The Space Toast Pages

Matthew Rasmussen's journal of journals on various topics of interest, published here, there or somewhere since 1999.

My Latest Bad Idea

Being dumped unceremoniously here, so that I may move on to more pressing matters.

The Idea:

• A 3d "Kart"-style game
• That runs in a browser
• Using Google's free, open source O3D plugin
• Supported by ads on in-game billboards

Why a "Kart" game:

• Fun
• Simple to pick up and play
• Relatively simple AI -- chooses between preset (invisible) rails and attacks opportunistically

Why O3D:

• Allows fast, hardware-accelerated 3d in modern browsers
• Free for developers and users
• Non-proprietary
• Reputable development team
• Good feature list, growing

Problems With O3D:

• Relatively low-level; no "JQuery" for common tasks
• Would need to develop a toolchain from scratch to convert Animation:Master models and animations

Art Style Ideas:

• Pen and watercolor look
• Bright and fun
• Simple lighting
• Baked shadows on track
• Fake shadows on karts and items
• Dynamic lighting used sparingly for weapon effects
• Cartoony characters

Track Ideas:

• Traction issues -- ice, mud, etc.
• Wind issues -- gusts, fans, etc.
• Loop-de-loops -- why should Sonic have all the fun?

Kart Ideas:

• Permanent, unique kart/driver combos
• Vehicles affected differently by traction and wind as appears logical
• Left and right "slots" on each kart

"Slots" Explained:

• Items can be stored to right or left of driver
• Items have different weights, sometimes other characteristics
• Item weights affect handling
• Heavy jewels, for instance, might be worth points at the end, but be a driving liability
• Tapping trigger switches items between slots
• Holding trigger uses items
• Properly-timed switching of unbalanced items can assist in turns

Drivers:

• Lively 3d cartoon characters
• Represent very different play styles
• Some better suited to some tracks than others
• Unique weapons
• Unique weaknesses
• Unique animations

Sample Drivers:

• The Marboxian:
• Reuse one of my characters
• Drives a hovering flying saucer
• Not affected by traction
• Heavily affected by wind
• Unique weapon: blaster
• Weakness: Phat beats from radio
• A Bear:
• It's a bear
• Heaviest character
• Not affected by wind
• Low traction effect
• Unique weapon: Swipes from massive paws
• Weakness: Igor Stravinsky
• Maxwell the Lil' Demon:
• Reuse a character
• Unique Weapon: Zappy Pitchfork
• Tommi:
• Red-headed, pigtailed little tomboy character
• Raq the Raccoon
• Reuse a character
• A Mouse:
• Reuse a Character

Sample Items:

• Car radio:
• Trigger scans for next station
• Low grade, low quality audio
• Stations come in unreliably in different parts of the track
• Most of it's always country stations
• Triggers musical weaknesses, distracting nearby drivers (see Marboxian, Bear)
• Makes a small but satisfying hit if thrown
• Cinder Block:
• Affects handling, weighing down side of kart it's slotted in
• Makes a satisfyingly hard hit when thrown
• Jewels:
• Worth points at the end, as a function of their weight
• Power ups
• Thrown weapons:
• Targetted by steering direction
• Steering into opponent increases velocity

Game Logic:

• JavaScript getting fast, but still think memory is cheaper than processing in browser
• Lightweight AI chooses between invisible rails stored in memory
• Lightweight "Fun Physics"
• Two-player head to head on same computer would be fun -- how many simultaneous key presses do modern OS's allow?
• Fresh ads loaded each time a track loads
• No network play, at least at launch -- cheating opens up a big can of woes

Physics Engine:

• Basic 2d collision physics
• Cheats for not bogging down on large pileups
• Simple 3rd-axis physics -- tracks are still essentially 2d

Sending Content Down the Tubes:

• Google O3D samples VERY slow to load
• Use simple geometry
• Instance a lot
• All art assets have set URLs so browser won't re-download them if they're already in cache
• Light, smart use of texture maps
• Is it possible to generate procedural textures on client side in JavaScript? Gradients, simple repeats, noise, etc.
• Bone-based character animation

Why It's a Bad Idea:

• Could be turned out in a few months by a team of 4 or 5
• I'm one person
• Have studied the nuts&bolts of 3d, but getting O3D running well would likely take me months
• Animation:Master toolchain, less steep, but generally likewise
• Decent with JavaScript, but it would be the biggest project I'd ever programed by far
• Speculated much, but never actually written a physics engine
• Best at the art and animation side of things; still a lot of assets to create and perfect
• Advertising would be based on impressions, as there's no clickthrough
• Bandwidth costs wholly unpredictable
• Covering costs, never mind profitability, wholly unpredictable
• I'm good at art, but I suck at business
• I need to focus on getting more work NOW
• Another of my thousands of over-the-rainbow ideas

There.

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