Racing?

Striving for unique and challenging game play.

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Leadsnipe
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Racing?

Post by Leadsnipe »

Simply wanted to know where it went? Me and my other buddies that play , played that server all day at school and it just disappeared? so now were stuck w id tech racing...=| but i do like the fact that u can respawn there but anyways just wondering
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pike
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Re: Racing?

Post by pike »

/me slaps sine ;)
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kyle
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Re: Racing?

Post by kyle »

too many bugs in the maps that were creating wormholes in the maps, so sine took it down.
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sinewav
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Re: Racing?

Post by sinewav »

Thanks for your interest in AoT Racing, and welcome to the ArmagetronAD forums. Here is why I took the racing server down:

Apparently, the newest trend in racing is to comb every inch of the maps looking for "shortcuts" (microscopic gaps where wall segments meet). These shortcuts are not intentional and exist because of limitations in the game. While some can be removed (with hours and hours of work), others can't without making artistic sacrifices I am not willing to make at this time.

This is what I think: If players are spending that much time looking for flaws in the maps, they are really not interested in racing. Instead, they should probably go play an exploring game, like Tomb Raider.

I'm sorry that a few players ruined it for everyone else, but I won't have my art abused. But the bright side is, this is a perfect opportunity for someone to create a "better" racing server... so get to work!
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Cosmic Dolphin
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Re: Racing?

Post by Cosmic Dolphin »

Sinewav, you have hit on the biggest differnce between Old and New Skool racing, as I call i.

AoT was the very definition of old school. No hard to get shortcuts that meant death for noobs. Long maps. 16 axis.

New Skool featured short maps, many with shortcuts built in (these gaps in the wall you refer to) on purpose. These maps were 8 axis, most of the time. Cuts were essential, and the goal was to shave off every millisecond. One had to know every cut by heart and memorize the track. New skool was easier to race, but harder to master. Times were recorded on the ladder; rank revolved around your time oned each track, not wins. (It also was very glitchy system.)

Then, New skool servers disappeared. New skool racers attempt to make AoT a new skool hang-out. That is why they were trying to find the gaps in the walls, as in other servers they were left there on purpose.

If you don't like it, one can stick a guard wall behind the small gaps. Not fancy, but it works. And, as you said, takes a lot of time. Or, wait until a good New Skool server comes back.
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sinewav
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Re: Racing?

Post by sinewav »

Ah, that explains a lot Cosmic, thanks. I wouldn't know about any of this "New Skool" racing stuff.

Here's why I won't be editing the maps to "fix the holes":

Too much work. Only some holes can be removed by rewriting the XML data and rearranging the points. But many of the maps have nearly 2000 lines of code, and I don't feel like combing over 14 different maps attempting to "child proof" them.

Ugly, ugly fixes. I could, very easily, just put death zones where the gaps are, so any one who tried to squeeze thought would be killed. However, there are artistic reasons why I won't. Every wall and DZ in AoT Racing is meticulously planned. Nothing is random. The reason why AoT Racing looks as it does, is because that's how I envision it. But even adding DZ's will cause problems with the final reason I won't change them...

Too big already. The reason why AoT maps are the current size is because that's the limit my computer can handle. I could encircle the entire map with an "outer wall" that prevent people from cheating. But if I did, my computer wouldn't be able to run it. Usually when people beat me in AoT Racing, it's because my frame rate is so low, I can't keep up with them in tight turns. Why would I want to lower my frame rate even more? (Buying a faster computer isn't an option.)

I want people to enjoy the server as I intended. And I'm happy people have played it that way over the last year and a half. But I refuse to pay for it to be played in a "New Skool" fashion. If anyone else wants to host it, feel free. It's not like my maps don't wind up on other servers anyway.
Concord
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Re: Racing?

Post by Concord »

one issue I've always had with racing was that it was more of a race against the map than against the other players. This issue was something that your racing server did a better job than anyone else's at addressing, but it never fully captured what I love about a racing. I am not sure that Armagetron can create the type of racing that would quench this thirst (and for me at least something like Fortress or LMS is much better than Need For Speed anyway). Perhaps some server that relied on all the various acceleration settings to create a complex and inconsistent acceleration pattern which would require the racer to continuously adjust their position in order to maintain top speed. Perhaps uneven axes, I don't know. AOT Racing was the best I'd played in, and it seems most people agree on that.
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kyle
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Re: Racing?

Post by kyle »

Concord wrote: Perhaps some server that relied on all the various acceleration settings to create a complex and inconsistent acceleration pattern which would require the racer to continuously adjust their position in order to maintain top speed.
Zones v2
ed has made a few of them, but zones v2 was still too buggy then
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sinewav
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Re: Racing?

Post by sinewav »

Concord wrote:Perhaps some server that relied on all the various acceleration settings to create a complex and inconsistent acceleration pattern which would require the racer to continuously adjust their position in order to maintain top speed.
I thought about this before actually. One idea I had was to use CYCLE_ACCEL_RIM with some other factors to "change the shape" of the maps. If I ever get nostalgic for AoT Racing, I'll put it up again with some experimental settings I've had in mind. Maybe those settings will make the practice of "hole seeking" totally impractical? Maybe...
Concord
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Re: Racing?

Post by Concord »

Code: Select all

CYCLE_ACCEL_RIM
CYCLE_TURN_SPEED_FACTOR
Having these settings, which are affected by the user's actions counteract the effect of

Code: Select all

CYCLE_SPEED_DECAY_ABOVE
CYCLE_SPEED_MIN
these "natural" or "persistent" settings might make for something interesting.
Or something completely unplayable.
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Phytotron
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Re: Racing?

Post by Phytotron »

_SPEED_MAX for a speed cap, and _DELAY_TIMEBASED 2 for real-world turning.

(Not that I endorse any of this. Just go play a racing game! :x :P )
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sinewav
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Re: Racing?

Post by sinewav »

Phytotron wrote:_SPEED_MAX for a speed cap, and _DELAY_TIMEBASED 2 for real-world turning.
Racing is back up. I did make some slight changes to the turning, but I might make more. There seems to be a bug that hinders turning on that server. Kyle has experienced it, and now nara mentioned it. I may try and make it more single-binder friendly (because it totally isn't right now), so people who experience this bug are not at such a serious disadvantage.
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