N-racer Blog


quasist said:
I hope that Trackmania Series will suck to this project :)
This interesting project here seems to be more in the Super Monkey Ball direction I think. ^^

But if someone want to make a real clone of the superb old PC "STUNTS" (4D Sports Driving) for GP2X, I would be happy to :) A track Editor like in Stunts for example would be awesome for any 3D racing game. ^^
 
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This is all still basically proof-of-concept phase, but you can get a better feel for the background idea by downloading

http://www.dzzgames.com/nr2.gpe

Controls are the same as before: L/R, A/B, X/Y

You can see the distortion at the poles in the texture map I'm using here:

nr2.jpg


It will serve for the time being. Provided the other things come together I'll work on this aspect further.

Next... the game centers around marbles rolling on the track. Before I get to the tracks, I think I'll spend some time thinking about the marbles, which is tricker than it might seem... I want them to roll somewhat realistically (mostly forward while running the course), spin on their vertical axes like when clobbering the track wall or another obstacle, be viewable at any size, and look fairly decent.

I'm not exactly sure how to accomplish all of that right now, but to get the rotations right, I think I will start by studying a mathematical construct called a "quaternion" which I have hidden from in terror until now. I think it'll take some time to digest that.
 
fusion_power said:
But if someone want to make a real clone of the superb old PC "STUNTS" (4D Sports Driving) for GP2X, I would be happy to :) A track Editor like in Stunts for example would be awesome for any 3D racing game.

Do not forget that STUNTS had a secret terrain editor also.
 
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Next... the game centers around marbles rolling on the track. Before I get to the tracks, I think I'll spend some time thinking about the marbles, which is tricker than it might seem... I want them to roll somewhat realistically (mostly forward while running the course), spin on their vertical axes like when clobbering the track wall or another obstacle, be viewable at any size, and look fairly decent.




Would be interesting, if the marbles would be made out of glass, with nice transparency and reflection. :) I know, the GP2X has no real 3D skills but maybe it's possible, when I look at the effects of "Payback" ^^

The textured Background looks good I think, Looks even Bilinear filtered for a texture on GP2X. The distortion is minimal and when using this BG ingame, nobody would mention the small glitches during fast racing action :)
 
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fusion_power said:
the GP2X has no real 3D skills but maybe it's possible, when I look at the effects of "Payback" ^^
Payback game engine is a port from GameBoy Advance(16.8 MHz), so rendering and sound eats almost every of both CPUs( at bigger than 200 MHz by default). Althrough there still texture distortions. I think that Payback is not a car simulator - it is a GTA simulator.
 
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quasist said:
fusion_power said:
the GP2X has no real 3D skills but maybe it's possible, when I look at the effects of "Payback" ^^
Payback game engine is a port from GameBoy Advance(16.8 MHz), so rendering and sound eats almost every of both CPUs( at bigger than 200 MHz by default). Althrough there still texture distortions. I think that Payback is not a car simulator - it is a GTA simulator.

Yes, I know. I just meant the effects, a GP2X can show. :)
And yes, Payback has this PSX-like Texture distortions. I think it's ok. Without 3D harware, perspective corrected Textures are not possible I know, and even with 3D Hardware, it's sometimes not possible - see Playstation 1 and their funny bended and jumping textures :lol:.
 
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Whinning about lack of 3D hardware on gp2x in someone developer blog is very bad manner, I believe. If we push too much the author soon will begin to think that he is responsible :)

Let's hear much more about gameplay!
 
PokeParadox said:
Nice to see you around again Dzz!
Some of us have been wondering where you disappeared to!
The Balrog of Burnout dragged me into the depths of the Khazad-Dum of Mundane Life, but I have emerged as Dzz The White!

Hmm, a Potter analogy would be more topical, but I never did read those books.

Anyway, I'm working on drawing spheres, which sounds easy but it's challenging to get it the way I want it. There should be progress to report in the next few days.
 
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I'm starting to get the marbles sorted out, though I don't quite have mastery yet of the rotation/quaternion stuff. I'm mostly pleased with the drawing, which is a tradeoff between quality and performance, like everything else. I still might have to squeeze some more speed out of it, but it will do for now.

nr3.png


If you want to play with a little test app, get:

http://www.dzzgames.com/nr3.gpe

L/R, A/B, and X/Y rotate on different axes, and the joystick zooms.

Next I want to move the light around and get the spinning completely worked out, before moving on to thinking about how to do the tracks.
 
Dzz said:
I'm starting to get the marbles sorted out, though I don't quite have mastery yet of the rotation/quaternion stuff. I'm mostly pleased with the drawing, which is a tradeoff between quality and performance, like everything else. I still might have to squeeze some more speed out of it, but it will do for now.

nr3.png


If you want to play with a little test app, get:

http://www.dzzgames.com/nr3.gpe

L/R, A/B, and X/Y rotate on different axes, and the joystick zooms.

Next I want to move the light around and get the spinning completely worked out, before moving on to thinking about how to do the tracks.



Nice. Do you rotate the textures or the polygons?
 
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Dzz said:
I'm starting to get the marbles sorted out, though I don't quite have mastery yet of the rotation/quaternion stuff. I'm mostly pleased with the drawing, which is a tradeoff between quality and performance, like everything else. I still might have to squeeze some more speed out of it, but it will do for now.

nr3.png


If you want to play with a little test app, get:

http://www.dzzgames.com/nr3.gpe

L/R, A/B, and X/Y rotate on different axes, and the joystick zooms.

Next I want to move the light around and get the spinning completely worked out, before moving on to thinking about how to do the tracks.



very good progress !
you just need to add 2 paddles and you can do a 3D pong ;)
 
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If it's in outer space, you don't really need a background. Just render dots or particles at various locations, and have the rest be black. Voila! Space. And a very, very, physics-defying and large maze.

This looks great so far. Keep up the awesome work!
 
Dzz said:
I'm starting to get the marbles sorted out, though I don't quite have mastery yet of the rotation/quaternion stuff.

Ah yes.... quarternians... they can be a pain to get your head around... That's why we left that task to Gordon instead of doing it ourselves when we made Atrox.... :lol:
 
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A_SN said:
Nice. Do you rotate the textures or the polygons?
Probably "the textures" is the answer, although the actual method is more like simplified ray tracing. For each point, calculate the intersection with a sphere, then apply the rotation matrix to the result to either give the basis for a procedural texture (like the middle marble) or the means to look it up in a texture map (by converting to spherical coordinates and using theta and phi as the texture coordinate). Then apply ambient, diffuse, and specular lighting. It's fairly processor-intensive but as long as the marbles aren't too huge it should be within budget. And I think I will move this particular calculation to the second processor in the end, as its memory bandwidth needs are fairly modest.
 
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Impressive marble effects for a GP2X, very nice. :)
Your method looks superb, maybe to good for just a quick racing game. :lol: For max. performance, maybe the spheres could be less round and while high-speed rolling, a more simple animation method could be used. In a fast racing game, the marbles would spin very fast, so you don't see a rotating texture, just blurring or light effects like fading light hue and brightness and so on at the surface of the marble. And what is not seen, is not needed to be animated I think. The "cheapest" way would be a non rotating sphere with a "looped" little texture animation at the surface - not calculated in real time, just something, that gives the effect of a fast spinning marble. maybe in combination with light effects. This could come in handy, when the marble spins very fast. With low speed, your detailed method could be used. :) -Just an Idea to save processor Power....maybe... ^^
 
fusion_power said:
Impressive marble effects for a GP2X, very nice. :)
Your method looks superb, maybe to good for just a quick racing game. :lol: For max. performance, maybe the spheres could be less round and while high-speed rolling, a more simple animation method could be used. In a fast racing game, the marbles would spin very fast, so you don't see a rotating texture, just blurring or light effects like fading light hue and brightness and so on at the surface of the marble. And what is not seen, is not needed to be animated I think. The "cheapest" way would be a non rotating sphere with a "looped" little texture animation at the surface - not calculated in real time, just something, that gives the effect of a fast spinning marble. maybe in combination with light effects. This could come in handy, when the marble spins very fast. With low speed, your detailed method could be used. :) -Just an Idea to save processor Power....maybe... ^^
As I had envisioned the game prior to starting (such visions never survive intact, but still), there would be sections of a track where (because of obstacles, tight turns or other reasons) the marbles would have to roll slowly -- to give a contrast between slow movement and giddy roller-coaster-like movement. However, you're right that at high speed the way they are drawn is probably not the best because the texture flickers instead of blurring. That's an issue for later but it's an important one, because the player will have their own marble spinning fast right in the middle of their view for most of the game, so that should look decent.
 
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