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Program Announcements / Desert Racing - overhead/ 3D racing game (my 4th finished game in DBPro)

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MaRo
19
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Joined: 1st Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
Posted: 25th Feb 2008 15:59
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Hello all!

I would like to present my 4th game made in DBPro. It's called 'Desert Racing' - a racing game with car visual and performance modification and map editor ( sort of 'TrackMania' style ).

Create your profile and start career mode! Earn career points and cash to unlock new cars and parts to upgrade your car.

Cars:
3 Muscle cars ( powerfull and let you drift on corners )
5 Urban cars ( fast and got most visual parts to upgrade )
3 Sports cars ( very fast but hard at cornering )
+2 Off-Road cars (after unlocking OFF-ROAD mode / only available at map editor)

You can store one car of each type in your garage.
Many upgrades let you create unique car models.

30 Tracks to play in career mode.
Map Editor - allows you to create your own maps, test them and even
create AI path to try it with AI opponents. Compete with friends to get the best lap time!

Time Attack mode - unlock maps in career mode and try your skills in Time Attack race to beat the best lap time and win extra cash!

Controls:
Arrows = Steer, accelarate, brake
Esc = Exit to menu
see readme for more info

That's the basic description of the game.
I know that some things could be added or made better, but I'm glad that I finished it, even if I lacked in time due to studies.
So enjoy and feel free to post your comments



http://dlx.caiman.us/pageC2.php?nr=3300&f=3300-DesertRacing.zip
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Mr Tank
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Joined: 25th Nov 2002
Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 25th Feb 2008 16:55
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Looks nice. Downloading.

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Mr Tank
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Location: United Kingdom
Posted: 26th Feb 2008 00:08
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OK. This is very cool.

The whole menu system and number of options etc is very impressive. Feels like a modern game, with profiles and stuff. It's really cool that it autosaves, and you can quit out, and start right away from where you left off.

The game is solid- no crashes or getting stuck on scenery or anything. The car handling seems intuitive and forgiving, and doing skids is satisfying. The handling model could do with a bit more realism though. This is what determines how enjoyable the game is more than pretty much anything else. Would be cool if you could actually spin out- rather than your turn rate pretty much directly determined by input. Still what is there is servicable.

Collisions could do with some work. Seem a bit jerky and unrealistic. AI works fine but looks a bit jittery.

Being able to put bits on your car is awesome. You could do with a "back" button on the choose paint colour screen, although i realise you can use ESC.

Some slowdown on my old comp, particularly at ground level where grasses appear. Grasses also pop-up. Not a huge problem. Probably works fine on a faster computer.

Overall very cool, but could be even cooler with a bit more work on the core engine. Very impressive options/ saving etc.

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Virtual Nomad
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Joined: 14th Dec 2005
Location: SF Bay Area, USA
Posted: 26th Feb 2008 01:27 Edited at: 26th Feb 2008 01:37
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very fun racer! lotta configurables/unlockables = lotta replayability. Mr Tank's review is spot on so won't repeat those comments, and i agree with all of them.

i will add that i was impressed the first time i saw overhead structures go semi-transparent when i raced beneath them. very nice feature. the career mode is GREAT, as are the save/load features you've included. comes stock with a number of tracks, which is also impressive. haven't yet messed with the track editor so can't comment on its functionality but at a quick glance looks very solid and inclusive! i'm assuming you made the stock tracks with it so i expect it works fine.

1 persistent/repeatable bug to report:

after racing "time attack", when you come out of it (choosing restart? "no" and back to the menu), if you choose "start" while there is no track set (it should have a default map already chosen for you), the game will crash offering error 502 "image does not exist as line 2690". work around = always choose a track before hitting "start".

2 items to add to any "wish list" you might have in the works for a future edition or sequel:

1) additional camera angles. the top-down is cool and effective, but i'd love to have an option to play from other perspectives.

2) an "instant replay" feature is always a big plus for racing games.

i love these kinds of racing games. simple enough to be fun right away, technical enough to give it depth and progressive challenge. a very nice release, MaRo! thanks for sharing!

oh, and here's the promotional photo i'm sending out to attract potential sponsors for my Desert Racing team :



Suggested Sponsorship is $1000 per square inch of advertising. Send all inquiries to "Team Black Widow" c/o Desert Racing.

Virtual Nomad
AMD XP 1800+ (~1.6 Ghz) / 1.5 GB RAM
ATI Radeon 8700LE 128 MB / Windows XP

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BatVink
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Joined: 4th Apr 2003
Location: Gods own County, UK
Posted: 26th Feb 2008 09:18
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I had a quick play, looks promising. My top suggestion for improvement would be to zoom the camera out as you speed up, it's difficult to prepare for the next bend.
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MaRo
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Location: Central Europe
Posted: 26th Feb 2008 10:11
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First of all thank you guys for your comments
The main aim for me was to create simple racing game, that you can 'pick up and play' but with a sort of career mode that will make the game longer and a bit more enjoyable. The game was created for Caiman Car Contest, so I had a deadline which was 20th February,and like 30% of the game was done in 2 weeks before the deadline that's why it isn't very polished. At the beginning I wanted to have real physics with use of Newton, but I quit it after some bugs with collision started to appear and write everything by myself, it's very simple and as Mr Tank said the collision isn't good. The AI..., well what can I say, it's my first racing game and first following-a-path like AI, not very good but not that bad either
The camera angle is sort of prepared for the graphic engine, I wanted to make this game playable also for slower machines and I must admit I'm big fan of Micro Machines (especially NES version) so you know why it looks like this
Even if I'm not into racing games myself I'm glad I've create it, I've learned a lot and maybe there will be a sequel or completely new game but with more features, inluding more cars, upgrades, maybe even vinyls so Virtual Nomad could create his Team Black Widow car ( great job ) and other features that gamers would like to see, but for now I will probably work on something else
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Mr Tank
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Posted: 26th Feb 2008 17:03
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I forgot to say that it reminded me of Micro Machines! The handling model seems pretty much like it is in that game. Can't wait to see what you come up with next. Would like to see a sequel/ upgrade of this too someday. A Micro Machines game maybe? You have a solid enough engine that you could probably persuade people to make a load of media for you. Anyway, good luck in the competition.

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MaRo
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Posted: 27th Feb 2008 20:39
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Thank you Mr Tank What next? Hmmm... probably (99% ) I will work on a 3D platform game, but I'm not sure
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Jimpo
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Posted: 3rd Mar 2008 20:44
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I just finished playing through career mode with 300 career points. Is that all of them?

The game itself is very well done. The graphics are good and work well together, and the controls are solid. The game is easy and fun to play, and offers a lot of tracks. The tracks themselves were well designed, and never felt repetitive. The track editor, though not very user friendly, added a lot to the game. I liked being able to place pieces of the road at 4 different heights.

The upgrade system, which could have been a big part of the game, felt useless because the races were so easy. I never saw the AI racers after the first couple of seconds. My second complaint is that the crossing paths on certain courses made it confusing on where to go.

Overall, Desert Racing was a quality and lengthy DBPro game. I'm looking forward to what you come up with next.

Shooter
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MaRo
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Posted: 4th Mar 2008 20:55
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I must admit the AI opponents are pretty weak and the game itself will not force you to upgrade your car, I know that it's a bit disappointing but I heard that sometimes people playing other racing games where upgrading your car is neccessary didn't like to be force to do that... well different player different opinion.
Anyway, thank you very much for your comments
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spooky
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Posted: 16th Mar 2008 21:15
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Congratulations for getting yet another top prize in caiman compo and a nice wad of $500. They really like your games don't they as you have won almost all their previous compos!

Boo!
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Blobby 101
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Location: England, UK
Posted: 16th Mar 2008 22:40
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hey, nice game!
BTW: as much as your projects are good, your site, i don't like! it's good on it's own but it's infested with ad's! sometimes it's hard to read what's in the page!


thanks to deathead for the sig! please Click on it!
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MaRo
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Posted: 17th Mar 2008 00:39
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Yeap I win for the 3rd time in a row a Caiman competition
I know about those adds on my website, but I have to rembuild my site and will find better host without adds
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FredP
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Posted: 17th Mar 2008 08:27
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I'll check out the game when I have the chance.As far as hosting goes I use GoDaddy.com.It costs less than $7 USD a month and you won't beat their service.They actually call me from time to time to see if I am happy with my service.How many people do that?
Always on the lookout for a cool racing game...I'll be playing this later.
All this stuff in one game.That's one heck of a deal and sounds like a game you can spend a lot of time playing.

RIP Floating Skull unknown-2007 we will miss you in FPSC x10
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5867Dude
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Posted: 7th Apr 2008 22:31
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Quote: "I know about those adds on my website, but I have to rembuild my site and will find better host without adds "

I take it you use a free host?
Well try 110mb as its AD-FREE and 5GB of Space AND 300GB of Bandwidth so its rather good!

Was Cool Kid
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