SUPER STRIKER GP v1.3

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker submitted a new resource:

SUPER STRIKER GP - Get ready to race in both classic and brand-new high-speed tracks!

View attachment 133983-TRAILER-

-TRACK LIST-

Spoiler

View attachment 133984

-STAFF ROLL-

Spoiler: STAFF GHOST PLAYERS

UnBigO
Sebby
Cole
Caibur
Mayo
NightWolf
Yuniki
tri
toddoestuff
Craggy
Alphy
AstraAegis
haya_
Teckni_cal
Freaky Mutant Man
Calibur
MobyKong/WRD
KnownLedge
Magi
KyonBrace
Timo Bababooey
Piksqu
Begine9

Spoiler: TESTERS AND ASSISTANCE

Grit Mountain and Dynamite Wilderness...

Read more about this resource...

 

[Diggle]

Welcome to releases!

 

[Chengi]

Happy to see this finally get a release. I had an enjoyable romp through about every course -- the layouts are very fun, and I appreciate the decent variety of challenge you have across the entire pack.

I have some per-track feedback -- you're free to take or leave any of these suggestions, but I feel they're worth addressing to some extent. I'll be seperating these into a post per cup since the MB doesn't allow more than 10 attachments per post.

Spoiler: Grit Mountain

The choice of sand texture against the wall, in combination with the abrupt right angle turn after the slopes makes some of the turns hard to read because of the lack of color contrast and reaction time. The camera also works against the player's ability to sightread for sections like this:

I also feel like the slope topology near the end could be adjusted ever so slightly so that turns feel a little smoother to take, but I'm not 100% sure if that lines up with your vision.

Spoiler: Star Drifter Course

I think my only real issue with this one is this one turn right here. It's a downwards turn that lacks the proper signage on where to enter. You could probably add a leading line or an arrow sector on the floor to tell the player where to go:

Spoiler: Voltage Viper Challenge

This one section in particular is... a little hard to parse on a first read. It could use an Ark Arrow right in the center so the player at least knows where to be facing after the drop:

Big readability concern right here. There's a sloped midtexture that at least conveys a turn, but the intended direction is actually unclear when approaching it at slower speeds. Could use an Ark Arrow or some other form of signage.

Post automatically merged: Aug 4, 2024

Continuing from my last post:

Spoiler: Ridge Turnpike

There's some sectors with selective slope physics properties, namely this turn:

Typically, the player should be expected to use rings and counter-steer against the slope to maintain their speed, but the abrupt handling difference is hard to expect with no conveyance, here. I'd just leave them as physics slopes to maintain consistency throughout the course.


The Moon Panel seems like there isn't much purpose to taking it since nothing feels like it benefits from the added air control; I'd consider either removing them or at the very least adding something in the air that properly takes advantage of the gimmick.


You can also fall back onto this spiral right before the finish line. You can fix this with a one-sided respawn linedef or a respawn fof:

Spoiler: Polychrome Polygon

I personally wasn't able to tell these were boosters due to the lack of visual seperation between these and the rest of the map's visual design -- it's easy to assume these are just sector scenery instead of a gameplay mechanic:

The Moon Panels here, like in Ridge Turnpike, also feel like there's little incentive to take them.

Spoiler: Dynamite Wilderness

Same issue as Ridge Turnpike. Selective non-slope physics sectors, namely on this one FOF turn:

Spoiler: Virtua Racing Big Forest

The lack of thok barrier definitely contributes to a significant performance issue when most of the map is visible. I go from triple digits to 35-45 alone whenever I'm anywhere near the finish line.

You could cut out a lot of the performance issues by just making this big sky/pit sector in the middle a thok barrier so that nothing behind it is rendered when it isn't important to the player.

That's about it. The only thing I have to say about the Daytona Cup is that I feel as though those maps in particular could benefit from directional lighting in their level header so that walls and turns are a little easier to read. Gargoyle Castle is also really fun, though I'm not an expert on battle and can't really provide much feedback on that one other than "I like it."

Really good stuff, looking forward to seeing more in the future.

 

[ArcadeStriker]

I have some per-track feedback -- you're free to take or leave any of these suggestions, but I feel they're worth addressing to some extent. I'll be seperating these into a post per cup since the MB doesn't allow more than 10 attachments per post.

Just took a look at this and, first of all, the feedback is VERY appreciated. Aside from knowing that its from one of the best on this, I know well that recommendations like these are what me improve these bit by bit- I still think about a lot of changes that I ended up doing to my ArcadePak maps that were indeed beneficial in the long run thanks to player feedback [RIP PPZ Bridge you won't be missed ] so I'm always grateful of getting this kind of feedback to polish on places where I didn't think of or couldn't figure out even with extensive testing.

Going by these one by one...

Spoiler: Grit Mountain

As the first track I ever completed and released, only getting a particular adjustment that the standalone version didn't get [buffing the shortcut's dash ring speed as- from what I had got in feedback in another server, was slower than driving up the main path at first]...yeah, I get how no decoration tweaking since then can influence conveyance on that one turn. Should address by playing with the textures so that there's a better conveyance between roads and walls [maybe Savannah Citadel's might help me on this...]

Something funny is that the first test versions had simple sector slope climbs without no physics, to which Ashnal recommended me not to do, which is how I ended up doing the uphill with all UDMF textures instead...and then Ashnal got me to redo the thing again with more vertexes in order to make it smoother.

I find it even funnier now since, to take that second screenshot of yours for an example, it looks like I'm going to need to do a Round 3 with redoing until it can look smoother to sight-read and drive [to avoid flinging off slopes at the end- which can happen]

Spoiler: Voltage Viper Challenge

Huh. It's weird that, with how I was at one point finding turns to throw Ark Arrows at for signaling, I somehow didn't think in adding an Ark Arrow for that second screenshot area. Will address.

The first one I also get, but in hindsight I think I didn't figure out on placing one there because of how I was on that "let em cook" mindset on whether to allow players to fastfall, triangle dash, or drift into the springs [like that Press Garden trick]...but I guess that in any scenario having an Ark Arrow pointing to the right should be good courtesy [in the case I don't know whether to add a fastfall sign alongside it or just the direction arrow].

Spoiler: Virtua Racing Big Forest

That one is going to likely be an easy fix but one that I'll need someone else to help me on for, because while this middle sky sector DID work as a Thok Barrier in Kart, for some reason in the conversion, even when I set the floor and ceiling to the same sky texture and height, doesn't act like a thok barrier. But again, it should be a simple fix to do when I get a hand with that.

• 

• Star Drifter Course: One slapdash idea could be to throw ANOTHER Ark Arrow that points to the left- maybe at the side of the [shortcut item needed] ark arrow on top of the shortcut, but my first thought and possible idea to go with [...or maybe both?] could be to make an arrow on the floor with sector art. Maybe a simple left turn one, or maybe, more appropiately, a left-into-right turn signal.
• RTZ/DWZ/PPZ: No physics leftovers from Kart...whoops. Feels funny when also remembering that thing I mentioned about Ashnal and Grit Mountain, but for consistency sake yeah it makes sense that I remove those out with how every other track, including rest of mine, play with physics as intended. Could place a 30/40 ringbox on top of those Moon Panels to add that missing incentive [aside from building a mid-air drift, which is what I first notice and thought it would be useful to have them there for]. The boosters always were like that in PPZ, but I guess I could try and maybe do a texture that looks more like a booster [or maybe add a green glow effect on the edges].
• Daytona Cup: Another thing where I'll go and get myself acquainted with help- haven't used Directional Lightning before so I can get it sounds like something pretty useful [and would look nice] but have to learn first lol

All in all, it's fantastic to hear that you enjoyed these tracks that much- and for letting me know ASAP about this valuable feedback that is mainly related with conveyance of all things [which is important] to address them. Putting aside whether I take little or more than I should with the Grit Mountain reslope process, the fixes here sound that I can address fairly quickly. So whether I end up making a v1.1 with these changes or maybe a v1.2 only because I speedran a track just to justify an update with otherwise only having [important signal] tweaks to the tracks.

I already have a few more tracks in the works- none still in a fully decorated state yet, but is better than saying [I have more tracks planned but I haven't started any ]

-THANKS FOR PLAYING-

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

v1.1 - The quality of life and bugfix update

First of all, no new tracks added yet. Sorry, had already been overthinking a lot with things to patch up and waiting between doing some new ghosts and if there were any more reports of things to fix in v1.0.

This update focuses specifically in feedback and reported unintended bugs/skips I received since this released. Hopefully this should be more stable overall, and with this done, I should be able to move on bringing new stuff for the next update [as I didn't want to postpone this...

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[pizzano_sugaryspire]

W H E R E A R E T H E S P E C I A L S T A G E S /j

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

v1.1 HOTFIX - oops

Sorry, quite the freak accident that there were a few of the intended cut patches and one particular change that didn't work as expected.

• Certain cuts that still could happen with the Gardentop were now patched harder to be impossible to do. A few spots in some of those maps that didn't have anti-cut patches now got patched, too.
• Fixed the divider in Mermaid Lake not having the Death Pit flag
• A cheeky cut in Volcanic Viper Challenge has been patched...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

ROUND 2 [v1.2] - 3 new race tracks + 1 new battle map

Kept ya waiting, huh?
Here's finally three brand new maps to join the party. And a triumphant return of a beloved track from SRB2Kart ArcadePak.

NEW MAPS:
Red Rage Highway - Voltage Cup's new 4th Track
Central City Plaza - Voltage Cup's new 2nd Battle/Prison Map
Sunset Slalom - Supercharged Cup's only track [atm]
Snowdust Valley - ArcadePak's new 1st Track

TESTERS/FEEDBACK:
Yoshi
Eldog
RetroStation
Craggy
Cole
Yuniki

GHOSTS FOR NEW...

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[scopica]

Once again, I am immensely jealous of your sheer speed of putting maps together.

 

[BlakDragon]

Awesome lineup of tracks, I like them all!

One tiny problem, though: the music/source for Snowdust Valley doesn't display.

 

[Gab2022]

snowdust valley's song name doesn't show up

 

[ArcadeStriker]

snowdust valley's song name doesn't show up

Awesome lineup of tracks, I like them all!

One tiny problem, though: the music/source for Snowdust Valley doesn't display.

Apologies for that- before the final release I had replaced the original OGG file I was using in place of a module tracker version of the song for a smaller filesize...but forgot to change the name of the entry in MUSICDEF.

The track name is Flying Together by Firebird Phoenix. The missing song name in-game will be corrected whenever there is a new update...

...But as I was writing this, something that needs to be hotfixed was discovered...so yeah, that actually will get addresed faster than expected lol

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

ROUND 2 [v1.2] HOTFIX - unforeseen consequences of letting the sink in

not again

Sunset Slalom's sink capsules replaced with orbi capsules.
This is due to an accidental yet insane exploit those sinks could cause that was only discovered recently...so unfortunately, those sinks gotta sink into the ocean now.

On the flipside, there were a few ghosts added [Mayo, Ahmed Ashraf, Cole] to the new tracks, as well as restoring a missing ghost from UnBigO for Snowdust Valley [and removing a duplicated RRH ghost from his], and the missing name in-game...

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[A Psyduck]

What's this about the sinks? I haven't seen anyone use them, and they seem too situationally specific to be useful.

 

[ArcadeStriker]

What's this about the sinks? I haven't seen anyone use them, and they seem too situationally specific to be useful.

There used to be two sink capsules in Sunset Slalom at the start of the stage, which meant that you could actually use them if you went for them.

But for some strange reason, while I haven't looked into the specifics of it yet, I had got at least two clips of really weird things happening from getting hit by a sink or even hitting yourself with a sink at the start that basically turned into accidental big exploits [some sort of ghost state that made you respawn if you approached a pit, pushing you ahead more often that intended]

TL;DR: Apparently during Position[?] or so, using the sinks could leave a player in a glitch state that doubled as an accidental exploit. Or something like that. Whether that gets fixed in 2.4 or not, the map will probably stay with no sink capsules from now on just for good measure.

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

ROUND 2 [v1.2] HOTFIX 2 - snowdust valley why do you do this to me

This hotfix is intented to solve the issues with Snowdust Valley's finish line ocasionally refusing to count a lap properly for some reason. Honorable mentions to SeasideDoe, metalhydra273 and ArtoMeister for reporting this.

The finish linedef now is inside a sector with the finish line texture instead of at the edge of it without any split linedefs, as well as the finish texture now extending to the offroad areas, and the start waypoints were enlarged a nudge in case it was an issue...

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[FXG]

I accidentally came across a possibly unintentional shortcut in Sunset Slalom Zone, I found it funny

 

[ArcadeStriker]

I accidentally came across a possibly unintentional shortcut in Sunset Slalom Zone, I found it funny

Will patch this as there will be a new hotfix coming up today [the one from a few hours ago today didn't quite address the problem it was supposed to, but I figured out now what was it], thank you

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

v1.2 HOTFIX 3 - please let this be the last one

I didn't want to force y'all to redownload everything AGAIN but turns out that the fix I tried in hotfix 2 didn't quite reliably fix it because it actually was an issue with a few waypoints accidentally tripping on anti-cheat lap protection

This time, I really hope that it's truly fixed, because I checked that the adjusted waypoints didn't cause that error again whenever going under the first jump and last bridge...and according to debugwaypoints they don't...

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[ArcadeStriker]

ArcadeStriker updated SUPER STRIKER GP with a new update entry:

ROUND 3 [v1.3] IS HERE

SUPER STRIKER GP v1.3
- ROUND 3 - Changelog

NEW MAPS:
View attachment 145727SEGA Rally Desert 95: Original Port based off SEGA Rally Championship
Ancient King Road: Original Custom Track
Backroom Velocity: Returning Track from ArcadePak

Ancient King Road textures are from SRB2 Community Asset Pack

All of these have been added to the Supercharged Cup in the...

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