World Rally Driver 4K

[Ranger]

[size=12pt]WORLD RALLY DRIVER 4K[/size]

Score points driving world rally stages.
Race on asphalt, dirt, and snow.  Don't let your ghost car win!



http://www.java4k.com/index.php?action=games&method=view&gid=197
or
http://www.craig-mitchell.com/WorldRallyDriver/

Comments, problems, suggestions, anything else, more then welcome. 

[appel]

cool

[Ranger]

cool

Thanks Appel! 

BTW: I just changed the default zoom to be zoomed out.  I thought being zoomed out made it easier to play when you are just getting the hang of the game.  It will automatically zoom back in once you have scored some points on the track (unless you request a zoom, then it will stay with what you requested).  Let me know if anyone disagrees.  Cheers.

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[jojoh]

Really nice game! Looks nice and plays well to. I especially like the fact that you can't press the accelerator the whole way through the game and make a good time. There should be corners where one have to slow down to make a good path through a turn. Unfortunately  for me, the game slows down quite a lot when the skidmarks are drawn, making it quite hard to play. I think you are right about the zoom level.

WinXP, Java 1.6

[Ranger]

Really nice game! Looks nice and plays well to. I especially like the fact that you can't press the accelerator the whole way through the game and make a good time.

Thanks Jojoh!

Unfortunately  for me, the game slows down quite a lot when the skidmarks are drawn, making it quite hard to play.

The skid marks are just a few fillRect calls on the background image (they modify the background image, so they are only done once).  Not sure why they would slow the game down.   

1   2   3   4   5

bgGfx.setComposite(AlphaComposite.getInstance(AlphaComposite.SRC_OVER, 0.15f)); bgGfx.setTransform(AffineTransform.getTranslateInstance(...)); bgGfx.rotate(...); bgGfx.setColor(new Color(0,0,0)); bgGfx.fillRect(...);

However, my game loop wasn't that great (it would always call sleep)  .  I've now improved it to use yield.  If you get a chance, can you please try it again and let me know if I've fixed the problem.

Thanks!

[Ranger]

For a bit of fun (not part of the 4K comp).  I totalled the top 100 players scores based on countries to get a ranking of which countries had the best drivers.

The winner by a long shot was the United States (not too surprising there).

A very close 2nd and 3rd were the Brits followed by the Aussies!  Noooooooo!   

You can check out the other places:  http://www.craig-mitchell.com/WorldRallyDriver/  then click on "Country Rankings".

[Mr. Gol]

This is really fun, I like the physics of the car and for some reason I actually perform better with the zoomed in view

I'm 47th in the total rankings, and everything worked fine on Mac OS X / Java 5 / Safari.

[Ranger]

I'm still a little unclear about the rule listed on the java4k site:

The game must be startable using Java Webstart.

Does my game (and the Left 4k Dead game) pass this rule?     Technically, they both can be started via JWS....it's just that they both don't get started via JWS.   

[appel]

I'm still a little unclear about the rule listed on the java4k site:
Does my game (and the Left 4k Dead game) pass this rule?     Technically, they both can be started via JWS....it's just that they both don't get started via JWS.   

Well, this didn't come up until after the competition started.

The "webstart only" thing is mostly for user convenience, so the user doesn't have to leave the Java4K site to play the Applet games on another website.

I'm not sure how to handle this. There are a few Applet games, and I'm actually FOR Applet games. I'd like to enable developers to host their games on the Java4K site, so that the games are run as an Applet from the site, just like on any other normal game site on the Internets!

For now, I like to change this rule to: "The game must be startable using Java Webstart or as an Applet."

[Ranger]

The "webstart only" thing is mostly for user convenience, so the user doesn't have to leave the Java4K site to play the Applet games on another website.

You could start the Applets in a new page like you do for the links to the contestants web page.  target="_blank"

For now, I like to change this rule to: "The game must be startable using Java Webstart or as an Applet."

Thanks!   

Games published by our own members! Check 'em out!

[Markus_Persson]

I'm not sure how to handle this. There are a few Applet games, and I'm actually FOR Applet games. I'd like to enable developers to host their games on the Java4K site, so that the games are run as an Applet from the site, just like on any other normal game site on the Internets!

Awesome! =D

[jojoh]

However, my game loop wasn't that great (it would always call sleep)  .  I've now improved it to use yield.  If you get a chance, can you please try it again and let me know if I've fixed the problem.

Yup, that seems to have fixed it. Thanks! Very odd that the problem occurred in the first place. Code looks harmless. Anyway, now I can play for real

Well filled highscore list 

[Eli Delventhal]

Really awesome game. I think I spent 2 hours playing it trying to get a high score. I got the record for USA and I'm 2nd all-time! Woo!

PS - I hate Siberia.

[EDIT] - What happened to Tom's score?

[Ranger]

Really awesome game. I think I spent 2 hours playing it trying to get a high score. I got the record for USA and I'm 2nd all-time! Woo!

PS - I hate Siberia.

[EDIT] - What happened to Tom's score?

Thanks Demonpants!  Great driving!!!

The "High Score" table is a rolling high score table.  The "Top 100 Players" table is where you earn your stripes!  Tom is the Commander-in-Chief of that table!   

[Eli Delventhal]

Thanks Demonpants!  Great driving!!!

The "High Score" table is a rolling high score table.  The "Top 100 Players" table is where you earn your stripes!  Tom is the Commander-in-Chief of that table!   

Oh snap I'm only 5th! 

Gotta increase that Siberia score.

[tom]

I rule and you can all eat my dust. You will never beat me. Whooaaahaahaahaa

[Eli Delventhal]

I rule and you can all eat my dust. You will never beat me. Whooaaahaahaahaa

I beat you in USA. 

[tom]

not anymore

[appel]

Your game benefits tremendously from the hi-score list, adds lots of value to the gameplay. But as a standalone game, it wouldn't be as much fun.

In the strictest sense, the game must be "self-contained".

Hi-score lists are sort of in the gray area.


I like the idea of hi-score lists, but I think we need to make it explicit how a hi-score list can be implemented.
Should the 4K game be the only application that should manage and display a hi-score list file on some server?

What's stopping me from creating a 4K game that just spits out some numbers, which then I must use to insert into another application, which is a lot bigger than 4K, to see some effect?


I'm inclined to direct the judges to ignore the hi-score list, as it's an external application and should not be considered part of the 4K game itself.

What are your thoughts?

[Morre]

I agree with you - the highscore list should not be considered unless it can be proven that it fits into the 4kb.

In a similar fashion, I hope the judges last year ignored my non4kb version of Spiderball4k that featured replays, and preferrably also the map editor (although the map loading function was in the 4kb game, the editor itself was a separate program). Judging from the comments, they more or less did.

This game is pretty cool, btw.

[Eli Delventhal]

That certainly seems like a logical thing to consider, and it's true. I wouldn't have spent nearly as long if I hadn't been trying to beat other people on the list.

[Ranger]

I'm inclined to direct the judges to ignore the hi-score list, as it's an external application and should not be considered part of the 4K game itself.

Yes.  I totally agree.  I never meant for the high score table to be included in the competition (it is in no way under 4k!).  I have just created a page for the judges that does not include the high score table:  http://www.craig-mitchell.com/WorldRallyDriver/JudgesEdition.html  There is also a link at the bottom of the main page too.

Tom:  How do you drive so fast???   Did you crack the code?

Demonpants:  It's Sweden!  Not Siberia!

[tom]

Tom:  How do you drive so fast???   Did you crack the code?

No I did not crack the code

I've played it for hours and must have tried hundreds of times before getting the lap times I did. The trick is to get the difficult corner combinations right. With the perfect line you get a good speed out of the corner and that saves a lot of time. One trick is to cut a corner to slow down for the next one. After the competition you should make a non 4k version where you could save your ghost car track to the server. And make it possible raise against the ghost cars of other players. Then you see and learn how they did it.

On the USA track you should never release the forward key. It is possible to take the sharp corner at full speed. Also get as close to the edge of all the corners to get a good speed. I got 1019 once but it was not saved. I think that is the highest score possible.

On the Australia track all that mathers is to get the second last corner right. The rest of the track is easy and you always stay on the road.

The Sweden track is difficult. There is 3 corner combination that has to be perfect to get a good time.

Btw, please add the W key back. I like to use two hands and that is difficult only the arrow keys.

[jojoh]

After the competition you should make a non 4k version where you could save your ghost car track to the server. And make it possible raise against the ghost cars of other players. Then you see and learn how they did it.

There used to be a full version of this game, but it has been removed/is in hiding 
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/top-down-racing-game-applet/17862/view.html
I think it is the same author, but entered with different nick here at jgo.
It seems like some games go from full version to 4K version.

[timfoden]

I rule and you can all eat my dust. You will never beat me. Whooaaahaahaahaa

Well, now you can eat my dust!   

[Ranger]

Btw, please add the W key back. I like to use two hands and that is difficult only the arrow keys.

Managed to squeeze some more bytes out of the track data so the WSAD keys are back. 

[Ranger]

There used to be a full version of this game, but it has been removed/is in hiding 
http://www.java-gaming.org/topics/top-down-racing-game-applet/17862/view.html
I think it is the same author, but entered with different nick here at jgo.
It seems like some games go from full version to 4K version.

Yep.  That was my game too.  Different JGO nick because my girlfriend at the time thought it was funny that I was on a TV show playing a Ranger....anyway....The game was a prototype.  I went back to basics for this 4K version taking what I found worked.  Big thanks to all for playing it, and giving feedback.  It has helped me out a lot! 

Craigs Race will be back, better then ever.  I'm taking the best bits from the prototype and this 4K version.  It will feature other players replays, multi-player split screen, and computer cars.  After that version is done, I have plans to add police cars, drift mode, and cool stuff like that! 

[tom]

Well, now you can eat my dust!   

crap!

[Eli Delventhal]

Yep.  That was my game too.  Different JGO nick because my girlfriend at the time thought it was funny that I was on a TV show playing a Ranger....anyway....The game was a prototype.  I went back to basics for this 4K version taking what I found worked.  Big thanks to all for playing it, and giving feedback.  It has helped me out a lot! 

Craigs Race will be back, better then ever.  I'm taking the best bits from the prototype and this 4K version.  It will feature other players replays, multi-player split screen, and computer cars.  After that version is done, I have plans to add police cars, drift mode, and cool stuff like that! 

Were you a power ranger?!?!?!

[Ranger]

Were you a power ranger?!?!?!

Hahaha!  No, the show wasn't nearly as kid friendly!    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0291671/