Kart racing game

[marshmonkey]

long time no updates, I am in the middle of making a map to test out a new gameplay mode that will basically just trying to be the first to get from start to end, with checkpoints along the way to save the progress you have made should you fall off.

http://myzerogear.com/spacejumpvid.jpg (http://vimeo.com/2926470)

In other happenings, I just moved into some new office space (http://myzerogear.com/nimblebit_eeenmachine.jpg) with my brother eeenmachine (http://eeenmachine.com). I'm looking forward to having a nice quiet place to work on Zero Gear!

[marshmonkey]

Here is some more progress on dressing up the space jump obstacle map - I added most of the space dressings and put some signs directing you in many parts.

http://myzerogear.com/spacejumpwide.jpg

[GOBEE]

Damn this is getting better all the time. Wish I could have worked on this with you guys. Keep it up! These maps are ridiculous.. can't wait to play.

[rolfness]

<_<....
>_>...
-_-....

[Rapante]

looks rad :) only crit would be the colour of the sun, for my taste it is too hardcore yellowish, should be a more orange yellow in my opinion :)

keep it up, I always enjoy looking at the progress you guys make

and btw. still want to see Renderhjs finish his Batmobile :D

[GODofbiscuits]

can't wait to play this!

[ThatDon]

How much longer do I have to wait for this sucker?

btw are you still accepting new user created content? (excuse my ignorance if it has already been posted elsewhere)

[marshmonkey]

We wont need to accept any custom content, the system will be designed to support 3rd party assets. They will be transferred automatically to everyone if they have that option checked.

It already supports local custom content in that you can drop in your own models, we just haven't gotten around to performing checks on those models and sending them over the network yet.

We are going to have another round of closed beta tests sometime in the next few months, and then that will be followed hopefully by an open beta - but by this summer we will be out of cash (unless money falls out of the sky or something else happens) so we will be pretty much forced to release what we have then.

[rolfness]

stop spending money on hookers and you'll be just fine !

release it already !

edit : shouldnt this be a sticky ?

[renderhjs]

finally got some spare time for my car models, unfortunately I wont export them for the engine simply because I dont have the time for it. I was reading up your wiki and forum which already cost me to much time digging up all the important information and then it often referred to xtra stuff I had to install and play with (garage, steam, game, DDS compressor,...) that it to much time consuming for me atm.

But I will release the models and textures so if you marshmonkey want to embed some of them in your game feel free to use the models and textures for your game.

The model I propably havent shown before is a dodge viper (thouh it does not look like it yet that much)
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/polycount/submissions/zeroGear_viper.jpg

and the whole garage so far:
http://www.renderhjs.net/bbs/polycount/submissions/zeroGear_car_garage.jpg
hopefully they will be all finished by this weekend

[marshmonkey]

Sure, if you get me the assets - I or someone will make sure they are made available at some point for sure!

[rolfness]

I thought I would help with the advertising !

http://www.playrag.com/article/kart_racing_game_from_indie_developer

[marshmonkey]

Really long time with no post, my sincerest apologies! I know everyone is just waiting for the game to come out, but we still have road ahead of us to get to that point. Instead, I will tease you with more media! HaHa!

This is a new level I have been working on for the last few weeks - it's inspired by the old "rats" style maps for various FPS games where the environment is giant and all the players appear to be very tiny. You can see that this one takes place in a game room.

I know a lot of people are going to ask when the next beta is going to be open, all I can say is a very nebulous "soon".

also, we have re-done our blog since I last posted here, you should check out our new site: http://NimbleBit.com

*click to supersize*

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dustbunny_01-512x196.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/dustbunny_01.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dustbunny_02-512x196.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/dustbunny_02.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dustbunny_03-512x196.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/dustbunny_03.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dustbunny_04-512x196.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/dustbunny_04.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/dustbunny_05-512x196.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/dustbunny_05.jpg)

[breakneck]

i always wanted to race through a foosball table! sick!

[Nate Broach]

awesome! I love it, that looks like a ton of fun.

[jerry]

Gives a micro machines vibe, this game looks totally awesome.

[JostVice]

Loving it, looks brilliant. I love the car modelling and the features. Keep up!

[InProgress]

Is the next beta going to be a public beta?

[marshmonkey]

We haven't decided yet, the next beta will be mostly to prove some new networking tech we have been working on so it might be bad to open the beta up before we know how well it will scale.

[marshmonkey]

anybody heard of Broken Toys or played it before? It just came out on steam

http://store.steampowered.com/app/26700/

[marshmonkey]

wow, that Smashing Toys game is a broken pile of shit.

[marshmonkey]

I got some good feedback that the lack of shadows was more jarring on this map because of the large scale - I spent yesterday rendering out some lightmaps for the floor and bar surface in order to give all the objects sitting around some added realism. Here is a before and after shot.

http://nimblebit.com/shadow_before.jpg
http://nimblebit.com/shadow_after.jpg

[JostVice]

Really a big change, I noticed the lack of shadows too. Keep up!

[gamedev]

Hey David,

The shadow really help ground the objects. The lightmaps you've done are subtle as well. Are you considering doing the same for other maps?

Any plans for a small outdoor facade? Maybe a tree w/ a tire swing ;)?

Looking good!

[marshmonkey]

I could easily add this to other places in other maps - but it becomes more expensive the more textures it spans across. For this situation it added about 5 new batches to rendering the scene - I had to create duplicate texture id's for those faces I wanted to apply the shadow texture to. I think also having the map be such a large scale helps in this case because I can make the 2 texture maps I used only 512x512 and you don't really notice there are no sharp high rez definitions because the objects are so large. Also, I am just using AO as a lightmap, not any real lightsources - which I think helps the scene not look weird having both lightmaps and vertex lighting - no jarring differences in shadow complexity.

I am starting to like the idea of using this method in certain places where it makes sense in other maps though - it is a lot cheaper to just do it on some big surfaces where it will be noticeable than trying to set-up light mapping every surface of every polygon.

*edit*
wrote a little blog post about out art style:
http://www.nimblebit.com/2009/04/the-art-style-of-zero-gear/

[hawken]

some DOF would make this map stunning!

[doc rob]

Hey marshmonkey, I spent a lunch hour or two on this car a while back, but I'm never going to get around to finishing it. Do you want the Max and PSD files?

It's the Grouper Couper

http://lucas.hardi.org/images/GrouperCouper1.jpg

[marshmonkey]

hah! thats fricken awesome. You can send it to me if you want, or you can post in here when the game is released or closer to release and most people here have a build. I am sure there will be people willing to get it hooked up in game.

my email is marshmonkey at gmail dot com

[SHEPEIRO]

thats a sweet car doc_rob, i hope someone finishes it

[marshmonkey]

new blog post about the weapon dynamics in ZG
http://www.nimblebit.com/2009/05/weapon-dynamics-in-zero-gear/

also I am just about set up and ready to start modeling a new kart - I am going to try to record the entire process this time.

[renderhjs]

nice updates marshmonkey

[marshmonkey]

I created a time-lapse video (http://www.nimblebit.com/2009/05/time-lapse-zero-gear-modeling-video/) of the process of creating this kart:

http://nimblebit.com/smalltank.png

[JasonLavoie]

Really really cool marsh, your workflow is so streamlined as well, I really like that.

I had a quick question (don't know if this has been answered already, so I apologize) I was just wondering how you setup your textures / materials so that when in game, you can change the colour... do you mask each colour off into its own section, then the engine reads that? Is it based on storing information in the RGB channels? Seems like a very awesome / quick way to get a lot out of 1 model, would like to know how you go about doing that.

Great work :)

Oh, and one another very dumb question. I couldn't help notice when you were in Photoshop, you did a selection of part of the texture, and you created a gradient based on the selection, I don't think I've used that tool before, could you tell me what you used?

[marshmonkey]

I edited that part of the pipeline out in order to showcase the more interesting parts, but basically we create a .TGA "colormask" for every item. It can define up to 4 different color masks for the game shader to apply color to (one mask in each .TGA channel)

So basically all those blocked out color regions I was using while texturing I remove at that step, so the texture is basically grayscale for all the parts that will have color swapping on it. And then I use those colored regions to generate the colormask TGA. I set the default colors of the item to match my test texture, so it looks like it goes right into the game using that texture.

I am not sure about the creating a gradient based on a selection, maybe if you pointed out the time code in the video I could tell you better what is going on.

[Surfa]

It looked like he just used the gradient tool found under the paint bucket in the tool menu or default hot key G.

[marshmonkey]

made some kanye west-ish glasses

http://nimblebit.com/kanye.jpg

[nrek]

Haha nice glasses man.

[marshmonkey]

another quick accessory: "Eye Poppers"

http://nimblebit.com/eyepoppers.png

[marshmonkey]

one more: "Hypno Glasses"

http://nimblebit.com/hypnoglasses.png

[Mcejn]

Wow, I'm in love with that shoe-kart. Really awesome stuff man, and awesome video as well. Haven't checked the whole thread but how long would you say you normally spend on one of these?

[marshmonkey]

from sitting down to start to in-game working asset about...

15 minutes - 1 day per hat/accessory/wheel
2 - 4 days per kart
1-2 weeks per environment

That is assuming anywhere from 4-8 hours of work per day, I usually always have some other non-art tasks to be working on as well.

[00Zero]

This seems like such a blast to work on.
just looking at it all is actually very refreshing.

[marshmonkey]

It has been a lot of fun, and an almost 2 year labor of love.... I am eager for it to see the light of day!

[marshmonkey]

just finished texturing a new char:

http://nimblebit.com/zomb.png

[InProgress]

Plants vs Zombies ZOMBIE! Really cool character.

[gamedev]

lants vs Zombies ZOMBIE! Really cool character. Yea, he needs an orange road cone for a hat ;)

[marshmonkey]

haha, I was actually thinking way earlier before Plants vs Zombies even came out of doing a road cone hat - that would have been quite the co-incidence!

[marshmonkey]

I have been working on some new custom items, and I decided to see what it would look like to string together all the items we have in the game at the moment into one image for fun:

http://nimblebit.com/customitems.jpg

[Thegodzero]

SWEET!

[dejawolf]

sweet stuff

[RickFX]

sick...i love this :)

- Rick.

[InProgress]

Holy colon cancer batman! This is awesome.

[00Zero]

i dont know if this was mentioned already.

http://kotaku.com/5274698/xbla-getting-free-dlc+supported-racing-game

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-joyride/50001

[ironbearxl]

very cool marshmonkey, I appreciate the making of video.

[marshmonkey]

i dont know if this was mentioned already.

http://kotaku.com/5274698/xbla-getting-free-dlc+supported-racing-game

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-joyride/50001

Saw that, Sony just announced something even closer to ZG based around user created content called ModNation Racers.

Hopefully the rash of interesting kart games will help us and not hurt as - at least nobody has announced one on the PC yet at E3.

I am glad we didn't waste any time on console ports of the game now, seeing as there probably wouldn't have been space for us.

[renderhjs]

this one for the PS3 is actually getting veery close
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-mod-nation/50294
edit: a second video, showing the track editor:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-mod-nation/50295

[marshmonkey]

I will just take that as a comforting fact that large marketing departments have signed off on our game idea being sound :)

I am happy to just compete on the PC.

[hawken]

slightly off topic but that ModNation game looks f**king unbelievably good. A bit like Track Nation meets mario kart. The XBox live game looks weak, and is no challenger for Zero Gear.

[jerry]

I will just take that as a comforting fact that large marketing departments have signed off on our game idea being sound :)

I am happy to just compete on the PC.

Yeah, comtetion is strong. It's like the revival of kart games all of a sudden. I love Zero Gear though, and lucky for you i own a PC and not a PS3 :)

[renderhjs]

and not just those,- there is sonic racing as well (though those guys just keep digging deeper and deeper into their own grave).In general I was suprised how many traditional racing games they showed up:
- NFS
- split second
- dirt
- gran tourismo
- forza
and propably more, so racing games certainly is a trend (or so it seems). Maybe some fresh killerfeature for zeroGear can set your game apart from the rest (like the mini games)?

[marshmonkey]

I think that our non-focus on racing is the biggest thing that sets us apart from all the other kart-games.

Most of these other games are all about racing with any other game mode thrown in as an afterthought. Zero Gear is built from the ground up to support the creation of all kinds of different game modes, with straight racing just being one of them.

[Skizot]

it's time to revive user creation then!

http://i41.tinypic.com/2ep7w93.jpg

I got all my old models formatted to the new style (other than 1 or two which are proving to be a PITA.)

also RenderHJS, if you want i can work on getting your karts in game.

[JostVice]

User creation? can users create models? :)

Anyway, the last screen with all the props is awesome, lots of combinations

[Skizot]

uhhhh, yes we can make models? i made the batsman hat and cape. there's an sdk somewhere in this thread.

<- that is ALSO a zero gear hat.

[marshmonkey]

here is an update of a map I have been working on, I am hoping we can create an entirely new stunt gameplay mode that will track rotations and such to identify barrel rolls, flips, airtime, etc. Kind of like tony hawk meets karts. My brother the iPhone dev is switching over to ZG to help us script stuff for the next few months so we will be jamming full speed on those kinds of things. Clicky for big.

http://nimblebit.com/skate1_sml.jpg (http://nimblebit.com/skate1.jpg)

http://nimblebit.com/skate2_sml.jpg (http://nimblebit.com/skate2.jpg)

[JohnnySix]

Can't wait to play it - are you going to distribute through steam exclusively, or offer other means of getting it?

(Say for those averse to steam :poly122: )

[marshmonkey]

Right now we are only looking at Steam, though we won't rule out anything else in the future

[ceebee]

Oh my god stunts would be fucking awesome, I remember back in the day when fun car games had stunt maps (I'm looking at you Rush for the N64)

That's pretty much the only thing we did in that game is to see who could do the sickest stunts.

[SHEPEIRO]

this just keeps looking worse and worsererer.....
...fun games, that wont catch on

[marshmonkey]

this just keeps looking worse and worsererer.....
...fun games, that wont catch on

how do you mean?

[JohnnySix]

I'd happily pay $15/£10 extra to get something on a disc without steam and some artwork. :D

[marshmonkey]

here is a quick video I made this weekend after we implemented the idea of being able to control the rotation of the kart once it is airborne. It only took a few hours to add and it adds a much greater feeling of control instead of just watching your kart tumble around a lot. Now you have more of a chance to orient yourself into a nice landing.



HD link

[Cody]

That looks like so much fun! Nice addition. God when I can I buy this thing, already? Hurry up! :)

[SHEPEIRO]

sorry marsh was kidding in earlier post, its looking F A B

any thoughts of implementing a benefit for landing tricks, maybe a speed boost for rotations and perfect landings, or something betterer and more original

[Nate Broach]

Awww I wanted to see you go through the corkscrew. That looks really fun. Controlling airborne karts is an awesome addition. Looked really natural, like it wont be terribly difficult to pull off some awesome flips and land them. Keep it up man!

[marshmonkey]

sorry marsh was kidding in earlier post, its looking F A B

any thoughts of implementing a benefit for landing tricks, maybe a speed boost for rotations and perfect landings, or something betterer and more original

yea, we want to do a full blown stunts game mode that recognizes tricks and gives you points, but that will be on the backburner until we have all the current gome modes up to par.

We were talking about maybe giving the player some boost in the meantime factored by how much air time they got vs. how stuck the landing was. Would make jumping and stunts a little more useful in any game mode.

[SHEPEIRO]

you could maybe times that by how many rotations you did, this would then make it a nice balancing act of getting as many rotations in as posible while ensuring a good landing, kind of like most skate games

[hawken]

cunning stunts!

[TWilson]

cunning stunts!

The difference between the circus and a strip club.

Game is looking great! Sorry about ModNation Racers :D Hopefully it helps raise awareness for you.

[Ged]

looks fantastic, love the idea of a stunts.

[marshmonkey]

I made a short video this morning showing off one of the weapon items we have had working in the game for a little bit, but have never fully shown off. Here is my little description of how the weapon works:

This is a short video showing a few clips of the LUVBOT weapon working in the game. Once released, the LUVBOT's programming takes over - seeking a player to love. Once he comes in contact with someone, he latches onto them in a Super Love Hug Hold™. Unfortunately due to a design flaw in LUVBOT's circuitry, LUVBOT's love capacitors begin to overload in a few seconds, leading to a large discharge of love energy.

HD Link

[marshmonkey]

Here are a few clips from some playtesting of the race game mode that we had the other day. There are some new features in these clips, including mouse looking/aiming and hopping. The other major change to race mode has been our experimentation with awarding boost to the players, which has increased the fun factor by keeping players close enough together to use Zero Gear’s unique brand of close and personal physical weapons.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVigRwjfBeA&fmt=22]HD Link

[nrek]

Looking great man : ). The luvbot is freaking brilliant haha.

[Japhir]

haha that stunting looks great! reminds me a lot of the old spyro parts where you had to skateboard/snowboard :). (that's a very good thing).

[marshmonkey]

We recently got the 12th and last map before release put into the game. It is a little hard to appreciate how many maps we have made over the last 2 years, so I decided to put them all together in one graphic for visualization.

http://myzerogear.com/mapgallery.jpg

on the game progress front, we are back to having closed private beta tests every week, and we hope to move to an open beta at the end on November.

[marshmonkey]

new screenshots! A new trailer and an open beta are coming soon - I promise! (we are busting our asses on it)

I also re-vamped our game website: http://myzerogear.com

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen18.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen17.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen16.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen15.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen14.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen13.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen12.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen11.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen10.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen9.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen8.jpg

[JasonLavoie]

I'm so excited for you guys :) I can't wait!

[renderhjs]

great,- yay for open beta

[brandoom]

Love the colours. looks great!

[Fang]

I thought I'd get in on this cool game with some user created content:
I started making this Rambo-esque headgear. :)

*Update*

New Picture, more or less done I guess, would love to see how it looks with the shaders of the game
but I didn't find any MAX to ogre exporter when I was trying to follow your ZeroGear workflow (http://myzerogear.com/workflow/), so it looks a bit plain.
http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/4940/zgactiohero2.jpg

[Fang]

I updated my previous post with new image so yeah :)

[marshmonkey]

haha, that is too cool Fang :)

Here is a guide to the model format of the items in ZG http://myzerogear.com/wiki/index.php5?title=Ogre3d_Tool_Pipeline

Skizot also has some good experience on getting items into the game, he is a good guy to go to for help.

[Emil Mujanovic]

Solid stuff, marshmonkey. I was actually thinking about this game about a week ago and was wondering how stuff was going with the project. It's awesome to see this progress and now with the open beta coming, it's an exciting time. I'm looking forward to giving this a crack.

fang: Just a few crits on your head gear design. I would personally stick to thicker and chunkier designs to match the art style of the game. The bullets look way too thin and you've probably got too many of them. Half the number of them and double (maybe even triple) their size and I think you may have a winner.
I would almost say the same thing with the knife. You need to add the fun and stylized look to the knife that all the assets in Zero Gear have. Big bold and simple shapes.
Just my two cents :D

[marshmonkey]

a handful more screenshots from a ZG playtest / LAN party we had this weekend. The build is looking pretty good to open up soon, still a few usability things to implement / tweak and a couple of random hardware issues to sort out, but nothing incredibly major.

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen22.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen21.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen20.jpg

http://myzerogear.com/images/screen19.jpg

[xvampire]

omg so cuuute!
will this available on PSN when it finished? :D!

[marshmonkey]

Nope, this is a PC game first and foremost!

[praxedes]

awesome! I remember the 3D World article on open source and when I saw this then it was aces- now it's even better! I have Dl'd the SDK stuff to have a crack at making my own items and characters- can I download the garage anywhere? Or is it invite only?

Again, wicked wicked wicked!

~P~

[Fang]

marshmonkey, thanks man, I checked the Exporters (http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/OGRE_Exporters) out, but I need me a exporter working for Max 2010, also most of the exporters on that page for 3Ds Max wasn't available for download anymore. I might let this rest for a while or I ask Skizot, who you mentioned to pull an ace out of his sleeve!

Emil Mujanovic, great crit thanks, I'll totally attend the points you mentioned, for some reason it didn't hit me.:poly128: Big, Bold&Simple, thanks!

[CheeseOnToast]

Did I see a cactus wearing an eyepatch? Goddamn, I'll be picking this up for sure.

[KazuyaMochu]

I started modeling a car for this game, but I ended up losing track of work and getting all tangled up in my personal life that I never got the chance to finish it.
http://www.marcovale.com/public_img/zerogear2.jpg
am I still in time to send it in?

[marshmonkey]

marshmonkey, thanks man, I checked the Exporters (http://www.ogre3d.org/wiki/index.php/OGRE_Exporters) out, but I need me a exporter working for Max 2010, also most of the exporters on that page for 3Ds Max wasn't available for download anymore. I might let this rest for a while or I ask Skizot, who you mentioned to pull an ace out of his sleeve!

Emil Mujanovic, great crit thanks, I'll totally attend the points you mentioned, for some reason it didn't hit me.:poly128: Big, Bold&Simple, thanks!

I think a lot of people use these "ogremax" exporters for more recent versions of max: http://www.ogremax.com/products

The beta will be opening up soon, but I will PM some keys to people that are making stuff that that they are ready to try and get in the game.

KazuyaMochu: that car is awesome!!! There is no deadline to send anything in, the custom stuff isn't going to go out with the game (though some of the stuff I have seen here would definitely make a great addition to what I already have... I am just worried about the legal ramifications of publishing other peoples work) Right now the game supports local custom content just dandy, you can make stuff and it will show up in the garage, and if someone else has the item in their garage, they will see it in game too.

From day one we have really wanted to support transferring those custom items across the network, so that people don't need to download an item outside of the game to see it and have it show up in their own garage. Unfortunately it is not looking likely that we will be able to devote the time to get that running before the release, but it is still on our list of things we plan to add in an update.

[Fang]

@marshmonkey, Ah thank you! (Thanks for the beta key aswell!)

@KazuyaMochu, Looks good

Here's an update on my part: I've redone the bullets. As for the knife, I've only removed the sheath, I modelled it out before(it's a bit easier to read now). I might remodel the knife completely though?

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/4613/zgrambo2.jpg

[KazuyaMochu]

is theres any shader for max that replicates the shader in game? cause that would be really helpfull! :)

[marshmonkey]

hmmm, well that OgreMax thing I think is an addon that runs an instance of Ogre in one of your viewports, and in theory you should be able to use the game material in that.... I don't have enough experience with it to figure it out though.

[marshmonkey]

We were planning on releasing our new trailer once we had the beta signups up and running, but the IGF entrants ninja'ed us was sooner than I expected. So here is Zero Gear's page: http://www.igf.com/php-bin/entry2010.php?id=112

and here is our new trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuLHEuLMlbM&fmt=22

[aesir]

omg the cheeez on that trailer is too much.

[praxedes]

too awesome!!

reminded me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRuNxHqwazs

[doc rob]

That trailer is better than anything ever done by anybody.

[vj_box]

Amazing work Marsh! Been following this game for a while now and i should say,i am proud of you guys and what you have achieved so far,waiting to play this game!.

[marshmonkey]

thanks guys, I know I sound like a broken record - but we will be opening up the beta signups SOON.

I am starting to get that fuzzy feeling that our over 2 years of work on this project is finally going to come to fruition in the near future, it feels really good!

Also, I started on another kart last night - and in the middle of making it I realized it was similar-ish to a really awesome looking one that renderhjs made, which got me thinking further about trying to get some of the more outstanding assets people have made in the thread distributed with the game. I did a little bit of research and I think I can get a contract for around 300 bucks (cheap for lawyer work!) that would work for making sure the whole thing would be on the level. I think maybe after the IGF I will look further into that and approach some people from this thread about doing that.

p.s. the voice in the trailer is me :p

[vj_box]

I wanted to keep the rendering in the game as inexpensive as possible to make the game lightweight and playable on very low-spec machines. (I never mentioned it but the target platform is PC/Mac) So at least for now, the environments are vertex lit without any shaders, for the fastest drawing speed possible. Performance permitting, it would not be much trouble to add some simple effects like specularity on some surfaces that really scream for it. For now I am going to focus on effects like shaders on things like the karts that people are going to pay the most attention to.

There are many parts like the ice and the metal pipes and bridge that I will probably experiment with adding some effects on to gauge the expense. I would like to serve the lowest common denominator as much as possible, especially in regards to making people choose different gfx settings and such.

Marsh,do you mind sharing some screen grabs of the wire frame models and texture sheets? and if possible some breakdown of the tracks and its assets?

[marshmonkey]

there is some of that stuck in pieces throughout this thread, I don't have time to make any kind of guide right now though.

[marshmonkey]

ok, I have to test our little beta signup page - go grab some beta keys: http://myzerogear.com/beta/invite.php

let me know if you get a key ok and it works, etc.

[Snowfly]

got my key, and the game's installing now!

*Edit: Downloaded! 250 MB in 1 hour. Starting it up now...

[shadows]

got the key and it's installing!

[pior]

Hi there!!

It all looks fantastic, and its been said already so many times, so ... ill just jump to one extra piece of feedback on ZG.

It took me a while to put my finger on it but here goes. It seems like when going over a boostpad, you change the camera's FoV (or something!!) to enhance the speed effect. However ... I find it very confusing during jumps for instance. It is as if the camera adjusts back in the middle of the jump (but it shouldnt : no reason to slow down in mid air!!), and i think it makes the landing quite confusing.

It is very obvious on the trailer when you show the target mini game. it very hard to tell where the kart is about to land because of this.

I dont think the effect should be totally taken out - but there must be some fine tuning to be done here. I must confess it gives me a little bit of a nauseous feel...

I think Trakmania is a good example of this effect done well, very subtle but I think it fels more 'in control'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNQBvtN6cns

Mario kart also does that very well. Altho ... I must confess I liked it alot more in MK snes where there was no such effect at all! Sharper in my opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTryg5eGam4&feature=related

Good luck!

[marshmonkey]

thanks for the feedback, I will keep an ear out for similar feelings from others about the camera. The camera is definitely something that we are constantly tweaking and evolving.

*edit* I think if we limited the distance it zoomed out it would look / feel almost exactly like the second mario kart video.

[willy-wilson]

installing...

[pior]

Maybe ... the effect could freeze when the kart wheels leaves the ground ? To avoid weird trajectory guessnig from the player. Even in MK I find it a little weird, like a try to move my head back and open my eyes wider to compensate or something...

Oh also! Would love, as a player, to be able to bring the camera closer to the kart. Maybe you could even let the player define his/her own camera placement relative to the kart. Right now it feels very 'detached'. (I understand it might help to see opponents coming from the back ... but I personally find it distracting)

Hope this helps!

[marshmonkey]

right now it is oriented to point in the direction of your velocity, so you can see where you are about to land, otherwise you would be looking at the sky or other places that would keep you from seeing where you are headed.

[pior]

nono I meant bringing the cam closer - at the moment the kart sits in the middle of the screen, very far from the player. I think the view in Trackmania and MK is more immersive (car near the bottom edge of the screen)

[marshmonkey]

ah, yea I understand what you mean now.

[oXYnary]

Looks like a fun game. I hope you guys do well at IGF.

[marshmonkey]

All the keys we put in there for now have been taken, we will add more next week!

[Snowfly]

I'm having a blast playing the non-racing maps, especially the soccer and hockey ones. They were tricky at first, but once I started moderating my speed and using bunny hops to turn on the spot, the gameplay got less frustrating, more interesting.

When you tab to see the stats, could you also show the current map name? Just as a quick reference for players to know which maps are which.

Been playing mostly against bots though...it doesn't seem like too many players from SE Asia got in the beta. Multiplayer is unplayable with the 300+ pings I get. :(

[marshmonkey]

yea, we are going to need to ramp up the # of players big time before you will start seeing many people to play with.

I will add a note about displaying the map in the tab menu, thats not a bad idea at all.

[rollin]

haha I really like the trailer :D

[Skizot]

for those of you who got a key, here's my batch of custom items.

linky (http://skizot.ziggyware.com/stuff/zerogearitems.zip)

extract them to:
C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\common\zero gear\Assets\CustomItems

or where ever your steam may be installed.

[JohnnySix]

I got the sad cat, did the invites go so quick? :(

Can't wait to try it out - that or I can hold out until you guys do the PSP version. :D

[marshmonkey]

we will be posting more keys soon, this was just a quick test with a handful of keys to make sure our key giveaway script worked.

[marshmonkey]

the cool dudes over at http://hyperduck.co.uk are doing the music for the game, in their honor I made a duck bill accessory that will be in the next build:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/461612/hyperduck.jpg

[marshmonkey]

Beta signups are live! Go here: http://myzerogear.com/beta/invite.php

[JostVice]

I really like the game, it is very fun! my only crit is that I think it would be better if the camera would move with your mouse, no need to right click for that.

Also, i'm the only one not being able to find server with low pings?

Edit: also, Skizot, those items are great! What happens when you play online with custom items, other player just see some default ones, or see you invisible?

Edit2: I'm getting a crash If I alt-tab then go back to the game :(

[marshmonkey]

Not many people are playing yet ( The beta literally got opened up hours ago ) so it will be hard to find other people with low pings playing for a bit.

[marshmonkey]

4 days after our beta (http://myzerogear.com/beta/invite.php) went live we have a new update for everyone! Here is the changes:

1.0.1.0 Change Log

* Kart physics modified, the kart is much heavier now as well as other subtle tweaks
* Air steering is now only engaged by pressing the steer direction after leaving the ground
* Some maps updated to work better with new kart physics
* Camera adjustments, closer to kart, fixed distance, crosshair added to aim mode
* Ice cube will not ice the player who dropped it behind them when it obviously shouldn't
* Win score changed from 500 to 400 in Tag mode
* All players given springs in Target mode and bumpers removed until they are functional again
* Soccer ball/hockey puck larger and easier to hit
* Country code added to the server browser so you can see how close a server is to you
* Rank sorted correctly in the server browser now
* Setting added to enable the screen blur effect on boost as some players were reporting problems
* The game responds to input correctly after closing the settings or server GUI while in game
* The map change timer works correctly in the server settings GUI
* Map name and server name added to the player roster GUI
* Laps/Place GUI is now visible in spectator mode
* The goal GUI now tells the user which goal they need to shoot the ball/puck into
* The signal GUI will warn the user if they connect to a server with a very large ping
* Upon pressing the reset key, a GUI pops up to notify the user they will soon be reset
* GUI is now visible in Skate
* Newb loading screen key layout image simplified
* Music updated and Hyperduck accessory added (quack quack!!)
* Sound errors no longer print out to the log which seems to prevent the game from slowing down over time
* Bug in sound priority system fixed which should prevent more important sounds (music, engine noises, etc) from cutting out on some sound cards
* Fixed the "Failed to find receive data peer" bug that happened sometimes after exiting the game and starting it again quickly

Go check it out!

[marshmonkey]

here are a few gameplay videos I capped yesterday:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w4_3-AIUxE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhkhdUNTAZU

[marshmonkey]

added another gameplay video I had capped last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfpZ9WdVLQA

[achillesian]

that hockey looks really fun

[Rhinokey]

i tried to play today but i think my ping was to high or something, which if funny cause i play a lot of online junk an rarely have problems,, is there anyway to check your ping when in game? i could not control my car well at all it was realy tedius trying to hit the soccer ball, it most likely was just a ping issue and not the game, but made playing more than 5 minutes nearly impossible :(

[marshmonkey]

yes, you can use the TAB key.

[marshmonkey]

New build is up on Steam:

1.0.1.1 Change Log

* 65 MS of lag removed
* Increased the network sync time to 30 times a second from 20
* Quick play button added to the main menu which will join the best server or start a local server if there aren't any good servers to join
* Reverse speed increased slightly
* Soccer ball tweaked so it is easier to hit around
* Player karts colored based on their team in Goal mode
* Tag rules modified
* Spring and punch strength increased slightly
* Punchbowl tag map reduced in size and other tweaks
* Some trees removed from downhill part of Chill Mountain
* Min players now defaults to 4 instead of 0
* The score now sorts correctly in Target mode
* Significantly improved the performance of the collision detection code when there are many objects in the world
* Bandwidth usage improved now as time shift wasn't enabled in the last build (oops)
* Going in reverse at the start of Chill Mountain will no longer cause the player to get stuck at the starting line
* The number of bots can be adjusted during play by changing the minimum number of players in the server manager GUI
* The maximum number of player will not be exceeded on a server anymore
* The player list in the server manager GUI now updates correctly when people leaving/join the server
* Pressing connect at the server browser when no server is selected no longer tries to join a local server
* Mouse sensitivity slider added to settings
* New "auto" mouse look mode added as default, the old mode can be enabled in the settings if desired
* Bots ping times in the roster GUI are now listed as "BOT" instead of the real ping time
* Players in result GUI no longer display above other GUIs in Goal and Tag mode
* Kicked players now go back to the main menu after being kicked
* Players with names longer than 32 character no longer cause the server to throw an error
* Exit removed from the key binding list in settings
* XPadder profile added to the Assets directory for the PC XBox 360 controller

Also, you can help show your support for Zero Gear by joining our Steam Group (http://steamcommunity.com/games/zerogear) we are slowly climbing the official game groups (http://steamcommunity.com/actions/GroupList?sortby=SortByMembers&filter=ogg) listing!

[marshmonkey]

Just a few errors from yesterdays build to correct, and a few other things thrown in. Version 1.0.1.2 is now live on Steam.

1.0.1.2 Change Log

* The game will no longer throw error: "OGRE EXCEPTION(10:MyGUIException): ComboBox::setIndexSelected : index number 8 out of range [8]" if the min players is set to 8 in the server settings file
* The game will no longer throw error: "RaceServer.lua: 1042" when resetting at the start of a race map
* Quick Play now defaults to 4 min players and a random map order
* New default camera angle in the garage
* Added another checkpoint towards the end of Chill Mountain
* Red arrow point loss rate decreased from once every 2 seconds to once every 3 seconds, this means you lose less points while in red mode
* Point loss particle effects in tag now show the correct points lost
* Client and server log files added to error report in case of a crash

[Skizot]

http://i47.tinypic.com/30ikpl5.jpg

I M43D A M4P W1TH M4R1O5 1N 1T

[vj_box]

Played the game yesterday and today and i must say that i love the game, especially the Art direction and the Kart/Character customization. I feel that the control is a bit too rigid and its is hard to steer the Kart as it constantly spins or turns out of control. Should be nice,if this can be tweaked.
Great work guys!

[marshmonkey]

Here's a short clip of a new pachinko type map that will be in the next build: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyRws-Y0b1I&fmt=22

[marshmonkey]

This weeks update is live on Steam:

1.0.1.3 Change Log

* New Target mode map: PACHINKO!!!
* Experimental gamepad support, only tested with the 360 controller so far, please give feedback!
* Fixed the checkpoint random reset bug, you should no longer be reset while going through the correct checkpoint
* Stunt tracking added, you will gain boost after a sound and particle effect fire off after performing a barrel roll or flip
* Air steer force increased so it is easier to do rad stunts
* Pressing Apply in settings will now close the settings GUI
* Added a button to reset controls to default in settings GUI
* Servers in your country are specially indicated
* Removed ability to color player names so the names are colored according to teams in Goal mode (server names can still be colored)

[pior]

I sure hope there is a first person view or kart view available in that one crazy game mode!!!

[Ged]

been playing the beta a little, where should we give feedback? is it ok to talk about it here?

[marshmonkey]

you can give it here or on the Zero Gear forums: http://www.nimblebit.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=6e1487542b6e4415f84b251bf991bb21

[marshmonkey]

here is a sneak peek of a map I just finished that will be in the next beta update (hopefully out by the end of the week)

http://nimblebit.com/zerocircuit.jpg

[Ged]

you can give it here or on the Zero Gear forums: http://www.nimblebit.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=6e1487542b6e4415f84b251bf991bb21

ok thanks! really like the game but havent had a lot of time to play. I have to say I dont get the kick the football game my car kinda softly nudges the ball along but it really hardly feels like Im making contact with the ball. Id like to be able to take a run up at the ball hit it hard and punt it a good distance. Plus the other computer controlled players seemed really good at guiding the ball but they just took it to either the left or right side of the goal and never actually come close to scoring. The spaghetti west track is fun and I won multiple times on there but I think I might have been winning because I was hosting the server? I also felt the karts were very much on rails and didnt slide subtly on corners much and the turning circle seemed rather large for such a small kart especially when playing the football game. The look and feel of the game is almost perfect, rock on guys! :)

[doc rob]

here is a sneak peek of a map I just finished that will be in the next beta update (hopefully out by the end of the week)

http://nimblebit.com/zerocircuit.jpg

Looks cool, but your arrows seem to be going the wrong way. Heer in amaerrrica, we turn left!

http://cdn.allleftturns.com/www/sites/default/files/articles/tattoo-nascar1.jpg

[Baddcog]

Wow, thta is the WORST tattoo I have ever seen.

[marshmonkey]

New beta is live on Steam:

1.0.1.4 Change Log

* New race map added: Zero Circuit!!!
* Network bandwidth usage optimized, uses up to 75% less data
* Skate now has a simple point based game mode
* Puncher can be used behind kart, has better range, and causes the punched object to spin more
* Reduced the time it takes for a twister to become active once deployed from 2 seconds to 1
* Soccer ball mass increased slightly
* Forced race mode back to warmup if there is only one racing player left
* Camera follow rotation is now 3 times faster when the kart is moving slowly
* Changed quick play to look through the first 3 lobbies for a valid server instead of just the top lobby
* The server browser now only shows how many humans players are in a server
* Added dialog box to warn the user when they connect to a server running a map they don't have
* Texture filter mode now saves when changed in the settings GUI
* Other player's ping times displayed in the player roster GUI will be more responsive
* Upon detecting that the required shader model 2.0 isn't supported on the player's computer, it will ask the user if they want to try running the game anyway

[ZacD]

Wow, thta is the WORST tattoo I have ever seen.

I've seen worse, just google bad tattoos.

[rooster]

[QUOTE=doc rob;1040104]Heer in amaerrrica, we turn left!
QUOTE]

you also drive in circles over and over and over then call it racing, doesn't really make it good

[marshmonkey]

new build out on steam:

* Added Eight Iron race map
* Added Space Race race map
* Added Touchdown goal map
* 44 Achievements!!!
* The server browser now reports ping times for servers
* Added support to invite friends to the game you are in and added an "Invite Friends" button to the escape menu
* Experimental Steam Cloud support saves your kart setup and key layout between multiple computers
* "Find Game" button added to the escape menu to browser servers while in a server
* Friends only games now supported (your server won't show up on the server list, you must invite your friends into your game)
* Alt tab crash fixed (it appears there is still a problem if you have multiple monitors hooked up, will fix ASAP)
* Fixed problem with wheels rotating erratically when the client was lagging
* Added support for keys above arrow keys and in number pad
* A minimum resolution of 800x600 is now enforced correctly in the settings GUI
* Removed the dialog box asking the user if they wanted to run the game even though their video card doesn't support SM 2.0

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/eightiron-thumb1.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/eightiron1.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/spacerace-thumb.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/spacerace.jpg)

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/touchdown-thumb.jpg (http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/touchdown-thumb.jpg)

[Japhir]

hey it's finally done? because now it isn't a beta anymore, but turned into a demo :). played this yesterday evening with a couple of friends and it's loads of fun :P. One minor thing: could it be possible to set the turbo/shift thingie to a different key? my friends all had trouble pressing wasd and shift at the same time ;) (they suck at this game haha).
good luck!

[AstroZombie]

Does it have game controller support or mouse/keyboard only?

[Lamont]

Does it have game controller support or mouse/keyboard only?I think it's only Mouse KB, I used GlovePie to map the KB to my XBox controller. A game like this needs to be on a controller.

[zenarion]

I tried using a controller with that, a simple PS-controller-copy-ripoff thingy from Saitek.
It worked quite alright, rebound the button mappings in the settings menu, it worked quite alright.

[marshmonkey]

We have controller support. You can bind controller keys in the settings menu.

We are moving the beta over to people who pre-order, and the current beta is reverting to a demo build. Pre-Orders are supposed to be up sometime this morning but I am not sure exactly when.

[CheeseOnToast]

Only slightly relevant, have you seen this real-life car football?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIeu7_-iwdw

Skip to around 2:50 to get to the action.

[marshmonkey]

yes, I <3 Top Gear :) Although the latest season has been kind of lackluster.

[marshmonkey]

ok here is my official little pre-order blurb:

Starting today, Zero Gear is available for pre-order (http://store.steampowered.com/app/18820/)! Players who pre-order will get 25% off the price of the game, as well as immediate access to the beta version! Visit the Zero Gear product page for pricing information. Zero Gear is slated for release on January 12th, 2010. Stay tuned for more release information in the weeks ahead, including a 4 package deal!

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/zgpreorder.png (http://store.steampowered.com/app/18820/)

Also included in the latest beta update (which you can access by pre-order), is a new goal mode map, Hoops.

http://www.nimblebit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/hoops.jpg (http://store.steampowered.com/app/18820/)

A special thanks goes out from us here at NimbleBit to everyone who has helped us beta testing the game. We hope you will pre-order (http://store.steampowered.com/app/18820/) and continue to be the foundation of the Zero Gear player community!

[bounchfx]

whoa what the hell how did I miss so much? not only did it go in and out of beta but now it's coming out within a few weeks!? wtf I must play this!

[Slum]

Just noticed the demo is up on Steam now. Installing :)

[gamedev]

David,

I feel bad for not paying full price, but at 25% off I couldn't resist! Best of luck to you guys - I hope your launch is strong!

-Tyler

[alandandrew]

Hi.
This is worst tattoo which is looking yucky though I don't like tattoo. but this is so bad.

[Geezus]

Hi.
This is worst tattoo which is looking yucky though I don't like tattoo. but this is so bad.

Hi,
lols?



Anyhow, snagging this today! I hope this turns out to be a big hit for you guys, well deserved!

[gamedev]

Having a great time w/ this guys! I almost like playing Kickit more than racing! Future support for a USB controller would be great - playing with an xbox controller on pc would rock.

Cheers!

[marshmonkey]

Having a great time w/ this guys! I almost like playing Kickit more than racing! Future support for a USB controller would be great - playing with an xbox controller on pc would rock.

Cheers!

should be supported, you just have to go into the settings menu and bind them manually.

[Vrav]

Got this on Steam. It's cute! Looks pretty moddable, too...

[The_Kozmonaut]

Just saw this on steam today. Congrats!

[BradMyers82]

This thread is epic.
Congrats on the release!

[luke]

gratz guys, been playin this for a few hours, great fun!, the game modes are real nice!