Ballistic NG - Wipeout fan project

[bigsnake]

Join us on Discord - we're on all the time!
(https://discord.gg/0136l5AIRn7eiT70A)
DOWNLOAD
Download Game (http://store.steampowered.com/app/473770)
Non-Steam Download (major releases only) (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases)
Download Soundtrack (https://soundcloud.com/vonsnake/sets/ballisticng-ost)

SOCIAL MEDIA AND OTHERS
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Ballistic-NG-548297861979573/)
Twitter (https://twitter.com/BallisticNG?lang=en-gb)
Itch.IO (http://vonsnake.itch.io/ballisticng)
IndieDB (http://www.indiedb.com/games/ballisticng)
Wiki (http://ballisticng.wikia.com/wiki/BallisticNG_Wikia)

This is the thread where BallisticNG started! BallisticNG is a free love letter to the original Wipeout trilogy, you can find it on Steam using the links above. There is also a discord server (https://discord.gg/0136l5AIRn7eiT70A) if you want to talk with us directly.

About (steam description)
BallisticNG is a free anti-gravity racing game that takes the genre back to basics and aims to deliver a similar experience to the original Wipeout games on the Playstation One. Coupled with the gameplay is an artstyle that seeks to completely mimic that retro 90s Playstation look with a few extras thrown in.

You are a pilot in the 2159 Anti-Gravity League and you can choose to race for a variety of corporations all looking to get their own outcomes from the race. The game comes with a large array of tracks with five increasingly fast speed classes. Each team is configured for different playstyles, all have their pros and cons and it’s up to you to find which one you like!

Features:

14 tracks all in unique locations
13 teams setup for different play styles
5 gamemodes - Arcade, Time Trial, Practice, Tournament and Survival
A big arsenal of weapons to slow and damage your opponents
Cockpit view - each ship has a unique cockpit!
A soundtrack full of songs inspired by electronic music from the 90s and early 2000’s
Modding Tools - Custom tracks, custom ships, custom sounds, custom music, workshop support and more to come in the future!



Dev Branch
The dev branch is a branch of the game on Steam which is updated nearly every day, sometimes multiple times a day. It's the best way to try out all of the latest additions and changes as they happen.
To join the dev branch right click the game on Steam and then go to properties, the betas tab and then enter the password PsygnosisWereCoolGuys, click check code and if you entered it correctly then you'll be able to select Developer from the the dropdown menu. Once you've selected that branch the game will then update.

[JFthebestJan]

this is really awesome thinking, unfortunately i cannot help coding, cause i don't know how to code. but i could help as a testpilot ;D
i'll follow your project that's for sure. maybe Apple Guy Cipher can help with the coding, i think he's studying this kind of stuff. obviously i cannot spewk for him, but he's a nice guy so who knows...

[Hellfire_WZ]

...the original Wipeout games are now classed as abandonware

No they are not. Sony holds the copyright for all Wipeout branding and content, including the original games. This is why the SSGX team had to remove their remake of Porto Kora from their game and cannot use ANYTHING from the Wipeout games.


This project has no intent to break Copyright

A complete remake of a game without the copyright holders' permission IS a breach of copyright. At the very least you would need to make sure that none of the original names, logos or trademarks are being used.

[bigsnake]

Damn, sorry Hellfire my bad. I've amended the copyright section of the original post and added some more information about a few topics I hadn't mentioned. I should have worded it a lot differently then I did, apologies for that.

[Jonny]

First of all, the product would be free and bigsnake won't focus on profits of any kind.
Secondly if he remakes everything from scratch it would be his very own work.
Third, in doubt change the name, put a simple space inbetween.
Forth, Idk but are content part of the brand? Again, change names.
Fifth, would Sony give a damn?
Sixth, how many story elements do you bring in? May I could help you with that. (I can't do much coding though).

[CJ_Denton]

Fifth, would Sony give a damn?

There have been some fan made remakes like this that have been shut down by the owners of the original IP,like Metal Gear or Chrono Trigger,so the possibility that Sony isn't okay with this kind of thing exists

[bigsnake]

like Metal Gear or Chrono Trigger,so the possibility that Sony isn't okay with this kind of thing exists
Those are much larger franchises though, and with a new Metal Gear right around the corner it would understandably be in Sony's and Konami's best interest to try and get all the attention directed at the real game. You are very right though and there is the possibility Sony won't approve. Wipeout is a much smaller franchise that isn't exactly cashing in anything for Sony right now so the likelihood of them stopping this project would hopefully be much slimmer. If Sony see this project and decide they want to tell me no then fair enough, like I mentioned I'll rename the project and swap out anything that's copyrighted for original content. Unofficial remakes are definitely a large topic of controversy and I understood what could happen if I posted this thread.


Sixth, how many story elements do you bring in? May I could help you with that. (I can't do much coding though).
Since I am quite weary of copyright I'm not looking to really make any suggestions about the story in the game, although if you can think of any alternative stories that could fit well then that would be great!


this is really awesome thinking, unfortunately i cannot help coding, cause i don't know how to code. but i could help as a testpilot ;D
Sweet! People who can test the game is always very useful, more useful then you might first think :P

[AGgamer]

May I please make a few suggestions? Ive been thinking about what a remake of 2097 would be like for a really long time now.

As far as gameplay is concerned, do you think you could simply make the game fast? What I mean is make phantom exceed the sound barrier. maybe 2097 kph? ;) I say this because Wipeout has never had a topspeed exceeding 800 kph. just make the track wide, 20 km long, buff up the speed and stuff. If it doesn't work out that's fine though.

Story. oh my. This gets me excited because I have been working on a Wipeout fanfiction since November. my Idea is to basically "reboot" the story; fusing Wipeout 1 with 2097. I have a lot written down, but it's still only a draft and it's not ready to be posted in full. I can summarize my basic idea if you want, but I don't really know how in-depth you want this remake's story to be.

[bigsnake]

Making the tracks really wide is a bit over the top, it would take away one factor why Wipeout is quite hard to begin with and make it more like FZero, even at higher speed it just wouldn't feel right. Respect for the idea though. Speed is a top priority. At the moment I have the four speed classes in but I'll happily add more. A work around for the speed making the ships uncontrollable (which would warrant the wider tracks) is to just increase the ships grip per speed class, I'm already doing this with Venom and Flash having a lower grip then Rapier and Phantom. The sensitivity of airbrakes is also determined by how fast the ship is traveling, so going faster will pretty much just rely on making sure you have extremely good reaction time until the speed becomes ridiculous.

If you think your fanfiction is ready to be summarized then post it, it's always interesting to see what people come up with :) In terms of the story in-game it will more then likely be about the same as the actual game where the story isn't given to you directly, but you can get a gist of all the basic events through advertisements (like in Wipeout 2048 where you have messages about Piranha possibly leaving the AGRC).

[TheXTR09]

Great! A true classic Wipeout remake.

We have AGR2280 that I'd call Re'lapsE" referring WipEout's slang term in the 90's (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wipeout&defid=3575969), and Wipeout Rebirth...Future Perfect?

Realistic, car-like ships, old school dance music and an overwhelming city: what's not to like?

Oh, I would help out in concepts and design consulting. Just look at this HUD I made. (https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bzb7qJj2T0riRGF0cnlSSDFMWGs&usp=sharing)

[AGgamer]

So, i spent about an hour summarizing my fanfiction and I got logged out and lost my progress. So without further adieu... here it is, copied and pasted from a word doc.

I want my story to be character driven (something the games are desperately needing imo), but since my plot is still being written I’ll post the universe’s history instead as it will be easier.

So, the wipeout universe in my story is similar to the canonical one but tweaked to make more sense and work with a story better.

in 2030 AG-systems was founded by Pierre Belmondo to experiment with quantum levitation tech, and in 2035 revealed the world’s first Anti-Gravity (AG) vehicle. Belmondo believed AG-technology would one day benefit all mankind. Shortly after, AGS migrated to Japan, leaving Europe without AG technology. This resulted in the formation of FEISAR in 2038. Meanwhile in Japan, there was a huge falling out between a few AGS executives disagreeing with Belmondo’s decision to remain in Japan. One believed in Belmondo’s ideology about AG-tech benefiting all mankind and moved to the US to found Auricom, another moving to Russia and forming Qirex desiring to milk AG-tech for profit. And so the Anti-Gravity revolution ensued, flying vehicles replacing the slower motor ones.

In 2044 Belmondo proposed the idea of racing AG vehicles and began preparations for the 2048 Anti-Gravity Racing Championships (AGRC). FEISAR and Auricom both joined in as well as Pir-hana, who traded braking and shield tech for AG tech. Qirex however was failing financially and was sold to Overtel Corporation. Overtel then transformed Qirex into a racing team for the AGRC. Pir-hana left the sport before the end of the 2050 AGRC and vanished for no apparent reason (I’m still working on it).

After the sport exploded in popularity Belmondo founded the Anti-Gravity Racing League (AGRL), firmly establishing it as a true sport. To get an idea of how popular the sport is, you can’t walk down the street without overhearing someone talking about it. The popularity led to profit, more than AG-systems needed in fact. AG-Systems then founded the “Belmondo Foundation” a massive charity fund that uses a large amount of AG-systems’ profits. In addition to bringing the world together in sport, the belmondo foundation is just another way AG tech benefits mankind.

My story takes place in 2097, so the sport has existed for a few decades now. The main plot mainly involves Overtel’s attempt to own the league by buying AG-systems. They plan to do this by frequently destroying AGS’s craft in races, forcing them into bankruptcy through replacement expenses. Then Overtel will have all the money and power that goes with owning the world’s most popular sport.

My characters involve to original cast of Wipeout 1. Arial Tetsuo, Arian Tetsuo, Anastasia “Stacy” Cherovoski, Kel Solaar, Paul Jackson, Sofia de la Rente, and John Dekka. Daniel Chang is a character of interest from earlier in the sport’s history, he won’t actively appear in the story. AG-system’s second pilot will be replaced with Natasha Belmondo from Wipeout Fusion, Granddaughter of Pierre Belmondo himself. I will also have characters for team Piranha: Myima Tsarong from fusion, and an OC: Jann Zico, named after the other Piranha pilot in fusion but his last name changed to reference the “beat Zico” trophy. There are other characters such as Yuuki Tetsuo (the twin’s father), James Belmondo (son of Pierre), an Overtel representative, etc.

I have detailed character profiles for everyone, but that would be way too long to include in this one post I think. I’ll post it if you want though. I hope I haven’t bored you too much. ;)

[Hellfire_WZ]

First of all, the product would be free and bigsnake won't focus on profits of any kind.

Irrelevant, you don't have to be making money to be in breach of copyright.


Secondly if he remakes everything from scratch it would be his very own work.

Unless his assets have a distinct likeness to the originals, then it is also a breach of copyright


Third, in doubt change the name, put a simple space inbetween.

Nowhere near enough, names that bear a distinct similarity would also fall under copyright law.


Forth, Idk but are content part of the brand? Again, change names.

If you mean things like track layouts, I'd imagine they would as the designs are owned by Sony. Less so if the environments are very different and the name is changed though.


Fifth, would Sony give a damn?

Maybe they will, maybe they won't. I'm not willing to put this forum at risk on a gamble.

I'm not saying "don't do this" by any means, all I'm asking is that you make sure you aren't potentially treading on toes in the process, because ultimately the responsibility would fall on me for allowing this forum to be a hub for it.

[Jonny]

I have seen a lot of unlicensed Formula One-inspired games where only one or two letters were changed in names.
Include a name editor to the game, that's what Infogramms has done with their first Grand Prix game. False names and a in game name editor.

About the fanfic: It is good, but shouldn't a remake also contain the original canon.

[JABBERJAW]

The physics test looked fantastic, like the old games with no side shift. I also like the thin tracks. Do you have pitch control in, bringing the ship a bit higher off the track like the old games, and also controlling the ship in the air, for softer landings, farther/shorter jumps etc?

[vincoof]

I don’t want to sound mean, but I agree with Hellfire. There’s a thin line between inspiration and copyright infringement. On WipeoutZone we have nothing against supporting WipEout-inspired projects like SSGX (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?28-SlipStream-GX) or AGR2280 (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9411-AGR2280-A-Wipeout-inspired-racing-game). If you rename the game, the ships and everything it should be fine. I’m not sure about the track layouts. I mean, if someone creates an oval layout, is it a violation to the Indianapolis track? :p As for the physics, it should be fine if you don’t reverse engineer physics from the original game.

Which leads me to the next point: if the physics have changed, doesn’t it look weird for something that’s supposed to feel like WipE'out"? I think the game is what it is mostly thanks to its physics (with its pros and cons). If you don’t get exactly the same feeling, it might be a good racing game (WipEout sequels all have different engines and most of them look fantastic) but it just won’t be WipEout.

[JABBERJAW]

Keep the game going, but change the name, that way there will be no trouble. Keep it Wipeout in spirit. Looking at what you have done I have no doubt you have a great game in the making.

[bigsnake]

I'm not saying "don't do this" by any means, all I'm asking is that you make sure you aren't potentially treading on toes in the process, because ultimately the responsibility would fall on me for allowing this forum to be a hub for it.

No problem. I'll do my best to make sure that I don't put this forum and you in a bad situation, that's the absolute last thing I want to happen. For starters I will change the name, for now I'll just put a hyphen in between the name but if need be then it can always change more drastically. I'm open for ideas, I've mentioned this under all the quotes.


I don’t want to sound mean, but I agree with Hellfire. There’s a thin line between inspiration and copyright infringement

Man that's not mean at all, I get where you and Hellfire are coming from completely and I am willing to take steps in a different direction to ensure that everyone is appeased here.


I’m not sure about the track layouts. I mean, if someone creates an oval layout, is it a violation to the Indianapolis track?

Yeah I'm not exactly sure if you can copyright a layout, the names however yes definatly. If other names are changing then track names will have to change too.


if the physics have changed, doesn’t it look weird for something that’s supposed to feel like WipE'out"? I think the game is what it is mostly thanks to its physics (with its pros and cons). If you don’t get exactly the same feeling, it might be a good racing game (WipEout sequels all have different engines and most of them look fantastic) but it just won’t be WipEout.

That's why I want to release an early physics test as soon as possible. I've worked with recreating Wipeout physics enough that I have somewhat of an idea how to get a Wipeout feel, but that's just an opinion without everyone else pitching in and giving their thoughts too.


The physics test looked fantastic, like the old games with no side shift. I also like the thin tracks. Do you have pitch control in, bringing the ship a bit higher off the track like the old games, and also controlling the ship in the air, for softer landings, farther/shorter jumps etc?

Pitching is the one thing I still need to add, it will pretty much be exactly what you just said :)

This is going to be lengthy, so let me get the short part out first:
In the likely event that this project changes there are going to need to be changes. As this is a game for you guys and also because I'm terrible with creativity please let me know about any name changes and features you want/don't want to see in the game.

Now for the lengthy bit, please correct me if I am wrong on any of this. I've already mentioned what the game will be doing to stay within somewhat of a "safe zone" so I won't repeat it. However, while I do completely understand and respect what copyright infringement is and how this plays into the role of how it could on the off chance endanger this forum, the likelihood of anything negative coming from a cease and desist from Sony is pretty much Zero in this case, it just means the project can't then use copyrighted material. I appreciate Hellfire's role and dedication as admin to this forum and as mentioned above I will not do anything that endangers him or this forum, I may only lurk it for the most part but this forum means just as much to me as it does anyone else here. When it comes down to how Sony would react to this project, seeing as how Wipeout is no longer much of a source of income for them and that no future games are coming in the foreseeable future, plus coupled with the fact that this project stands no financial threat to Sony and that I'll even go to the length to advertise the original games then I don't see why Sony would even begin to care. Now obviously that's just a guess, Sony might feel otherwise and decide to tell me to stop, but in the likelihood of that I'm not seeing any reason why this would affect the forum. If this project stood some sort of threat to Sony then yeah alright, this forum could end up in a bit of a pickle. I understand these problems also inherently fall onto Hellfire which is why I'm remaining so open to changes and holding back on making any content right now, it's not fair that Hellfire would have to deal with something that on the slim chance could happen as a result of me

When it comes to a project like this there isn't anything illegal providing that the creator(s) are not receiving any form of income and that the project doesn't generate any sort of revenue (and doesn't use copyrighted assets, exactly why I put that disclaimer above the progress video mentioning said assets will never be any releases of the project). Naturally that also means that there's nothing illegal with Sony then telling me to stop. It's their franchise and their rules at the end of the day, and I understand any action taken against this project. Now in terms of names the project will for now be renamed Wipe-Out Rebirth, not the best solution but it will do for now. If anyone has any better names then like I said, let me know because I'll happily change anything. I don't want to start any arguments around copyright because that will be getting silly, I want to avoid running into as many issues as possible and will make required changes if there is any sight of anything that could go wrong.

[TheXTR09]

It's such a shame companies are getting so tight-assed just to squeeze every bit of profit for their product they distribute. Of course if I'm made a game and if someone broke my copyright rule, there is a chance to take legal action, but it all comes down to do I want it to. If the violator in question is actually promoting the past games, I would have actually glad to oblige.

It's quite a cynic-idealist problem. We aren't quite sure what kind does Sony stand, best to play safe. But seeing this game is made as a tribute to the first-ever "grown-ups' game" for thr PS1, I really hope Sony would understand.

[Jonny]

Let's be open as long as there is no trouble. If there is trouble, continue in secret.
Ironically, it could be like the Foundation for Anti-Gravity Research (we), lead by Pierre Belmondo (bigsnake) after AG technology (the game) get's officially disbanded by the World Technology Symposium (Sony). Doing this in secret, closing this thread for people under ~20 posts and "selling" the product under the table to people of our trust, like a game that is on the index*.
If I had the money I already had bought that brand.

*In Germany, the index is a list of games and movies that aren't allowed to get sold.

[bigsnake]

That would be pretty cool actually, it won't ever happen for obvious reasons though :P

First Physics Test is available!
Grab it here - https://db.tt/ICbnC7EJ

The track provided is in no way perfect, it's only a track for people to try out the physics after all. If you fall off the track then you will be lifted back onto it (the actual model for what lifts you back onto the track isn't in yet). Just a reminder that nothing in this test contains anything that is copyrighted. All content with the exception of audio (from Freesound) is original. The physics are also not complete by any means, let me know what you think and how they can be improved!

You can change the speed class by pressing 1- 4.

Default controls are:
Keyboard
Accelerate - Space
Steer - Left/Right Arrows
Pitch - Up/Down Arrows
Airbrakes - Q/E

Gamepad (defaults to Xbox 360 controller)
Accelerate - A
Steer/Pitch - Left Analog Stick
Airbrakes - Triggers

[AGgamer]

About the fanfic: It is good, but shouldn't a remake also contain the original canon.

If this is a die-hard "has to be exactly like the original but with new features, physics and graphics" remake than yes. But if it's a reboot, certainly not. Wipeout has always lacked in the story department (probably why they never tell it to you in-game. Story isn't the focus and may not Studio Liverpool's strong point anyways), so if we were going to reboot wipeout 2097 or 3, we may as well give it the story it never had. Besides, as I said my story follows the canon closely, the main changes involve the wipeout 1 cast existing for 2097, and AG-systems owning the league (which I renamed the AGRL). I have nods to the canon throughout the story too, all I plan to do enrich the wipeout universe's lore to make it more story friendly. :)

[bigsnake]

Alright so I've been up all night researching my ass off and contemplating and have come to a conclusion. I'm not going to gamble around legal matters and make this project a complete remake of the original Wipeout games. Having a HD version of the origins of Wipeout is without a doubt a dream most people on this forum have most likely had once, but I am not going to put myself or this forum into a legal gray area attempting to do it. That being said, this isn't me announcing this project is over, far from it. AGR2280 is going to remain a secondary project for while, I want to continue working on this.

Github
So first off I would like to mention that as soon as the project has been renamed and a concept has been established I will be making a new repository on Github for it, meaning the source code will be publicly available to everyone. On the note of releasing, I've released the first physics test and I will continue to release more as time goes on. As it stands at the moment, the same AGR2280 ship model and test track is probably going to become a common thing to expect from those.

Help
For this project to get anywhere there's going to need to be a team, I can most certainly do it by myself but that in turn means waiting a million years for anything not coding related to happen. Now I use the term team very lightly for this, I understand that most people have busy lives (work, education, etc) and therefore dedicating yourself to a project such as this is nearly impossible. That aside though, I am wondering how many people would be interested in helping shape the game. I think with a name like AGR2280 I've already proved I'm by default a terrible person at making up names, it's a descriptive name but not really something I would slap on a game box and be proud of. I don't really feel like there should be a limit to who can help and what they do, it's more of a come in and do your thing type deal, this is supposed to be a community thing after all. Let me know if you're interested, even just a suggestion for a name is enough :)

Going from here
2 days into the project and I think it's safe to say the original goal isn't happening, that's not to say part of that goal can't be reached though. Personally from this project I still want to see the end result of what could be a classic Wipeout game in HD, improving upon the physics and keeping the same aesthetic going but just without infringing copyright.

[stin]

Seen the video, that is seriously impressive! You have certainly made a grand job!
Just keep it yourself right. ;)

stevie:)

[Jonny]

Beside story elements: Are you including the championship mode from wo1, the challenges from 2097 and all this stuff?

[bigsnake]

Of course, I'm thinking that those could be merged together as well. You complete a championship then have a challenge to complete to progress, I guess like Wipeout Fusion but with races instead of one opponent to beat to unlock a new ship. Talking of progress, I think that all speed classes should be unlocked from the start. It's a pain in the ass having to play at lower speed classes to unlock the faster speed classes, especially if you prefer faster speeds. I'm mainly looking at Wipeout Pure for this, the fun for me in Pure only started once I grinded the entire tournament mode to get Phantom.

[Jonny]

You said that you remake the first 3 games, how are they seperated?

[bigsnake]

Well as I said it's no longer a remake of the original three games, it will be it's own game. Regardless though, merging elements of all three games is the way I'm looking at it right now. Before I get into this though I need a game plan, I'll start roughing out the game and update the original post later. Like mentioned multiple times now, if you have anything you want to see then say so because developing this game shouldn't just involve what I think it should be.

[JABBERJAW]

tried it out, great turning physics, similar to wipeout 1. The pitch control changes the handling in the earlier games, but I know you just put this in, Maybe the ship should sit bit higher? also, if you are looking at the earlier games, the pitch back brought your entire ship a bit higher off the track. I'll send a pm with some suggestions as I want to play what you have more first.

When pitching back, you cannot turn right when holding the gas down. there may be more to this, but that is what it felt like.

[PureSpeed7]

That ag-sys concept is awesome. I have a suggestion, for the different time periods, since they are so far apart, you should change the ships slightly between leagues to make it more realistic.
I've always wanted someone to do a game like the ps1 games!

[bigsnake]

tried it out, great turning physics, similar to wipeout 1. The pitch control changes the handling in the earlier games, but I know you just put this in, Maybe the ship should sit bit higher? also, if you are looking at the earlier games, the pitch back brought your entire ship a bit higher off the track. I'll send a pm with some suggestions as I want to play what you have more first.

When pitching back, you cannot turn right when holding the gas down. there may be more to this, but that is what it felt like.

Yeah the pitching still needs a lot of work, getting the ship to raise off the track as you pitch up is pretty easy so I'll get that implemented now. I'll also go play Wipeout as well to familiarize myself with the pitching again, I haven't actually played it for a little while now. I'll see what I can get done for a second physics test!

For the inability to steer when pitching back and accelerating, are you using a keyboard and if so does the keyboard have anti-ghosting? My previous keyboard had anti-ghosting you couldn't turn off which led to exactly what you just said, at first I thought it was rather my code or Unity messing up until I got my current keyboard which does exactly the same if the anti-ghosting is enabled.


That ag-sys concept is awesome. I have a suggestion, for the different time periods, since they are so far apart, you should change the ships slightly between leagues to make it more realistic.
I've always wanted someone to do a game like the ps1 games!

I was thinking of doing that, except I only thought of making the ships dirtier as time progressed. Modeling small differences would be a really nice touch, Thanks for the suggestion!

Going to keep a changelog on this post of what I've changed until the next physics test.
Changelog

Reduced ship hover damping and increased hover force (the ship now bounces more and comes to a resting height much slower)
Added slow hovering animations for the ship and camera (when not moving very fast, the ship will sway around and the camera will ever so slightly shake)
Reduced wall friction | walls now rotate the ship
Removed wall collision camera shake
Pitching now affects how the ship handles:
When grounded, it will affect the ships damping. Pitching down will keep the ship from bouncing as much and the ship will grip to the track much tighter. Pitching up will increase how much the ship bounces and the ship will be able to leave the track on bumps much easier. When falling, pitching down will rotate the ship to face downwards quicker and pitching up will prevent it from rotating.
Added brakes (both airbrakes held down at the same time will bring the ship to a quick stop)
The ship will now be pulled around by gravity when on the track (rotates and falls down slopes)
Added a resisting force based on angular velocity when falling
This will quickly slow the ship down if you are pitching down as you fall, pitching up does nothing. This also makes the existing air resistance slightly faster.
Some extra details on the track texture
Pressing esc will now quit the game (for physics testing stages only)

[PureSpeed7]

I like how I commented about the ship model you used (ag-sys concept: WipEout Pulse) right before you changed the video so now nobody knows what I was talking about.

[Jonny]

Ok, so no real WipEout then.
But why it has to be dystopian/utopian again? Can't it be just a normal world?

For the story: How about we use Faster Than Angels (of course another version of it) as the story, basically since the 4 original FTA teams are almost like the 4 original wipEout teams:

Angelus is like Auricom, for the purity, while making profit.
Crinale is Qirex and Overtel in general, seeking ruthless profit and tries to have the most influence in the league.
Wyvern being FEISAR with good hangable crafts, but getting bankrupt after some time (like AG Sys in the 2140s).
Katana (first "version" of Angelus) transforming into another team (Angelus / Auricom), while some employees form a new team (Crinale / Qirex)
Jennter being a mixture of AG Systems and FEISAR, always inventing new stuff, while having successful and less successful times.

[Ace3000]

GOD DAMNIT YES. Please let Jonny's idea be a thing. I am the co-creator of FTA (Angelus/Katana & Crinale), along with Jonny and Snakenator, and I give you all of my support!

Although, I think maybe we just might have to change the names of Angelus and Crinale, considering I got the names from 2 rival cars from Ridge Racer. Though, I'm not sure about it.

[bigsnake]

Sure guys I don't see why not, you'll have to educate me on Faster Than Angels first though :P

I've also got a new physics test, you'll need a lot better hardware then the previous one because there's hell of a lot more going on in this (geometry, a bunch of lights, volumetric clouds and realtime GI/simulating light bouncing off surfaces).

Download : https://db.tt/FRQSKC0j

There's two versions available with this (they're both inside the zip). The 2097 setup and the modern setup, both of them are explained in the readme provided as well as the default controls. Let me know which one you prefer, the 2097 setup should hopefully be more accurate to how the older Wipeout's actually controlled, then the Modern setup is the previous physics test which was basically like Wipeout HD but with no grip and bouncier hovering.

[Ace3000]

Feel free to hit me up with a PM with all your questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability! :D

[Jonny]

I guess the Angelus/Crinale thingy should be no problem, since this is true own work (majorly).
BTW I watched G.I. Joe Retaliation and was half the movie like "Oh god, somewhere I know that from" XD
Man in mask, fake head of state, special units. Either coincidence or Illuminati.

[Ace3000]

I guess it might be okay. I don't know, I don't major in Copyright Law (like most people). XD

[JABBERJAW]

I'll try to test it tonight! Looking foward to it

[Meg.A.Byte]

As I'm watching this thread from beginning I see very promising project there. I would like to add a contribution to this project. I don't know if you saw my Hyperion project (if not, please read this post: http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?6454-Imagine-a-new-WipEout-team&p=241342#post241342 , at least Jonny know about it) and I would be pleased if at least part of my work could get real in your game. I don't know if I'm able to create a whole new ship to this game, but if I am (I have to know what to create to make it possible to implement into the game) I could take part of this project.
And I have some names that I already made up.
Hyperion (name of project mentioned above) - named after Greek titan who was the first to understand the movement the sun and the moon and the other stars (just team who knows his enemies well)
Nullcer - I have no idea how I made this up
Sigmos - ditto

[bigsnake]

Feel free to hit me up with a PM with all your questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability! :D

Only just realized that it's a thread on the forum, gonna go check it all out soon. Can't say the story is my top priority just yet but getting a foothold of something basic is defiantly better then starting with nothing :D


As I'm watching this thread from beginning I see very promising project there. I would like to add a contribution to this project. I don't know if you saw my Hyperion project (if not, please read this post: http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?6454-Imagine-a-new-WipEout-team&p=241342#post241342 , at least Jonny know about it) and I would be pleased if at least part of my work could get real in your game. I don't know if I'm able to create a whole new ship to this game, but if I am (I have to know what to create to make it possible to implement into the game) I could take part of this project.
And I have some names that I already made up.
Hyperion (name of project mentioned above) - named after Greek titan who was the first to understand the movement the sun and the moon and the other stars (just team who knows his enemies well)
Nullcer - I have no idea how I made this up
Sigmos - ditto

Man I remember seeing this at college and I had to call everyone over so we could drool at it, that ship is really good and you have a lot of talent! I would love to help you get your work added to the game. In terms of getting it integrated into the game it's very easy and doesn't require any sort of strict setup or workflow to be followed, I like to keep everything simple and open (Unity helps with that a lot). I can send you a PM with around 3-4 very basic guidelines to make it more suitable to the game if you like, but other then that it would be entirely up to you how you would want to make it.

I'm liking the Team names people have mentioned so far, these will really help a little later down the line, thanks for sharing!

[Jonny]

I guess there is enough place for a lot of ships.
Is this the opportunity to see the AAGRC-C-E-P 1.5t flying? Pls :D

[bigsnake]

Yeah there's enough space for anything honestly, I'm not really wanting to limit how many ships (and tracks for that matter) can be in the game. Ideally I only want a set number by default in the game, but extra ships can always be provided with Unity Asset Bundles and modding :)

[Chill]

Well I'm liking the fact that this track feels like it ventures out into Mother Nature a bit more than what Studio Liverpool has done with Wipeout.. As well as the darkness.. Things I've missed since older Wipeouts.. I think Wip3out did so well due to the George Lucas dark atmosphere vibe it had going for it, I really miss that as well.. I just hope Sony brings it back in the future, most likely with all the virtual reality stuff..

[Ace3000]

Only just realized that it's a thread on the forum, gonna go check it all out soon. Can't say the story is my top priority just yet but getting a foothold of something basic is defiantly better then starting with nothing :D

If it makes your life easier (since the thread is 76 pages long), you can read the info you need on the FTA Wiki (http://fta.wikia.com) (yeah, we have one of those, thanks Jonny! :D)

[bigsnake]

Oh sweet, that'll make life much easier, thanks !


Well I'm liking the fact that this track feels like it ventures out into Mother Nature a bit more than what Studio Liverpool has done with Wipeout.. As well as the darkness.. Things I've missed since older Wipeouts.. I think Wip3out did so well due to the George Lucas dark atmosphere vibe it had going for it, I really miss that as well.. I just hope Sony brings it back in the future, most likely with all the virtual reality stuff..

Wipeout with VR would be damn cool, my brother has an oculus rift so if I can get it off him for a short while then I could implement a full cockpit view with virtual reality support into this. But yeah hopefully one day Sony will bring back Wipeout, I don't want to keep my hopes too high with that though because it most likely won't happen.

[bigsnake]

Physics Test 3
This test is setup as a time trial, once you've finished your last lap the ship will be handed over to AI and your results will be displayed on screen. I've also added speed pads and a developer settings menu. All of the ship settings I have access too are in the menu, read the readme for everything you need to know.
Download - https://db.tt/MSN7mJjp

[JABBERJAW]

sweet stuff here. I will test it later tonight again. I love all the options you are allowing us to see.

Grip force: is this how much the ship grips the track? or how it leaves the track surface over bumps?

[bigsnake]

How much the ship grips to the track. The grip force controls drag (or air resistance) and then the slip settings are for controlling how the airbrakes drag the ship around, lowering the turn falloff and airbrake falloff will also make the ship slip for longer. If you combine a low grip with higher slip values then the ship will slide around and swing out more.

Update: added another slip variable for overall slip control and allowed slip values to be zero so the ship can grip perfectly to the track.

[JFthebestJan]

since this is a PC project, what about implementing force feedback racing wheel support? i always dreamt of flying through wipeout with a wheel. would make the feeling of actually flying the ship much more enjoyable ;) i can say this, cause i played F-Zero X with my wheel on an emulator, it's truly amazing!!!!!

another thing i would like to suggest is a really long track like the Nordschleife/Isle of Man, with ultra hard corner combos.

[AGgamer]

After looking at it a little bit, I don't see why this would be illegal if the Super Smash Brothers Brawl mod "Project M" can get away with it. Since Project M runs on a moddified brawl engine, it's quote "sort of legal" because its a "mod." Creator of a Skyrim mod wouldn't be sued by Bethesda would he? Since this is a modification of WipEout HD Fury's engine (from my understanding, it is at least a replication of it) it should fall under the area of "sort of legal" as well. Change the name from "wipeout" to something that doesn't reference wipeout and hey presto, it's in the same boat as Project M.

I'm not saying that I know for sure, I'm just trying to offer some insight. If Project M gets away with calling Mario and Pikachu "Mario" and "Pikachu" then why can't this project get away with calling Feisar and Qirex "Feisar" and "Qirex". You know?

[bigsnake]

since this is a PC project, what about implementing force feedback racing wheel support? i always dreamt of flying through wipeout with a wheel. would make the feeling of actually flying the ship much more enjoyable ;) i can say this, cause i played F-Zero X with my wheel on an emulator, it's truly amazing!!!!!

another thing i would like to suggest is a really long track like the Nordschleife/Isle of Man, with ultra hard corner combos.

I think racing wheels should work with Unity's default input without any problem (you'd have to try binding the steering on the Unity launcher), vibration is something I can implement easily with a third party plugin. I'll check out some plugins for extending controller I/O and see what I can do. Also yeah a long track is something I want to try out, it would be great for really pushing endurance (especially with 5 laps).




After looking at it a little bit, I don't see why this would be illegal if the Super Smash Brothers Brawl mod "Project M" can get away with it. Since Project M runs on a moddified brawl engine, it's quote "sort of legal" because its a "mod." Creator of a Skyrim mod wouldn't be sued by Bethesda would he? Since this is a modification of WipEout HD Fury's engine (from my understanding, it is at least a replication of it) it should fall under the area of "sort of legal" as well. Change the name from "wipeout" to something that doesn't reference wipeout and hey presto, it's in the same boat as Project M.

I'm not saying that I know for sure, I'm just trying to offer some insight. If Project M gets away with calling Mario and Pikachu "Mario" and "Pikachu" then why can't this project get away with calling Feisar and Qirex "Feisar" and "Qirex". You know?

The only problem is that we don't know how Sony stands on copyright with fan projects. Nintendo seem to be very wishy washy with how they treat fan projects, some projects are allowed but some aren't, it's strange how they work. The only reason I'd assume Project M is allowed is because it requires Brawl before you can play it, that means Nintendo can make a profit from it. Skyrim mods are obviously fine because Bethesda encourage modding, which is why Skyrim got a mod SDK. Unless I'm able to contact someone in the legal department at Sony it's safer to just keep it as a game that inspires from the original Wipeouts, I also don't necessarily want to begin finding out how to contact Sony about it either because then that would put a spotlight on the project for a while.

[Xpand]

Intelectual property for Wipeout is still copyrighted though, stuff like team names might be the most problematic since it's what basically bridges the gap between two AG racing games.
SSGX was supposed to be a remake of the first WO game, but we had to leave that idea behind when we contacted Sony and were told to give up on the idea of using their intelectual property.

[bigsnake]

Indeed, names are the most problematic. I'm not sure how the more minor names would stand (like the speed classes for example), I'm still going to be renaming certain things just to remain safe. That answers the question to what would Sony think though so thanks Xpand, I guess Sony just don't like the idea of fan projects.

Also I've got the game setup for races, here's a demo of that (https://db.tt/i7aWqIPW). I'm interested to see how performance changes with this, I've already done a bunch of optimizations and CPU time has been decreased quite a bit although garbage collection every now and then spikes (it shouldn't have a noticeable effect on performance, but I'm still looking at sorting it out). The AI aren't the most intelligent right now but this serves as a good early stress test.

Update
Currently working on the tool for importing and setting up custom ships, It'll be part of the next update and have a user friendly interface. Gonna keep this post updated with screenshots of the progress.

XML file that has been saved from the game (getting settings to be read and wrote):
https://db.tt/fJiFSms8

[AGSys]

Bloody hell, the one thing that really caught my attention with this is the atmosphere. It's so reminiscent of the classic trilogy it, brings back so many feels. Nostalgia is like a drug for me so this is just pure awesome. Great work man!

[bigsnake]

Thanks man, glad you like it!

I've got one last physics test, it has a classic Wipeout camera (press C, by default) and some minor tweaks to hovering.
Download: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B84JeAOIeQm9aDZRc1d5WU5DbWc/view?usp=sharing

[bigsnake]

Just a quick update: Meg.A.Byte kindly contributed his Hyperion ship model (http://megabyte-art.tumblr.com/post/93401754842), download a test build with it here (https://db.tt/ywZtHlnE)!
https://db.tt/RmkeuHX6

Notes

Physics have been heavily tweaked to feel like more like Wipeout 3. The hovering is a mix between the older Wipeout's and Wipeout HD, being fairly bouncy but stable. For the handling, most of your turning should come from just turning with slight taps of the airbrakes. Using the airbrakes will quickly swing you out into the walls. The pitching right now remains fairly useless, I'll be focusing on the pitching soon.
Added boost thrusters that activate when you start accelerating or hit a speed pad.

I'm also considering adding barrel rolls into the game, it gives being airborne a purpose. Sideshifting will not make its way in though as those will essentially break the game at this point.

I'm also back at college after a 2 week break so development will slow down a bit.

[TheXTR09]

Dang, the ship looks sick! This should fit AGR's utopian world well.
And go ahead adding barrel rolls and side shifts. What you've done is a great hybird of a PurE/Wip3out physics. But still I prefer the gravity in later games.

[JABBERJAW]

The older games allow for you to be in the air a lot, just by pressing back off little bumps. The air time in the older games was for landing softer to keep your speed up, and small track shortcuts. It was also used for softer scraping around turns. If barrel rolls were added to the older games, it could be a barrel roll around the entire track. I think that once you get the pitch control in, you will hopefully not want to do that. Think about the gravity in XL class and wo three, when you are pitching back, you kinda fly at times, especially in the pal versions

On a side note, I am happy you are keeping side shifting out, as that would completely wreck the feel if you are trying to mimick the older versions.

[bigsnake]

Barrel rolls are in, if they end up messing around with the balance of the game at a later point then I can always disable them.

I'm working on the pitching now, I'll keep this post updated with changes and additions I make:

Physics:

Lowered gravity setting from 210 to 180
The ship now only has 80% of its full grip when airborne now
Removed airborne angular drag resistance
Added barrel rolls

The following are changes based on feedback from Jabberjaw via PM
Pitching now affects your top speed (about a 65km/h difference on D class, less in higher speed classes as drag means that more force has to be applied at higher speeds)
Pitching now more greatly affects the hover damping (how fast the ship levels out to the target hover height)
Pitching down decreases drag and makes walls slow the ship down slightly less, pitching up increases drag and makes walls slow the ship down slightly more


Other:

HUD now moves about, vibrates and zooms/changes opacity based on ship movement and the ships condition.
Added ship boosting wind trails
Added start boosting (around a 1 second time frame to start thrusting to boost)
Added turbo pickup


Bug Fixes:

Ship collider rotation fix (it was being created at a 45 degree angle for some reason, it messed with wall collisions and hovering near walls)
Random wall knockback that flew the ship into the air (this was rare)

[PureSpeed7]

I'd love to see some creative track designs, Anulpha pass just can't be compared to alca vexus.

[Sausehuhn]

For testing only of course, I would love to see how well the physics work with some original tracks (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9943-3D-Track-Simulations-Fly-through-and-Free-View) :)

[bigsnake]

Damn that's cool, if I get the time I don't see why I couldn't convert that guys javascript into C# to load the tracks into Unity for testing purposes, it would help a lot with seeing how the physics work in a real environment :)

[pichuscute]

Wow o.o Not one Wipeout project, but two? I'm impressed. This feels fairly solid. I managed to throw myself off the track a couple times from colliding with walls, but otherwise, I'm glad to see the wall collisions working pretty damn nicely. Keep it up man!

[Jonny]

Since we are already talking about content, may I start designing the 3 Jennter crafts on paper? (If they are in?)

[bigsnake]

Sure, go ahead! I'd love to see some designs come through :)


Wow o.o Not one Wipeout project, but two? I'm impressed. This feels fairly solid. I managed to throw myself off the track a couple times from colliding with walls, but otherwise, I'm glad to see the wall collisions working pretty damn nicely. Keep it up man!

One day my wall collisions will be completely bug free and it will be great. I thought I sorted a majority of issues out earlier on today, only to find that I managed to somehow shoot the ship into space by colliding nose first with a wall, not sure how that happened but finding the issue is going to be annoying.

Physics Test 4
Just finished the new physics test, which can be downloaded here (https://db.tt/y2H9eAwo).

This has a very basic environment setup, it continues on with that desert trend I had on the first track and features a new HUD, turbo pickup, WO3 hyper-thrust like feature, barrel rolls (will be limited on a per lap basis in the future) and loads of changes to pitching. Some minor additions include boosting wind trails and a Wipeout HD boost edge stretching effect.

You can also somewhat drift, turn very early into a corner and use the airbrakes to swing around the corner.

Physics Test 4.1
This small update adds per-class gravity and grip settings which allows me to make the ship control differently per class now. I've also redone the debugging screen, you no longer have to press the Apply button for settings to change and it now uses input fields instead of sliders so you can type in any value you like. If you find a good handling setup then feel free to share it :)

You can download it here. (https://db.tt/pWsNl38q)

[Ace3000]

I suck at any kind of drawings. If you want, you could make something up from my descriptions of the Angelus ships, send em to me, and I'll give you the final OK.

This is not just to bigsnake, but anyone who can do good designs of some kind.

[miljoneir]

Hello, I have been playing all of the test builds using my keyboard. I noticed that I am unable to steer and trigger the airbrake at the same time, as this results in the ship not turning at all.
Anyway, good work.

[Jonny]

I suck at any kind of drawings. If you want, you could make something up from my descriptions of the Angelus ships, send em to me, and I'll give you the final OK.

This is not just to bigsnake, but anyone who can do good designs of some kind.

I don't know how you imagine an Angelus or Crinale craft, but I'll give it a try.

[PureSpeed7]

The spirit of wipeout shall live on in all these games! :clap:D8) (these things seem to grow from trees! xD)

EDIT: feature request: THE ABILITY TO CHANGE BETWEEN KPH AND MPH!@#$%!!!

WipEout NEEDED that in every game

[bigsnake]

Hello, I have been playing all of the test builds using my keyboard. I noticed that I am unable to steer and trigger the airbrake at the same time, as this results in the ship not turning at all.
Anyway, good work.

There's a few people having issues with keyboards. Unfortunately it's out of my power and is because of Unity's crappy input manager, I'll have to implement my own input manager later down the line. Does your keyboard have anti-ghosting by any chance? I've found that this could be the culprit of keyboard input issues.


feature request: THE ABILITY TO CHANGE BETWEEN KPH AND MPH!@#$%!!!
Will add it in, won't take much effort :)

I've finished the update for Physics Test 4, see the post here if you want to see it. (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9936-Wipeout-Rebirth-PS1-Wipeouts-Remade&p=243043#post243043)

[Meg.A.Byte]

I would like to suggest some features.
1. Saving the F1 options. It could be just simple .txt file where all the options are saved. Because everytime I change some value, I have to change it again in next round. Also my handling setup is TurnGain: 4000, TurnFaloff: 5000, ABAmount: 4.
2. High scores. It could be just another Fx function, where I can find my best lap and 5 lap times.
Maybe I will add some more over time.
And thank you for keeping up your great work.

[bigsnake]

Thanks for the suggestions, saving and loading the ship setting options are now in, I'll add the high score saving soon :)

I have another build as well, this time it's a test of Zone mode. You can download it here (https://db.tt/Nzd7RP04).
You don't take damage from wall collisions yet so this is basically just a situation of keep going until the ship becomes completely uncontrollable.

Talking of wall collisions, my main focus for the next build will be wall collisions. They will be far less jarring. Forward collisions will more aless be the same where you quickly loose speed but the speed loss will be a lot smoother and hitting a wall with the back of your ship will not have any affect on its speed. With this I will also be properly calculating friction (at the moment your speed just decreases by a set value), this will allow for wall damage to be added.

[Temet]

Hello,

Just discovered the topic.
It look great.

Is there a reason why you decided to start your own project and not join the SSGX team?
Why adding barrel-rolls if the gameplay is intended to be close to PS1 games?

That said, it's awesome what you achieved alone, really impressive! :)

[bigsnake]

Thanks, I'm glad you like the look of the project so far :)

The guys working on SSGX are rather busy as of recently and they've already got the game planned how they want it, it wouldn't be very practical for me to ask to join at this point because they're already mid-development. Before I even knew what SSGX was I was working on another project (AGR2280) so by the time I did know I was busy with my own thing.

For the barrel rolls, it's just because they're a fun addition. I mentioned in the description of one of my development videos that I was going to be limiting their use to 3-4 per lap to keep it balanced since you can leave the track very easily and because there's two other methods of boosting (turbo pickup and a hyperthrust-eqsue feature), the usage limit might be lowered even more or their effect as a method of boosting altogether might be removed just so they are a fancy trick you can do in mid-air yet though.

[Chill]

If anything, hyper-thrust should be brought back instead of barrel rolls.. I could see a remade version of the first Wipeout using raw horsepower for hyper thrust much like classic muscle cars, but for jet engines as that was the idea for the original.. Jet engines and magnets.. It would also go with the original style better. You could even add a sonic boom effect when activated.

[Temet]

Thanks for the answer :)
Well, I personaly disliked the Hyperthrust in W3O. But it's a personal thing, I'm sure some liked it ;)

I saw later that you were working on AGR2280 ;)

I hope you can get some help for music, modeling, etc because the physic seems really good. That said, I didn't try it with a controller in my own hands.
I tried SSGX and I told the guys that the ships are way too heavy, it's almost impossible to turn without airbrakes... and even with airbrakes, you have to know the track because you have to anticipate A LOT. I hope they will fix it, SSGX is promissing also :)


EDIT : just saw the last 2 vids, awesome work ;)

[Ace3000]

I hope you can get some help for music

I was gonna suggest TheConzio, but IIRC, he's doing the soundtrack for _speed_, a top down wipeout clone.

I don't know, maybe he provide some tracks for this too?

[JABBERJAW]

The hyper thrust he put in doesn't affect shield energy, and can be used after weapon hits putting a lot of strategy of when to use it. It is also not as fast as the turbo weapon pickup. It feels really good so far.

[bigsnake]

Actually it does, using up the full amount of thrust you can have per lap in one go will waste up about the same amount as a single barrel roll, no where near as much as the hyperthrust did in WO3 but still enough to make it's usage during a race a hazard.


If anything, hyper-thrust should be brought back instead of barrel rolls.. I could see a remade version of the first Wipeout using raw horsepower for hyper thrust much like classic muscle cars, but for jet engines as that was the idea for the original.. Jet engines and magnets.. It would also go with the original style better. You could even add a sonic boom effect when activated.

I like the idea of the sonic boom effect, I'll have to add something like that in the future.


I was gonna suggest TheConzio, but IIRC, he's doing the soundtrack for _speed_, a top down wipeout clone.

I don't know, maybe he provide some tracks for this too?

TheConzio has actually already donated some of his tracks for use in the game, he originally contacted me about music in AGR but I never got round to it, I recently contacted him back asking for permission to use them in this instead and I've got the go, what he sent me will more then likely be in the next release.

The way I'm currently seeing the hyperthrust and barrel roll situation is that they play together. Each lap you are given about 3 seconds of hyperthrust and 3 barrel rolls, however you want to use them is up to you. Using the full amount of the hyperthrust given to you will waste up around 15 shield energy, performing a barrel roll will waste up 15 shield energy. Once you have performed 3 barrel rolls you can still barrel roll, but they are purely cosmetic until you next past the starting line, the same goes for the hyperthrust.
In racebox you will be able to disable both the hyperthrust and barrel rolls, disabling one will give you unlimited of the other. So disabling barrel rolls will give you unlimited hyperthrust and disabling hyperthrust will give you unlimited barrel rolls. You can also disable both if you so desire. The unlimited hyperthrust will however waste up a bit more of your shield energy when being used, going from around a cost of 5 shield energy per second to 10 per second.

I was also talking to Jabberjaw about replenishing shield energy via PM. The way we seem to both be looking at this is that there's both absorbing pickups and a pitlane. However, absorbing a pickup will only give you a very small amount of shield energy compared to the pitlane. Basically, absorbing pickups is for saving your ass at the last minute so you can make it back to the pitlane providing you don't keep taking more damage.

[JABBERJAW]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4PKft8tlVVc&feature=youtu.be

A short video of ballisticNG early build. No side shifts give it an older game feel with a mix of HD of how the ship moves. I'm looking forward to seeing tracks with multiple bumps and turns to get the sliding feel of the older games. The hyper thrust is excellent for recovery from wall hits, and will certainly help with weapon hits too. This race was the standard settings using a negcon ( hours to figure out how to do this)

[Temet]

Thanks for sharing all the details bigsnake.
Your last vid looks awesome.
I'll try your last (or next) release I guess. I hope my laptop will be able to run it.

Keep up the good work :)

[JABBERJAW]

I'm using a laptop, I just put the settings all the way down

[Lion]

feature request: THE ABILITY TO CHANGE BETWEEN KPH AND MPH!@#$%!!!
In the future, the last 3 countries yet to officially adopt the metric system finally get their act together

in more general news... I just found this thread, tried physics test 2, then the Zone test... the steering is unbelievably improved in that timespan.
Nice work! I'll be keeping an eye on this

[Chill]

Sick video Jabberjaw.. That project certainly looks promising!

[Sausehuhn]

Seems like I’ll have to boot up my windows partition to test this stuff :) Interested in how the track focused camera feels like. Just watched Qirex doing its lap in WO3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXGHovT0dRw) and I cannot wait to see a craft floating this smooth along the racing track again :)

[bigsnake]

Thanks for sharing all the details bigsnake.
Your last vid looks awesome.
I'll try your last (or next) release I guess. I hope my laptop will be able to run it.

Keep up the good work :)

Hopefully it should run well. I'm about half way there with a new version, it's going to have an audio/graphics options menu so you'll be able to better tweak the graphics outside of the default Unity presets. You'll also be able to turn off the bloom, anti-aliasing and realtime ships reflections to help save on performance too.

[Jonny]

Seeing what's going on right now, it's defenitely WipEouts Rebirth XD

[bigsnake]

Alpha 0.01
I think the game is ready to enter an early alpha stage, the physics from here on out will only be receiving small tweaks and bug fixes here and there. This version has an options menu, once you click Apply it will create an XML file in Documents/BallisticNG, let me know how that goes.

This version is noticeably larger then every other version because it features music by TheConzio, quite a few tracks.
Note: I actually forgot to update the credits .txt file, just amended it so the next version will mention TheConzio.

Download Link: https://db.tt/WabW6Tgh

[JFthebestJan]

any chances of making the game running on extremely low tech hardware? my PC is 12! years old, XP32/SP3 - 1GB RAM - 128MB VRAM - directx9.0c.

[JABBERJAW]

Agreed with the low specs, my laptop played the previous build fine, but the new version runs incredibly slow even on the lowest settings.

[bigsnake]

It will be hard to get the game running well on 12 year old hardware but directX9 is possible. In a matter of fact you can force directX9 right now. Create a shortcut to the exe, right click and go to proerties then add "-force-d3d9" (without quotations) to the end of target. You can alternativly also force OpenGL, you can use the switch "-force-opengl" (again without quotation marks) for that one.

There's still plenty of optimizations I can do and I'll do my best to get the game running faster. If you'd like to help make it easier to understand how the game performs on other machines, I just made this Google Form (http://goo.gl/forms/iOraf0eZX9) that I will be putting on the original post.

[JABBERJAW]

Is it possible to have an option " leave background off" ? That would probably do it as my computer ran version 4 just fine

[Lion]

Runs awesome on my hardware on ultra settings at 3440x1440 - I guess like most modern games it's all GPU and the rest of the machine barely matters. For reference; my cpu/ram/etc are all from 2009, but I have a GTX780Ti

fun little bug: if you barrel roll when falling off the track, you get the boost when you get dropped back onto the track

Unrelated: I cannot say I'm a fan of the new music. it would be great as in-game radio for a car game exploring a city, but it doesn't feel right for a futuristic racer

[Temet]

Guys please, don't ask for the game to run on a 12 years old PC...
I'm downloading the last version right now, will try it.
My laptop is core I7 with 6 GB of RAM and GT 650M, I'll try to see if I can run it (graphic card is still a mobile GPU...)

[bigsnake]

Great to know it's running well on the higher end :)
When it comes to the rendering side there's not much I can really do for the lower end, the view distance on the lowest eliminates a large portion of geometry so it should improve it, plus anything you can't see isn't rendered either. If you are getting worse performance with the latest version then that's just a more accurate representation of what to expect as the game grows unfortunately, when there's nothing but the track floating in the void there's very little to do. Without realtime reflections for the ship enabled I'm looking at a 0.8ms render time (on my graphics card) with 350k polygons, that polygon count is just a bit over the recommended ~150k polygon count for 3D mobile games. With realtime reflections it's 4.5ms and 2.5m polygons, quite the jump. I'm using an R9 280x for anyone who wants to compare that. I will work on a stats screen that you can use to see how the game is performing.

If you find the CPU usage of the game is however too high then that's something I can work on, my code is in no way as optimized as it could be and I'll be working on that as time goes on. I would much prefer do that once all features are in though otherwise it's going to hinder a lot with progress.

Known Bugs and issues
[!] = Fixed

Barrel Roll boosts not canceled on re-spawning [!]
Restarting a race from the menu reloads the track with nothing happening
Menu options are not updated when the game is next run
When loading a song the game freezes for around a second

[Ace3000]

My settings are similar. I'm running a laptop with an i7@2GHz, 8GB ram and a Mobility Radeon HD 6570.

I'll update this with my results, I'm currently downloading it now.

EDIT: I can say that it works nearly perfectly on my system using the "Laptop" setting, right up to "Normal". I start to get 90C+ on "Normal", though, so I don't want to take it further, but it does seem like my system will handle "High", even though the CPU might overheat.

EDIT2: Don't worry about the overheating thing, though. My laptop has heat problems. Can you guess what make it is?

[JABBERJAW]

My Wife's laptop is not that old, maybe I need to just reformat it so it will run on the low end at least. I don't have enough cash to get a laptop until fall.

[JFthebestJan]

Guys please, don't ask for the game to run on a 12 years old PC...

why not? i bet there's more systems out there with 10+ years old hardware, than newer ones. not everyone sees the need of a new PC every now and then ;)

[Temet]

@JFthebestJan : because it would be a shame to have a drastic visual downgrade to be able to run on PC from the last decade.
I agree with you that not everyone need a recent PC, but if you want to play recent games with your PC then you are part of the people who shoud see the need of a decent hardware.

EDIT : tried it. Gameplay is awesome dude! It runs great in high+720p on my laptop. It does not feel smooth in 1080p but it's not important.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2nycdp please excuse the performance, I don't know the track.
I think there is a real issue with the shadows. Otherwise it seems OK.
I understand the counters for BRs and HyperThrust. That's clever sir :)

[bigsnake]

Thanks, and if you want to try and squeeze out any extra performance try turning off the ship reflections in the options menu :)
I'll have to change the shadow resolutions for the different options because those shadows in that video are way too low resolution.

I just made the first official song for the game (https://soundcloud.com/vonsnake/ballisticng-soundtrack-01-crystal-method), it takes a lot of inspiration from Cairodrome.

[Temet]

It's not really the shadow of the ship that bugs me.
9452
Look at the attachment. The area in the red square should be in the shadow and it's not. And when the ship will go forward, the zone will go in the shadow.
It's not a big deal, it's just to share a feedback :)

EDIT : also, the time in the bottom left is going out of my screen. You think it's something wrong with my screen set up?

[bigsnake]

Ah right, yeah that's because realtime shadows in any game are limited to a certain distance otherwise they will destroy the framereate. I need to build the lightmaps, only problem is that the new system Unity 5 has is stupidly slow because for building static lightmaps it's overcomplicated. I've actually had Unity sat here tonight building them when I've been busy with other things and it's taken 5 hours so far, this is on an 8 core processor running at 4ghz so you can imagine the frustration of this over the older lightmapper which would have done this in around 1/2 hour.

For the HUD cutoff, it's a scaling issue. I still need to get used to the scaling in Unity's UI tools, I'm looking to have that fixed soon-ish.

[Temet]

All right, many thanks for your answers :)

[bigsnake]

No problem :)

I'm currently adding new graphical features and optimizing stuff all over the place, I'll keep this post updated with what's going on.

[bigsnake]

Alpha 0.02
Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5d637pbro5war3z/BallisticNG%20Alpha%200.02.zip?dl=0

Alpha 0.02 is a bit of a graphics update to what already exists, I've tried to both make the game look better and make it run better. There are a few physics changes but nothing too much, the modern camera has been made a bit smoother too. For Jabberjaw, if you are not able to run this in the lowest then I will upload a version with only the track, only for this release though because having to build the game twice and upload it twice will be annoying after a while.

[Temet]

The last vids look awesome !!!!
I must try this when I'm back home :)

When you'll add weapons, don't go in too much weapons please. W3O had too much of useless weapons for example.
My feeling :
- boost
- shield
- missile
- maybe rockets
- mines
- as you add counters for BRs and Hyperthrust, why not an item to give an additional BR and another to refuel 50% of Hyperthrust?

Thanks mate! :)

[PureSpeed7]

Super Weapons?!?!!

[miljoneir]

Recently ditched Windows on my pc to make the switch to linux.
Just as a heads-up: the game works well under Wine.

[Temet]

Ok, tried new alpha.
I really need to practice a lot, this is really fast :)
I think I have some visual glitch I didn't see on the previous version, and it looks more ressource consuming (1080p is really not playable now).
Also, I still have the "zoom issue". I don't have the same zoom as there is on your video. That's weird o_O'.
I like the new musics.
The sensations are really good! :)

[JABBERJAW]

It's running about 20-25 fps or so, better than before, but not great for testing.

Also, how do I get to the options screen with draw distance,etc?

[bigsnake]

Press escape then it's the options button.

I'm going to be looking at the UI scaling so it works correctly on all resolutions, I'm hoping I can get it done without having to write my own scaling.

[Temet]

I tried 720p and 1080p and in both cases the UI scaling was wrong.
I can try things for you if you need ;)

[bigsnake]

Hopefully that shouldn't be necessary, I think I've realized what's going wrong so I'm fixing it now.

Technical things:
The actual UI are children to 2 other elements, one is for scaling the entirety of the UI and one acts as a pivot so I can make the UI move around. The pivot doesn't scale, plus those two parent elements fill up the entire screen space. By reducing how much screen space they waste up and then moving all the UI elements (like the lap counter for instance) to the very edge of those, it should hopefully scale correctly.

EDIT: Fixed, the next version will have the fixed correctly scaling UI in. I've also repositioned a few things so everything lines up nicely.

[twenty90seven]

Awesome demo bigsnake! You are developing this very quickly!

Feature request: can the ship fish-tail out as much as the ships in 2097? To me 2097 was kind of like Sega Rally (around corners at least) but floating in the air.

With this remake, and a few others floating around, its an A-G funk era decked out with a gangsta twist, to quote Warren G.

[JABBERJAW]

There are options in the settings that can create this feel

[TheXTR09]

The game surely is really unknown to many, some 30 people knew it, but all of them are interested. I was wondering if I can do some advertising.

Posters that pay homage to the old Sarah Cox nosebleed ad of the original, for example a nosebleeding dude holding a game controller with the title Getting High: Now Toxin-free, Legal and Fast.
Or if that's too offensive, how about something cheeky like: This game is so fast, it finished the race when you finish this sentence.

Marketing is key to get your game known, after all, no publicity is bad publicity, as they say. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[amplificated]

Cool work!

Look forward to seeing this progress. Couple of things though: maybe you can save yourself and others some time if you make the audio pack separate from the demo? Looks like it could save 200MB from the download size. Also, is it possible to use something like github for releases? You've mentioned a lot of updates but since you're uploading builds through dropbox, newcomers to the thread might be confused when they can't actually find the latest build you're talking about, and the link to the latest build in the O.P. leads to a random post that has nothing to do with being a link to the latest build :P

Anyway, keep it up!

[bigsnake]

Done, link for the repository releases is here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases) :)

Having the audio as a separate download from the demo sounds like a good idea, the songs did add 200mb onto the file size so that would help keep download sizes reduced as much as possible, thanks for the suggestion!


The game surely is really unknown to many, some 30 people knew it, but all of them are interested. I was wondering if I can do some advertising.

Posters that pay homage to the old Sarah Cox nosebleed ad of the original, for example a nosebleeding dude holding a game controller with the title Getting High: Now Toxin-free, Legal and Fast.
Or if that's too offensive, how about something cheeky like: This game is so fast, it finished the race when you finish this sentence.

Marketing is key to get your game known, after all, no publicity is bad publicity, as they say. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Sure go ahead, once the game is in more of a "complete" state I'm going to be adding the project to IndieDB, but if you want to do anything before that then feel free!

[bigsnake]

Nothing special, but I thought anyone interested in programming might be interested to see what I've got for the physics so far. Here's a link to the ship physics code (http://pastebin.com/EVMWNb5B) for those who might want to dive into it, it's messy and requires a bunch of other classes to be present to function, but you can see what's going on behind the physics with this. Anyone else who codes will probably want to stab me after seeing it, especially how I handle turning input right now (I really need to rework it so it works better with analog steering).

That aside, over the next few days I am going to start work on a new track. It will be much harder then the current track. I am also working on the menu slowly in the background, give it a few more test builds and the game will have a functioning menu where you can select one of the two available tracks that will be there and the speed class you want to race in. After that I'll start working on weapons and get all the main gameplay features in, then I can work on the AI and make them work for races then we'll be looking at a much more complete game.

[dobyblue]

Guys please, don't ask for the game to run on a 12 years old PC...


Seconded! :)

[bigsnake]

I've been taking it slow the past week, going to step it back up again. I've just been working on a remake of a Gare d'Europa since 2-3 people suggested it for physics testing, there's a screenshot below. As for copyright, what I'm looking to do is have the game check for the contents of the Wipeout 2097 CD so you need to ideally have obtained a legal copy of Wipeout 2097 before you are able to use this. This track remake, and the game contents check so you can play on the track, will be in the next version of the game.

https://db.tt/lbh9XhEx

[JABBERJAW]

Sweet

[Temet]

I've seen the vids, this is awesome.
You'll have to check for all versions of Wipeout 2097/XL, don't how you do that ;)

[TheXTR09]

As for copyright, what I'm looking to do is have the game check for the contents of the Wipeout 2097 CD so you need to ideally have obtained a legal copy of Wipeout 2097 before you are able to use this.

Er...Does that mean I need a Wipeout2097.iso to play this? I have no idea what this mean.

[bigsnake]

You'll need just the track files, it looks like the files are exactly the same across the board so there shouldn't be any issues. There's going to be a readme with the game that explains what to do so that should hopefully address any confusion.

[Temet]

I've seen your last vids, that's huge man ;)
Can't wait to try this.

Sorry I can't comment on your vids, I've always refused to create a Google+ account just to comment youtube videos.

[bigsnake]

Regarding a release date, I'm looking to have a more unoptimized version (in terms of the track rendering) out tomorrow. I just finished making a tool to move the start line on the track (you probably noticed on my videos that the start line was straight after the jump) and tomorrow I'm going to make this 2097 data verifier. After that's finished and it works I will then release it :)

[Temet]

I'm moving to a new flat this week, so I probably won't be able to try it... but be sure I'll do it as soon as I can ;)
WO2097 is my favorite one, and I like Gare d'Europa ;)

[bigsnake]

Alpha 0.03
Download: https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/0.03/BallisticNG.Alpha.0.03.zip

As expected this version has Gare d'Europa and an attempt a fully replicating Wipeout 2097's physics. I think the camera needs a lot of work still, but I feel like the ship handling is going in a good direction, let me know what you think and how you think it can be improved though.

I included a readme that tells you how to setup Wipeout tracks for the game to read it, if you don't setup the tracks correctly then you'll get an error message when you start the game.

The next version of the game will be Alpha 0.03_2, for this I want to make the ship feel better to pilot and fix all the rough edges with the physics, which obviously includes many of the wall collision bugs.

[Temet]

Ok, tried it yesterday evening.
Here are some things I noticed :
- It looks more power consuming, my core i7 with GT650m seems to be at max with normal and 1280x720. For comparison, SSGX using also Unity didn't gave me issues;
- Cannot go into the OPTIONS screen, the game freezes when I hit ESC;
- Way to hard not too go out the track, maybe the walls need to be higher;
- The repawn can be in the wrong direction;
- The HUD is now at the good scale ... so the weapon+power indicator is really disturbing to see the track (it disturbs me in lots of Wipeouts);
- The ship can bounce really (too) high when hitting a wall;
- The last jump is too long, I often was too short;
- I flew though a wall and didn't respawed, I had to stop the game (it didn't freeze, the time counter was still increasing).


Of course, I always point out what I think need a correction :)
Otherwise, the shape of the track is OK.
I think I would remove the speed pad before the first "up and down" because it takes you out of the track.
The second "up and down" is also really hard not to get out of the track, don't know what you can do... put the tunnel a little longer?

This are my thoughts mate ;)

Don't take all the remarks as negative, I like what you're doing, I just want to help to improve ;)

[bigsnake]

Thanks a bunch for the feedback, I got some more feedback from someone else so I will get straight to fixing everything when I get home from college tonight :)

[Temet]

Dude, I don't know how you can do all this so quick, that's impressive o_O

[bigsnake]

I have way too much free time :P

I've just been optimizing the track, without realtime reflections on the ship there's a relatively big improvement. I still need to split up the track floor and wall into segments so the entire track is being rendered at once, but that will be done by the time I release a new version.

I'm going to move that speed pad at the top of that hill down so you can still use it but it doesn't punish you by making you fly off the track, the same goes for those two speed pads just before the U-bend in the warmly lit station (or what I would assume would have been a station before an AG track was built there). Talking of speed pads I have also fixed a small issue with them. When you hit a speed pad you have a timer that starts to decrease which determines how long the boost lasts for, originally when you hit a pad it set this timer to the max value no matter what. This made multiple speed pads useless because you only had a max boost timer when hovering over them. What I'm doing now is increasing that timer which each pad you hit, this means that two speed pads will now result in a longer boost, it's a very subtle difference but it will be more apparent in a race against other ships.

[TheXTR09]

Great Scott, d'Europe looks great! It'd to be hell making the cityscape look decent.

On speed pads, they're different in the Originals compared to the later installments. What they do is just increase top speed by 10% on each pad, but have a very slow decay time, which means the "boost" last longer. It makes multiple speed pads useful, especially on tracks like Firestar. It's almost works like a performance boost, so to say KERS.

[amplificated]

Not sure if it's because I'm running it off a low end HDD (I personally don't think that should be the issue), but I still get fairly large "skips" when the game is changing music as well.

[bigsnake]

That's a known issue that I will get round to fixing at some point, it's caused by the song being loaded into memory. I'm going to look into streaming the music instead of loading it all at once, that will also allow for custom music and reduced memory consumption (depending on the currently loaded song).

[Meg.A.Byte]

When bigsnake released a video with new team called G-Tek, I knew I have to make a little description for my Hyperion team as well.



http://s1.postimg.org/vjgvote7f/Hyperion_logo_small.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/3xiphvk8f/Hyperion_title_small.jpg

HYPERION

Country - Iceland
Established - 2047
CEO - Derek Wright

Icelandic Anti-Gravity research was founded in mid 40' after Icelandic great revolution in 2043.
It was caused by merging with Greenland in 2036, where 5 years later natural resources (rare
metals) were found. Thanks to those events Iceland has appeared among other wealthier states.
Therefore with help of FEISAR, they found their own Anti-gravity research (partially supported
by their own natural resources autonomy). Two years after AG research was found, they
established an official AG racing team, which participated in nearby AGRC.

Speed - 8
Acceleration - 6
Handling - 7
Aerodynamics - 8
Shield - 3

3rd generation ship

[bigsnake]

Nice! Although Hyperion is obviously supposed to be for the Wipeout universe, there will have to be a different story for BallisticNG, I wouldn't worry about that until there's a story going on though.

Alpha 0.03a
Download: https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/0.03a/BallisticNG.Alpha.0.03a.zip
There's nothing too special about this release (hence why it's a sub update to Alpha 0.03). I've re-enabled the pause menu (it has been disabled for 2 releases, didn't even realize), made some more changes to the classic Wipeout camera, re-introduced the modern camera with some changes and added my own ship model. There's also a few optimizations and a new bloom post processing effect.

Since there's now 2 ships in the game, I will be making the menu where you can select ships from quite soon.

[pichuscute]

Nice! Although Hyperion is obviously supposed to be for the Wipeout universe, there will have to be a different story for BallisticNG, I wouldn't worry about that until there's a story going on though.

Alpha 0.03a
Download: https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/0.03a/BallisticNG.Alpha.0.03a.zip
There's nothing too special about this release (hence why it's a sub update to Alpha 0.03). I've re-enabled the pause menu (it has been disabled for 2 releases, didn't even realize), made some more changes to the classic Wipeout camera, re-introduced the modern camera with some changes and added my own ship model. There's also a few optimizations and a new bloom post processing effect.

Since there's now 2 ships in the game, I will be making the menu where you can select ships from quite soon.

Is there any way to play without having physical playstation copies of the original games? The readme mentions normal tracks, but the game won't boot anything up.

[bigsnake]

Just create a file called TRACK.WAD in the directory mentioned in the readme file for now, since the game isn't exposed much I haven't worried about checking if the file is a valid Wipeout file just yet. If you don't already know, you can create the file by just saving a new file from notepad and making sure to change the file type from .txt to any file.

I wrote the readme for future versions of the game which will have a menu to select tracks from, Alpha 0.03 only has the remake of Gare d'Europa in. My next release will have an original track in so you won't need a copy of Wipeout to play it.

[AGgamer]

WiiU Release - once Unity 5 gets native WiiU support, only once the final game is released

Wait... Wii U release? Really!? I'd buy the :turd outta that!

Also what does "NG" stand for? is it "No Gravity"?

[bigsnake]

Hopefully, providing you won't need a WiiU devkit to get it on the WiiU I'll get it on there :)

NG is for Negative-Gravity, then ballistic is because the game will have a focus on weapons as well as straight up racing.

[Xpand]

I thought the Ballistic part was to do with the projectile trajectory since ballistics studies the trajectory of objects affected by gravity, not weapons! Haha
(hence why the first Wipeout had Ballistic Anti-Gravity Racing as its name, because the ships are still affected by gravity, on jumps and such)
But bullets and missiles are ballistic objects so I guess you can relate it to weapons through that.

[TheXTR09]

So, we're talking about the game's title huh?

I had been suggesting Relapse for quite a long time, as it's a homage to Wipeout's original meaning: A wipe out from ecstasy intake (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wipeout&defid=3575969). The "relapse" part is where we feel the need for another wipeout [game].

Cheeky, I know. It's like the Circle of Taking Drugs. nvr do druqs kidz

[AGgamer]

I had been suggesting Relapse for quite a long time, as it's a homage to Wipeout's original meaning: A wipe out from ecstasy intake (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=wipeout&defid=3575969). The "relapse" part is where we feel the need for another wipeout [game].

That's brilliant. You're brilliant. That perfectly defines the WipEout community right now while being "cheeky" about it. I think it would make a great title.

[PureSpeed7]

uh I know it's early but I have a feature request.

I saw in the later games (pure, pulse, and HD) that the tracks lost their extreme features. Features I would like to see are BIG JUMPS, Loops, Corkscrews, Wall-rides, big drops, big climbs, flips and other stuff that I couldn't think of.

[TheXTR09]

uh I know it's early but I have a feature request.se

I saw in the later games (pure, pulse, and HD) that the tracks lost their extreme features. Features I would like to see are BIG JUMPS, Loops, Corkscrews, Wall-rides, big drops, big climbs, flips and other stuff that I couldn't think of.

Big jumps? Definitely. Cockscrews? Of course. Flips and anythng else not mentioned that's awesome? Comes as standard. Loops? Hmm....

The physics now is quite strict in terms of track-to-ship relationship. Loops might not work here, Snake doesn't have Magstrips in the remake in mind. :|

[JABBERJAW]

Magstrips would wreck the feel of the old physics. Massive jumps absolutely, needed pitch control on multiple bumps in a row would also be very welcome. Bouncy ships like wo1 Would be great too, but maybe a little less

[aybe]

Been playing the demo and it's pretty good ... but it's way too fast to enjoy the game itself :brickwall

Do you think you can implement some Vector or Venom class ? :D

thanks !

[AGgamer]

I have a thought. How about the entire soundtrack is named after drugs. So far you have "Crystal Method" you could have the other songs have drug puns like "Acid Tripper" or something. XD

[TheXTR09]

The entirely of the first game was based on drugs to lure some pillmunchers to play the game. I thought it can even expand to the zone modes like Ecstacy for classic zone, Speed for a Voxel Rush-style endless, and Lysergine (LSD) for a wierd, Ace Combat-like asteroid -dodging simulator. A special one call Crystal/Morphine for a frustratingly-hardcore race series based on Fusion and F-Zero race tracks.

[bigsnake]

Sorry for the late response, been busy.


uh I know it's early but I have a feature request.

I saw in the later games (pure, pulse, and HD) that the tracks lost their extreme features. Features I would like to see are BIG JUMPS, Loops, Corkscrews, Wall-rides, big drops, big climbs, flips and other stuff that I couldn't think of.

That's the plan, you can't have a classic Wipeout game with flat tracks :) Anything that involves going upside down is ruled out though, there's no maglocks so the ship can only hover over surfaces that are facing upwards.


Been playing the demo and it's pretty good ... but it's way too fast to enjoy the game itself :brickwall


Do you think you can implement some Vector or Venom class ? :D

thanks !

There's already a venom class, you can use 1-4 in-game at the moment to switch between the different speed classes.


I have a thought. How about the entire soundtrack is named after drugs. So far you have "Crystal Method" you could have the other songs have drug puns like "Acid Tripper" or something. XD

That's the idea :D "Joint Place" could be a potential name for a new song.

[AGgamer]

I don’t know how much of a contribution this is but I just wanted to share my ideas.
Speed class titles

Spark (D class /aka Vector) 550km h
Toxic (C class /aka Venom) 650 km h
Apex (B class /aka Flash) 750 km h (highest class for 2059 campaign)
Halberd (A class /aka Rapier) 850 km h (highest class for 2109 campaign)
Spector (A+ class /aka Phantom) 950 km h (highest class for 2159 campaign)

Ecstasy (aka Zone)
Proto-Spector (Sub-Phantom
Spector
High-Spector (Super-Phantom)
Trip (Zen)
Etc.

Here’s some gameplay of TxK for some visual inspiration for zone mode. "A game that could probably be considered as a legal drug."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5Y85LNLTf8
Just some Ideas to help you out maybe? Also could I possibly help with ideas for track layouts?

[TheXTR09]

TxK looks sick, but I think Hotline Miami is for more addictive. To git gud you have to shoot and punch with the beat without even thinking if that Russian dude have kids to take care of. Or thinking in general.

Speaking of which, BnG needs a soundtrack completely different from today's electro music[, so it'll become a brown note that really sets players going with the soundtrack].
All those repetitive kicks, same old wubs, boring beeps and honks...modern EDM is no place for something like that. It has to have some 70s~90s electronica, with analog synths and acoustic-sounding drums, almost full-Aphex Twin. E.g. Snake's Cyborg or anything by Scattle could qualify. Conzio's Arcordia (?) and Retro Techno gets away with it as it sticks close to older vibes.

[aybe]

There's already a venom class, you can use 1-4 in-game at the moment to switch between the different speed classes.


Thank you !

[Temet]

I'm a not a big fan of "too many classes".
I like 3 classes : venom, rapier and phantom, but really fast ;)

[bigsnake]

I don’t know how much of a contribution this is but I just wanted to share my ideas.
Speed class titles

Spark (D class /aka Vector) 550km h
Toxic (C class /aka Venom) 650 km h
Apex (B class /aka Flash) 750 km h (highest class for 2059 campaign)
Halberd (A class /aka Rapier) 850 km h (highest class for 2109 campaign)
Spector (A+ class /aka Phantom) 950 km h (highest class for 2159 campaign)

Ecstasy (aka Zone)
Proto-Spector (Sub-Phantom
Spector
High-Spector (Super-Phantom)
Trip (Zen)
Etc.
Just some Ideas to help you out maybe? Also could I possibly help with ideas for track layouts?

I like it :D I'll be sure to include some of those names for sure. And yeah, if you want to help with track layouts then feel free to send some designs over. I'll most likely turn them into a track, even if they have to be provided separately from the main game :)

For a bit of news, I'm currently helping with SlipstreamGX so I'm a bit behind on development with BallisticNG. I'm going to be helping with SlipstreamGX for a while, that being said I'm still working on BallisticNG on the side so it's not completely dead for the time being. When I get back to working on it full time again I'm going to be making a lot of changes to the physics to really make it feel like the older Wipeout games, I also need to redo the steering since at the moment steering with an analog stick is pretty bad. I'll keep this thread updated as usual with what's going on, it'll be a few weeks until anything major happens though.

[Rovenami]

Personally speaking, I would have brought in racing on other planets. (Or at least the moons of the outer rim planets).

[AGgamer]

Ballistic NG backstory:

With tensions between the USA and Russia resurfacing after being dormant for decades, the two superpowers returned to their scramble for superior technology over the other. One of the many new concepts devised was the idea of “Negative-Gravitation.” a physics effect that essentially allows for completely stealthy and perfect 3-dimensional control of aircraft. Another was Ion-Based Repulsion, which created an energy field around craft, protecting them from harm.

Both the USA and Russia experimented excessively with the new technology, Negative-gravity aircraft spotted around the world and mistaken for UFO sightings. Under the cover of the world’s rallied excitement for First Contact, the superpowers continued testing in secret. Until the one fateful day of the year 2051, the Russian government announced the technology to it’s people, claiming supremacy over the USA. Scared of falling behind, America too developed consumer brand Negative-Gravity craft.

The Americans did not stop there, they went as far as to organize the Negative-Gravity Racing League (NGRL). The first races scheduled to be held in 2059. While the world was disappointed at the lost possibility of ET, they flocked to the new technology with great enthusiasm. Several teams arouse thanks to the shared technology from the USA.

The Russians too developed their very own elitist “Hyperion” team to participate. However, the Americans were very reluctant to allow Russian blood in their new sport, fearing the competition would lead to increased tensions. This fear worked against them, after a massive controversy, the Hyperion team was allowed to race, but not before increasing the tension between the two nations even further.

The race is on! The NGRL is here!

Locations:

Project Utah - Originally a top-secret testing track for ground based Negative-Gravity. The American government re-purposed this location into an official NGRL circuit shortly after the sport was announced.

[bigsnake]

Personally speaking, I would have brought in racing on other planets. (Or at least the moons of the outer rim planets).
I uploaded a video of a track I started working on a space station, that so far has had negative reception. I will do at least 1 track on another planet though, there will be people who say it's a bad a idea but that's just ruining the fun of making a game set in the future.


Ballistic NG backstory:

With tensions between the USA and Russia resurfacing after being dormant for decades, the two superpowers returned to their scramble for superior technology over the other. One of the many new concepts devised was the idea of “Negative-Gravitation.” a physics effect that essentially allows for completely stealthy and perfect 3-dimensional control of aircraft. Another was Ion-Based Repulsion, which created an energy field around craft, protecting them from harm.

Both the USA and Russia experimented excessively with the new technology, Negative-gravity aircraft spotted around the world and mistaken for UFO sightings. Under the cover of the world’s rallied excitement for First Contact, the superpowers continued testing in secret. Until the one fateful day of the year 2051, the Russian government announced the technology to it’s people, claiming supremacy over the USA. Scared of falling behind, America too developed consumer brand Negative-Gravity craft.

The Americans did not stop there, they went as far as to organize the Negative-Gravity Racing League (NGRL). The first races scheduled to be held in 2059. While the world was disappointed at the lost possibility of ET, they flocked to the new technology with great enthusiasm. Several teams arouse thanks to the shared technology from the USA.

The Russians too developed their very own elitist “Hyperion” team to participate. However, the Americans were very reluctant to allow Russian blood in their new sport, fearing the competition would lead to increased tensions. This fear worked against them, after a massive controversy, the Hyperion team was allowed to race, but not before increasing the tension between the two nations even further.

The race is on! The NGRL is here!

Locations:

Project Utah - Originally a top-secret testing track for ground based Negative-Gravity. The American government re-purposed this location into an official NGRL circuit shortly after the sport was announced.

I like that, it fits the theme of the game well! I'm still holding back on developing a concrete story for the game though until there are enough teams to start shaping the story around.

[bigsnake]

I've got an early preview of what's been happening with development, I've rewritten the game from scratch to better optimize it and make it more convenient to add/change features. There's still several features missing that I will be adding back in over the next few days but before then, here's the preview (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B84JeAOIeQm9VmdGU0prdEJOcnc/view?usp=sharing).

A few notes:


Keyboard only
Only one graphics preset on the Unity launcher
No pausing or settings menu in-game
Spectre Class only
Checkpoints enabled

[TheXTR09]

I somehow came across this lighting test on Unity, from some University of Utah students... (http://karratti.com/tag/university-of-utah/)
https://origamers.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/lighttest.png

The lighting is perfectly natural, shadows were not too soft, boy wonder how they can pull this off. :clap
Thought graphics don't have to be this nice, BnG's atmosphere must be perfect, or else it just feela like a generic Unity game.

[bigsnake]

It looks like they're interpolating the normals between the vertices and applying their own shadow maps, or the shadows are baked into a lightmap. Don't take my word on that though, I'm no expert in the field of shaders.
In layman's terms, they're smoothing the light on those objects and using their own custom shadows.

I'm learning 3D as I go and hopefully BallisticNG's end result should look better then your average generic Unity game. It's not all about the shaders though, the artist behind the assets makes up a considerable amount of the quality of the visuals too.

Here's a real-time orbiting render of the G-Tek Gen2 Ship, unlike any other ship model I've made in the past this one is optimized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjqcdGRztT0

[AGgamer]

Well it tokk me way too long to get this out but here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA98-A3C5Tg
These are two track designs as well as the full Cold Comfort remix. I named the tracks "Harpstone" and Aciknovae" though if you want you can give them your own names.

[bigsnake]

I like those, nice job! I think the names are already pretty good, I'll get to making them later on today :)
Since you've placed what can be the basic geometry that will make modeling the environment easier too.

[bigsnake]

Some news on development:

Firstly check out this Trello (https://trello.com/b/ckh31uzl/ballisticng) board I started recently, it's pretty vague at the minute but I'll add more details as time goes on. For me I can use it to make sure I'm keeping on track, for everyone else you can check out how far through development I am and what I am currently working on. (Green means complete, yellow means in progress and red means pending).

As it says on the board the game now has savable times, I am currently working on ghosts. The times are stored in your documents folder as a .sav file (BallisticNG/Windows user account name/Times/TrackName.sav). If you beat your best time on time-trial then your time will be saved, it will automatically be loaded and displayed again the next time-trial race as expected. When ghosts are finished, you will be able to share your ghosts for others to use, in the future I want to get some server space so data like ghosts can be uploaded and shared in-game.

Your name in the game will automatically be picked up from your Windows user account name (minus -PC), however you will be able to change it in the options menu.

[mannjon]

When bigsnake released a video with new team called G-Tek, I knew I have to make a little description for my Hyperion team as well.



http://s1.postimg.org/vjgvote7f/Hyperion_logo_small.jpg
http://s1.postimg.org/3xiphvk8f/Hyperion_title_small.jpg

HYPERION

Isn't that a little, eh, Borderlandsish? Might want to make sure that name isn't copyrighted. I would hate for you to get moonshotted.

[Meg.A.Byte]

Isn't that a little, eh, Borderlandsish? Might want to make sure that name isn't copyrighted. I would hate for you to get moonshotted.

Well, it's surprise for me and I'm little dissapointed right now. I've never played Borderlands and I know nothing about it so it's pure coincidence. But after all Ballistic NG is just fan project and as Snake stated it probably never will go wide public.
Btw the name "Hyperion" is name of greek titan from ancient mythology, so it's never going to be copyrighted (probably).

[JABBERJAW]

Could you post a video with the new physics, I have been able to play it yet. This fall I should get a chance to dig in with a decent computer.

[bigsnake]

Yeah Hyperion wouldn't be copyrighted by Gearbox, the use of the name in relation to the corporation inside of Borderlands more then likely is though.


Could you post a video with the new physics, I have been able to play it yet. This fall I should get a chance to dig in with a decent computer.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUQqEgbMs9k

[JABBERJAW]

Good sliding, are the pitch controls in this version? The last version I played came off the track and played pretty well

[bigsnake]

Pitch control is somewhat in, still needs a bit of work until the next release though.

[stin]

that video looks awesome!! keep it up :)

stevie:)

[mannjon]

I just checked. You are correct in that Hyperion cannot be trademarked! As long as it bears no identifiable similarities that might cause some reason for dispute (like Hyperion yellow, which is trademarked), you should be fine.

[Rovenami]

I will be taking part of the project by helping out with some tracks and machines.

[PureSpeed7]

Could you put a track that is on one of the Hawaiian islands? That would be really cool.

[Rovenami]

Could you put a track that is on one of the Hawaiian islands? That would be really cool.
Well, I did plan on making one set on a rollercoaster attraction of a previously abandoned theme park, but that would require a lot sharp, blind corners, some parallel track sections and a section of a "Sphere of Mirrors" and a HUGE plummet towards the end of the track.

[PureSpeed7]

So I made up a track description of a track on the island of Maui. You don't have to use any of these details but you can if you want to.

Kahawai bay: (kahawai means river or stream in ancient Hawaiian.) Kahawai bay is a very long track, so long it had to have two pit lanes! The track starts indoors inside the huge Kahawai resort complex. There is then a wide straight section and a 90 degree bend that goes out of the resort. Then there is a small crest and your ship does a massive jump into a huge circular tube sticking out of the water. Then you land at the bottom of the ocean and there is a very technical section of track around the coral reef. You can see colorful fish and coral under out of the clear floor, ceiling, and walls of the tunnel. Then you emerge from the tunnel and cut back through the resort. As the pilot in first place flies through the lobby section fountains activate as they pass. After a few turns in the resort we move on to a very technical jungle section. (think alca vexus but less visibility and more trees.) This is why the bay is called Kahawai bay: there is a visible river going from the cliffs of Mauna Kahalawai through the jungle right next to the track and down to the bay. After the jungle section there is a climb up to the side of the cliff and some vertigo inducing jumps. After the fast, straight section on the Cliffside there is a left right left chicane and a big drop down to what is the centerpiece of the track: a huge water filtration plant turning seawater into freshwater for the growing population of the mid-22nd century. The track goes inside the plant and has some sharp blind corners in low lighting then the track opens up and suddenly there is a small ramp and a HUGE drop down to the canal. (think Altima VII but BIGGER)
(you can also put a DANGER! sign up as a little 'easter egg' for the most loyal fans) as you land you're in a wide, clean and flowing canal. (like vohl square 3 but without the wrecked bridges and clean.) at the end of the canal there are bright flashing arrows telling you to go right or left. Right path: you go into a tunnel in the side of the canal and there is a large upward spiral of track (like cubiss float 3) and when you emerge there is a 180 degree left hander then a whole bunch of speed pads and a HUGE jump across the canal. When you land on the other side the track connects with the left path. Left path: you enter another tunnel and there is a long straight hill then another 180 degree turn onto a wide clear section of track suspended above the canal in a U shaped 180 turn back onto solid ground. It then connects to the right branch. There is then a long straight section back to the start in the resort.

Again, you don't have to put all those features in, i'm sure that would be one heck of a job.

[Rovenami]

So I made up a track description of a track on the island of Maui. You don't have to use any of these details but you can if you want to.

Kahawai bay: (kahawai means river or stream in ancient Hawaiian.) Kahawai bay is a very long track, so long it had to have two pit lanes! The track starts indoors inside the huge Kahawai resort complex. There is then a wide straight section and a 90 degree bend that goes out of the resort. Then there is a small crest and your ship does a massive jump into a huge circular tube sticking out of the water. Then you land at the bottom of the ocean and there is a very technical section of track around the coral reef. You can see colorful fish and coral under out of the clear floor, ceiling, and walls of the tunnel. Then you emerge from the tunnel and cut back through the resort. As the pilot in first place flies through the lobby section fountains activate as they pass. After a few turns in the resort we move on to a very technical jungle section. (think alca vexus but less visibility and more trees.) This is why the bay is called Kahawai bay: there is a visible river going from the cliffs of Mauna Kahalawai through the jungle right next to the track and down to the bay. After the jungle section there is a climb up to the side of the cliff and some vertigo inducing jumps. After the fast, straight section on the Cliffside there is a left right left chicane and a big drop down to what is the centerpiece of the track: a huge water filtration plant turning seawater into freshwater for the growing population of the mid-22nd century. The track goes inside the plant and has some sharp blind corners in low lighting then the track opens up and suddenly there is a small ramp and a HUGE drop down to the canal. (think Altima VII but BIGGER)
(you can also put a DANGER! sign up as a little 'easter egg' for the most loyal fans) as you land you're in a wide, clean and flowing canal. (like vohl square 3 but without the wrecked bridges and clean.) at the end of the canal there are bright flashing arrows telling you to go right or left. Right path: you go into a tunnel in the side of the canal and there is a large upward spiral of track (like cubiss float 3) and when you emerge there is a 180 degree left hander then a whole bunch of speed pads and a HUGE jump across the canal. When you land on the other side the track connects with the left path. Left path: you enter another tunnel and there is a long straight hill then another 180 degree turn onto a wide clear section of track suspended above the canal in a U shaped 180 turn back onto solid ground. It then connects to the right branch. There is then a long straight section back to the start in the resort.

Again, you don't have to put all those features in, i'm sure that would be one heck of a job.

Not bad, I'm pretty sure we'll have that under consideration.

[bigsnake]

So I made up a track description of a track on the island of Maui. You don't have to use any of these details but you can if you want to.

Kahawai bay: (kahawai means river or stream in ancient Hawaiian.) Kahawai bay is a very long track, so long it had to have two pit lanes! The track starts indoors inside the huge Kahawai resort complex. There is then a wide straight section and a 90 degree bend that goes out of the resort. Then there is a small crest and your ship does a massive jump into a huge circular tube sticking out of the water. Then you land at the bottom of the ocean and there is a very technical section of track around the coral reef. You can see colorful fish and coral under out of the clear floor, ceiling, and walls of the tunnel. Then you emerge from the tunnel and cut back through the resort. As the pilot in first place flies through the lobby section fountains activate as they pass. After a few turns in the resort we move on to a very technical jungle section. (think alca vexus but less visibility and more trees.) This is why the bay is called Kahawai bay: there is a visible river going from the cliffs of Mauna Kahalawai through the jungle right next to the track and down to the bay. After the jungle section there is a climb up to the side of the cliff and some vertigo inducing jumps. After the fast, straight section on the Cliffside there is a left right left chicane and a big drop down to what is the centerpiece of the track: a huge water filtration plant turning seawater into freshwater for the growing population of the mid-22nd century. The track goes inside the plant and has some sharp blind corners in low lighting then the track opens up and suddenly there is a small ramp and a HUGE drop down to the canal. (think Altima VII but BIGGER)
(you can also put a DANGER! sign up as a little 'easter egg' for the most loyal fans) as you land you're in a wide, clean and flowing canal. (like vohl square 3 but without the wrecked bridges and clean.) at the end of the canal there are bright flashing arrows telling you to go right or left. Right path: you go into a tunnel in the side of the canal and there is a large upward spiral of track (like cubiss float 3) and when you emerge there is a 180 degree left hander then a whole bunch of speed pads and a HUGE jump across the canal. When you land on the other side the track connects with the left path. Left path: you enter another tunnel and there is a long straight hill then another 180 degree turn onto a wide clear section of track suspended above the canal in a U shaped 180 turn back onto solid ground. It then connects to the right branch. There is then a long straight section back to the start in the resort.

Again, you don't have to put all those features in, i'm sure that would be one heck of a job.

I was working on the layout the other day, forgot to post it here :) Just a note for anyone else who wants to share a track idea in the future, if you've got the layout in your head please don't explain it and not provide an image because it's just confusing. Everyone has access to some form of image editing software, be it MSPaint, Gimp or Paint .NET if you are looking at free software. All it has to be is a line and maybe some labels around the side explaining.

https://db.tt/ZxX2F15I

[PureSpeed7]

I was working on the layout the other day, forgot to post it here :) Just a note for anyone else who wants to share a track idea in the future, if you've got the layout in your head please don't explain it and not provide an image because it's just confusing. Everyone has access to some form of image editing software, be it MSPaint, Gimp or Paint .NET if you are looking at free software. All it has to be is a line and maybe some labels around the side explaining.

Okay, sorry. I'll draw it next time.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's what I explained. I know it's like a cave painting to say the least, but hey, my motto is IT WILL DO 9601

[bigsnake]

That attachment doesn't seem to be working :P

Before I continue development with BallisticNG I want to make the track editor for it. This will make developing tracks easier, it will have an OBJ exporter which means tracks you create can be exported out for importing into modeling software. It's a separate application to the game so I'll be putting up a download for it when the first working version is finished. Here's what the UI looks like so far https://db.tt/uBYOJLDH

[Ace3000]

From Faster Than Angels, I present: Omega Harbour.

9604

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

[Rovenami]

From Faster Than Angels, I present: Omega Harbour.

9604

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

As great as the track layout is, I don't think Ballistic NG features the Mag-Strip technology.

[miljoneir]

Original idea, I like it. Instead of doing multiple laps on one track, a very long one :)
BTW that would give extreme time trial lap results...

[bigsnake]

From Faster Than Angels, I present: Omega Harbour.

9604

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Awesome :D But yeah as Rovenami said, BallisticNG won't have magstrips, that's not much of a problem though.


Original idea, I like it. Instead of doing multiple laps on one track, a very long one :)
BTW that would give extreme time trial lap results...

Imagine the ghost file size too.

[Ace3000]

I guess I could post the other version I have that bypasses the Mag-Strip section, since there isn't really much of it, but I'll do that when I get back on my computer.

EDIT: Here it is:
9605

[bigsnake]

I guess I could post the other version I have that bypasses the Mag-Strip section, since there isn't really much of it, but I'll do that when I get back on my computer.

EDIT: Here it is:
9605

Sweet, thanks for the design :) I talked to Johnny not to long ago about having a central place for sharing ideas so they don't get lost on this thread, I created a wiki for the game a little while ago so in the future it looks like that could be a good place.


Progress on the track editor:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDDgRTXxNVc
And if you want to test it out so far (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B84JeAOIeQm9RDZjSGtZRVhFODg/view?usp=sharing), and a hotkey reference (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kktk8Al0BvNtMji2m0HlLOlZHPZ7BY1rD1hvyOQ_TZY/edit?usp=sharing)

[JABBERJAW]

Have you thought about making that track from hackers? ( minus the guns). Would be pretty cool to,see

[NeroIcaras]

I tried downloading but it just says when I click on it 'There should be Ballistic_NG Data next to the executable'
Please help !!!

[bigsnake]

I tried downloading but it just says when I click on it 'There should be Ballistic_NG Data next to the executable'
Please help !!!

I take it you've extracted it out of the zip file? If so you need to extract both the exe and the folder for the game to work, the folder should be the same name as the exe with _Data at the end, so in this case it should be called "BallisticNG_Data"

[Syncopia]

I'll try it out =3

[NeroIcaras]

Sorry to keep bothering you but I extracted it and it says 'Unable to load mono library'

[bigsnake]

I just looked it up for you, try installing C++ redistributable 2010 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/confirmation.aspx?id=14632). If that fails, apparently it can be possible for some anti-viruses to see mono.dll as a threat (BallisticNG_Data/Mono/mono.dll), check to make sure that dll is in the Mono folder. Unfortunately I don't have any control over this, it's a problem with Unity itself.

[NeroIcaras]

Thank you, looking forward to playing!

- - - Updated - - -

Just 1 thing: how do I pull out the track file for GARE D'EUROPA?

[TheXTR09]

Thank you, looking forward to playing!

- - - Updated - - -

Just 1 thing: how do I pull out the track file for GARE D'EUROPA?

Just between you and me (sorta), go download Wipeout XL ISO image file for PC, get an ISO reader or simply MagicISO, and find the "TRACKS" folder found somwhere and extract it in c/documents/ballisticng. Don't have the file? Just create a new folder called "BallisticNG".

Ta. There ya go.

[AGgamer]

Ballistic NG backstory continued:

Teams:

Automni Inc. (not final name, Omniware also suggested)
Name origin: Automobile + Omnipotent
Country of origin: United States of America
Liverty: Navy, Purple, White
History: Originally a secret project founded by the US government, consisting of a few dozen elite scientists and officials, Automni grew into a fully fledged NGRL racing team in 2051 after the Russian announcement of new Negative-Gravity technology. Automni spread its NG tech to nations around the world, encouraging them to join in the NGRL. The Russians, un-invited to the party, fashioned the Hyperion team regardless, and have since forged a rivalry as deep as the two superpowers themselves.

Hyperion
Name origin: Greek mythology, titan child of Gaia.
Country of origin: Russian Federation
Liverty: Orange, Black
History: Once the Americans began organizing the NGRL for 2059, the Russians refused to let their rivals shut them out of the dawn of a new sport. The team Hyperion was formed and trained to the elite, using the very best NG technology the Russian military could provide. When they were initially shut out from entering the racing league the Russian government was furious, sparking a massive controversy that lasted for over eight months. Eventually Hyperion was allowed to race, but not without some salt.

G-Tek
Name origin: Gravity + Technology
Country of origin: Japan
Liverty: Red, White
History: Japan was one of the first nations to receive Automni’s special treatment in NG technology. While many factories began producing the new tech for its nation, G-Tek was the only one to prepare a NGRL team. They race based on the belief that the NGRL will lead to friendly competition and hence the peaceful advancement of mankind. With Luna, the Russian moon base finally given international visiting privileges thanks to the demand to build a NGRL circuit there, G-tek has good reason to believe that the races will ease the tensions between the powerful nations and is honored to participate in it.

Locations:

Aciknovae: The circuit is built around the world’s first cold fusion reactor. With three completely blind 90’ airborne turns, Aciknovae is not to be taken lightly. The neon of New York city keeps the outdoor segments lit well enough, but the dark tunnel segments are not so lucky.

Luna: With the arms race once again ignited between the USA and Russia, the space race too resumed where it left off. This time the target was a moon base, and this time Russia claimed victory. Originally they only allowed Russian astronauts into the space known as the “Luna” base. But when Russia, along with the Hyperion team, pressured the NGRL to build a circuit at the base in exchange for open access, it was a deal the Americans could not pass up. Not believing it possible for the US to accomplish, Russia was very surprised when the circuit was actually built and open for races in 2159.

[bigsnake]

Awesome :D We'll have to see what Meg. A. Byte thinks about Hyperion fitting into the story though, I'd imagine he has his own ideas for them.

I've just uploaded an early preview of 0.04, you can get it here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/0.04p/BallisticNG.0.04p.zip), there's also the downloads link on the OP.
I also added a link to the wiki on the OP, I just created a page for people to dump ideas on so they don't get lost over time on this thread, here's that page (http://ballisticng.wikia.com/wiki/Backstory_planning).

[AGgamer]

We don't have to use Hyperion if you don't want to. Any team hailing from Russia is fine. :)

[Temet]

Hello Bigsnake.

I've tried every preview of the game so I couldn't miss this one.
Good points :
- some menus have arrived;
- the handling is almost perfect (didn't try pitching I admit).

Bad points :
- tracks too hard and too narrow. I'm not the best Wiper in the world, but I've played a lot to all of them but fusion... and I find the track more frustrating than enjoyable. The first "Manortop-like" little jump is almost impossible to take correctly, the others just break the speed (and I fall almost each time). Just my feeling, but I don't like the tracks designs. Ok tracks were really too wide in 2048, but if you aim for a fast game and with some other ships on the track... dude it's unplayable!
- track too dark.
- maybe just a feeling, but feels slower that first beta.
- the 'ending race' menu doesn't allow me to restart, I have to kill the game after each race.

My favorite one is still the first beta.

Again, this is just my feeling, if I'm the only one thinking like this, don't take it into consideration :)

[bigsnake]

Thanks for the feedback :)

You're definitely right about the first turn, it is possible to come out correctly but it's extremely difficult and requires way too much practice. I need to make some adjustments overall to the track to make it flow better so loosening up that turn a bit will be one of the first changes. The darkness will be sorted out as the environment comes along, as AGgamer mentioned above it's based in New York so there's going to be loads of sources of lights. For the results screen, at the moment you need to use the mouse, I need to make the restart race button selected when the results first opens so you can navigate it with the keyboard/gamepad.

Here's an idea of the track's lighting when it's lit more:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/131162415/AciknovaeWIP.JPG

Just as side note to that, the PS1 style in the 0.04 preview is being moved to prototype tracks, I'm going to be continuing with modern visuals for the normal parts of the game. The decision is based on mixed feedback so I'm going half way with it.

[AGgamer]

I thought it was cool that you would be replicating the PS1 visuals, but honestly graphics don't really matter to me. I'm just as excited about modern visuals and everyone else should receive them well. Loving that environment so far!

[Temet]

Ok, count me in for next version ;)
I hope my laptop will be able to run with enhanced graphics :(

[TheXTR09]

I can't argue with the PS1 graphics. They really look killer, accurately pixelated even.

And yes, I can't race anything above Rapier on Wo3, and I really hope to see unlimited laps and changable speed classes in the next update.

I like the backstory of the teams, it can definitely do better. And I was thinking, would Katagura be good for G-Tek's name, as in Katagura G-tech? :D

BONUS EDIT
To heck with it I got teams to share.

Velocity Inc.
Name of origin: Cheeky rendition of BOOM Co.
Country of origin: USA
Livery: (from most to least) Black, yellow, sky blue
Story:
Founded in 2112 , Simon Harris and Jose Fernandez sees starting a NG racing team as an oppoturnity for fame and fortune. With experience on drag racing, specifically its aerodynanics, Velocity Inc. tends to have their ships ridiculously fast and incredibily cosmic (in acceleration. its something we NFS: World players say for strong nitrous) with its weakness in corners. Early on the lead and struggles mid-way, Velocity Inc. ships are never for the faint-hearted.

I'm still working a script for Rainbow Motor Factories. Anyone with enough experience on the internet should know what I'm implying. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Rovenami]

Zweigart Ltd.
Name of origin: Zwei-German for two "Gart" the company was founded by Franz Gartrich and Heinz Gartrich
Country of origin: Germany
Livery: dark purple, grey, petty blue
History: Founded in 2144 by the Gartrich brothers, they strived to not only have the best defense technology in the sport, but also the fastest machines in terms of top speed. However, this comes at the disadvantage of having slow acceleration and dismal cornering.

[Meg.A.Byte]

Hello, I'm sorry for late response, I've read that few days ago, but I was busy for past days.
I want to respond to AGgamer (and Bigsnake): To be honest, the Russia is probably my least favourite country (perhaps followed by China and North Korea) so I would be happy if Hyperion wasn't part of it. As I wrote my backstory few pages back (page 14), Hyperion could be from Iceland but even Greece is possible. But if you want to stick to the eastern countries I recommend Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania.

[Ace3000]

So, wait, can we post ideas for teams as well as tracks?

[AGgamer]

That's fine, Meg.A.Byte. Any team can fill the role pf Russia's representative in the game. It's simply a matter of replacing the name "Hyperion" with whatever our new Russian team will be. If you don't want Hyperion to be that, then we can get something else to fill in the blanks. :)

[bigsnake]

So, wait, can we post ideas for teams as well as tracks?

You can share anything you like, but share them on here (http://ballisticng.wikia.com/wiki/Backstory_planning) instead of on the thread otherwise it will fairly quickly get lost. I've also added the link to this page on the original post under the "For people helping" section.

[Ace3000]

Awesome, thanks!

Should I repost the idea for Omega Harbour there, or is that all right?

[bigsnake]

Awesome, thanks!

Should I repost the idea for Omega Harbour there, or is that all right?



You got a post number for it? It might be worth adding it just for ease of access in the future :)

[Ace3000]

It's here (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9936-Ballistic-NG-Wipeout-fan-project&p=244409#post244409), but I'll also add it to the wiki, just for the ease of access.

EDIT: Omega Harbour has now been added to the Backstory planning page of the wiki.

[bigsnake]

It's here (http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9936-Ballistic-NG-Wipeout-fan-project&p=244409#post244409), but I'll also add it to the wiki, just for the ease of access.

EDIT: Omega Harbour has now been added to the Backstory planning page of the wiki.
Cheers! They're on the todo list, will get round to making them at some point :)

As it's Wipeout's 20th anniversary coming up I'm working on an anniversary build. This isn't going to be 0.04, that version will be coming much later after this as there is a lot I want to get done. The focus of this build is Silverstream, video of the progress on it below. I'm aiming to release it on 29/09/15, I can't promise that being the actual release date though due to the amount I still have to do (redoing menus, making the environment for silverstream, setting up ships, etc).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-ahb61bjMg

[Tucknut.net]

Geez, I may actually like this version of Silverstream!

[Ace3000]

Cheers! They're on the todo list, will get round to making them at some point :)

Awesome! Looking forward to it!

Also, I'm loving the Wip3out-esque thrust thingy coming from the ship in that vid :D

[stin]

Wow!, that video is different and alot smoother than the original version!

You have certainly made a great job of it! :)

stevie:)

[vincoof]

There are so many things that I like in this design that I cannot mention them all. Impressive work so far. Keep up the good work!

[JABBERJAW]

Fantastic!

[Temet]

Oh, why did you change the texture for the ground in version 0.2? Yeah ok, it's more like original... but I like a lot 0.1 texture.
Also, I prefer the first ship, top left.
Yes I know, again less close to WO... but hey, your game, not a copy of an old one ;)

[AGgamer]

Okay, here's a little more to work with as far as teams are concerned:

Omnicom
Motto: “All Together.”
Colours: Navy, white, hot-yellow (almost orange)
Chassis: double-nose
Nation of origin: USA

Diavolt
Motto: “From Above And Below.”
Colours: Violet-red
Chassis: Double-nose
Nation of origin: Russia
Notes: Diavolt will serve as the Russian team for the NGRL, the team that was initially rejected due to the tensions between the USA and Russia. Their name is a fusion of 'Diablo' and 'Volt.'

Barracuda (Locked team)
Motto: N/A
Colours: Yellow, white
Chassis: Single-nose
Nation of origin: Unknown
Background: Eerily, the mysterious team known as Barracuda entered the league with NG-technology of their own. Omnicom did not provide them with the tech, and Diavolt adamantly denies supplying it. Their base of operations is unknown, and their pilots don’t seem to know anything about their own team other than its elitist attitude when recruiting. When Barracuda asked to enter the league, Omnicom did not turn them down, desiring a chance to learn more about this bizarre entity.

G-Tek's motto will be "Uplifting!"
Wyvern's motto will be "We Are Legend."

[Ace3000]

As the creator of Tenrai/Angelus (Angelus initially, name changed to Tenrai to avoid copyright), I should mention that their motto is "Faster Than Angels"

[bigsnake]

Hey everyone, today I'm releasing the Wipeout Anniversary Build. I was able to get everything I wanted setup earlier then expected so I might as well release it early for people to try out :)
As a side note, this version of the game might be more resource heavy then others on the graphics side. There's a bunch of graphics presets when you launch the game so if your computer is struggling then try turning the graphics down.

Download here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/WO_A/BallisticNG.-.Wipeout.20th.Anniversary.Edition.Hotfix.1.zip)

As usual, tell me what you like/dislike and I hope you enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM0ff474QZs

There's a cheat you can type on the menu to unlock a secret ship, you can find the cheat on the video.

[aybe]

Hi !

Very impressive :+:+:+

There are 2 bugs that prevented me fully enjoying it, however :

- if you run out of time, there is no escape but Alt-F4 as going back to menu will freeze while 'loading'
- Xbox One Controller : default config turns to the left, I remapped the input and while steering is okay, acceleration does not work anymore after starting blocks

Other than it's really great :guitar

Can't wait to see your code so I can learn a bit more on the topic !
Btw, do you have any time frame on when you'll make it public ?

Thank you !

[bigsnake]

Hi !

Very impressive :+:+:+

There are 2 bugs that prevented me fully enjoying it, however :

- if you run out of time, there is no escape but Alt-F4 as going back to menu will freeze while 'loading'
- Xbox One Controller : default config turns to the left, I remapped the input and while steering is okay, acceleration does not work anymore after starting blocks

Other than it's really great :guitar

Can't wait to see your code so I can learn a bit more on the topic !
Btw, do you have any time frame on when you'll make it public ?

Thank you !

Cheers for the feedback!

I'm currently looking into the loading issue, Maciek reported it just a minute ago too. Does the Xbox One controller still use XInput? There's not too much I can do on the input front at the moment because I'm still using Unity's input manager.

If you PM me your email I'll add you to my private bitbucket repository, since there's remakes of copyrighted material I'm holding off going completely open source until I can make a minimal starter assets only version.

[aybe]

As said by Microsoft, it's 'binary compatible' with the X360 controller, i.e. it is using XInput.

The trigger axes however are seen as independent by Unity but IIRC this is wrong (the design decision of MS to map them as a single axis for DInput).

That's not a big deal after all, i.e. you made a great job for the game (most important), this being minor bugs (btw, for Unity there is this library https://github.com/speps/XInputDotNet)

just PM'd you :D

[bigsnake]

As said by Microsoft, it's 'binary compatible' with the X360 controller, i.e. it is using XInput.

The trigger axes however are seen as independent by Unity but IIRC this is wrong (the design decision of MS to map them as a single axis for DInput).

That's not a big deal after all, i.e. you made a great job for the game (most important), this being minor bugs (btw, for Unity there is this library https://github.com/speps/XInputDotNet)

just PM'd you :D

Thanks for the info :) I can remember implementing XInputDotNet into AGR2280 before ditching it for BallisticNG so it will be easy enough to implement.

I've tracked down and fixed the loading freeze issue and I'm fixing a problem with the camera that occurs if you respawn, progress on fixes reported will be updated on my trello board (https://trello.com/b/ckh31uzl/ballisticng). I'll release a hotfix update on the 29th.

[aybe]

alright, great !

I'll impregnate myself of the content of the repository tomorrow,

By the way, I've seen that on your trello board you've mentioned WO3 tracks :p have you made any progress on the WO3 reverse engineering ??? :g

Maybe you've seen my WO3 unpacking tools already, here they are anyway :

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9955-Reverse-engineering-of-Wipeout-3-SE&p=243287#post243287

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/forum/showthread.php?9955-Reverse-engineering-of-Wipeout-3-SE&p=243339#post243339

It is a bit dated since I did it but basically WO3 PBPs are CMPs in disguise, the main difference though is that there is a higher level architecture with objects compared to WO1 and WOXL (undeciphered for now).

My tools will unpack every file in a PBP, now remains the hard work of :pirate :pirate :pirate TBC !

[bigsnake]

I know very little about reverse engineering files so I wouldn't know where to begin trying to reverse engineer WO3 :)
All the track remakes are being done from scratch with birdseye screenshots from the model viewer from Phoboslab

The hotfix is up. You can download it here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/WO_A/BallisticNG.-.Wipeout.20th.Anniversary.Edition.Hotfix.1.zip), from the original anniversary post or go to the github download page manually, here's the changelog:


- Fixed loading freeze bug
- Camera now updates correctly on respawns
- Modified start boost
> Increased accuracy zone from 0.7 - 0.8 to 0.65 - 0.85
> Going over the accuracy zone resets engine power to zero
> Added start boost sound
- Ship selection arrows can now be clicked
- Added temp invisible floor on right branch jump to make it possible on spark class
- Fixed loading screen hints being chopped off
- Added more hints to the loading screen
- Updated Wyvern's livery to make it a bit more distinct from GTek's

[Ace3000]

There's a cheat you can type on the menu to unlock a secret ship, you can find the cheat on the video.

It's... a... oh my. XD

It's by far the best ship, but still, it's... that

[TheXTR09]

Hot damn, this release is the best yet. Everything still runs smooth even on max settings, and the worldspace feels "filled" enough. Good job Snake.

However, there were painful glitches, and I have to be elaborate just to make them clear.

# Side walls on the track are not solid. You'll fall straight down, and then respawn so far away from where you fell. It's frustrating but I guess it can be easily fixed.
# Sometimes running up ramps can mess up the camera, making it go psudeo-first-person (in short, ship disappears). Trying to reset the camera will crash the game. Everything hangs up, and the HUD will disappear. Most likely because the camera being switched into cockpit mode.
# Switching cameras before the race starts works, but the model of the bare cocpkit can be seen in third-person as the camera zooms into the ship. It's spoopy. Trust me.
# The track is too easy. :beer jk

I have some opinions on making the track better, but whether you like it or not is your choice.
# The track lacks a blue, snowy feel. It should have blue tint and some snowstorms to make it much more atmospheric.
# The skybox can use a flat mountain background and auroras like the original. Yes, there are color-changing auroras in the PSX WipEout. Made in 1995. Such anal attention to detail.


I'm not sure if I'm just nitpicking for anything, but I just can't see BnG go off being too generic. I know I'm being annoying again without contributing much, but what I know best is playing the game, naturally pretty much becoming a beta tester. I might create something in the year-end holidays, but this is what I can do now.

But you still impressed me, Snake. Dank job m8

[bigsnake]

It's... a... oh my. XD

It's by far the best ship, but still, it's... that

Because of the stats it's now also known as the God Tampon ;)
If you want an explanation of why it exists by the way, when I first started on AGR2280 I had no skills in any area and for a ship I slapped a capsule and box shape together. When a few friends played it they kept mentioning how it looked like a tampon.


Hot damn, this release is the best yet. Everything still runs smooth even on max settings, and the worldspace feels "filled" enough. Good job Snake.

However, there were painful glitches, and I have to be elaborate just to make them clear.

# Side walls on the track are not solid. You'll fall straight down, and then respawn so far away from where you fell. It's frustrating but I guess it can be easily fixed.
# Sometimes running up ramps can mess up the camera, making it go psudeo-first-person (in short, ship disappears). Trying to reset the camera will crash the game. Everything hangs up, and the HUD will disappear. Most likely because the camera being switched into cockpit mode.
# Switching cameras before the race starts works, but the model of the bare cocpkit can be seen in third-person as the camera zooms into the ship. It's spoopy. Trust me.
# The track is too easy. :beer jk

I have some opinions on making the track better, but whether you like it or not is your choice.
# The track lacks a blue, snowy feel. It should have blue tint and some snowstorms to make it much more atmospheric.
# The skybox can use a flat mountain background and auroras like the original. Yes, there are color-changing auroras in the PSX WipEout. Made in 1995. Such anal attention to detail.


I'm not sure if I'm just nitpicking for anything, but I just can't see BnG go off being too generic. I know I'm being annoying again without contributing much, but what I know best is playing the game, naturally pretty much becoming a beta tester. I might create something in the year-end holidays, but this is what I can do now.

But you still impressed me, Snake. Dank job m8

Thank you!

So for bugs:
The side walls are somewhat intentional and there is a trade off to not being able to fly on the top surfaces of walls. The idea is to emulate Wipeout's wall collisions without the inaccuracy of a physics solver (what pushes two objects apart on collisions), this is what made ships in the older Wipeout games fly straight through walls without any collisions possible. Anyway, the idea is you can't travel through the wall when on the track but if you leave the track then getting back on will be easy. I know having a full collidable wall would seem to make more sense, but in this context I'm wanting to make the physics authentic.

Are you able to record that ramp and camera issue? I haven't been able to reproduce it at all, it sounds like you're running out of time (at the moment the ship is just removed until I make some explosion effects).

Ah yeah the switching cameras before the race, that's a really quick fix. Thanks for reminding me :)

[aybe]

I know very little about reverse engineering files so I wouldn't know where to begin trying to reverse engineer WO3 :)
All the track remakes are being done from scratch with birdseye screenshots from the model viewer from Phoboslab

The hotfix is up. You can download it here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/WO_A/BallisticNG.-.Wipeout.20th.Anniversary.Edition.Hotfix.1.zip), from the original anniversary post or go to the github download page manually, here's the changelog:


- Fixed loading freeze bug
- Camera now updates correctly on respawns
- Modified start boost
> Increased accuracy zone from 0.7 - 0.8 to 0.65 - 0.85
> Going over the accuracy zone resets engine power to zero
> Added start boost sound
- Ship selection arrows can now be clicked
- Added temp invisible floor on right branch jump to make it possible on spark class
- Fixed loading screen hints being chopped off
- Added more hints to the loading screen
- Updated Wyvern's livery to make it a bit more distinct from GTek's

Ok, going to give it a try.

For RE-ing I myself have very little knowledge, relying mostly on hints and lots of trial and error. For instance, vertices and polygon are easily identifiable as there are about 8 types used for PSX : flat/shaded/triangles/quads ... but for the objects system it is entirely new in WO3, the only hints we have is their name which is not that bad as they are quite evocative. We might not be able to decipher everything but as Dominic shown in his experiment it might be sufficient to get something on screen :D As you've seen on my pics, we have track data, remains texcoords and polygons and this took me about 1 day, I'm confident we'll crack it 1 day, and we can always ask Dominic later for some help ! TBC

Going to open the repo in Unity and get familiar with it,

[aybe]

I know very little about reverse engineering files so I wouldn't know where to begin trying to reverse engineer WO3 :)
All the track remakes are being done from scratch with birdseye screenshots from the model viewer from Phoboslab

The hotfix is up. You can download it here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/download/WO_A/BallisticNG.-.Wipeout.20th.Anniversary.Edition.Hotfix.1.zip), from the original anniversary post or go to the github download page manually, here's the changelog:


- Fixed loading freeze bug
- Camera now updates correctly on respawns
- Modified start boost
> Increased accuracy zone from 0.7 - 0.8 to 0.65 - 0.85
> Going over the accuracy zone resets engine power to zero
> Added start boost sound
- Ship selection arrows can now be clicked
- Added temp invisible floor on right branch jump to make it possible on spark class
- Fixed loading screen hints being chopped off
- Added more hints to the loading screen
- Updated Wyvern's livery to make it a bit more distinct from GTek's

Tested last build, results:

Bug is still present for hints being chopped off

Input configuration is broken/misbehaving for Xbox One pad

On some occasions the accepted press will differ for triggers, i.e. sometimes axis 2, sometimes no. 9 :blarg

Quick fix:

1. reset your configuration by deleting this registry key : HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Vonsnake\BnG
2. run it again, setup graphics
3. setup only these axes: (airbrakes will work properly)
9707
4. you should end up with this (name suffixes on your side might differ)
9708
5. navigation still works in menus but is reverse and long to react -> use your mouse
6. enjoy !

this until it gets fixed in-game,

@bigsnake

It is my 3rd attempt trying to sync the repo but it always fails due to a time out, near 400Mb. I guess those size warnings at Bitbucket are probably hintful, you might never experience this since you're the initiator and uploaded stuff progressively. None of the clients (Github, Sourcetree) do resume the sync, so when it fails I have to start from the beginning ...

Otherwise while waiting I've been browsing the code and I might need a little guidance :p the unity project is huge compared to mine and I feel a bit lost ... I suggest that and also that you give me my first task and we'll see from there :g

[AGgamer]

Hey, bigsnake. If you don't mind me asking: What's the plan for the backstory? I know you're waiting until all the teams are accounted for, but I was just on the BnG Wiki and it seems you're already making a lot of decisions on what you're doing with the backstory. G-Tek already has a backstory, as does Project Utah. Will you be open to help with fleshing out the story? Or do you want it to remain your own? Because I can seriously help in the story department.

[aybe]

@bigsnake

I finally cloned the repo :brickwall

It took a very long time and worked only through SSH btw ...

Looking at the tracks scenes, you did an impressive job :clap :clap :clap

I will definitely need you presenting to me what does what and so on, it is really huge !

And for my first commit I was thinking of something like doing the 'controls' section on the menu for instance, for a start !

see ya :p

[bigsnake]

Hey, bigsnake. If you don't mind me asking: What's the plan for the backstory? I know you're waiting until all the teams are accounted for, but I was just on the BnG Wiki and it seems you're already making a lot of decisions on what you're doing with the backstory. G-Tek already has a backstory, as does Project Utah. Will you be open to help with fleshing out the story? Or do you want it to remain your own? Because I can seriously help in the story department.

Yeah I'm completely open with the story, what's on the wiki right now are just placeholders more then anything. If you want, make a new page on the wiki and add all your ideas there, just make sure you link it somewhere visible (here, on the ideas page, wherever really). I'm now going to focusing on getting all the pending team ships modeled so that will be one step towards having everything needed to get the story going.


@bigsnake

I finally cloned the repo :brickwall

It took a very long time and worked only through SSH btw ...

Looking at the tracks scenes, you did an impressive job :clap :clap :clap

I will definitely need you presenting to me what does what and so on, it is really huge !

And for my first commit I was thinking of something like doing the 'controls' section on the menu for instance, for a start !

see ya :p

Git is a pain in the ass, to clone through HTTP you need to do a shallow clone and set the download buffer to a stupidly high amount. Shallow cloning only clones the latest commit on the repository, I had to do it when cloning SSGX otherwise it would just refuse to clone and kill itself.

I'll send you a PM outlining where everything is and what it does. I think implanting a controls menu is a good idea, you'll need a third party input manager though because Unity's default one only allows you to change the controls when the game isn't running (it reads the controls from the registry on launch and then forgets about it)

[Tucknut.net]

Very nice progress since the last release. Thanks for sharing!

Love the track. And no issues using my XB1 controller.

However, I do agree with Temet on the track texture. I like the one in the 0.1 video much better. The reflections look great and it has more of a WO HD feel to it.

[aybe]

Yeah I'm completely open with the story, what's on the wiki right now are just placeholders more then anything. If you want, make a new page on the wiki and add all your ideas there, just make sure you link it somewhere visible (here, on the ideas page, wherever really). I'm now going to focusing on getting all the pending team ships modeled so that will be one step towards having everything needed to get the story going.



Git is a pain in the ass, to clone through HTTP you need to do a shallow clone and set the download buffer to a stupidly high amount. Shallow cloning only clones the latest commit on the repository, I had to do it when cloning SSGX otherwise it would just refuse to clone and kill itself.

I'll send you a PM outlining where everything is and what it does. I think implanting a controls menu is a good idea, you'll need a third party input manager though because Unity's default one only allows you to change the controls when the game isn't running (it reads the controls from the registry on launch and then forgets about it)

yes actually I've even tried 1.8Gb as the buffer but it failed too ... if you look at there's a huge 1.2Gb file in .git :dizzy in the end SSH did it but at 120Kb/s ...

just PM'd you too :banzai

[aybe]

@bigsnake

just pm'd you ! first skeleton for an input manager :guitar

[TheXTR09]

@bigsnake with ramp issue

Sorry, nothing to do with the ramp, it's actually the checkpoint running out of time. If you do run out of time, you can still move around, but switching views crashes the game.

And I'm pretty sure going too far off the track in WipEout simply made the ship hit an invisible wall, sending it back to tbe track...

Speaking of the track, the final chicanes on the second left tracks (leading to the finish line) aren't banked. I remember those corners screwed many people sideways but that part to me felt the most rhythmic. Feels so good getting through the hard parts without a scratch. :g

[aybe]

@bigsnake

I'll just put my progress here for simplicity ...

9730

9731

Previous version had flaws and I've improved things:


we'll use 'Commands' that have 'Bindings' of various types (analog, digital)
when polling a command, you can get value as digital or analog (for this one, pad input has precedence)
we now have a command that reacts to multiple devices ! (a must btw, Unity and many games do that, i.e. a normal UX)



Unsolved / WIP


shall we forbid combinations of signed axes / buttons ? it might be simpler as they're unrelated after all
if we should ensure no.1 then whether to define new interfaces for half/full axes
how shall we present things? actions -> key/buttons/axes or the opposite ? this has implications, I'd say no.1 ...
keyboard axes ? tightly related to former point (help !)
analog keyboard ? not too hard IMO and we could enhance it with nice easings, but is it really useful ?


Anyone is welcome to comment for improvement :D

ps. I've abandoned considering https://github.com/daemon3000/InputManager as IMO it is too bloated :blarg

[aybe]

more news !

fixed many things:


now you can build a configuration of commands, each command can be an 'AxisCommand' or a 'ButtonCommand' and accepts keyboard/gamepad, one can't go wrong as constructs allows only proper types
now there are devices that returns available bindings they do offer
say if a 'ButtonCommand' is bound to a keyboard key and an Xbox trigger, you'll get the analog value for the trigger
keyboard can act as an 'AxisCommand', i.e strafe, move, pitch, yaw etc ...
preliminary UI
also now it is very easy to add extra input methods


remaining:


complete UI that maps configuration commands to bindings !
detect user presses
load/save
etc ...



here's a diagram:

9732

in short, we're getting closer ! :D

[bigsnake]

Nice work! We'll have to see if it can be completed and implemented for the next release. There isn't any date and it's definitely not anytime soon so there's plenty of time :)

[aybe]

Looks like there's some telepathic comms between us as I was going to reply :D

Many changes since last time and basically I guess I've pretty much nailed it:


finest granularity for gamepad, e.g. left thumb +X is a button by itself (and not part of the X axis); this allows making any kind of combination but also simplifies UI/UX in the end (see picture)
an UI that presents commands and allows button assignments, it is skinnable, scrollable and IMO gets straight to the point by presenting a simple but effective layout
loading and saving a configuration ! this was a bit of a headache but it's done (using XML)
devices we listen to for pressed inputs
tech stuff: stripped generics as while clever it is not in the end, helpers such as IsPressed() / GetDescription(), implementing a new device/button is very easy
tech stuff: the Command (abstract) class does host the real stuff, AxisCommand and ButtonCommand are here to implement their correct definition of GetValue()


There was a worrying aspect : UI navigation; but a quick test shown that the system works with it and without any changes, pfeww ... :g

Showcase

9742


there are 2 commands : "Strafe" (AxisCommand), "Jump" (ButtonCommand)
each command's button end as a button in UI (AxisCommand has 2 obviously)
whenever any is pressed, a popup asks for input ...
(need to beautify/clean their description a bit, whole text after a key button is actually an Xbox button)
(for the skin I expect the user to provide a prefab with a Text component, preferably that is selectable, that's it)


Basically I expect a 2-step process:


give it a try and let me know anything to adjust
I'll make a package and do the integration



(I'll probably send it to you by tonight or tomorrow)

:guitar

[bigsnake]

Hey everyone! Today I have a release that's an early test for a future feature, modding.

At the minute this is a template Unity project that you can use to setup ships and save them into Asset bundles that you will be able to import into the game later on (not now), there's a download link on the original post or you can download it here (https://github.com/bigsnake09/BallisticNG/releases/tag/Dev0.1). Stand-alone tools that are much easier to use will be coming in the future (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxTkmVkH6H8), but for now this provides a quick and dirty way for me to test modding out and others to understand how it will work. Unity is completely free so there isn't any sort of price tag attached to being able to get Unity setup to test it out.

Right now it isn't documented at all other then what I will mention in just a second, but if you're feeling adventurous then it shouldn't take too long to understand how it works. I've included Wyvern's ship models as an example. In the root of the assets folder you will find a file called include.txt, this is where it gets more interesting:

Instead of searching through folders and expecting specific files, you have complete freedom of where you want to store assets and what you want to call them. This is done through a list of commands, here's an example of what it looks like:



START SHIP_HIGHPOLY
PREFAB MyShips/Example/Wyvern/Wyvern_HP
DISPLAYNAME Wyvern
FESPEED 0
FETHRUST 0
FEHANDLING 0
FESHIELD 0
END SHIP_HIGHPOLY

When a mod is loaded this will be the first thing to be read and as you can imagine, each command tells the game what to do. So in this instance what is happening is we're first telling the game that what it's going to be setting up is a highpoly ship (basically the normal, non PS1 styled ships) and then the location of where it can find the prefab with all the settings and references to locators (where to place things like effects). After that it is given a display name, the frontend stats are setup (what is shown on the menu) and then we're done.

This little command system will only be present if you use Unity to create asset bundles, the future stand-alone modding tools will automatically set all of these commands up for you. The reason I have chosen to go with this instead of something such as an XML or JSON file is just because it's more lightweight in that it doesn't require an additional library to be bundled with the game to read and write to a specific format, these are just lines of completely human readable words that can be interpreted with just a few lines of code.

The way a mod will be setup is through a pack that can contain custom tracks, ships, HUDs and music. Now Asset Bundles will be just one way this will be possible, and I'll be using this to add more content to the game post-release, but the other will be through just a folder containing all the files with a reference file to tell BallisticNG what it's looking for, however this method will be limited to just ships and music (HUDs and Tracks are a bit more complex). The track editor will be purely for creating a mesh and relevant track data to import into the game (or in this case the unity project tools).

[aybe]

sounds great :+

[Thane Corrigan]

Hey guys, I've been watching this thread for a while now and I have to say I'm liking where this is going. Good ol' callback to the classic trilogy in preview tracks and whatnot, and the handling feels very similar too.

Not exactly well versed in the physics and modeling side of things, my knowledge of building games is very limited. But, I couldn't help but notice that everyone who's been submitting suggestions for teams has been concerned with the 2280 entrants. So I was wondering, could I suggest a 'founder' company for the 2059 season on the backstory planning, or are the dev team already deciding on some 2059 teams aside from G-Tech?

[TheXTR09]

@Thane
Yep! Feel free and go ahead posting anything in the Wiki. It'll certainly help.

I had this weird suggestion, and I want to hear from your opinions: Should we drop the realistic graphics of BnG and instead focus on the PS1 aesthetics?
I'm sure some will disagree but IMO making the game look like a 32-bit patato-racer feels much more ...correct for a tribute. Maybe toss in some post-FX like SweetFX-like tints and it'll look nice.

And really Snake, that magazine cover?
I swore I spent the rest of the day laughing at "What is a game? - BBC".

[AGgamer]

I don't know how to post on the wiki. Do I need to make an account or something? I've been stressing a rather complete backstory for a while and I kinda feel like I'm being ignored since its not on the wiki.

[bigsnake]

@Thane
Yep! Feel free and go ahead posting anything in the Wiki. It'll certainly help.

I had this weird suggestion, and I want to hear from your opinions: Should we drop the realistic graphics of BnG and instead focus on the PS1 aesthetics?
I'm sure some will disagree but IMO making the game look like a 32-bit patato-racer feels much more ...correct for a tribute. Maybe toss in some post-FX like SweetFX-like tints and it'll look nice.

And really Snake, that magazine cover?
I swore I spent the rest of the day laughing at "What is a game? - BBC".

I'm going to be keeping the modern graphics but I do want to put a lot more focus on the PS1 styled side of the game, you can expect the PS1 styled content to be finished first and then the modern graphics finished much later down the line.


I don't know how to post on the wiki. Do I need to make an account or something? I've been stressing a rather complete backstory for a while and I kinda feel like I'm being ignored since its not on the wiki.

Nah you don't need to create an account. Like all wikis, wikia wikis are open for anyone to edit. You should see a blue edit button at the top left of the page, you just need to click that and you'll be able to start editing. You might want to create a new page depending on how long the story you've got is :)