Archive: 9 posts

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Hello again. I am currently working on a top down shooter where the player rides in the little ship and so does their friends, the idea is they can shoot each other when they run over pickups. The idea is that it is a 3 lap race and the winner is the person who comes first. You will have a health bar which once empty you are destroyed and sent to the level finish. This has left me with a few problems: 1. How do I start the race? 2. The Sackperson is sat in their little ship, I can make it so the ship gets destroyed but what happens to the little SackPerson at this point? Is there anyway to spawn them (after they die) on the floor so they can run to the finish? 3. When in the ship they have a camera (a movie camera) that has zoomed out and follows them around the track. When they get respawned (as in the above question on the ground) what then happens to the camera? 4. How to I make a lap counter and award the person points for each lap (say like first gets 100, second 75 and so on?) I know this is a lot and probably quite a big ask but is there anyway to do this? Thanks for taking the time to read this and I look forward to your reply(s).

2011-03-16 01:13:00 Author: fusioncell Posts: 17

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well to start the race you can create a player sensor to determine the mount of players on the field and have the output of that determine what requirements must be met to start the race, like all players are present. When you destroy the ship you can make it set to explode to kill the sackboy so that it will spawn in the end game room. If the camera is attached to the ship, it will be destroyed with it, otherwise it will follow the sackboy if it is set to do that. The lap counter could be a system of selectors to give points based on what lap they are on, the inputs could be tag sensors with each ship having a unique tag so that the game knows when the person in first has crossed the line each time to move the lap counter.

2011-03-16 02:07:00 Author: Inferno Posts: 58

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Ok cool glad about the camera thing. I am still not sure how I would do the lap counter, what if someone laps their friend? They would then say get 25 points instead of 100. Also how would I finish the race using the lap counter?

2011-03-16 14:42:00 Author: fusioncell Posts: 17

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Well, if you use a system to count all the players, once they have all finished the camera could change and so on. Each player could have a silent selector which cycles whenever the player finishes the lap. The logic could all be in microchips on holo, meaning it could be emitted with the ships. Once the selector is finished the ship blows up OR if they hit those obstacles. The ship could just fade once it's finished and the player is teleported to the finish. Each player could have their own teleporter which could easily be introduced. To count the laps/cycle the selector, on the finish line there could be a strip of holo with a tag on it. An impact sensor cycles the selector. However the player could keep reversing over the line..... Maybe somewhere near the end of the lap there is something which activates an OR toggle which turns the tag ON. Then once you cross the finish line and keep going over it, you must hit the OR toggle for the lap to count. If that doesn't work, I really don't know. Really. Good luck.

2011-03-16 22:09:00 Author: mutant_red_peas Posts: 516

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Ok I will give that a go. Thank you. Ive now hit another problem..for some reason the car has stopped working. Anti Gravity as stopped, the movers have stopped, Ive not changed anything. Loaded it up a few hours ago and thats it...nothing. Most upsetting after working on the car for ages.

2011-03-17 01:34:00 Author: fusioncell Posts: 17

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You say you have a movie camera following players around? That would not be possible in a multiplayer scenario; unless all players are constantly within the boundaries of one movie camera, all except one player will lose track of their ship. You'd have to go back to Game Cameras for this to work. Hook up with a PSN friend and test it out. May I also suggest to next time use a more descriptive title of your post; this will be helpful to you (knowledgable people get attracted to good descriptions) and future visitors (who may be looking for a solution to similar problems of their own). For your questions: 1. How do I start the race? By having the global race logic (counting laps, starting, ending, etcetera) centralized around the phases of a Selector. One of those phases would be the active race itself and would activate a Tag; that tag gets picked up on all the vehicles and they will activate their (receiving) controlinators. 2. The Sackperson is sat in their little ship, I can make it so the ship gets destroyed but what happens to the little SackPerson at this point? Is there anyway to spawn them (after they die) on the floor so they can run to the finish? That is all up to you to decide. Solution depending on your choices. This is not a technical question, I presume, but one about gameplay elements; finding an answer, I would balance all options against one another. Does a player deserve a second chance? A third? Does that make the game more interesting? Is the gameplay complex (and therefore mistakes plenty), then don't make the penalty severe. 3. When in the ship they have a camera (a movie camera) that has zoomed out and follows them around the track. When they get respawned (as in the above question on the ground) what then happens to the camera? I'd have a game camera stuck to the invisible holo that holds the player's controlinator, which follows the car around. Or, if you don't bother with that (like ARFC in the tutorial links below), just a game camera stuck to the car that the player himself is sitting in. 4. How to I make a lap counter and award the person points for each lap (say like first gets 100, second 75 and so on?) https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=47191-Top-down-Racer-Tutorial http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwItlx-hIxc https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=47058-How-to-Make-a-Race&p=757255&viewfull=1#post757255

2011-03-17 13:08:00 Author: Antikris Posts: 1340

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Thank you so much! I didnt realise about the topic title (I am not really a forum user) although at my age I should know better I am trying to get everything tweaked out with the car. After having the level stop working (even dark matter just fell to the floor - physics fail) I rebuilt and it did it again. So I am trying to work out a different way to build that car that wont break the physics. As far as respawning it actually was a technical question but I hadn't looked at it from a gameplay perspective...lives would be a nice addition. Thank you also for the links. As far as cameras go. If I was playing online with 3 friends and I want each persons screen to track them would that be using a movie camera or a game camera? (so it only effects the persons screen who in that particular car)

2011-03-18 00:40:00 Author: fusioncell Posts: 17

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As far as respawning it actually was a technical question but I hadn't looked at it from a gameplay perspective...lives would be a nice addition. Thank you also for the links. Personally, I would not destroy a player's vehicle, both from a gameplay and a technical perspective. I have played plenty of racing games in which vehicle destruction is happening: you want to get your guts back onto the road quickly and continue the race, so then after a short pause you see your car respawn out of thin air in the middle of the screen; I have always found that n odd distraction from the gameplay. Especially if the game focuses on realism a great deal. I'd rather see my car gradually get more broken (with perhaps a few penalties here and there, like engine power loss, steering getting harder, brakes giving way) until repairs are inevitable; then I'd have to pull over (into a pit stop) and have my car repaired, of which the final penalty is loss of time. You could make it into a bigger thing: pit stops are inevitable anyway because you need to refuel as well. So, it then becomes also something a player should make tactical decisions about. Now, apart from the visual clues your car should have, making a gradual damage system is quite tricky to make. I'd probably go for a bunch of counters on a separate chip - each counter dedicated to a separate car system, like the brakes - and have each counter feed back into the workings of each car system, affecting them more and more as a counter increases (or decreases). Then I would create another chip that handles the damage a car takes from impacts to separate parts of the car and decides which counter to change. Of course, nothing of this means anything for the gameplay unless there is also some visual clue to the player about which parts of his car are broken: either a UI overlay, the looks of the car or sound and visual effects. UI overlays in multiplayer levels can be quite a pain, though, as you can see the other person's UI when your views cross. I hope MM will add a setting to the Material tweaker one day in which you can control which player can see the object it is attached to. Here is an example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aSasjHLh8g I mostly did some gameplay brainstorming here. As you can see, technical solution all depends on which direction you choose to take this element of your racing level. As far as cameras go. If I was playing online with 3 friends and I want each persons screen to track them would that be using a movie camera or a game camera? (so it only effects the persons screen who in that particular car) Game camera. Also set your level to Versus mode (last page in popit tools).

2011-03-18 10:30:00 Author: Antikris Posts: 1340

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Wow thats super in depth. I just wanted to make a little racing game, I hadn't thought how in depth you can go. My inspiration was wipeout really. Thats one of my favourite racing games and that get by just fine without handling penalties and re-spawning. Thats what I am thinking. I would love to do it as complicated as you suggested but its just baffling to me. I think If I can get the simpler version working I will try and make your more complicated version (which sounds a load better)

2011-03-18 13:37:00 Author: fusioncell Posts: 17

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