Zero Gear - an indie multiplayer kart racing game

[zaphod]

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 we are slowly climbing the official game groups listing!

[Lord Ned]

I'm impressed, Ping reduction and less time between syncs!

[zaphod]

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

[zaphod]

Here's a short clip of a new pachinko type map that will be in the next build:

[Lord Ned]

I'll see if we can get a group test from TF2M going again this afternoon and provide feedback on the changes.

[zaphod]

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)

[Lord Ned]

Well it's better. Gamepad support is almost useless without being able to change the sensitivity or dead zones. The space-level with holes in the ground, the holes are more irritating than useful.

Edit:

TAG IS FUN WHEN CARTS GO 4X SPEED.

I've figured out how to change the cart speed and weapons. I've also figured out how to change what spawns on the cubes. However when I try to make my own weapon by copying the SyncedSpring and renameing it + all the instances of SyncedSpring to SyncedSuperSpring. When I add it to the weapon-spawner it works fine until someone tries to use the weapon. Then it crashes the server with an "Unable to register" error. Will custom weapons not be supported? What about custom gamemodes?

Unrelated: We had a guy in here with a blue name and black text. What's up with that?

[zaphod]

We will support custom game modes and with it probably custom items. It is not super straight forward though, there is a lot of things in lots of different lua files to touch. Hopefully we can simplify it some.

You can sometimes color text in the game by adding hex #00ff00 color codes in front of things.

[Lord Ned]

We will support custom game modes and with it probably custom items. It is not super straight forward though, there is a lot of things in lots of different lua files to touch. Hopefully we can simplify it some.

You can sometimes color text in the game by adding hex #00ff00 color codes in front of things.

Something you might want to look at is Garrysmod's implimentation of Lua/Gamemodes. To my understanding it provides a lot of functions hooks in Lua for the gamemode maker to different things with. Then custom gamemodes are as simple as a folder + an info.txt file that gives some information about it, and then the game lets you load it.

As for the color thing: Same issue in TF2, people can use the "XX Has found " colors .

[Buddy]

Got one key for myself as well,

cheers Zaph!

[Lord Ned]

With the Pachinko gamemode, players positions should probably be scrambled after each go at it.

[zaphod]

We will support custom game modes and with it probably custom items. It is not super straight forward though, there is a lot of things in lots of different lua files to touch. Hopefully we can simplify it some.

You can sometimes color text in the game by adding hex #00ff00 color codes in front of things.

Something you might want to look at is Garrysmod's implimentation of Lua/Gamemodes. To my understanding it provides a lot of functions hooks in Lua for the gamemode maker to different things with. Then custom gamemodes are as simple as a folder + an info.txt file that gives some information about it, and then the game lets you load it.

As for the color thing: Same issue in TF2, people can use the "XX Has found " colors .

cool, I will have to take a look at Garrysmod.

[Buddy]

Ok, here's my report after first session:

-It feels very much like Re-volt game which is a good thing.

-I would love to see atleast a bit of vertical camera control to be honest, it feels a bit weird that you can't move it upwards nor downwards, especially with the target crosshair in the center (which also bothers me with it being below horizon line, which makes me wanna move it up ).

-I've had troubles in finding out which powerup i got after pickup, what i'd suggest is maybe making a fancy pickup animation where the given 'powerup' would move to the powerup slot so that you instantly know what you've just picked up.

-I'd love to see something more to the carts driving, like some sort of smoke or skid marks even, now except the engine animation they seem to just slide on the floor which makes sense but needs more eyecandy i think. Basiclly i'd like to see more particles everywhere, what i liked in re-volt was the swinging antenna on the RC's.

-I like the Audio/Video sides of things pretty much, seems really well done.

-Option of steering with mouse would be nice, i got used to it because of Borderlands it seems

From top of the head, i will post if anything else comes to my mind.

Time to sleep now.

[Gloglebag]

Holy shit I remember playing the revolt demo so much.

Gonna try to find it on the nets right now.

[zaphod]

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)