SuperTuxKart 0.9.3 Released With New Tracks, Built-In Screen Recorder

[matthewtrescott]

Well, admittedly I haven't played STK in quite a while. Also I might be too told to enjoy games.

• Characters needs to be cute. Big eyes, big ears, furry tails. Much facial expressions. Not look boring or psycho.

I think our new kart, Kiki, would fit the bill for that. Same goes for the updated Konqi, which uses the modern, big-eyed version. Also, karts now are animated on the kart selection screen; maybe that would help your first impressions of them.

• Levels needs to have much variation.
  • Desert, forest, jungle, mountain, volcano, space, beach, city, etc.
  • Sun, rain, blizzard, snow, fog, etc.

Actually, I think we have a track for every scene you listed:

• Desert: Hacienda; Shifting Sands (these are previous-gen tracks, so not the best, but they've been updated somewhat)
• Forest: Beehive (You can get this from the in-game add-on installer) and Ravenbridge Mansion (gift package)
• Jungle: Cocoa Temple
• Mountain: Northern Resort
• Volcano: Volcan Island
• Space: STK Enterprise (this is on a spaceship)
• Beach: Gran Paradiso Island; Around the Lighthouse
• City: Candela City

Nearly all of the above have fitting weather effects. Fog is an interesting option but I think we'd have to avoid overdoing it.

• The camera needs to feel human, not robotic. Eese in, ease out animation.

The camera probably could be smoother, though some problems with the camera shaking were fixed with this release. Not knowing at which version you last played, I don't know whether this is still a problem.

• The mechanics of driving needs to affected by the ground such as ice, mud, grass, pavement, etc.

It's a good idea, and it goes along with making tracks that have less of a cement-lined path. Relevant snippet from IRC, back in January:

01:29 < OzoneOne> samuncle__ what I'm trying to say is, I'm trying to propose stk's tracks being a little crazier and having slightly less realistic road designs. I don't know if you want the road designs to stay within vague realism or you would like them to be much more crazy
01:29 < samuncle__> actually I'm fine with crazy design
01:29 < samuncle__> but auria told me to not do too much crazy design
01:29 <@Auria> huh?
01:29 < samuncle__> (nothing against crazy design)
01:29 <@Auria> you may have misunderstood
01:29 < samuncle__> oh ok
01:30 <@Auria> my intent is that the physics engine should be able to handle it well
01:30 < samuncle__> oh ok
01:30 <@Auria> I dont mind if it *looks* crazy, so long as it plays smoothly :)
01:30 < samuncle__> so now since we handle it well I can do crazy design ?
01:30 < samuncle__> oh
01:30 < samuncle__> :o
01:30 < samuncle__> That's a misunderstood statement
01:30 <@Auria> yes sure (well maybe not the twists and loops in *every* track, but a tracks where it makes sense for sure!)
01:30 < samuncle__> but you told me tracks must be grounded in reality
01:31 <@Auria> I don't remember saying that?
01:31 < OzoneOne> Is THIS too crazy and surreal for STK?: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lioia4y953jhe9y/thunder_struck.mp4?dl=0
01:31 < OzoneOne> This is the sort of thing I'm talking about
01:31 < OzoneOne> Chaos is racing track form
01:31 < samuncle__> I feel like OzoneOne is trying to influence me to do crazy things :P
01:31 < samuncle__> (nothing bad)
01:32 < OzoneOne> download for 720p 60fps ;)
01:32 <@Auria> I would have no problem the kind of track shown in this video (maybe not EVERY track like this though, but a few like this sure!)
01:33 < OzoneOne> Yes, you need a wide range, otherwise there is no contrast and the crazy tracks become normal
01:33 < samuncle__> me too

So maybe we'll have more crazy tracks eventually. Also you might like to try battle mode. The arenas follow a more "crazy" design.

• The audio can't just be an event handler on the up arrow button that plays engine_sound.wav over and over.

It needs to feel like I am driving this cart. Not when I press the up button this textured object moves and some sound is heard.

I assume you mean more ambient noises? Character voices? The former, we have some like the airplane in Gran Paradiso Island and birds in Cocoa Temple, but the latter has been something that we've considered before and haven't yet implemented, simply because getting high-quality voice acting with many variations for every kart in every situation in multiple languages is nearly impossible. It's something that would be great and relatively easy to implement, I think, from a programming standpoint, but as always with open-source games the artistic side is a challenge. I guess free art is not as popular as free software.

Hope this answers your questions.

[matthewtrescott]

I managed to get it barely working on my SHIELD TV, but it lacks gamepad support, so it only has two working buttons that don't actually do anything except signal yes/no. That being said, I'm not sure how one would even play it on a phone or tablet, where there is no such physical control built in.

Hmm... It works fine on my LG G4. There are special on-screen controls for Android since as you said you don't have enough physical buttons. The SHIELD TV might be quite different though, I'm frankly not sure large-screen Android devices were even considered... :/

[deve]

I managed to get it barely working on my SHIELD TV, but it lacks gamepad support, so it only has two working buttons that don't actually do anything except signal yes/no. That being said, I'm not sure how one would even play it on a phone or tablet, where there is no such physical control built in.

To play on Android without touch screen, you need external keyboard. Gamepad support is not done yet. And for missing entry in app list, I will try to reproduce it under emulator.

[jacob]

Well, admittedly I haven't played STK in quite a while. Also I might be too told to enjoy games.

• Characters needs to be cute. Big eyes, big ears, furry tails. Much facial expressions. Not look boring or psycho.
• Levels needs to have much variation.
  • Desert, forest, jungle, mountain, volcano, space, beach, city, etc.
  • Sun, rain, blizzard, snow, fog, etc.
• The camera needs to feel human, not robotic. Eese in, ease out animation.
• The mechanics of driving needs to affected by the ground such as ice, mud, grass, pavement, etc.
• The audio can't just be an event handler on the up arrow button that plays engine_sound.wav over and over.

It needs to feel like I am driving this cart. Not when I press the up button this textured object moves and some sound is heard.

I spent many hours playing with version 0.9.2 and loved every bit of it. Yes, there are things to improve, I agree that the characters should be reworked and the gameplay, specifically the controls, could be perfected a little bit, but overall STK is hugely entertaining and hilarious. A huge thank you to the devs and kudos for the new release!

[M@yeulC]

matthewtrescott , I commented on the blog post, but since you're here, would it be possible to put the game on F-droid as well?

[deve]

matthewtrescott , I commented on the blog post, but since you're here, would it be possible to put the game on F-droid as well?

Regarding to F-droid, Boris Kraut was working on it, but he doesn't contribute to F-droid anymore. I don't know if others want to do it.

[Vistaus]

Would you be able to describe some specific aspects of STK that give you that impression? I know the tracks are not as interactive as e.g. MarioKart, but we have the technical infrastructure to make tracks more interactive with AngelScript scripting. And I updated most of the art-related documentation for this release. Maybe you'd be interested in solving the problems you see...

Don't bother with uid313 He always complains about everything.

[Vistaus]

Well, admittedly I haven't played STK in quite a while. Also I might be too told to enjoy games.

• Characters needs to be cute. Big eyes, big ears, furry tails. Much facial expressions. Not look boring or psycho.
• Levels needs to have much variation.
  • Desert, forest, jungle, mountain, volcano, space, beach, city, etc.
  • Sun, rain, blizzard, snow, fog, etc.
• The camera needs to feel human, not robotic. Eese in, ease out animation.
• The mechanics of driving needs to affected by the ground such as ice, mud, grass, pavement, etc.
• The audio can't just be an event handler on the up arrow button that plays engine_sound.wav over and over.

It needs to feel like I am driving this cart. Not when I press the up button this textured object moves and some sound is heard.

[*] There are a lot of characters. If you don't like the built-in ones, you can download more characters with one click through the built-in add-on panel.[*]Levels have variation. If you don't like the built-in ones, you can download more levels with one click through the built-in add-on panel.[*]I don't have any problems with the camera. The camera is smooth and animates properly.[*]The mechanics of driving are affected by the ground to some degree.[*]Not sure about the audio thingy, I don't really see the problem but that could actually be your only valid criticism.

[eydee]

Forever beta, it's 10 years old, and hasn't reached 1.0 yet. Lack of confidence? It's more stable and complete than anything EA/Activision releases as final.

[uid313]

There are a lot of characters. If you don't like the built-in ones, you can download more characters with one click through the built-in add-on panel.

Levels have variation. If you don't like the built-in ones, you can download more levels with one click through the built-in add-on panel.

An extension system to download third-party mods and such is really really nice.
However the default resources that comes bundled with the system nonetheless needs to be good.