Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing game

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bduddy
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bduddy »

I think it might make sense to tailor the built-in content for a certain number, say, 10 cars. But I still don't think there's a good reason to prevent users from making tracks with more cars, or even just choosing to race with more cars. In terms of pit stops, is it like GR, MRO, TS, etc. where pit crews are just arbitrary, or are they actually assigned?
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Black Rebel »

bduddy, now you mention about assigned pit crews... wouldn´t it be cool if the game could assign you an specific pit crew where the crew members use a suit in the colours you choosed for your profile???

Having just one pit box to do your stop would be a cool feature. :)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

I think arbitrary pitstops work too well and would like to implement the same mechanic. Pit crews with matching color would look really cool but then the mechanic changes a bit. What I like with arbitrary pitstops is that there can be unexpected situations while pitting, especially in multiplayer. This is something we could test in alpha. What I really didn't like was having less crews than cars on track because pitstops were a game of musical chairs and if you lost out then that was curtains for your race. I believe pitstops should be as straightforward as possible, easy to execute to allow you to focus on strategy. In long races sometimes it's uncertain whether an extra stop will give you an edge, or making an early stop and driving in clean air, or pulling off a splash and dash at the end. In the first Top Gear for SNES you could do that as well and modern games rarely give you that level of control.

Sprint car is almost finished! Just interior, exhaust pipes, axles and other small details and it'll be ready to go.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bduddy »

^I completely understand what you're saying... but that should be the choice of the player to make. Right? Allowing players to add in 30 more cars for 10 pit boxes doesn't change anyone else's ability to play with 10.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by puttz »

Really nice sprint car model :bg: I like the "Hustler" tires, too ;)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bgcatfan »

Regarding car count, I vote for a fixed number of cars. I like 12, but 10 is okay, too. I think the uniformity of (car) size across all tracks/games is a good thing.

Although, since there are requests for the other viewpoint, is this something that could be changed further down the road? Just in case you decide, further in game development (or even post release), that the game build will well support it, and that the option seems desirable given the path the game takes (or should I say, the capability of the game).
blastawaythewall wrote:...and driving in clean air.
Are you saying "clean air" is something that will be included in this game? Or will it just be the equivalent of having a clear track space to drive on.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by puttz »

bgcatfan wrote:
blastawaythewall wrote:...and driving in clean air.
Are you saying "clean air" is something that will be included in this game? Or will it just be the equivalent of having a clear track space to drive on.
I would guess he's just using it as a figure of speech for clear track, but it would be mind blowing to be modeling clean/dirty air in a game of this style if he means it literally!
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

We will think about this long and hard. Maybe in custom races car count could go up. We'd like to design the game with some structure and goals, but also custom events in which you can have all kinds of cars sharing the grid, custom championships, etc. It will be possible to make changes post release and that's the nicest advantage of digital distribution, feedback can guide the game and we'll do our best to follow the fun.

With clean air I meant clear track space, but we could do something about this actually. I think dirty air would be difficult to model because it involves losing downforce and depends on the type of car, but slipstreaming can work. Needs balancing but if done right it could make battles really fun, especially on ovals.

We added something to the gamepad, now it's possible to apply any level of throttle. So with keyboard it still works like a switch and with the gamepad you can put power down gradually. Won't be an advantage because there is no actual wheelspin, only visual, but it now feels like you would expect it to feel if you accelerate with the trigger. It's nice to be able to cruise around...
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

Hi guys! It's been some days since I last wrote about our progress. We're starting to work on AI. It's really hard and tricky! This has made us appreciate GR (and all other racing games with great AI) even more. Right now our driver - we call him Jenkins - drives at 95% of our pace. His driving is smooth but lacks speed in slow and medium speed corners. We don't want to cheat by giving AI cars more power or more grip. They need to behave like another human driver, which is the base for good racing. Other things like pit stops, avoiding obstacles, etc, will come later but those are not as difficult to build.

There's a new model, 1975 GP car. We want another vintage series for the initial roster, what do you think it should be? There's a lot of great stuff.

I've been playing F1 2016 and it's pretty good. Personally I think there are games with better simulation physics but F1 feels like a complete experience which is refreshing. Online time trials with leaderboards are cool as you're always lapping against a ghost that is slightly faster than you, and you can download his setup. What do think of leaderboards? I used to feel like it's just chasing an ever faster carrot but with some gameplay mechanics it can be fun.

Have a good one :bg:
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by puttz »

How about a vintage muscle car?
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bduddy »

I like it! And I agree with what you're saying about F1 2016. Physics are great and all, but if there's nothing interesting to do... well, see rFactor 2 and how well that's going.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

I know, happens quite often with sims. Have you tried Automobilista? There's a 1990's V12 F1 car that's a blast to drive, V8 Supercars are awesome as well, but never ever find anyone online.

Vintage muscle cars... like late 60's Trans Am?
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Trigger Happy »

A question: how about motorbikes? Any chance the physic will have a motorcycle mode? :)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by puttz »

blastawaythewall wrote: Vintage muscle cars... like late 60's Trans Am?
Yup, that is what I was thinking of :bg: A Camaro type car would be the best, imo :trampo:
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

Yes, we want to do motorbikes. The physics model needs to be different to make them lean into the turns, so it's a post-release project. We have spent some time playing GTA and imagining how they could feel if driven with the keyboard. I look forward very much to it.

I like Trans Am, great drivers, great cars.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bgcatfan »

blastawaythewall wrote:With clean air I meant clear track space, but we could do something about this actually. I think dirty air would be difficult to model because it involves losing downforce and depends on the type of car, but slipstreaming can work. Needs balancing but if done right it could make battles really fun, especially on ovals.
I wouldn't care for dirty air, myself, but slipstreaming would be interesting! In some ways I think it's not necessary, but in other ways I agree, if done well it would be pretty fun.

I remember back in the early days of GR that I tried to simulate slipstreaming by covering a track (Rich Nagel's Weeds Motor Speedway) all in snow and doing short races :D. That was kind of fun, but it had its limitations. But growing up as a huge NASCAR fan I had the desire for that then.

BTW, the vintage F1 car looks good! Your car models look fantastic. :)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

Thanks! There are a couple of extra cars we want to build, I think a kart and a Stock car would add nice variety and we'll have 8 very different cars in total to start with. We still need to map and texture the 70s GP car, and needs a vintage helmet as well...

Slipstreaming should work well. Cars will have a bit more power depending on how close they're running to the car in front and how fast they're going.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Black Rebel »

No news so far? :)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by blastawaythewall »

We'll have some news pretty soon! We're building all the race systems and networking which don't produce any visual results until finished. However we feel the concept is now complete, ready to be shown and we're preparing as much material as we can to make the most of the first impression.

The stock car and the kart are finished! These two are the last vehicles that we'll put in the beginning. Before adding more classes we want to polish these and give them the best possible behavior. Five of them are definitely finished, we still need to fine tune the Stock car, the kart and the 70's single seater.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Black Rebel »

Super! Can´t wait. :)
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bduddy »

They've been releasing more information and videos on their website and social media, and it looks pretty great so far: http://www.apexracingleague.net/
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Buka »

It all looks good, but another Kickstarter campaign is like a bad joke after GR2. :D
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Gzehoo »

But on the other hand... they're not making this game as GeneRally sequel, so the pressure about finishing it is not the same as if they were creating GeneRally 2. It's made not by must, but with passion.
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by bduddy »

Buka wrote:It all looks good, but another Kickstarter campaign is like a bad joke after GR2. :D
I had that same reaction for a second, but... it's not a long-awaited sequel to a free game, and, at least for me, it looks a lot better than GR2. So I'm... cautiously optimistic, at least. Not sure if I personally want to back it or not, but...
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Re: Apex Racing League: We're making a new top-down racing g

Post by Buka »



What I don't like in this video is sharp camera movements. Also the car shouldn't be always in the middle of the screen, IMHO. :roll: :2c: But in general it looks cool.
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