Got quite a bit to show off this week! In this devlong, I'll be talking about racetracks, game board training animations, and progress with the scenario editor/events manager.
Racetracks
Can't have a race without a track, so this week I spent a lot of time planning and implementing various versions of the racetrack system. I am not yet set in stone on how to handle them, but I wanted to show off the different major iterations I had so far. Expect more devlogs on the racetrack system in the future (as well as a focus on the AI for the racers, quite a large task...)
This was the "first" racetrack prototype I put out, it was rather crude and simple, kinda resembling those old DOS games back in the day... Racers were represented by red circles with symbols on them and they'd take a clockwise turn starting from the yellow line. It was rather functional than pretty. But helped a lot on putting a basic AI together!
With those negatives in my mind, I decided I wanted to scrap that first version of the racetrack system. It might have been a lot more work, but I am glad I decided to do it! This was the second iteration of the same racetrack principle, I had scrapped nearly everything from the first iteration. But it was worth it! We now had a full on 3D model, capable of showing elevation, surface type, weathering effects and other fancy effects. Not to mention starting gates and even remaining distance signs. But even then, the way I implemented it was a bit brittle and wasn't so welcoming to changes that I'd be definitely making down the line... So the system had to be scrapped halfway... again.
And this is where I am currently: presenting the 3rd generation of racetracks! Not too different looking, I know, but the code structure for this is a lot cleaner, no spaghetti code here! If you look closely you can actually see the railing that were added to fit around the better racetrack shapes. Look forward to future progress on this new system!
Game Board Animations and Scenario Events
These are the small "fancy" animations that will play after you make a training decision, they are also further separated into "Plain" and "Fancy" ones depending on the buffs/debuffs you have on the selected training option. Hopefully making the board segment of the game more vibrant.
Watch the video here
Scenario Editor
This will be where you'll be able to create new scenarios to play! Its still in early WIP and will change in the future, but its a good starting point.
Not much here, apart from the upcoming racetrack editor :wink:
I'll be going thru the AI that'll be used in the races in another devlog, but its coming along well too!