Well done Frank, now there's good news and bad news on the new demo:
Under low wind the AI is now much tougher, i've done a few races and I still win, but I have to race to it rather than just sail out there by myself which is good.
Under high wind I still catch the back of the field up and won by over a minute. I see two quick solutions to this: One is to change the menu description of wind level to also include a description of global difficulty setting: ie: (Low wind = hard / High wind = easy) etc. Another solution might be to give the AI's a simple acceleration/top speed boost based upon the wind factor, it wouldn't actually need much so hopefully wont be visible to the player that the AI is using cheat physics.
There is one issue of concern though, and I cannot be 100% sure if i'm right or not. The new version appears to have a lower framerate. I didn't try it without any AI ( I used the full 9 AI slots ) but I did compare it to the old version under lowish graphics settings and it does seem to be a lower frame rate - but I cannot be completely sure, as there is no onscreen display i'm going by "feel".
I'm using an AMD 2200+ Ghz processor, 512mb 133Mhz Ram and a GeForce 5200 graphics card. I previously ran 1280x1024 with 9 AI and high detail and also it wasn't silky slick I felt it was accepteable, this time I thought "hmmm, I need to cut back the detail setting".
Maybe it's just the nights sleep which has made the difference.
Suggestion for replay mode:
Each "interval" award each blokart a point for position, 10pts for 1st down to 1pt for 10th. On an interval there is an overtake award 100*position points and add 99*position for the interval either side and so on. On an interval where there is a roll or impact with scenery add 250*position points and 249*position for the interval before and 248*position for the interval after and so on down to 1 point. For intervals where the blowkart is off the ground double the points awarded.
Use these points to show which blowkart to follow when in replay mode and you've got yourself a televised race ;)
Under low wind the AI is now much tougher, i've done a few races and I still win, but I have to race to it rather than just sail out there by myself which is good.
Under high wind I still catch the back of the field up and won by over a minute. I see two quick solutions to this: One is to change the menu description of wind level to also include a description of global difficulty setting: ie: (Low wind = hard / High wind = easy) etc. Another solution might be to give the AI's a simple acceleration/top speed boost based upon the wind factor, it wouldn't actually need much so hopefully wont be visible to the player that the AI is using cheat physics.
There is one issue of concern though, and I cannot be 100% sure if i'm right or not. The new version appears to have a lower framerate. I didn't try it without any AI ( I used the full 9 AI slots ) but I did compare it to the old version under lowish graphics settings and it does seem to be a lower frame rate - but I cannot be completely sure, as there is no onscreen display i'm going by "feel".
I'm using an AMD 2200+ Ghz processor, 512mb 133Mhz Ram and a GeForce 5200 graphics card. I previously ran 1280x1024 with 9 AI and high detail and also it wasn't silky slick I felt it was accepteable, this time I thought "hmmm, I need to cut back the detail setting".
Maybe it's just the nights sleep which has made the difference.
Suggestion for replay mode:
Each "interval" award each blokart a point for position, 10pts for 1st down to 1pt for 10th. On an interval there is an overtake award 100*position points and add 99*position for the interval either side and so on. On an interval where there is a roll or impact with scenery add 250*position points and 249*position for the interval before and 248*position for the interval after and so on down to 1 point. For intervals where the blowkart is off the ground double the points awarded.
Use these points to show which blowkart to follow when in replay mode and you've got yourself a televised race ;)