Chapter 142 Abstract Road Planning
The new game map is not large.
Although it is a one-to-one restoration of the real Jiangning City, a game is still a game and it is impossible to achieve a perfect restoration.
In a normal 3A game, players may be able to explore the buildings on both sides of the road and search everywhere like bandits entering a village.
But in the game "Need for Speed", the buildings on both sides of the track are just textures...
More than just buildings.
During the game, the spectators on both sides of the track, that is, the cheering passers-by, are actually also background textures.
Based on this logic, although the entire game map looks huge, in fact, the area where players can move freely is only the roads/tracks that connect in all directions.
certainly!
This situation is only limited to urban areas. Once you drive out of the city and come to the deserted wilderness and flat land without many buildings, you can deviate from the track and road and go wherever you want.
The entire industry does this.
Including some racing games built according to 3A standards, the city maps are not very interactive.
Even though the city is so big and there are so many tall buildings, they are all background maps. Players can only watch from a distance and cannot get close to them.
Some special locations are exceptions.
For example, car modification shops, repair shops, insurance companies and 4S stores, etc.
These are "interactive" building locations, and there are only these buildings on the map. Players can visit and interact with NPCs.
At other times, players can only drive their beloved vehicles, follow the planned navigation routes, and sit in the car and watch the street scenery.
"The map is made into an island!"
Chen Ba picked up a pen and drew a big circle on the whiteboard, then explained: "This is the Ring Road around the island. In addition to the Ring Road around the island, there are dozens of city trunk roads crisscrossing the island, as well as hundreds of secondary branches scattered here and there."
Road networks are important.
For this type of racing game, there are two reference factors when planning the track.
The first is gameplay, these roads are basically the main tracks that players drive around on, and a lot of races take place on these tracks.
In order to make the competition more exciting, road planning cannot be designed entirely according to real logic.
A road that can be designed as a straight line may have several "curves" or even "continuous hairpin turns" added to it, taking into account the diversity and complexity of the track.
Chen Ba, who often plays this kind of racing games, has wanted to complain for a long time.
The road planning in the game sacrifices the rationality of road planning design for the sake of game excitement and fun.
Turn on the M key and zoom in!
Depending on the terrain and location, it is not difficult to find that some bends are completely "intentional".
If the ground is uneven, with height differences, it would be fine to add a few bends. But this is a flat ground with no obstacles ahead, so what is the point of adding a bend out of thin air?
Oh! So it was to get around that tree and that stone pillar!
In any racing game, if there is this kind of meaningless road planning, especially unreasonable turns... there is no doubt that this is the game maker's attempt to increase the difficulty for the players!
In addition to serving the difficulty of the game, road planning also needs to follow the principle of diversity.
Halfway through the road construction, there was a sudden lack of funds, and the asphalt road turned into a muddy and bumpy road...
While driving in the forest, a sprint platform suddenly appeared in front of us. All passing vehicles needed to jump from this platform...
The seaside road turned to the beach for unknown reasons, and the road car turned into a beach car...
These abstract road plans are actually to increase the diversity and complexity of the game tracks. Otherwise, if the whole route is a first-class highway, how boring would it be to drive?
“That’s about it for the road network.”
Chen Ba drew a "spider web" diagram of a main road on the whiteboard, and then said: "This is the main road of the city!"
The game cannot have only main roads.
Although the main roads are already very rich and comprehensive, we still need some "narrow paths" with more complex and changeable road conditions, which are the so-called secondary branch roads.
The spider-web-like main roads, supplemented by dense and narrow paths, together form the track road network of the game "Need for Speed".
This system is huge.
The time spent on building the entire highway network will not be less than that spent on entering vehicle model information, and may even take longer.
After all, collecting road conditions information and simulating it using a game engine is not something that can be done simply by talking.
By the way.
In order to develop the game "Need for Speed", Chen Ba gritted his teeth and bought a few cars for the studio.
An SUV and a C-class sedan.
These two cars were purchased outright, and five different models were rented specifically for game testing and simulation sampling.
It's basically enough.
It’s not that Chen Ba doesn’t want to rent a few more cars, but they are the only employees in the studio with driving licenses. Even if they rent a car, no one will drive it, which is a waste.
"Brother Dong doesn't have a driver's license, haha..."
Xiao Lu smiled. Every day he and Zhong Shengwei drove a car each to go out for fun. When they came back they would show off to Brother Dong and tell him where they had been that day.
Yang Dong was speechless.
He had enrolled in a driving school once before, but because he was busy with work and had no time to learn, he never got a driver's license.
He didn't think there was anything wrong with it before, but now that Xiao Lu is making fun of him all day long, he can't stand it anymore and plans to take the driving test during the Chinese New Year.
"There's no need to wait until the New Year to take the exam, just go now!"
Chen Ba encouraged him, "Don't worry about work, we are here for you! Just go and get your driver's license, and try to get it done within a month."
We can’t isolate Brother Dong!
Everyone drove out to have fun, leaving him alone in the studio. It was so cruel.
Chen Ba also felt sorry for Brother Dong.
In the past week, they drove seven cars and traveled almost every corner around Jiangning. The total mileage of the seven cars added up to 28,000 kilometers.
During this time, Xiao Lu accidentally rear-ended a car due to his poor driving skills...
They were having so much fun that they were almost becoming VIP customers of the gas station. It would really be unreasonable not to give Brother Dong some fun too.
And to be honest, after driving for so long, everyone is exhausted. It would be a great thing if someone could pass the driving test and share the pressure with them.
"The routine road test simulations have basically been completed."
At the third studio plenary meeting, Chen Ba frowned and said, "But we haven't started the extreme weather and extreme road condition simulation tests yet."
Extreme weather requires timing.
This kind of extreme weather does not come suddenly, and you may not even have to wait for a year or two for the right weather.
As for extreme road conditions, it is not a question of time, but a question of whether you dare to drive...
Take the example of driving on a snowy and frozen road at a speed of more than 80km/h. Even with sufficient protective measures, no one in Tianba Studio dared to do it.
“Please hire a professional driver!”
Zhong Shengwei suggested: "We definitely can't simulate extreme road conditions and scenarios. We must let a professional team do it."
As for simulated sampling of vehicle collisions, rollovers, etc., if that doesn't work, you can just copy other people's test results.
Anyway, this information is public.
Including braking distance, collision test results, etc., you can find specific information and results on some official websites and use them as a reference.
"All right then."
Chen Ba thought about it and felt that this proposal was indeed time-saving and labor-saving.
Anyway, they have the most realistic physics engine, and all the necessary effects can be simulated through the engine. The reason for conducting road tests is mainly to see the degree of interference of different road conditions on vehicle controllability.
“Is the model information complete?”
“Not complete!”
Yang Dong explained: "For some models, we can't get specific parts information, so we can only rely on guesswork and calculations."
There is no mistake in the poem, post, content, and read the book on 6, 9, and bar!
Most of them are fine.
If you don't understand something, you don't have to go to the car manufacturer. Just ask an experienced mechanic and you will basically understand it.
This is no joke…
When it comes to the level of understanding of vehicles, especially commercially available vehicles, the sales staff in 4S stores may not know as much as mechanics.
The salesperson only knows the selling points and design flaws of the car, but the mechanic knows every detail of the car and even remembers the specific location of each screw.
“Is it really that awesome?”
"My impression of a mechanic is that he can only replace the head if it hurts, and the foot if it hurts. He can fix it, but he has to replace a lot of new parts." Xiao Lu asked curiously.
"You are generalizing."
Chen Ba explained: "It is true that the phenomenon you described does exist, but most car repairmen are quite familiar with vehicles."
If you don’t understand it, you can’t fix it.
During the development of the game "Need for Speed", we received guidance and answers from many veterans in the car repair industry.
They helped Chen Ba a lot.
Mainly through their experience, combined with a powerful physics engine, the game vehicles they tuned out really have that flavor.
“The driving experience is OK.”
At this point, Chen Ba couldn't help but sigh: "But... the most suitable control devices for this kind of racing game are still the steering wheel and pedals!"
Can also play with keyboard and mouse.
Most players play this game using a keyboard and mouse, while players with special conditions may use a controller.
But these two modes of operation are actually a bit awkward, or uncomfortable.
The hardware equipment that best suits this type of racing game is actually the "simulated driving" set consisting of a steering wheel and pedals.
"It feels awkward, but there's nothing I can do about it."
"Everyone knows that it's fun to play these types of games with a steering wheel and pedals. But the problem is that these devices are rarely used, and there's a high chance that they'll gather dust after you buy them. They're far less practical than a keyboard and mouse controller."
Xiao Lu shook his head.
Tianba Studio is equipped with a full range of gaming peripheral accessories, including keyboards, mice, handles, joysticks, simulated driving steering wheels, etc.
But players like them who own multiple sets of gaming accessories are definitely a minority.
Most people play games with a keyboard and mouse. Some may have thought about buying a joystick or steering wheel, but considering the actual application scenarios, most people give up the idea.
"Therefore, our focus in optimizing the operating feel should still be on the keyboard, mouse and controller."
Chen Ba sighed and said, "Only if we make the operation feel of the keyboard and mouse controller good will players be willing to try our game."
Otherwise, the keyboard and mouse operations are a mess, and it's really awkward and uncomfortable for people to play. They will definitely never play it again after playing it once.
The PC is the keyboard and mouse, and the console is the handle.
If you optimize the feel of these two operations, there will basically be no problems.
Let’s not talk about the handle issue for now.
Just talking about keyboard and mouse operation, the WASD keys are so familiar, and they are also the commonly used "automatic gear" forward, backward, left and right turn keys.
In addition to WASD, the ↑↓←→ direction keys next to the numeric keypad are also used in many racing games.
The significance of the mouse lies more in controlling the viewing angle. Drag it left or right, and the game viewing angle will move accordingly. Click the left or right button to switch between the in-car and out-car viewing angles, etc.
The operating logic of this racing game has been used for many years and has not changed much.
But there is a problem with the keyboard and mouse.
For example, if you want to turn left, if you use a handle, you can control the steering range by moving the joystick. If you use a steering wheel, it will be more intuitive and convenient.
But there is only one key on the keyboard, how do you control the steering range by pressing it? The answer is all by feeling.
If you hold down the button, the car will generally continue to turn. As for when to let go, that depends on when you feel the steering range is sufficient.
This is also a long-standing problem when playing racing games using a keyboard and mouse.
Moving forward and backward is easy, but steering is difficult to control directly. The driving experience is far inferior to the handle, not to mention the steering wheel.
How to optimize it? Chen Ba scratched his thigh and came up with a solution that was not a solution: use the mouse to determine the steering force! When pressing the A key to turn left, while holding down the left mouse button, the car will make a sharp turn. If you only press the A key without pressing the left mouse button, it will be a very slight direction correction.
In this way.
When you need to drive aggressively and turn the direction quickly, you can use the mouse to achieve a similar effect. When you don't need to drive aggressively and turn the direction with a small amplitude, you can also slowly correct the direction.
As for perspective switching, just change it to other buttons.
This is not a big problem.
"In fact, in addition to automatic transmission, we can also provide manual transmission operation."
Zhong Shengwei suggested: "The mouse wheel can also be used. Make a shift or Ctrl clutch key, and combine it with the mouse wheel to switch gears, so that keyboard and mouse players can also experience a sense of control."
certainly!
This is not a requirement.
If players feel that manual transmission operation is too cumbersome, they can switch to automatic transmission with simple WASD operation.
The manual gear is provided mainly to satisfy the pursuit of extreme operation by some keyboard and mouse players.
Although the operation is a bit complicated.
But being good at manual transmission is indeed more powerful to some extent, and it is easier to get good results in the game. Even with a gasoline car, the catapult start is comparable to that of an electric car!
It's not a big deal anyway, just make an extra set of operation keys and logic.
Even if we can't touch the steering wheel, we will try our best to let keyboard and mouse players experience the fun of driving.
(End of this chapter)