to be like a skateboard park for cars in which players can chat, show-off, and challenge each other to races. So it also serves as the multiplayer race lobby.

There is actually an entire racing element to the game that is not obvious without a tutorial. If you click on the checkered flag icon in the icon bar once in the Freestyle Hangout Park, you can race on race tracks. Racing can be against the clock, against AI cars, or against other players in real-time multiplayer mode. But I did not realize this feature was not obvious, so that is great feedback!

I also hadn't realized that the physics felt like slow-mo. I am certain the scale is correct because this was a major problem I thought I worked out a few months ago. It felt to me like I was driving on the moon, so I increased gravity from -9.81 m/s*s to - 16 m/s*s. But I guess that wasn't enough, so I will revisit it.

Thanks again!
Shawn

[Scott]

Ah. Yes. That's interesting. It almost feels like two different worlds - the race world and the freestyle world.

Anyway yeah - it was fun! I love the "fat" art style of everything. The thing that stood out the most that bugged me though was that the physics still felt a little wonky in the freestyle area even knowing they were intended to be for doing tricks and stuff.

For instance, if I go up an incline that takes me vertical, I expect to sort of land pretty smoothly back on that same vertical, except maybe over a little ways. Instead, my car keeps flipping backwards, and I am no longer over the vertical, but end up "backing up" mid air and just crash land - almost upside down! It's hard to explain with words (or perhaps it's just me). I hope that made sense.

[poe]

Sounds a bit like Burnout Paradise
Any chance of adding their marked man game mode but making it so the NPCs work in multiplayer? That is the only thing I wanted out of that game

[MooseMouse]

The thing that stood out the most that bugged me though was that the physics still felt a little wonky in the freestyle area even knowing they were intended to be for doing tricks and stuff.

For instance, if I go up an incline that takes me vertical, I expect to sort of land pretty smoothly back on that same vertical, except maybe over a little ways. Instead, my car keeps flipping backwards, and I am no longer over the vertical, but end up "backing up" mid air and just crash land - almost upside down! It's hard to explain with words (or perhaps it's just me). I hope that made sense.

I think this may be due to another undocumented feature, the in-air acrobatics controls. If you have the gas pedal key pressed while you are in air it will cause the car to pitch over backwards. Do you think that is what was happening to you?

Sounds a bit like Burnout Paradise
Any chance of adding their marked man game mode but making it so the NPCs work in multiplayer? That is the only thing I wanted out of that game

Yes, it does have a sandbox element similar to Burnout Paradise. I'd love to add some games like Marked Man, but that will probably be awhile. This game has taken me twice as long as I had expected to get it to this point 

I've added a brief tutorial screen after you click the drive button. It explains the Freestyle Hangout concept and how multiplayer race wagering works. I definitely plan to add a more complete tutorial, but hopefully this will ease some of the confusion regarding what this game is supposed to be.

[RunawayDev]

I want to change the specular color as a customizable option. Also, glitter paint.
Also, I want ground effects.
And a huuuuuge spoiler, the one that's there is pretty big I guess, but I want an even bigger one!
Also how do I get decals like in your screenshots?

The controls feel like the game is meant for a gamepad, but I'm playing on a keyboard. With a markedly digital feeling [as compared to analog]. For example, when I hold right[ rather than just barely tap it], I spin out.
My other issue is that sometimes it seems like I can't accelerate, and I don't understand/can't get a lot of the controls listed on the website to work. Like x seems to do nothing. If you want something to look at, Nitronic Rush has a nice arcadey feel, but the racing controls are really tight. [and it is free]

The sound isn't Steam quality [no bass, kinda tinny], and I wish there was some cute/goofy music to match the aesthetics.

But on a final note, I like the toy cars aesthetic. Gives it a very playing with toys aesthetic, from the pastel colors, to the chunky shapes, to the goofy stunt sandbox.

[bateleur]

The "weird stunt sandbox" is what I am calling the "Multiplayer Freestyle Hangout". It is supposed to be like a skateboard park for cars in which players can chat, show-off, and challenge each other to races. So it also serves as the multiplayer race lobby.

Ah, nice concept!

I also hadn't realized that the physics felt like slow-mo. I am certain the scale is correct because this was a major problem I thought I worked out a few months ago. It felt to me like I was driving on the moon, so I increased gravity from -9.81 m/s*s to - 16 m/s*s. But I guess that wasn't enough, so I will revisit it.

No, increasing the gravity is not the right approach to this. It's not just downward motion which is sluggish, it's everything. And I don't mean framerate (which was fine for me), I mean the object behaviour.

I'm not saying that you definitely have the scales wrong, but that's exactly what it looks like. It's worth considering scaling everything down by x0.5 or even x0.25 to address this.

[MooseMouse]

Also how do I get decals like in your screenshots?

On the "Pimp" screen, press the "Paint" button at the top (which is the on by default when you enter the Pimp screen). Then there are orange scroll arrow keys, also at the top, to select different graphics packages. Good feedback.. I had no idea that was hard to find!

Thanks a ton for the other feedback, too! Very helpful

No, increasing the gravity is not the right approach to this. It's not just downward motion which is sluggish, it's everything. And I don't mean framerate (which was fine for me), I mean the object behaviour.

I'm not saying that you definitely have the scales wrong, but that's exactly what it looks like. It's worth considering scaling everything down by x0.5 or even x0.25 to address this.

I will take another look. I am definitely aware that scaling affects physics in Unity and I made sure that 1 unit = 1 meter in my game. That didn't seem to be enough so I cranked up the gravity, too. I will look into scaling down the whole scene.. it is complicated because I will need to adjust a bunch of stuff in the car physics scripts. I had believed that gravity was the main thing that was thrown off by scaling, but maybe there are many more things affected than I am aware of.

Thanks!
Shawn

[MooseMouse]

I've adjusted the physics a bit.. not sure if it is enough yet. I'm also redesigning the GUI. I've received a lot of comments that the GUI is "jumbled".

So here is my proposed new GUI (the icons will have tooltips):


And here is the current/old one for reference:


Better? About the same? Got any better ideas?

Thanks!
Shawn

[deathtotheweird]

new UI looks good, but I'm not a fan of the upper case italicized font. the O's look like Ds and the Gs look like Cs and the As look like Rs. maybe my eye-sight is going bad but it's kinda painful trying to read that.

playing the game, it seems far from Steam quality. it doesn't really feel deep, mechanically speaking. feels (and looks) more like a game I'd play for a couple of minutes on a flash portal or something. there's just no reason to play this over something like trackmania nations or whatever.

I dunno, I guess it depends on the tracks. though the physics felt a bit off to me, on the race map against the bots you can't even barely tap the side of the road or you'll fly off it.

[MooseMouse]

playing the game, it seems far from Steam quality. it doesn't really feel deep, mechanically speaking. feels (and looks) more like a game I'd play for a couple of minutes on a flash portal or something. there's just no reason to play this over something like trackmania nations or whatever.

Thanks for the feedback, allen! It stings a bit, but this is exactly what I need to know to improve the game.

I do not understand what you mean by "it doesn't really feel deep, mechanically". Except for the number of cars and tracks (which I plan to add to prior to launch), I believe it is similar to TrackMania in game mechanics. There is multiplayer, time trials, and AI bot cars to race. I'm not sure what else to add to make it deeper. Or did I completely miss your point?

Thanks!
Shawn

[deathtotheweird]

well in the racing games I've played and enjoyed there is heavy emphasis on controlling your speed, braking and drifting, shifting, and all that. compared to those type of games, you're game doesn't feel very deep and that's where I lose interest. you just go as fast as you can and turn whenever you need to. at least that's the impression I got after my short time playing it.

[MooseMouse]

Thanks! That is very helpful

[MooseMouse]

I've been working hard on this game for the past few months. I've added new tracks, a new car, new GUI, and tweaked the car handling greatly so that driving is a bit more challenging and fun. On the dirt track (called "Dust Bowl") it is possible to slide and counter-steer the car (drifting). I've also polished the graphics quite a bit. I still plan to add more cars, tracks, and customizations.

New Car:


Dust Bowl Track:


I am going to put the game on Steam Greenlight soon. Pending your feedback, the main thing on my "To Do List" before submitting to Greenlight is to make the final logo, splash screen art, and a nicer looking login screen.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Link to game: http://smashdagas.com

Thanks,
Shawn

[Mittens]

I dig the visuals, nice shading and lighting all round, the whole game is very neat and professional looking.
Only thing I didn't really like was the way the steering slowly ramps up in intensity the longer you hold the button, since when you first press the button it's having almost zero impact on your direction, it makes the handling feel delayed/unresponsive

Also I'm not a fan of moombahton so I didn't really dig the music, but that's just a personal tastes thing

[MooseMouse]

Thanks for the feedback The car controls are something I am really struggling with. Part of the problem is that every player has a different preference for car controls. Right now I have the "inertia factor" on the cars turned up pretty high. This causes them to change direction more slowly. I will try turning it down.

Thanks!
Shawn

[CowBoyDan]

Just played it, beautiful, great work so far!  I feel like the wheels turn too quick for the keyboard input.  The horizontal input needs a delay before it reaches full strength.  You could also try messing with the wheel turn speed relative to the car speed.  Just thoughts.

[MooseMouse]

Thanks CowBoyDan (are you still a major player in the cowboy scene?). I will look into the horizontal input

[CowBoyDan]

I used to wear a cowboy hat and boots to work.  I'm a software engineer, so this was an office job, 4th floor of a nice building at the time.  It was a statement towards the style of development, sort of a mix of mocking and embracing "Cowboy Coding".

Even without the tweaking of controls its probably ready for greenlight.  Had a thought... you could make a few different steering settings, and make that an option on the car.  Tight, Loose, Free-style, Racing, etc.  As an option on the car it wouldn't be a "setting" in a settings menu or such, but would still provide the player with the option to suit their preferences.