The map of the new game is not big.

Although it is a one-to-one restoration according to the real Jiangning City, the game is always a game, and it is impossible to achieve a perfect restoration.

In a normal triple-A game, players can go in and explore the buildings on both sides of the road, and loot everywhere like bandits entering the village.

But in the game "Rush", the buildings on both sides of the track are just textures......

It's not just architecture.

In the game, the spectators who appear on both sides of the track, that is, the cheering passers-by, are actually background textures.

Based on this logic, although the entire game map looks huge, in fact, the area where players can move freely is only roads/tracks that lead in all directions.

Of course!

This is limited to the city, and once you drive out of the city and into the middle of nowhere, there are not many buildings on the flat ground, you can deviate from the track and the road, and go wherever you want.

That's what the whole industry does.

Including some racing games built according to triple-A standards, the urban map is not very interactive.

Don't look at the city so big, there are so many high-rise buildings, but it is all background maps, and players can only watch from afar, not get close to one or two.

Exceptions are made for certain special locations.

For example, car change shops, repair shops, insurance companies and 4S shops, etc.

These are "interactive" building locations, and they are the only ones on the map, which the player can visit and interact with NPCs.

The rest of the time, the player can only drive their beloved vehicle, follow the planned navigation route, and sit in the car and watch the scenery on the side of the street.

"Make a map like an island!"

Chen Ba picked up the pen, drew a big circle on the whiteboard, and then explained: "This is the ring road, in addition to the ring road, there are dozens of urban main roads crisscrossing the island, as well as hundreds of secondary branch roads. ”

The road network is important.

In this type of racing game, there are two reference factors for the planning of the track.

The first is the gameplay, these roads are basically the main tracks that the player drives around, and many races take place on these tracks.

For the excitement of the competition, the road planning cannot be completely designed according to the logic of reality.

Roads that can be designed as straight lines, given the variety and complexity of the course, may add several "corners" or even "continuous hairpin corners".

Chen Ba, who often plays this kind of racing game, has long wanted to complain.

The road planning in the game is really for the excitement and fun of the game, sacrificing the rationality of road planning and design.

Turn on the M key and zoom in!

Depending on the terrain and location, it is not difficult to find that some of the curves are completely "deliberate".

If the ground is uneven and there is a height difference, just make a few curves. But this big flat land, there is no obstacle ahead, just add a curve out of thin air, what is the meaning?

Oh!

It turned out to be to bypass the tree, to bypass the stone pier!

In any racing game, there is such an unclear road plan, especially the unreasonable corners...... There is no doubt that this is what the game's producers want to make it a little more difficult for players!

In addition to serving the difficulty of the game, road planning also needs to follow the principle of diversification.

Halfway through the construction of the road, suddenly there is no funding, and the asphalt road becomes a muddy pothole......

As the forest drove up, a sprint jump suddenly appeared in front of it, and all passing vehicles had to jump from it......

The good seaside road inexplicably turned to the beach, and the road car was stunned to drive into an ATV......

These abstract road plans are actually designed to increase the diversity and complexity of the game's tracks. Otherwise, the whole journey is a first-class highway, so how boring is it to drive?

"That's about the road network."

On the whiteboard, Chen Ba drew a "spider web" diagram of the main road, and then said: "This is the main road of the city!" ”

The game can't just have the main road.

Although the main roads are already rich and comprehensive, they still need some more complex and changeable "sheep intestine paths", that is, the so-called secondary branch road auxiliary.

The cobweb-shaped main roads, supplemented by dense trails, form the track road network of the game "Rush Rush".

The system is huge.

The entire road network will take no less time than entering the model information, and it will even take longer.

After all, collecting traffic information and simulating it with a game engine is not something that can be done with just a mouthful of words.

By the way.

In order to develop the game "Extreme Hurricane", Chen Ba also gritted his teeth and bought a few cars for the studio.

An SUV, a C-segment sedan.

The two cars were bought outright, and five different models were rented specifically for playtesting and mock sampling.

It's basically enough.

It's not that Chen Ba doesn't want to rent a few more cars, but there are only a few employees in the studio who have driver's licenses, and even if they rent them, no one drives them, which is too wasteful.

"Brother Dong doesn't have a driver's license, haha......"

Xiao Lu smiled, and drove a car with Zhong Shengwei every day to have fun, and when he came back, he asked Brother Dong to show off, saying where he went today.

Yang Dong was speechless.

He had applied for a driving school before, but because he was usually busy with work and didn't have time to learn, he never got a driver's license.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with it before, but now that he is being ridiculed by Xiao Lu all day long, he can't hold back a little bit, and plans to take the time to get his driver's license out during the Chinese New Year.

"There's no need to take the exam for the New Year, go now!"

Chen Ba encouraged: "You don't have to worry about work, we are here!" You can go to the driver's license test with peace of mind and strive to get it within a month. ”

You can't isolate Brother Dong!

Everyone drove out to play, and it was so ruthless to leave him alone in the studio to watch the house.

Chen Ba also felt pitiful for Brother Dong.

In the past week, the few of them drove seven cars, almost every corner around Jiangning, and the total mileage of the seven vehicles added up to 28,000 kilometers.

During this period, Xiao Lu also accidentally rear-ended a car because his driving skills were too inferior......

They are having such a good time, they are about to become VIP customers of the gas station, and it really makes no sense not to give Brother Dong a refreshing look.

And to be honest, after driving for so long, everyone is tired enough. It's also great if someone gets their driver's license and takes some of the stress off their shoulders.

"The routine road condition test simulation is basically over."

At the third studio plenary meeting, Chen Ba frowned and said, "But we haven't started the extreme weather and extreme road conditions simulation test yet." ”

Extreme weather requires timing.

This kind of extreme weather does not come just time, and it may not be possible to wait for a year and a half to wait for the right weather.

As for extreme road conditions, it is not a matter of time, but a question of whether you dare to drive......

Taking a speed greater than 80km/h through a snowy frozen road as an example, no one dares to go on the cowards of Tianba Studio, even if there are sufficient protection measures.

"Hire a professional driver!"

Zhong Shengwei proposed: "Extreme road conditions and scenario simulation, we must not be able to do it, we must let a professional team go out." ”

As for simulated sampling such as vehicle collision and rollover, it is really not possible, and it is okay to copy the test results of others.

Anyway, all of this information is public.

Including braking distance, crash test results, etc., specific information and results can be found on some official websites, and they can be used as a reference.

"Okay then."

Chen Ba thought about it and felt that this proposal was indeed very time-saving and labor-saving.

Anyway, they have the most realistic physics engine, and the effects that should be there can be simulated by the engine. The reason why we need to conduct a road test is mainly to see how much different road conditions interfere with the handling of the vehicle.

"Is the model information complete?"

"Not quite!"

Yang Dong explained: "For some models, we can't get specific parts information, so we can only rely on guessing and extrapolation. ”

Most of them are fine.

Mainly if you don't understand the place, you don't need to toss the car manufacturer, ask the senior car mechanic, and you can basically understand it.

This is no joke......

When it comes to the level of understanding of vehicles, especially commercially available vehicles, the sales in 4S stores may not know as much as the mechanic.

The salesman knows the selling points and design flaws of the car at most, but the mechanic knows every detail of the car, even remembering the exact location of each screw.

"Is there really such a mouth?"

"I have the impression of a car repairman, only a headache to change the head, a pain in the foot to change the foot, the repair can be repaired, but it has to replace a lot of new parts." Xiao Lu asked curiously.

"You're making a partial generalization."

Chen Ba explained: "There is indeed this phenomenon that you said, but most car repairers still know a lot about vehicles. ”

If you don't understand, you can't fix it.

During the development of the game "Extreme Hurricane", it received guidance and clarification from many masters in the car repair industry.

They helped Chen Ba a lot.

Mainly through their experience, combined with the powerful physics engine, the tuned game vehicles are indeed very flavorful.

"The driving feeling is okay."

Speaking of this, Chen Ba couldn't help but sigh: "It's just ...... The most suitable control equipment for this type of racing game has to be the steering wheel and foot pedals! ”

You can also play with a keyboard and mouse.

Most players play this game with a keyboard and mouse, and players with special conditions may use a controller.

But these two ways of manipulation are actually a bit awkward, or not adaptable.

The hardware device that best suits this type of racing game is actually a "simulated driving" set consisting of a steering wheel and foot pedals.

"I can't help it if I feel awkward."

"Everybody knows it's cool to play these kinds of games with a steering wheel and foot pedals. But the problem is that the usage rate of these devices is too low, and there is a high probability of eating ash when you buy them, which is far less practical than the keyboard and mouse controllers. ”

Xiao Lu shook his head and said.

Tianba Studio is equipped with a full range of game peripheral accessories, such as keyboard and mouse, controllers, joysticks, simulated driving steering wheels, etc.

But players like them, who have multiple sets of gaming accessories, are definitely in the minority.

For most people, playing games is a keyboard and mouse controller to fight the world. You may have thought about buying a joystick or steering wheel, but considering the actual application scenario, most of them have dismissed the idea.

"Therefore, the focus of our optimization of the operating feel still has to be placed on the keyboard and mouse controllers."

Chen Ba sighed and said: "Do a good job of the operation of the keyboard and mouse controller, and only players in our game are willing to experience it." ”

Otherwise, the keyboard and mouse operation is a lump of Shet, and people are very awkward and uncomfortable to play, and they must have played once and never played again.

The PC is the keyboard and mouse, and the host is the controller.

If you do a good job in optimizing the feel of these two operations, there is basically no problem.

Let's not talk about the handle for now.

Speaking of keyboard and mouse operation alone, WASD keys are simply too familiar, and they are also commonly used "automatic transmission" forward and backward left and right steering buttons.

In addition to WASD, the ↑↓ ←→ arrow keys next to the numeric keypad are also a few keys that many racing games love.

The significance of the mouse is more about controlling the viewing angle, dragging left and right, and the game perspective will also move with it. Click the left or right button to switch between the inside and outside view of the car, and so on.

The operating logic of this racing game has been used for many years, and it has not changed much.

But there's a problem with the keyboard and mouse.

For example, if the left steering is used, if the handle is used, the joystick can be toggled to control the steering amplitude, and if it is a steering wheel, it is more visual and convenient.

But the keyboard is just such a key, how to control the steering amplitude when pressed?

The answer is all by feeling.

This thing doesn't let go, it usually keeps turning, and when you can let go, it depends on when you think the steering amplitude is enough.

This is also a long-standing problem of using a keyboard and mouse to play racing games.

It's easy to talk about going forward and backward, but the steering, it's not good to directly control the steering amplitude, and the driving feeling is a little different from the handle, let alone compared with the steering wheel.

How to optimize it?

Chen Ba scratched his thighs and came up with a solution that didn't count: use the mouse to determine the strength of the steering!

When pressing the A button to turn left, hold down the left mouse button at the same time, and the car will make a strong sharp turn. If you only press the A button and don't press the left mouse button, it is a very slight directional correction.

So.

When you need to drive aggressively and turn the direction quickly, you can combine the mouse to achieve a similar effect. You don't need to drive aggressively, and you can slowly correct the direction even when the steering range is relatively small.

As for the perspective switching, just change it to other buttons.

It's not a big deal.

"In fact, in addition to automatic transmission, we can also provide manual transmission operation."

Zhong Shengwei proposed: "The mouse wheel can also be used, make a shift or Ctrl clutch button, and combine it with the mouse wheel to switch gears, so that keyboard and mouse players can also experience a sense of control." ”

Of course!

This is not mandatory.

If players feel that the manual transmission operation is too cumbersome, they can also switch to automatic transmission, and the fool-style WASD operation will do.

Manual transmission is provided, mainly to meet the pursuit of extreme operation for some keyboard and mouse players.

Although the operation is a bit cumbersome.

But the manual transmission is played well, to some extent, it is indeed more fierce, and it is easier to get good results in the game, and even in the body of a gas car, the catapult start is comparable to that of a tram!

Anyway, it doesn't take much trouble, just do an extra set of operation keys and logic.

Even if you can't touch the porcelain steering wheel, you will try to make keyboard and mouse players experience the pleasure of driving.

(End of chapter)