So I got bored the other day and decided to experiment with the Mode7 object in MMF2. It has a lot of features that expand beyond what game consoles are capable of (such as fog, height mapping, etc), and as such, it definitely has the potential to be used for actual gameplay purposes.
Anyway, since it's very well possible to create a decent top-down racing game with MMF2, then I believe it would be possible to create a decent pseudo-3D kart racer in the style of such games as Super Mario Kart, Wacky Wheels, or Street Racer. All I'd really need to do is make a top-down racing engine, then feed everything into the the Mode7 object to display it as 3D.
I've always wanted to make a 3D racing game, so I think this is a good way to start.
Possible characters:
These klik characters are plausible additions to the game. Some of them may need adjustments to their appearance to fit in the kart, but their trademark design would otherwise remain intact.
Blob
Bonesaw
Elektroid
Fishhead
GunGirl
Henry McAllister (Man With a Monocle)
Lyle (Lyle in Cube Sector)
Mia (Eternal Daughter)
Mr. Stump (Mr. Stump's Dentures)
Noitu Love
Old Man Clayton
Protagonist from Bombie Zombie
Raymond Walker (Bullets of a Revolver)
Satan Sam
Spiderhead
Tops (Tops the Pig)
Warbot
Xoda Rap (Noitu Love 2)
KEY:
These characters I may have difficulty including in the game, because I'm not entirely sure how successful I would be at contacting the original designer.
These characters are possible nominees.
The original author of these characters has approved their potential usage.
Excluded characters:
Unfortunately, I cannot redraw these characters without drastically altering their original design. They just don't have the right body type. T_T
Coal
Spud (Spud's Quest)
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Up until now, only the player's kart has existed, so I've been trying to place multiple karts on the track. Of course, due to the way MMF2 handles multiple instances of the same object, I've been forced to make each kart have a unique set of objects for the time being. (i.e. Racer 1, Racer 1 sprite, Racer 1 movement controller, Racer 2, Racer 2 sprite, Racer 2 movement controller, etc).
If possible, I'd really like to move away from this system since I'd have to create many duplicates of the code (Qualifiers present me with the same issues I had with a single Kart object). But even with fastlooping tricks, the karts don't want to behave independently from one another. <_< And for some reason, the Layer object isn't sorting the 3D sprites like it should.
Basically, this is the system I'm aiming for: I'd want a single object containing all of the racer sprites, along with a single Kart object that can be used for every racer on the track and a single Clickteam Movement Controller to handle the vector movement of every single kart. Afterwards, I'd want the game to be able to detect which of those Kart objects is controlled by which player (including CPU opponents) and have them read control input from the corresponding player or AI.
It's quite a tall order... but I'm wondering if there's any tricks I can use or third-party extensions that would help make this less of a headscratcher.
I've drawn roughly half of my mascot character's frames. Like Mario Kart 64, each character's turning animation is built directly into their rotations to save time and space.
That being said, I think I have enough done for some decent screenshots. They are attached to this devlog.
The first two screenshots are with the track resolution set to Medium and Interpolation disabled. In this setting, I only seem to get serious frame skipping if I'm driving over a hill.
The third screenshot shows the track with Maximum resolution and Interpolation enabled, which smooths out the "blocky" feel of the textures and height map. It gives the game a solid, Nintendo 64-ish level of detail, but it lags pretty badly.
All in all, I'm really satisfied with the results so far. Each day brings me closer to getting that Mario Kart 64 feel.
...Question: Anyone here good with graphics and/or height mapping? I could use some help building a better test track. Once I make something decent enough, I believe a video or engine test is in order. ^_~
Took a while, but I finally have the kart model re-shaded:
The image on the top is before, and the image on the bottom is after.
Now that that kart's finished, I'll start by adding my mascot character to the game:
While I work on stuffing her into the kart, feel free to suggest more characters. Remember, they have to be from a klik game. I've updated the project description with a list of all the characters suggested so far.
Kart physics have been implemented. Here are the features:
- Acceleration/Deceleration and Steering
- Proper wall collisions
- Power sliding
- Particle exhaust
I still need to make skidding effects/sounds, but that's about it I think. Screenshots will come once I have something pretty for y'all to look at.
As for the karts themselves, I'm in the process of reshading my 3D model. Once I do, then I can start thinking about which characters to add to the game. 8 is the obvious minimum.
I have ideas for at least 4 characters, including Ikkin from my FableQuest project since I already have most of her sprite rotations. Aside from that, I think it might be pretty neat if characters from other klik games made cameos as racers. If this is the case, which characters would you like to see tear it up on the tarmac?
Of course, there are limits to which characters I can use. I don't want to re-draw the kart for each racer, so they have to be a humanoid of relatively regular size and proportions. For example, Fishhead would be a good nominee, but the little blob from Coal wouldn't.
So yeah, throw out some names along with the first game they appeared in, and I'll do some research.
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Strife 
So I got bored the other day and decided to experiment with the Mode7 object in MMF2. It has a lot of features that expand beyond what game consoles are capable of (such as fog, height mapping, etc), and as such, it definitely has the potential to be used for actual gameplay purposes.
Blob
Bonesaw
Elektroid
If this is the case, which characters would you like to see tear it up on the tarmac?
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