Galactan
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Galactan submitted a new resource:
Gack Tracks - They're tracks! By Gack! In a pack!
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Gack Tracks - They're tracks! By Gack! In a pack!
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- Thread starter Galactan
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Thanks for the Upload!
Hallan
Prince of Coral Kingdom
I can confirm I submitted a mildly exciting and debatably thrilling ghost time for every track present.
I also knew some nerd would blow my times out of the water though, so all of my ghosts instead follow the self-inflicted rule of never once pressing the Item button (meaning no stopping the roulette or manually using rings). That doesn't exactly mean they're pushovers though — challenge yourself to find the best routes in this alternative approach to Time Attack!
I also knew some nerd would blow my times out of the water though, so all of my ghosts instead follow the self-inflicted rule of never once pressing the Item button (meaning no stopping the roulette or manually using rings). That doesn't exactly mean they're pushovers though — challenge yourself to find the best routes in this alternative approach to Time Attack!
Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
GackTrack V1.1
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GackTrack V1.1
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StevenWagner
Member
Thanks for the update.
Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
A new track and more!
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A new track and more!
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Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
V2!! Battle maps and new tracks!
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V2!! Battle maps and new tracks!
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ne_gamer8623
Member
Found two bugs in Brinewater Springs.
#1:
The Player 9 Start is placed in a specific spot that makes the game be unable to determine which waypoint the player is on.
During that time, and until the affected player leaves that player start spot:
#2:
Crossing the start/finish line in a certain way may make the game think the player is at the end of the lap that they had just started and thus trigger the "big waypoint jump" timer and a "Press (Y) to respawn" message.
#1:
The Player 9 Start is placed in a specific spot that makes the game be unable to determine which waypoint the player is on.
During that time, and until the affected player leaves that player start spot:
- The player's remaining distance will be zero.
- All other players will be one place lower than they should be, regardless of if they are in lap 0 or not.
- Once the first player begins the first lap, the game will be unable to calculate who is the leader.
- A CPU player on that player start will almost always idle until 4 seconds after the start of the race.
Even if there are less than 9 players in the race, it is still possible to trigger the bug via respawning after exploding. This may happen if a player who does not have a respawn waypoint ID set goes to the Player 9 Start spot and then explodes and respawns thereafter. However, this does not always happen.
#2:
Crossing the start/finish line in a certain way may make the game think the player is at the end of the lap that they had just started and thus trigger the "big waypoint jump" timer and a "Press (Y) to respawn" message.
ne_gamer8623
Member
More bugs in Brinewater Springs.
#3:
The "big waypoint jump" system can malfunction and incorrectly remove a lap. If this results from going from lap 1 to lap 0, the "Press (Y) to respawn" message will not show up and it will require affected players to do an extra lap. Otherwise, it will display a "Press (Y) to respawn" message and upon pressing the button or after 7 seconds, respawn players to behind the finish line.
#4:
Bug with player positions at the finish line causes lap bonus system to malfunction. Leading a lap may earn 1 point instead of 2 (in certain cases, the player does not get any lap points), and/or finishing a lap in the top-half places may not earn a lap point when it should. This bug can be compounded with another bug where a player has zero remaining distance, but at lap 0.
#3:
The "big waypoint jump" system can malfunction and incorrectly remove a lap. If this results from going from lap 1 to lap 0, the "Press (Y) to respawn" message will not show up and it will require affected players to do an extra lap. Otherwise, it will display a "Press (Y) to respawn" message and upon pressing the button or after 7 seconds, respawn players to behind the finish line.
#4:
Bug with player positions at the finish line causes lap bonus system to malfunction. Leading a lap may earn 1 point instead of 2 (in certain cases, the player does not get any lap points), and/or finishing a lap in the top-half places may not earn a lap point when it should. This bug can be compounded with another bug where a player has zero remaining distance, but at lap 0.
Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
2.1! A new battle map and a new track!
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2.1! A new battle map and a new track!
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Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
HOTFIX AAAAAAAA
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HOTFIX AAAAAAAA
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Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
Midnight hotfix midnight hotfix
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Midnight hotfix midnight hotfix
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Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
2.4 compatibility!
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2.4 compatibility!
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ne_gamer8623
Member
Player position bug from a player infinitely resting at the Player 9 Start in Brinewater Springs is still NOT fixed.
Also, issues with Stereo Mode regarding two courses that change their tune to the "Final Lap" variant.
This bug also affects EXP point gain.
Also, issues with Stereo Mode regarding two courses that change their tune to the "Final Lap" variant.
Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
RC6 tripwire hotfix
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RC6 tripwire hotfix
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ne_gamer8623
Member
In Machine Passage after the second 90-degree right turn, CPU players that take the left path that leads to the trick panel never trick correctly.
Galactan
Member
Galactan updated Gack Tracks with a new update entry:
V2.2! Two new tracks and some changes!
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V2.2! Two new tracks and some changes!
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ne_gamer8623
Member
There is still the issue of the Player 9 Start spot in Brinewater Springs being placed in such a way where it causes the waypoint and player position issues that I mentioned on post number 9 in this thread.
When it comes to EXP however, all players not in the bottom 2 spots will get the correct EXP amount, but the racer in second-to-last will get the EXP for last place despite not actually being in last (e.g. in a 3-player race, 1st will get 1st place EXP even if they are incorrectly listed as 2nd, but 2nd will get 3rd place EXP if they are incorrectly listed as 3rd).
When it comes to EXP however, all players not in the bottom 2 spots will get the correct EXP amount, but the racer in second-to-last will get the EXP for last place despite not actually being in last (e.g. in a 3-player race, 1st will get 1st place EXP even if they are incorrectly listed as 2nd, but 2nd will get 3rd place EXP if they are incorrectly listed as 3rd).
I've played a few of your maps on some occasions and felt compelled to give a bit of feedback. I think a fair bit of your mapping fundamentals are solid, but wanted to give some pointers on some things I've noticed for feedback. This will pertain to your Race maps, I don't feel as qualified to really speak on your Battle Maps but from what I've played they're just fine.
A general running theme with a lot of your maps is that they seem to have low ringcounts as a whole. The nature of 2.4 adding things like stunbirds makes it more important to give players plenty of chances to grab rings in case they get hit and not centralize too much on the existing ring patches. More instances of ring patches, denser ring patches can help here. Or both!
Most of the spoilers below are going to pertain to directioning, but there are a few misc notes here and there. I hope you find this helpful.
You have a capsule here that is fairly straightforward for the leader to grab, drop the orbis and get another item. There should either be more commitment to this, or just reduce the itemcount so the leader isn't getting such a noticeable advantage.
A general running theme with a lot of your maps is that they seem to have low ringcounts as a whole. The nature of 2.4 adding things like stunbirds makes it more important to give players plenty of chances to grab rings in case they get hit and not centralize too much on the existing ring patches. More instances of ring patches, denser ring patches can help here. Or both!
Most of the spoilers below are going to pertain to directioning, but there are a few misc notes here and there. I hope you find this helpful.
(Sidenote, using the Dead Line animated texture behind the glass was very nice. I hadn't thought of doing something like that since you've using a lot of the Operator's Overspace textures with some Shuffle Square/Bigtime Breakdown ones too)
I think a lot of the track flows pretty well, but there's a couple of blind spots:
You're taking this at speed due to the turnstyle - the ceiling is too low here and obscures the Ark Arrow just up ahead. Raising the height here or redesigning the visuals around this place as a whole will make this turn less blind.
Your visuals here, combined with the usage of the Green Ark Arrows unfortunately obscures that this is a split path and that you have to turn left/right. I'd remove the blocks at the top to draw focus solely on the Ark Arrows and knock down the left wall to make the Left Ark Arrow visible.
I think a lot of the track flows pretty well, but there's a couple of blind spots:
You're taking this at speed due to the turnstyle - the ceiling is too low here and obscures the Ark Arrow just up ahead. Raising the height here or redesigning the visuals around this place as a whole will make this turn less blind.
Your visuals here, combined with the usage of the Green Ark Arrows unfortunately obscures that this is a split path and that you have to turn left/right. I'd remove the blocks at the top to draw focus solely on the Ark Arrows and knock down the left wall to make the Left Ark Arrow visible.
I think your directioning here is quite solid, barring htis one exception at the end. The Ark Arrow is not visible at all - it's much further in the turn than it should be. This happens later in the map pack with Skybreaker Blitz.
Otherwise, I will note that I think this level in particular feels like it needs more rings.
Otherwise, I will note that I think this level in particular feels like it needs more rings.
A significant note about this course: I think you need to adjust the contrasting on the road barrier texture you're recoloring from Virtual Highway. In that level, the contrast is mostly black on the floor compared to a hard white for the short wall, or blues + Ark Arrows and occasionally using pure white for road edges. You've got red to bright red and with the limited color palette, it's blending in a lot and making it a hard level to parse even after becoming more familiar with it. It's not helped by the floor and wall sharing a lot of colors which makes for rough directioning.
Both of these shortcuts need some directioning on where to go next. The first does kind of slightly funnel you but the second throws you into a wall. I would make it just flow into the next turn and maybe remove the drop entirely for the latter.
As it stands, I think a lot of the early turns could benefit from signage. The two u-turns at the start, for instance, could use a bit more to guide the player, though I think adjusting your colors will do a lot of work.
I think for here, you can probably use walls instead of the repeated midtexture Crimson Core Xs. I don't think these are terribly helpful and actually should be avoided in favor of things like a green road liner or stripe to mark the end of the road like how Virtual Highway uses a white stripe. The green wall of X just looks a bit tacky in comparison.
Both of these shortcuts need some directioning on where to go next. The first does kind of slightly funnel you but the second throws you into a wall. I would make it just flow into the next turn and maybe remove the drop entirely for the latter.
As it stands, I think a lot of the early turns could benefit from signage. The two u-turns at the start, for instance, could use a bit more to guide the player, though I think adjusting your colors will do a lot of work.
I think for here, you can probably use walls instead of the repeated midtexture Crimson Core Xs. I don't think these are terribly helpful and actually should be avoided in favor of things like a green road liner or stripe to mark the end of the road like how Virtual Highway uses a white stripe. The green wall of X just looks a bit tacky in comparison.
This turn is difficult to parse due to the usage of the midtexture. I would make the midtexture display only from one side like that or make it a wall for the outside portions because it obscures the multi 90 degree turns.
The directioning here is not visible or large enough - you should just use an Ark Arrow. (And honestly, we should probably brightmap these directionals for the next major version...)
Ark Arrows can help in sections like this where the chevrons are getting partially hidden by Tripwire - the existing directioning is insufficient, and unfortunately partly hidden.
The directioning here is not visible or large enough - you should just use an Ark Arrow. (And honestly, we should probably brightmap these directionals for the next major version...)
Ark Arrows can help in sections like this where the chevrons are getting partially hidden by Tripwire - the existing directioning is insufficient, and unfortunately partly hidden.
I do wonder if a fastfall Ark Arrow could be beneficial here, though there's enough of a gap between them that fastfalling could easily kill you. Found this one easy to parse for this but I'm familiar with it from netgames prior. It's nice to recognize a lot of the textures that were leveraged from elsewhere and using it to create something evocative of GX. Well done!
This is unfortunately completely blind and taking it will likely throw the player into a wall. I think you probably want to remove the waterfall here and add an Ark Arrow so the player taking the shortcut knows to make a hard turn to the right.
Running out of image space but the right trick panel section should have an Ark Arrow to designate which direction to trick.
The trick panel here is misaligned - the bright end should face away from the player (or closest to the player with me facing backwards here).
This crops up a few times in your maps (it happens in Machine Heart) - it's better to place Ark Arrows where the player will see it flowing into the turn rather than strictly in the center. You see the Right arrow here too late when it should be visible midway through the left turn.
I will say one thing that sticks out a bit visually is that this jumps from the dark grey to pure blue and it doesn't work as well IMO. I think going to a lighter grey might still sell that you've just exiting a storm, but still in the clouds (or maybe have it fade from grey to a blue).
The trick panel here is misaligned - the bright end should face away from the player (or closest to the player with me facing backwards here).
This crops up a few times in your maps (it happens in Machine Heart) - it's better to place Ark Arrows where the player will see it flowing into the turn rather than strictly in the center. You see the Right arrow here too late when it should be visible midway through the left turn.
I will say one thing that sticks out a bit visually is that this jumps from the dark grey to pure blue and it doesn't work as well IMO. I think going to a lighter grey might still sell that you've just exiting a storm, but still in the clouds (or maybe have it fade from grey to a blue).
Definitely feels like a difficult level. This was something I hadn't played before and thought I could see a few places where people would get tripped up, this one was kind of blind due to how quickly it comes up. It does flow into the turn just fine.
That being said, you're going to want to use a brightmapped palette texture here and for anywhere this is used (probably just ~B000). The faded white doesn't do enough compared to the Ark Arrow.
That being said, you're going to want to use a brightmapped palette texture here and for anywhere this is used (probably just ~B000). The faded white doesn't do enough compared to the Ark Arrow.
This map feels like it runs into a similar problem as Program Shutdown where a lot of the colors and shapes are shared between the floor and walls (and sometimes, the same texture without things like changing the brightness of the texture itself, which we very much tend to avoid doing for visibility reasons). It makes things harder to parse and I think using more contrasting colors might benefit you more here. Adjusting the brightness from the main play area to out of bounds would also help, and I'd recommend looking at Vantablack Violet and Aquatic Cathedral to see how brightness was used to make things stick out there; too much of this level is of the same brightness and it creates a bit of an SRB2K-esque effect that makes your visuals a bit weaker.
I think I get the gist of this, it's meant to be like the course itself got twisted, but it creates a bit of a strange sadness corner on the left side. This area also uses the same texture on the floor and walls which I'd caution against.
This area feels like it needs some directioning - the next turn has an Ark Arrow IIRC for the same kind of turn and I don't think the Rings do enough to motion the player at speed to go right.
I think I get the gist of this, it's meant to be like the course itself got twisted, but it creates a bit of a strange sadness corner on the left side. This area also uses the same texture on the floor and walls which I'd caution against.
This area feels like it needs some directioning - the next turn has an Ark Arrow IIRC for the same kind of turn and I don't think the Rings do enough to motion the player at speed to go right.
You have a capsule here that is fairly straightforward for the leader to grab, drop the orbis and get another item. There should either be more commitment to this, or just reduce the itemcount so the leader isn't getting such a noticeable advantage.
A lot of this map is very tight turns, but the opening area in particular feels like a tough parse that could use some Ark Arrows. There's a lot going on and there isn't anything that could draw the player's eyes, and Ark Arrows straight ahead like in the opening shot or the next turn could help. The back half is an easier parse.
You should consider brightmapping your chevrons (I do not recognize these in particular from basegame, are these KAR rips?). They don't stick out as well as they ought to IMO and can make sections harder to parse if you're not going to use Ark Arrows. Combine this with darkening the sector around it and you'll have a much more visible directioning tool.
I think you've got to add some kind of directioning here, because this turn is really difficult to parse due to the game speed of RR vs KAR and how you turn.
I think you've got to add some kind of directioning here, because this turn is really difficult to parse due to the game speed of RR vs KAR and how you turn.
