Q-Flux

[xxpenguinxx]

I think the engines need power and weight options, the weight can then be added to the weight of the vehicle. Put a heavy power engine, high acceleration, high grip, into a light ship you now have a crazy fast of the line ship with super tight handling. Now the downside could be it has so much torque that it can rip itself apart if too much power is applied at once (maybe an overheating feature), it's durability drops very fast, and the vehicle takes more damage on impact due to the heavy engine and momentum.

Of course some setups might seem illogical like putting a light power motor and low torque/high speed part into a heavy ship, but on a long strait track this setup would work quite well since the heavy ship won't loose much durability from the light engine, and once it's up to speed it won't slow down that fast and it will be able to break through obstacles that the light ship can't get through, like short cuts.

[XZodia]

I did consider having weight options for the engines but I didn't want to over complicate it.
When you say power, are you referring what I outlined or something else?
Overheating under extreme conditions might be interesting, I was already planning that for boosting (another F-Zero feature)

[xxpenguinxx]

I was thinking along the lines of the heavier the engine is, the more power it puts out. Then you have a torque / speed modifier, kind of like how a car transmission works but only using one gear. With a low gear you will get a ton of torque and acceleration, while with a high gear you get low torque, but a much higher top speed. Obviously ships won't have an actual gear. At the beginning of the game you just start out with the light engine, and as you progress you can unlock the other engines.

You don't want a huge difference between the gears, just enough to suit the player. For balancing, maybe make it so the heaviest engine can't go in the lightest ship, and the lightest engine can't go in the heaviest ship.

[XZodia]

I think it would be unfair to allow dramatically different engine powers in the same race, but power could be used as a difficulty setting like in Mario Kart. That way all the ships get more powerful as you progress. It would also make it easier for new players to compete against veterans.
I'm glad you mentioned the idea of a single gear as that is essentially what I was thinking, and it occurred to me that the term I was looking for was Gear Ratio...

The Engines define the Gear Ratio.
With Majors:
Low - (High Acceleration, Low Max Speed)
Mid - (Balanced)
High - (Low Acceleration, High Max Speed)

Difficult Levels define the Engine Power. (In Brake Horse Power unless someone can come up with a better unit)
1500 bhp - Beginner
3000 bhp - Vertern
6000 bhp - Pro
9000 bhp - Insane

Also Mirror Mode >_>

[xxpenguinxx]

I like your idea on the engine power, much better then mine. Mine kind of sounds like need for speed ship edition

I really like your idea on making the different upgrades show up on the ships. I always liked being able to see a physical difference between mods/changes. A while back I tried doing it on halo's weapons. I used red on clips and barrels for bullet damage and velocity, gold/silver for weapon accuracy, blue for extras like flashlights, laser sights, ect.

For the ships, I thought with the more powerful engines you could have larger fuel lines that you can chose the color on. For the ships handling have a slider that changes the angle and size of the wings and such.

[XZodia]

I've put together an initial TODO list with a rough code structure:

1. Setup Game Project
2. Setup SVN

3. Create QFluxGameObject class
4. Create GameTime class
5. Create DebugAssist class

6. Create ColorScheme class
7. Create ColorRange class

8. Create TrackGenerator class

9. Create ShipDynamics class

A. Create Racer class
B. Create ShipDesign class
C. Create ShipHull class (Durability vs Weight)
D. Create ShipWings class (Boost vs Grip)
E. Create ShipEngines class (Acceleration vs Max Speed)

F. Create Difficulty class

3.1 Defines bool WorksWhenPaused
3.2 Defines virtual Awake
3.3 Defines virtual Start
3.4 Defines virtual OnUpdate
3.5 Defines virtual OnFixedUpdate
3.6 Implements Update
3.6.1 IF WorksWhenPaused OR NOT Paused Calls OnUpdate
3.7 Implements FixedUpdate
3.7.1 IF WorksWhenPaused OR NOT Paused Calls OnFixedUpdate

4.1 Inherits GameObject
4.2 Defines bool Paused
4.3 Records TimeSinceLevelStart
4.3.1 Increases When Not Paused
4.4 Records TimeSincePauseStart
4.4.1 Increases When Paused
4.4.2 Resets When Not Paused


5.1 Defines void Log(output)
5.2 Defines void Break(output)
5.3 Defines void LogIf(condition, output)
5.4 Defines void BreakIf(condition)


6.1 Defines Color0
6.2 Defines Color1
6.3 Defines Color2
6.4 Defines Color3
6.5 Implements Static CreateMono
6.6 Implements Static CreateComplement
6.7 Implements Static CreateTriad
6.8 Implements Static CreateTetrad
6.9 Implements Static CreateAnalogic
6.A Implements Static CreateAccentedAnalogic


7.1 Defines Base
7.2 Defines Light
7.3 Defines VeryLight
7.4 Defines Dark
7.5 Defines VeryDark


8.1 Implements FromFile
8.2 Implements Random


9.1 Inherits QFluxGameObject
9.1 Defines BoundingSphere

A.1 Inherits QFluxGameObject
A.2 Defines Avatar
A.3 Defines ArtWork
A.4 Defines ColorScheme
A.5 Defines ShipDesign

B.1 Defines Hull - Durability
B.2 Defines Wings - Aerodynamics
B.3 Defines Engines - Gear Ratio

C.1 Defines LightWeight (Fragile)
C.2 Defines Balanced
C.1 Defines Durable (HeavyWeight)

D.1 Defines Lifts (High Boost, Low Grip) (Aeroplane Style)
D.2 Defines Balanced
D.3 Defines Grips (Low Boost, High Grip) (Car Style)

E.1 Defines Low - (High Acceleration, Low Max Speed)
E.2 Defines Mid - (Balanced)
E.3 Defines High - (Low Acceleration, High Max Speed)

F.1 Defines enum BrakeHorsePower
F.1.1 Defines Beginner = 1500
F.1.2 Defines Vetern = 3000
F.1.3 Defines Pro = 6000
F.1.4 Defines Insane = 9000

[XZodia]

I was cycling back to work from lunch in really high winds, and suddenly it hit me we were talking about some sort of force such as exploding sun/magnetism, but High Winds make much more sense and are a lot more flexible. =)

[CaptainPoopface]

There were a couple of courses in the original F Zero on snes called high wind, where the otherwise clunky green car excelled because it was heavy and could eat a lot of damage. I barely played the N 64 monstrosity, if that's your source of inspiration. Anyway, magnetism, deadly walls and landmines were the name of the game, plus aggro Ai that tried to do you in.

[neodos]

I could probably do some art, environment and ships, I think its a pretty interesting project, art wise it would be cool to experiment, I am pretty sure that the environment art will need to be iterated depending on the race track and the speed and the music(if you plan to have some), to get a good sensation of speed, I think that relies mostly on the environment, well and how the ship works of course.

Though how serious are you about this project? sounds like you don't have too much time to put into it, I am always looking forward to achieve projects and push it as far as possible, if you don't have that aim I might not be the best fit for this, either way I could certainly make some art for it.

[XZodia]

@neodos I agree with what you say about the environment playing a big part in providing a sensation of speed. I would be very happy for you to experiment with anything part of the games art work that you like.
I don't have a lot of time but I am progressing with it and art work would speed up the progression =)
The more help I have, the more likely it is that this will become a reality.