Zero Gear - an indie multiplayer kart racing game

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.

[Blocked Image: http://nimblebit.com/skate1_sml.jpg]

[Blocked Image: http://nimblebit.com/skate2_sml.jpg]

believe me, it's not feature creep. It's "need a functioning game before we can release it". The majority of our work is going towards getting core systems running correctly.

For more insight as to what we are actually spending time on, here is a twitter feed with snippets of our project tracker: http://%7boption%7d

How many games have you seen with awesome nice looking screenshots and then when released are barely function buggy messes? Screenshots and videos are not really an accurate indicator for how close a game actually is to done.

Believe me, we are the ones that want this out ASAP more than anyone else, it is coming out of our pockets every month it's not out.

Quote from Warby

i don't know this doesn't sound like locking it down or polishing core mechanics ...

Well, I can't program so either I can sit on my hands and do nothing or I can keep creating assets (that will still function in the game whether we get to making a new game mode or not) while the programmers bring some of the core performance and tech of the game up to speed.

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.

yea, that is pretty much the universal feedback we have gotten - we are actually working on adding that as we speak

*edit* the sound and particles, not the whole stunt system (don't be alarmed Warby and Sentura)

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:

Quote

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.

not really always, but you can at least influence it to land upright and we have tweaked it enough so that you usually stick the landing. That is one of the things that has taken a while to tweak over a long period. When you are fully simulating physics, you have to try and coax it into doing what you want using a bunch of little tweaks rather than what most kart games do which is just have a faked simulation that only handles the kart moving along a rack exactly how they wish with no room for deviation.