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What can I do to improve the game? Sticky

A topic by Sk1ds created Jul 05, 2023 Views: 2,620 Replies: 126
Viewing posts 1 to 50
Developer (3 edits) (+1)

What do you think of the game? Did you like it? What can I improve? I appreciate all feedback, as long as it's constructive feedback!

Stuff to do:

  • Wheel, pedal and h-shifter support
  • New sceneries
  • More AI cars
  • Fix the bug in the options screen that makes it impossible to lower the car and tire volumes
  • Steam deck resolution fixed to 4:3
  • I'll add more stuff later...
(+2)

You did a fantastic job on this Outrun Clone! I especially loved the sounds! The graphics were spot-on to the Sega era! I would say the main thing that needs to be improved is after the upgrade scene, it should just take you into the next race without going through the title and car selection screen. Also, it would have been nice to see more background skyboxes. I would have loved to see the beach while you are on the canyon section! Other than that, this is really well done! Great job!

Developer (1 edit) (+1)

Thank you very much!

I've been thinking the same about skipping the menus and go straight to the next race. So I went ahead and made it possible.

About the skyboxes: you're right. But sprite/art work is my least favourite thing. 😆 But I'll do my best!

Next update will be in a couple of days. Lightning struck somewhere and now we don't have internet. Just 4G on our phone.

That sounds great! I can't wait to get the instructions for building a custom car! I want to try to make a 90s MX5 Miata.  I look forward to it!

Developer

If you want to give it a shot, I've added the instructions! I hope you're good at pixel art. ;)

(+1)

Great thing here! Since months I write a series on the german webzine GamersGlobal about fan games, see here: https://www.gamersglobal.de/user-artikel/fangame-mega-man-the-sequel-wars 
(scroll down for the links to the other articles).

Once your game is finished I look forword to write an article. :-)

(1 edit) (+1)

Hello Sk1ds, I just happened to come across your video on youtube.

I instantly purchased your game as the spirit of it shone through.
I would like to help you with this project and contribute with graphics, audio and UI/UX design.

I have been doing commercial design for over 20 years, and gaming for even longer.
Outrun was one of my favourite racing games also Super Hang On, Double Dragon and Final Fight.

Have a look at some of my work
https://robertmoyses.myportfolio.com/work

You have a solid start but you could use some help.

I will play through the game and take notes on how you can tighten up the entire thing.

Are you intending to pitch this to Sega to sell?
Do you intend to sell this on gaming stores like Steam, Nintendo, Microsoft, or Sony?

There are numerous legal issues here If Sega, Ferrari etc say no to you.
You can switch gears (hehe) and make a different approach, this is where I can help.

First Impression notes:

- No girl in the passenger seat

- Other vehicles are doing wheelies constantly

 - Assets are of different pixel sizes (resolution) not matching, such as vehicles, gauges, scenery

- Menu navigation, consistency and clarity

Thank you for your Outrun Game, it made my day.

Where are you located country and city? 
I am in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

I look forward to hearing from you, email me.

Developer(+2)

Hello Bizarre Creative,

Thank you very much! I really appreciate the gesture.

I'll email you tomorrow with all the answers. It has been a busy day and I finally tackled an issue that no one seemed to care about, except you, me and my 10-years old nephew: the other cars doing wheelies.

I'm from Tremelo, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium by the way.

Hello Sk1ds, great to hear back from you.

Actually, my name is Robert.

Only a few hours ago I was playing through your game taking notes.

There is a lot of work, but as I said you have a great start.
Most of it is graphics consistency, menu navigation and gameplay.
These are the elements I can take care of, I can create a wireframe of the navigation for you.

I just need to know the specs you require the assets in, we need to pick a pixel size for the assets
to keep everything consistent. I can look into this.

This way we can have the 16Bit Arcade look consistent.

I have started looking for a workflow to turn 3D models into pixel art, and I think it could work well.

Here are a few challenges for you to think about implementing.

- Branching paths
- Large Checkpoint Banners for each checkpoint
- Career Mode (race upgrade vehicle, unlock new vehicle which can also be unlocked for Arcade.
- Arcade Mode (race to unlock $ to upgrade career mode items. Completing races unlocks more girls as passengers and more music tracks)

I look forward to your email.

Best regards.

Developer (2 edits) (+1)

Hello Robert,

My name is Yves by the way, but you probably knew already.

To answer your questions:

- I actually wanted to prove myself that I could make a racing game inspired by (Turbo) Outrun and Super Hang-On. But because I'm not an artist, I simply wanted to use those games' sprites as placeholders, until someone would make custom sprites for me. Oh, and I wanted to create a game that I would enjoy. Something with an in-depth damage system and a realistic handling model, without the grinding of Super Hang-On's original mode on the Genesis.

Once finished, I indeed wanted to sell it on Steam, but with a different name. However, if I could pitch it to Sega, why not. As long as it's still my little project. I'm just a one man's team with hardly any programming skills and I have to keep my guards so the project wouldn't become too big.

- About the pixel size: I like the esthetics of 80's Overdrive. Perhaps we can use that game as a reference?

- The large checkpoint banners are certainly possible.

- I'm working on the branching road already. At this stage it's possible to split the road in 2, but both sides still follow the same corners. That's the next challenge, after I can change the height of both sides independently.

- Career and arcade modes: I like the idea of having these two modes, although it will be quite a bit of work to separate these two modes. Perhaps the arcade mode can have the branching paths? For the career mode: instead of using currency, I prefer the idea of doing the repairs/upgrades within a time limit. I would also like to give the player the choice between a male and a female driver.

I'm looking forward to seeing some images of a pixelated 3d model!

Best regards.

(1 edit)

Hello Yves,  I am beginning to build a picture in my head.

So you have not worked on a published game just challenging yourself and for enjoyment?

Well, there are numerous options here.

1. You keep going with what you are doing
Scenario 1 You will be ok and make a little money.
Scenario 2 Sega finds out and tells you to stop using their assets.

2.  You take this a little more seriously and intend to publish something to make money.
Scenario 1 You switch gears and remove all Sega, and Ferrari assets and replace them and call it something else.
You can then approach different publishers and see if they wish to publish it and make some money.

Scenario 2 We work together to develop a good structure and workflow and show Sega to get their blessing to publish and promote it.
This is 90% not going to happen as they have not released anything since Outrun 2 on XBox 360 PS3 and they may not be willing to put money into the Ferrari licence.

Scenario 3 We approach Lamborghini and see if they wish for an ego-stroking game, they may not like the pixel look and ask for something like Outrun 2  XBox 360 PS3 . Lamborghini is more approachable and there could be a 50% chance of something developing with them.
We would then need to find a publisher which could be Sega as it is right up their alley.

This comes down to you are you doing this as a hobby or have you done this professionally?
Is this how you wish to approach this as a hobby or with a goal to actually publish this game.

How are you at using Unreal Engine? I wish to start learning.

Developer(+1)

Hello Robert,

I guess option 2 scenario 1 is pretty much what I had in mind when I started this game, except for finding a publisher, but that can be an option ofcourse. If it's 90% sure that Sega won't be interested and that Lamborghini probably wants a true 3d game, I'm happy to go for something similar as games like Slipstream and 80's Overdrive with just generic cars, similar to the real ones. Would you like to cooperate if I follow this scenario?

Indeed, this is the first time that I got so far in developing something. I also have a full-time job and I work until 8 pm (not to mention that I also have a wife and a daughter), so I don't have a whole lot of time.

I've never touched Unreal Engine. At this moment Unity does the trick for me. (And I mostly know the basics, but I learn along the way.)

Hello Yves,  yes I understand your challenges but good to hear you wish to try something while improving your skillset.

Unity is licensed, while Unreal is free until you publish, we need to compare the pros and cons of them in terms of cost when publishing.
Both can export to all consoles, pc etc.

Take a look at the following games and get some ideas.

Horizon Chase Turbo = Very Lotus Esprit Turbo and Outrun 
Crusin Blast = This is crazy pure nitro high speed
Hotshot Racing = Similar to Horizon Chase Turbo
Pure Chase 80's = This is a high-speed ride with more reaction than skill
80's Overdrive = Outrun this is 100% like Outrun

I think you need to figure out the branching paths and add 3D vehicles which fit in well with the road,
Perhaps make the road and ground 3D too? You can even have a mix of 3D and 2D if it works well.
We can take vehicle models and turn them low/lower poly 1/3 or 1/2. to give it a look.
This is something we would need to work on to get the look down and then start creating the elements.

How can we make it different?

Do you wish to keep the Authentic Outrun feel reproduced or go a little more exteme like Cruisin Blast?
I feel we should stick close to the Authentic Outrun feel with a few new elements which work well with it.
As the player reaches the finish line it could unlock items such as a radar detector, CB radio, and radar jammer.
Police could will be waiting on the side of the road so drive past slowly when you hear the alarm to avoid them.
This would add another element that still keeps it within outrun I feel.
We could add railway crossings, you need to beat the train to the crossing.

We could make each section a different country look, major landmarks and seasons, Japan blossoms.
France in Summer Eifel Tower, Moroco in Summer, Austria green grass blue skies and the alps.
Once we have the assets for one track figured out we can copy-paste it and replace the assets with grey numbered boxes
as placeholders for each track so as the artwork is complete you just need to replace the artwork pack.
This way you can continue testing the new tracks and make any changes until the artwork is ready to be replaced.
This ensures accuracy and speed in assembling this, you need to be able to add or remove any track section and move it around
in any order, look at how you have it set up you need to have this modular to give us the flexibility and not re-work everything.
Are you using a sprite sheet? This way each track asset can be placed on one .png otherwise with 3D you need separate elements
for each track section asset and be consistently named and numbered for instance France Summer Cloud Small = FR-S_Cloud_S.png

When this is presentable with a good menu and one or two working tracks, music and sound fx we could start pitching the game 
to Lamborghini, publishers or even Kickstarter (after we figure out how much time and money it will take to complete.)

We would also require a contract to protect us both, too many projects and friendships turned sour because there was no contract.
Right now we would be putting in our time and effort and treating it like a hobby, but as we draw closer to pitching it and especially
releasing it we need a bank account set up in which all earnings enter and then automatically deposit the agreed % into your account and mine.

I have some handwritten notes which I need to type out, I also collected some royalty-free music which I think will really work well.
The artist of which can be contacted to request to do something similar to Outrun but that would be extra money.

I think the two of us could pull it off, if you focus on the game elements and putting it all together, I can focus on graphics, music, sound and UI

Looking forward to developing something great with you.

Developer

Hello Robert,

It took a while to respond. It's been a busy week and I needed some time to think about answers, while working late on the branching road.

- Unity vs Unreal: I've chosen Unity for its accessability/low learning curve. It takes some time for me to get familiar with a new platform. It even took me years to get to the point where I am now, and it's probably going to take me quite some time (months?) to just refactor everything to Unreal. If I know myself, I'm probably going to abandon the project if I try this, like I did with my other projects that grew over my head in the past.

- I'm a really big fan of the esthetics of 80's Overdrive. Bright and colorful, all sprite based, looks like Outrun, ... There's another game on Itch.io (Max Downforce) that uses 3d car models. It works for a still image, but in motion it doesn't click with me. I like the choppy animation of the sprites when you see an AI car going around a corner, although it's a lot more cumbersome to program. (But I already did the programming, so meh.) But I like the idea of using 3d models and make images in different angles of them.

Police and radar: yes, I've been thinking about that for quite some time. The police shouldn't be too annoying, but annoying enough to motivate you to get the radar stuff. Perhaps the radar stuff can be upgrades in my current parts system. 

Then, what should be the speed limit? It shouldn't be too low, because that's the speed traffic should drive. The lower, the more difficult the game will be. I've been experimenting with a speed limit and a limit between 220 and 260 kph works well (which is absurd in reality ofcourse.) This speed limit will probably stay in my next update.

I also want the police to chase your opponent if he's ahead of you, to make things fair, giving the winning driver a disadvantage, just like in Test Drive 2: the Duel.

- Railway crossings: cool idea!

- Countries, landmarks and seasons: sounds great! It sounds a bit like Outrunners.

- About the gray boxes/placeholders: it depends on the objects. Perhaps some combinations and patterns work better than other's, but my system is pretty modular. It's always possible to move objects.

- Speaking of modularity: each corner and each hill is created by a single line of code that's easily edited, or moved. One disadvantage: you have to restart the game each time you make a change to see the result. But perhaps I can make a track editor.

- Sprites and sprite sheets: at this point every object has its own sprite, but putting them all in a single sheet per country for example shouldn't be much of a problem. Right now the naming is like O_tree, where O stands for Outrun, TO for Turbo Outrun CSM for custom and so on...

- Publishers, Kickstarter, ...: OK, as long as the code is pretty much finished, or at least in a state that there aren't any programming challenges any more.

- Good idea about a contract and bank account!

- About the royalty free music: good idea, but I'm going to make it in a way that the music is easily replaceable by the user.

Meanwhile I'm going to continue working on the branching road!

Sorry for the delay, I saw your post and started writing and I was almost done then left it and shut down my computer.
The next day I realised I lost it all and was too busy to type it out again.

Anyhow that's ok Unity will be more than enough to do the job.
I thought you would like 80's Overdrive, Yes Max Downforce runs really smooth and has 100% the pixel look.

I have some inspirational music for you to listen to play the game and listen to the tracks.
I have set up a Dropbox send me an email and I will send you the link, so you can download and listen to them.

Yes, the sprite sheet per track sounds great this way we can ensure to apply a consistent look and again keep everything modular.

I think we should start setting goals on things to do, and meet up in 4 weeks.

For yourself, I would suggest

- Create the track editor, this enables us both to design them
- Work on the branching tracks
- Implement the large checkpoint banners for every checkpoint
- Add the large Goal banner with the crowd in the background

I will look at the following

- Develop UI wireframe
- Find more suitable fonts
- Create consistent menus
- Create in-game elements gauges, score, etc
- Obtain low poly 3D vehicles, I think we may be able to apply a pixel look or voxels.

I have also created a spreadsheet where I placed all the tasks, we can give the cell a green fill when complete.
This is in the Dropbox. robert.moyses@bizarrecreative.com

This should be enough for us to work on over the next 4 weeks, let me know what you think.

We can make it at the beginning or end of the month to make it a regular thing.
You do not have to have it complete but you are working on those things. 

Best regards.

Developer

Hello Robert,

I'll try to answer within a few days. I'm having a bit of a rough time since my oldest aunt is about to pass away and another one is fighting lung cancer.

Nonetheless I'm still working on the game, albeit at a slower pace. The large checkpoint  banners are now in place for instance.

Hello, focus on your Family FIRST.

Don't worry about this project, come back when you are ready.

All the best to you and your family.

does it have wheel support?

Developer

You're the first one who asks this!

No, not yet. But I definitely want it. It even has to work with a clutch and h-shifter.

I'll start working on it soon!

Amazing job! I wish I had the ability to fully customize the controller. Also drifting would be a nice touch.

Developer

Thank you for your donation and feedback!

I'm going to try to dive into the world of Unity's new input system and I hope I can offer input customization and even wheel/pedal/h-shifter support in the future.

About the drifting: I've been thinking about if for quite some time, but there's no easy way to implement it. The drifting mechanism has to be compatible with the tire simulation, and it has to be easy to learn, but hard to master. Also, I don't want it to be mandatory to win the races, but rather a way to be slightly faster.

If I'm going to try implement it someday, it will probably something in between drifting and trailbraking.

Thank you for your reply. I feel that it could be done the way it was done in OutRun 2. Hit the brakes then gun the gas around a corner. However, you're the expert here on this one not me. I still can't stop playing it. It's so damn cool! Thank you again. OH! How many vehicles can be unlocked? I got the Countach and the Bike.

Bill

Developer

The problem is that it will become a bit too arcadey if you understand what I mean. Do you know the game Slipstream? It also have a drifting mechanism, but controlling the car is so vague that it becomes frustrating to me.

If I'm about to implement drifting, I want it to feel natural and predictable to me. I've been thinking about how I can achieve this all day, and I think I have an idea, but it's going to be a lot of work.

At this moment you've unlocked the only two vehicles, but there's a 3rd on the way: the Corvette ZR-1 that you race against with the bike.

And I guess I have to make more stages!

Oh, have you tried the manual transmission?

Yes. I tried them all and manual trans is awesome! Thank you again!

Hi! Congratulations! you have already done an extraordinary job! I will definitely talk about this game on my channel ginzu emulation (fr) the game is very addictive and respects the arcade and the outrun series!  What I would like to see in future versions: - better animation of the car when falling into ravines! - and an HD mode for all vehicles! but maybe I'm asking a little too much. - Being able to choose to play HD mode or old school classic mode.
Developer

Thank you very much!

- Yes, the falling animation is horrible. I'm going to rewrite it in the future.

- At a certain point all Sega related images will be replaced with custom images. These images will be in a higher resolution, probably something like the game 80's Overdrive.

And i tried to use reshade to apply some shaders to the game ( crt like scanlines) but i never succeeded to make it to work with your game...  do you think  it will be compatible ? Does unity work with opengl? Vulkan? Dx9? Dx12? Thanks

Developer

To be honest, I have no clue. I've been looking into the settings, but I don't know how it works. Maybe someday I'll find the answer.

Ok,  please keep going! Thanks!

(+1)

Great work and game.  The game doesn't need any more features.  If anything though, try to make it as faithful to the original outrun game as possible, so more enemy-car sprites, and track layouts, from the original.

I've played the original recently on an emulator and yours is so much smoother and easier to see obstacles in the distance, so more playable.  Well done.

Developer(+1)

Thank you very much!

Yes, I'm going to work on new sceneries, although all sprites will probably replaced by custom made sprites somewhere in the future.

I'm glad you've enjoyed it!

its doing that speeded up light speed driving thing again (v0.3.4)

Developer

Hello! Could you possibly make a video of it? That way I can try to figure out where the problem is.

Tiz ok.... false alarm. My apologies. I got my zip files mixed up! i unzipped the wrong one. Its working fine.

(2 edits)

Thanks for making this really cool game! I made a video of my clumsy playthrough attempt ^ _^

I noticed a few things that seemed like they might be bugs, or just alpha stuff--probably already known, but just in case:

- other cars' shadows too wide...and extend up in the air a bit?

- goes to car upgrade screen after you lose a race--then shows scores, then straight to title screen

- volume sliders don't actually lower volume

- sometimes can't adjust "AI cars volume" slider - "Skid volume" moves instead (oh I think you have that covered in your list in the OP : )

- other cars drive in wheelie position for long periods (ah Bizarre Creative noted this a while back)

- can't use controller on options screen

- throttle is on a face button as well as a trigger, but brake is only trigger?

- physics of cars being knocked off track are a little odd, they just kind of move sideways:

- game makes my laptop fan crank even when left on the title screen

And one small suggestion:

- suggestion: let player skip animation of technicians after picking gear type

I was very impressed by how smoothly it drives. : ) And the colors are really fantastic! ^ _^

Developer(+1)

I'm glad you liked it! And thank you for your feedback! Here are my thoughts about it:

other cars' shadows too wide...and extend up in the air a bit?

Yes, I've been struggling with the shadows in the past, but I'm probably going to use two shadow sprites that move when the angle of the car changes. That way it will look more natural.

- goes to car upgrade screen after you lose a race--then shows scores, then straight to title screen

You're supposed to repair your car after each race, whether you win, lose, or didn't finish. But I understand it's weird that you go to the title screen if you didn't finish. I've changed that. Now you only go to the title screen if you run out of lives.

- volume sliders don't actually lower volume

That's weird. They're supposed to work. But I'm going to throw out this option screen anyway and make a nice one that supports button control and no mouse. Maybe that will do the trick.

- sometimes can't adjust "AI cars volume" slider - "Skid volume" moves instead (oh I think you have that covered in your list in the OP : )

Yes, Unity is weird. The new options screen will fix that.

- other cars drive in wheelie position for long periods (ah Bizarre Creative noted this a while back)

It used to be worse when I used flat shadows instead of the sprites now. It will look better with the new shadow system. But yes, the system that calculates the angles of the other cars need some more fine tuning. However, I'm also stuck with the sprites that I have. 

- can't use controller on options screen

True. The options screen was just a quick job.

- throttle is on a face button as well as a trigger, but brake is only trigger?

On a controller, only the right trigger should do the throttle, or on my old Logitech game pad: the right joystick. On a keyboard you have the choice between the up arrow button, or ctrl. It's weird that that face button works too.

- physics of cars being knocked off track are a little odd, they just kind of move sideways:

I'll try to rework them a bit.

- game makes my laptop fan crank even when left on the title screen

Maybe because it doesn't have a frame limiter? Not sure why that happens. I'm a driving instructor that happens to know how to program a bit. 😆

And one small suggestion:

- suggestion: let player skip animation of technicians after picking gear type

Yes, I totally understand. It's possible now, but I've made it one second shorter too.

Thanks to your video I also noticed some other flaws, like a misunderstanding in the parts screen. The minus sign is supposed to mean "worse", so "heat-" means "more heat". I've written it all out now.

And I'd like to point out why you can't always choose a branch in Outrun mode. The leader chooses the branch, so if your opponent leads, you have to follow. There is supposed to be an arrow to point that out, but I haven't implemented that yet.

I'm also thinking about writing a manual, because I don't like tutorials or long messages in an old school game. But I understand that the game is a little vague in some areas.

Oh and one last thing: the full manual mode doesn't actually make you faster. The automatic mode is actually the fastest because it shifts really quick and at a good rpm, and you don't have to manage your throttle and brake because of the traction control and abs. Manual is just harder and more spartan. 😁 Maybe I'll add an option to turn off traction control and abs with the automatic.

(3 edits)

And I'd like to point out why you can't always choose a branch in Outrun mode. The leader chooses the branch, so if your opponent leads, you have to follow. There is supposed to be an arrow to point that out, but I haven't implemented that yet.

Oh! Getting sucked over to the other branch is pretty weird, also pretty jarring and makes it tough to stay on the road. In OutRun 2006, when you can only take one of the branches, the other is blocked off with big red arrow signs--that works pretty well. : )

Maybe because it doesn't have a frame limiter?

Yeah, that seems to be it. I set the frame limit to 60 using RivaTuner Statistics Server and that fixes it (and the weird shrill little shrieking sound my laptop was making when running it, too...that was probably bad ; D). Can't use RTSS when running it through Steam but I guess it still controls okay even without the Xbox analog input--and now I can have it as a taskbar shortcut and use the little icon I made for it. ^ _^



Oh yeah and now that I'm not running it through Steam Input--I'm using keyboard controls through Joy2Key--I'm reminded that without that Steam Input, the Throttle key doesn't work on the Car or Transmission select screens (or for skipping the pit crew animation after Transmission select in 0.3.5)--have to hit Enter instead, which is a unintuitive/inconvenient.

Oh and one last thing: the full manual mode doesn't actually make you faster. The automatic mode is actually the fastest because it shifts really quick and at a good rpm, and you don't have to manage your throttle and brake because of the traction control and abs.

Oh good, I really like automatic. : ^D I drove stick in real life but I don't seem to get along with it in OutRun, like even the 2-gear toggle shifting in the original OutRun just does my head in somehow, I suppose because the games are so fast and there's other stuff that seems a lot more critical to be thinking about! ^ _^

(1 edit)

v0.3.5 Alpha feedback


- Now that I'm using keyboard input on DS4 through Joy2Key, rather than Xbox controls on DS4 through Steam (although I realized afterwards I could get and remap Xbox controls by using DS4Windows--so I'll do that next time instead of Joy2Key : D), I got really confused by the Upgrades screen:

-- Upgrades screen bottom bar legend shows only Xbox buttons, not keyboard equivalents--and Francky doesn't always say them; so I got a bit confused trying to work out which keys to map to my controller for Select (Enter?) and Canceli (Backspace?), and then the key for overall Confirm Repairs (Space?)

-- I keep thinking it would be more intuitive if at the end of the top row of repair-type icons was an overall "make repairs" button to advance, which you could activate with the same button you use to activate any menu thing, usually

-- And then if you got some confirmation, like a brief "Car repaired/upgraded!" message across the screen or something, that might be hepful; there's no confirmation right now and it just goes right to the next thing (currently "Best OutRunners," which always seems to me like a Game Over type display), so I always think I somehow hit the wrong button and skipped out on the intended upgrades/repairs

-- Why not let Throttle/Brake keys & buttons also do Upgrades Select/Cancel? Turbo (in effect) does Confirm Repairs; anyway for me trying to map keyboard controls to the controller through Joy2Key, it feels confusing to have a new set of keys just for the Upgrades screen

- 35:09 - was passed by motorcycle going REALLY fast, then just after they disappeared over the horizon, came across two odd little ~three-pixel-high marks left in that same lane

- 35:27 - punched car through tunnel wall

- Knocked car off cliff in last race (40:13); they slide straight sideways, not down, then later were driving in space down there! = DD

- Cars still have shadows under them while in the air off the cliffs

- No CPU-driven Lamborghinis?

- Get "GAME OVER" when lose race but still have lives remaining (then goes straight to Upgrades screen; would be a lot less confusing if got something like "X LIVES REMAINING..." instead of "GAME OVER" there)

- "Best OutRunners" screen is shown AFTER upgrades screen; it should probably be shown ONLY immediately after COMPLETING a race, BEFORE the upgrades screen, and probably shouldn't be shown at all if you're continuing (ie didn't finish but still have continues left). So maybe the scenarios could go something like:

--If win a race that isn't the final race: Name entry, Best OutRunners, Upgrades, next race

-- If win the final race (I haven't got this far so may be missing something!): Name entry, Best OutRunners, "GAME OVER," title screen

--If lose race but have lives left: "X LIVES REMAINING", Upgrades, repeat race

--If lose w/ no lives left: "GAME OVER," Best OutRunners, title screen

- Title screen says only "Turbo Outrun," not "Turbo Outrun Reimagined" (probably just an alpha thing, but it seems like something that might be a little confusing for people seeing the game for the first time, especially just in a video or something)

- (and I'm not sure if it can be changed at this point, but the itch page address is "outrun-clone" rather than "turbo-outrun-reimagined" or whatever, and the downloads are "Turbo Outrun clone.zip" rather than "turbo_outrun_reimagined_[version number].zip" or something)

- Standard practice would show the version number somewhere on the title screen as well, usually in a lower corner, or just below a corner of the title

- Suggestion (I suppose this is probably just an alpha thing ^ _^): EXIT/QUIT option on main menu, with "Are you sure you want to quit the game?" confirmation dialog--rather than instant exit via ESC key, which is kind of easy to do accidentally

- I'd meant to play for just a few minutes this time, but somehow I did much better and my one Original mode game went 45 minutes = o; I may have to start limiting myself to one life or a few races ^ _^...at least until the OutRun mode is further along : D

- The external framerate limiter might have been helping me do better somehow? But it (RivaTuner Statistics Server) also interferes with the OBS recording software in certain games, including this one, meaning I have to record my whole desktop instead of just the game, making for a slightly clunkier recording

Developer(+1)

-- Upgrades screen bottom bar legend shows only Xbox buttons, not keyboard equivalents--and Francky doesn't always say them; so I got a bit confused trying to work out which keys to map to my controller for Select (Enter?) and Canceli (Backspace?), and then the key for overall Confirm Repairs (Space?)

True, and I've added keyboard buttons right before you've made this post. xD Not sure if I already uploaded that update.

-- I keep thinking it would be more intuitive if at the end of the top row of repair-type icons was an overall "make repairs" button to advance, which you could activate with the same button you use to activate any menu thing, usually

That's a great idea. I'll look into that and see if I can make that possible.

-- And then if you got some confirmation, like a brief "Car repaired/upgraded!" message across the screen or something, that might be hepful; there's no confirmation right now and it just goes right to the next thing (currently "Best OutRunners," which always seems to me like a Game Over type display), so I always think I somehow hit the wrong button and skipped out on the intended upgrades/repairs

Exactly. Someone suggested another (short) pit crew animation sequence. I'd like to do that while the clock ticks down and perhaps show you a list of the repairs/upgrades that are being executed.

-- Why not let Throttle/Brake keys & buttons also do Upgrades Select/Cancel? Turbo (in effect) does Confirm Repairs; anyway for me trying to map keyboard controls to the controller through Joy2Key, it feels confusing to have a new set of keys just for the Upgrades screen

I immediately binded those keys to the select and cancel commands, but I also immediately found out why that doesn't work. When using a keyboard, down = brake and down = also 'choose upgrade part'. If I bind down to select, you also choose the next upgrade at the same time. It would mess up the controls.

- 35:09 - was passed by motorcycle going REALLY fast, then just after they disappeared over the horizon, came across two odd little ~three-pixel-high marks left in that same lane

Yes, for some reason the flame sprite of the motorcycle doesn't deactivate when it goes off screen. I've been too lazy so far to fix this. Also, there are no flame sprites when you look at the motorcycle at an angle that is different from straight from behind. This damn motorcycle has slightly less than 30 sprites and I didn't feel like adding flames to every sprite, which are 2 flames per sprite and 3 flame sprites per motorcycle sprite. (2 x 3 x 30...)

- 35:27 - punched car through tunnel wall

Track limits are dynamically calculated, but I haven't found the courage yet to fine tune that track limit when that tunnel entry starts. (All this 3D stuff is calculated in-game by code instead of creating the mesh beforehand in a visual editor like 3DS Max.) That's why you can clip right through that wall.

- Knocked car off cliff in last race (40:13); they slide straight sideways, not down, then later were driving in space down there! = DD

Yeah, it needs some fine tuning to make it more believable. But that car is not supposed to be driving down there. xD Not sure why that car didn't stop.

- Cars still have shadows under them while in the air off the cliffs

I could turn off the shadow at the moment the fall down animation starts. Turning off the shadow of the Countach is a difficult task because it's part of the sprite and the artist of Chase HQ didn't provide visible wheels, so I would have to draw them myself.

- No CPU-driven Lamborghinis?

No, it doesn't look nice, because I haven't ripped all Countach sprites yet. (The ones angled up and down.) If I rip them all, I could add it to the CPU-driven cars.

- Get "GAME OVER" when lose race but still have lives remaining (then goes straight to Upgrades screen; would be a lot less confusing if got something like "X LIVES REMAINING..." instead of "GAME OVER" there)

Great idea!

- "Best OutRunners" screen is shown AFTER upgrades screen; it should probably be shown ONLY immediately after COMPLETING a race, BEFORE the upgrades screen, and probably shouldn't be shown at all if you're continuing (ie didn't finish but still have continues left). So maybe the scenarios could go something like:

--If win a race that isn't the final race: Name entry, Best OutRunners, Upgrades, next race

-- If win the final race (I haven't got this far so may be missing something!): Name entry, Best OutRunners, "GAME OVER," title screen

--If lose race but have lives left: "X LIVES REMAINING", Upgrades, repeat race

--If lose w/ no lives left: "GAME OVER," Best OutRunners, title screen

I'll look into it. I've put the Best Outrunners screen at the end because of the music. The congratulations music is also the parts music, so for me it's obvious that you immediately go to the parts screen right after you've finished the race. But perhaps I can show the Best Outrunners screen when the game is over, but then it should show the best times for all the races that you've done.

- Title screen says only "Turbo Outrun," not "Turbo Outrun Reimagined" (probably just an alpha thing, but it seems like something that might be a little confusing for people seeing the game for the first time, especially just in a video or something)

I know. I've been too lazy to at that. That picture of the car was already a pain in the ass to make it look right, without the American map behind it and the text that used to be in front of the car.

- (and I'm not sure if it can be changed at this point, but the itch page address is "outrun-clone" rather than "turbo-outrun-reimagined" or whatever, and the downloads are "Turbo Outrun clone.zip" rather than "turbo_outrun_reimagined_[version number].zip" or something)

I don't want to change the page address because it will probably break all the links to it. But yes, the file name is still the old name. It's easier for me to keep things clean in my folders if I don't change that. I could add the version number though.

- Standard practice would show the version number somewhere on the title screen as well, usually in a lower corner, or just below a corner of the title

Good idea!

- Suggestion (I suppose this is probably just an alpha thing ^ _^): EXIT/QUIT option on main menu, with "Are you sure you want to quit the game?" confirmation dialog--rather than instant exit via ESC key, which is kind of easy to do accidentally

Also good idea!

- I'd meant to play for just a few minutes this time, but somehow I did much better and my one Original mode game went 45 minutes = o; I may have to start limiting myself to one life or a few races ^ _^...at least until the OutRun mode is further along : D

Hah, I'm glad you enjoy it!

- The external framerate limiter might have been helping me do better somehow? But it (RivaTuner Statistics Server) also interferes with the OBS recording software in certain games, including this one, meaning I have to record my whole desktop instead of just the game, making for a slightly clunkier recording

I'll enable vsync in the next update. Perhaps that solves the problem.

Also, I've enjoyed watching your playthrough. And I've noticed some stuff and perhaps I can give you some tips.
First of all: I have no idea why the sun repeats itself in the first stage of the last race. It doesn't do that in the 2nd stage of the first race and it's the same damn sun.
The arrows next to the road indicates how sharp a corner is. The more arrows, the sharper the corner. 1 arrow = go flatout, 2 arrows = short brake, 3 or more arrows = long brake. The arrows are shown sooner if it's a sharp corner, so it gives you an idea when you have to brake, usually when you pass those arrows.
Sparks flying from your car means you have no brake material left. It's just metal to metal and it indicates that your stopping distance will roughtly be doubled.
You can brake while holding the throttle, but there is no advantage doing that. On a contrary: your engine and brakes will wear out faster, it increases your braking distance and make your brakes hotter which might introduce brake fade. (It's indicated by the left green bar, although I've hardly ever experienced brake fade. Maybe I should crank it up a notch.) Also, releasing the throttle will cool down the engine as it's no longer burning fuel and therefore not creating heat.
Speaking of engine temperature: the faster you go, the faster the temperature drops. Air flow cools down the radiator. If you want to cool down the engine faster, manual shifting might help because high rpms create more heat. So shifting earlier cools down the engine faster. (That's probably the only advantage when choosing the manual transmission.)
About upgrades: I recommend choosing the tires first, because it will make you faster off the line and you can corner faster. For the heavier cars, like the Countach, I also recommend choosing the weight reduction as it will significantly increase your acceleration. Because the DX40 is already basically an F1 car with a body on it, there isn't much left to strip out.
When you have ABS, the brake upgrade it kind off useless, until brake fade becomes a thing.
Next up is the transmission because it limits your top speed. Adding a 6th gear makes you go faster without bouncing off the rev limiter and it also lowers your rpm and therefore lowers your engine temperature. (The DX40 doesn't have a transmission upgrade because it already has a pretty high top speed. The Vette already has a 6th gear, but it's a very long one and therefore useless for racing, so the upgrade will shorten it.)
Oil and radiator upgrades are great for lowering the engine temperature and increasing the lifespan of your engine and turbo and are essential when choosing engine and turbo upgrades.

When using a keyboard, down = brake and down = also 'choose upgrade part'. If I bind down to select, you also choose the next upgrade at the same time. It would mess up the controls.

Oh hm. Well, for what it's worth, the up/down selection for upgrades as it is now is kinda confusing. You can't tell where you are in the parts order, really. Like, if it would fit, something like a row of descending upgrade icons on the left side with your current version of the part highlighted could really help clear things up.

But maybe it could also instead be a left-right row of upgrade icons, becoming active once you've picked the part type--so then you're still browsing with the left/right button keys.

I'll enable vsync in the next update.

Ooh--well, I hope there will be an option to disable vsync as well. ^ _^


I have no idea why the sun repeats itself in the first stage of the last race. It doesn't do that in the 2nd stage of the first race and it's the same damn sun.

Oh man I hope the repeating sun stays, it's so cool. ^ _^_^


(It's indicated by the left green bar, although I've hardly ever experienced brake fade. Maybe I should crank it up a notch.)

Oh, so that's what that is. I had no idea. = o It seemed sort of pointless, in that regard. ; D Good to know about the sparks though, I had a feeling those were showing SOMETHING was wearing out. I'm never gonna remember those other parts tips, so I'll just hope they're more or less covered by the descriptions of the parts in the upgrade screen. ]_] ; )

Exactly. Someone suggested another (short) pit crew animation sequence. I'd like to do that while the clock ticks down and perhaps show you a list of the repairs/upgrades that are being executed.

I hadn't wanted to suggest the pit crew animation because I'd been afraid it would have been too much work to add in or something. ^ _^ Although it just occurred to me that even a sound effect, like a repeated quick whirring sound (as in a mechanical bolt fastener), or a glug glug sound for an oil change, would go a long way in telling the player that the upgrade work they'd ordered was being carried out. : )

Turning off the shadow of the Countach is a difficult task because it's part of the sprite and the artist of Chase HQ didn't provide visible wheels

Oh wow, I was just looking at Chase HQ (in one of the JP PS2's Taito Memories collections) yesterday, now I wish I'd paid more attention to the car sprites! ^ _^

Hm although I'm less sure how cool Taito is with fan games, so maybe I won't use the Lamborghini anymore.

Developer(+1)

So I did a couple of stuff, like the addition of the quit option. There's no confirmation request yet. (It's getting too late now.)
I've also added the "Reimagined" part to the title and I've added the version number.

In the parts menu, I haven't reworked the navigation system yet, as it will take a lot of time to redo that. I'm probably going to add some visual indication on the left of the parts description to let you know where you are in the parts order.
But I did add an extra icon that you can choose to confirm the repairs. Pressing the space button on your keyboard will immediately send you to that icon. When you've confirmed the repairs, the clock resets, and you'll hear the sound effect of an air wrench.

Instead of "Game over", you'll see what you've suggested: "x lives remaining", until you have no lives left.

Oh and instead of enabling vsync, I've added a frame limiter. At this point it is set to 120 fps.

And you may be right, perhaps I should remove the Lamborghini. Perhaps I can try to make my own sprites, using a 3D mesh of the car.

Slightly out of date feedback here--was 0.3.5, not the new 0.3.6:

Suggestions:

- Have controller Start button and keyboard ESC key bring up a pause menu

- Allow end-of-race name entry or at least confirmation with controller, so I don't have to keep reaching for the keyboard ^ _^

- Have d-pad do steering during a race (currently does nothing)


I had a funny-looking wipeout where I was close to the cliff edge as the road narrowed to the cliffside in the jungle setting--51:27 in this video; the car sunk to the right across and down into the road:

0.3.6c

Floating upside-down along the edge of the road was kind of a nice break. ^ _^ It happened after I flipped and then immediately hit another sign and flipped again, dunno if that had something to do with it.

Some silly suggestions I had:

- Option to swap triggers (gas / brake)

- Xbox controller puts gas on X--but there's no corresponding brake face button, which seems strange

- An option to let the game hold the gas button for you (only letting off when you brake) might be a handy ergonomic option ^ _^

- Would be handy to be able to move around the menus with the left analog stick--currently only the d-pad can navigate most of the menus (left analog works in main menu but not in car select, gear select, upgrade screen, maybe others I'm forgetting--well and neither work in the placeholder Options screen, which I thus tend to avoid = o)

Developer(+1)

I'll do my best to add some options, once I've figured out the input system!

Nice.

Please add 320x224 screen mode and screen filter.

And i think you should use pseudo 3d calculation same as Outrun. Sprite zooming is unnatural.


Developer(+1)

Thanks!

I'll look into it and try to add a low resolution mode. What filter would you like to see?

The way the sprites zoom in are the responsibility of Unity's 3D engine. I didn't do anything about it. Changing this means I have to start over from scratch and build my own pseudo-3d engine, which I tried 14 years ago, but never finished.

Thank you for replying!

I want a scanline filter at least.

>  sprites zoom

Search for "Unity pseudo-3d" and I can find some articles, but does it sound difficult?

Developer(+1)

Not only does it sounds difficult, it actually is difficult. I know, because I did it 14 years ago. I eventually managed to do it with the use of sin/cos, but using Unity's built-in 3d engine is so much simpler and more reliable.

I'm making a compilation video of all my iterations of my game. In the first fragment you'll see how it used to look like when I did it the hard way.

By the way: take a look at Outrunners, because in that game sprites are scaled like they appear in real life. It looks much more like my game.

As a matter of fact... I exported Space Harrier 1/2 to Genesis/Megadrive Mini 2, pseudo-3D is not as difficult as it sounds. :-)

It is quite simple than real 3D calculation. But it is difficult on Unity.

Anyway, I think it's fun enough as it is. I look forward to the future.👍

(+1)

Hey there!

I'm an OutRun speedrunner, I'll be trying out your game soon and probably creating a leaderboard for it on Speedrun dot com.

Thank you for this awesome initiative!

MS Marceau.

Developer(+1)

That's awesome! Would you like to let me know if it's ready?

(+1)

Sorry for the delay. Leaderboard is ready at that page: Turbo OutRun Reimagined - Speedrun.com

I'll be streaming the game this week at MasterSystemMarceau - Twitch

Small tiny detail, I'd suggest "Turbo OutRun Reimagined" (with a capital R) 'cause that's usually how we write "OutRun".

Hi - this is amazing work and something I have been looking for a long time! Just a quick one - would you consider an option to be able to move the main car further down the screen so there is less of a gap (similar to the original). This is may sound like a minor point but it was probably one of the first things I noticed and something that seemed slightly off subconsciously from an Outrun experience. If not - this is still amazing!

Developer

Thank you very much!

You're not the only one with this suggestion. I'll look into it tonight. This might be a simple fix of simply putting the camera higher, but this may also mess up the sprite system where the cars may look like they go up.

If it works, I'll add the option. Maybe I'll map a camera button where you can switch between both options while you're driving. Perhaps even a bumper cam.

Developer(+1)

I figured out why I didn't move the car further down. It messes up the turbo flame. It's not directly behind the car, but about a meter behind it, so it wouldn't clip through the floor. If I move the car, I have to reposition the flame(s) for each car.

I'll probably update the code in the future so it dynamically repositions itself, depending on the position of the car.

Excellent!  I look forward to this!

I only just discovered this, and it's fantastic! Great job - love the callback to Test Drive, that took me completely by surprize and was awesome.

This has probably been suggested already, but if not, how about support for ultrawide monitors - or at least have an option to put black bars on the side so its presented at 16:9 for those that want that. For me, on a 21:9 monitor, you can see the graphics that are meant to be off screen and it's a bit distracting, although I also like that it can fill the full screen. So if it's not in the cards to have full ultrawide support, then just having that 'force 16:9' option would be great. No big deal for me, I just changed my resolution down.

Also the low-resolution mode is so good, and fits the style so well, may I suggest making that the default. Could just be me though.

Overall I really enjoyed it. Truly you did a fantastic job.

Now, how about a career mode with sponsors... just kidding, kinda.

Developer

Thank you very much!

Oh I never thought about that. I still have lots of stuff to discover about Unity, so perhaps I can try to figure out how the resolution stuff works.

I'm glad that you like the low-resolution mode! The bad part is that it loses the bloom effect around the light poles and the little lights in the tunnels. Also, it makes your car look a bit of a pixel-mess. For that reason I still prefer the high resolution mode, until I figure out how to overcome those flaws.

A career mode with sponsors... Like in Super Hang-On?

I'll have to try the regular resolution mode again - which looked great, but I'm so used to the original look, it's very difficult for me to go away from that. For career mode, I was thinking about something more like Super Monaco GP for the Genesis - it has a fairly simple career mode where you earned money from sponsors, which let you then buy upgrades. By career mode standards, it's pretty basic, but for replay value it's great - although you already have a really good leveling up system as it is. It was just a pure wish-list type suggestion, but if you get a chance, maybe checkout that example and see what you think, if it makes any sense or not.

Also, again, the Test Drive flashback was awesome, and completely unexpected. I played that game so much as a kid, to come out of the tunnel and have the mountains there - that was just amazing to me. Just a fantastic job - I love it!

Developer

It was a well thought out decision not to use money for this game.

- I think money is slightly more difficult to balance out than time management, although there are some other difficulties with my system.

- Lots of games have money, while I really like the idea of World Rally Championchip's time system.

- You're supposed to be filthy rich, so money shouldn't be a factor, just like in the real Cannonball/Gumball Rally.

But I do understand the appeal of your suggestion. Super Hang-On had a similar system.

I'm glad you like it anyway!

Sure! Makes sense - was just a wish list type of deal. I love simple RPG-like career modes, gives you reasons to grind and upgrade, but not everyone likes that. Also was great to see the game pop-up all over my YouTube feed in the last week, it's just a fantastic game!

This is really cool!  I was just wondering if there's any way to drift/power slide around corners? Also, a color select option for the vehicles would be cool.  :)

Developer

Thanks! Drifting/powersliding probably isn't going to make it into the game. It would make things a bit too complicated for me to program.

Color selection is going to be added if I figure out how you can replace the color in the UI. At this moment the cars turn completely black if I try to change the color in the menu.

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I didnt knew about this project, amazing work.

One suggestion is that,  the car is centered too high on the screen. i feel off while playing it, as if having too much road under the car its annoiyng me a little. More than anything with the red car. It even makes the ilussion that the car obstructs the road view a little.

Look this image comparisson with the original:




Would be better if you put the two  playable cars centered a little lower, but not as low as in the original

Not because of being a purist, is just that it feels better for me at least.

You can add the FM towns soundtrack of the game, it sounds great

Developer (1 edit)

Thanks!

Yes, I've heard that before. I'm going to add the option to lower the car's position in the future, or perhaps a button so you can cycle between camera positions. But then I have to redo the positioning of the exhaust flames since they are not placed directly behind the car, but a meter from it.

And yes, perhaps I can add that soundtrack.

Speaking of camera. May I ask in some future to give an option un-tie camera from cars back Y axis wise to give it more float a-la road rash (md), road rash 1995 (3do, ps1, pc, sat; best example), outrunners (arcade).

Also would like to ask for more low-res compatible UI (gauges) and fonts (something that looks passable at 640x360 to do stuff like this image).

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Good job on this project! I'd say add 4 players split screen for some same screen muliplayer mayhem.

Maybe one more frame of animation for the cars, but that's more an artistic choice. 

Menu text and all the hud elements should be more pixel art than the current font you have, they look out of place.

As of now, I'm having a blast, keep up the great work

Developer

Thanks!

4 players split screen 😵 That's pretty ambitious. If I manage to pull off 2 player split screen, I'll be very happy.

Yes, the more frames, the better ofcourse. If I ever have custom sprites, I'll make sure that there are enough.

About the menu text and font: I know. I'll try to make it really pretty someday.

But I'm glad you enjoy it!

This is amazing!  Just playing with the keyboard it's still loads of fun and really captures the essence of those old racers but with better handling.  Great job!

I have 3 arcade racing cabinets hooked together in my basement arcade.  I'd love to see at least an arcade style attract mode that can run while it's not being used, and of course forcefeedback steering wheel support!

Developer

Force feedback is coming! By the way: does your cabinet have the original shifter? With high and low gear? How does it work? Is there some sort of button in the middle or something? If so, I can add the option to make it compatible with the shifter.

An attract mode... Yes, I've been thinking about that. Yeah, maybe I can add something like that in the future.

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Yves, my Belgian friend, what a beautiful thing you have created! BRAVO! Astonishing!

I saw a YouTube video, came here, tried the web version, immediately bought it.. recommended it to my friends...
Time from first sight to purchase <5 mins.
I am addicted at the moment. I have been playing it all night. Surprised at how few comments you have here...
You have solved SO MANY  of the very obvious problems with an already superb original game.

You asked for suggestions :
The analog stick should be usable on the car select and car upgrade/repair sections, user should not have to move to the d-pad.
I selected three repairs and it said I had selected 0 upgrades. Repairs and Upgrades are a little confusing. Repairs x/x Upgrades x/x ??
Grab the music from as many versions as you can, they are all different and they are all great! Master System, Arcade, Xbox 360 etc etc...
World, Europe, Local (All time, This Month and Today) High Score tables.
Retain settings between games.
Should be able to enter my name with the joystick..
Distance to RIVAL.
Big Chase HQ style RIVAL arrow (Criminals Here!) (optional).
The mechanic is too realistic - is this you? Someone you know? :) Needs to be more 8-bit - like the "Nancy" in the Mega-Drive Chase HQ 2 - 

Steering wheel support would be cool but that is always going to be a small sub-set of your customer base.

You should have a "Chill-Out Drive" option, where you are not racing, but driving fast through a randomly generated environment... slowly increase the max speed... up to the user if they want to just drive and chill or keep pushing themselves.

Get user submitted cars.. Lots of them. Let people rank them and auto add the recent top 10 - note, not everyone has PhotoShop...

Most car games fail because of obvious and repeated problems...
Crash too much - No-one WANTS to crash.
Too realistic - I am playing a game not WORKING...
Not realistic enough : Your car is 2x faster than all other cars you are racing against. Except for one which is always faster than you...
Boring challenges - Yes that's you Horizon Chase - A game should be fun to play and fun to come back to - not a punishment to come back to.
Drifting is too challenging - Get drifting right and you will have an awesome game.. it is not hard.. brake whilst accelerating and turning, then control the drift.. maybe have a Tony Hawks style arc and arrow.. push it too hard and you spin, too little and your drift ends.

Thoughts for your future (car) games...

Multiple rivals: Like 30 or 40! Loricel had a game on the Amiga/Atari ST which had a lot of rivals that you had to pass, the passing was slow but very realistic. The car in the game was a child's Matchbox Porsche which they photographed then digitized (including with its rear hatch and doors opened during crashes - this would be an interesting option for you, could be a super quick way to add a lot of cars). Overtaking was challenging but fun... JUMP TO 7m 16s

Need for Speed had an ok rubber banding system for two player games if you go that way. Whatever you do, do not make it like recent Mario Karts where the person at the back can win!!

Next Car Game : Remake Chase HQ and then Need for Speed (PS1). :)

General advice...

At some point Sega and Copyright will come knocking, probably a good idea to be bringing this to a close and to use your new found connections to get your own (similar but way better) game up and running.
Porsche Challenge on the PS1 and San Francisco Rush 2049 on the Dreamcast built in lots of shortcuts. On the SFR game they were there all the time, the harder ones gave you more rewards. On the Porsche Challenge game they turned on and off on a looped track and were often signified by a sound effect (cut through the churchyard when you heard the bell toll). These were great features, especially for a two player game. JUMP TO 2m 20s

Get a graphics artist.. all those cars do look like they are pulling wheelies and that would be easy for a graphics artist to fix.
GET YOUR USERS EMAIL ADDRESSES!!! If you make a good product once, people will buy from you again, but only if they know you have a new product.
Do you get to see the email addresses of people who have bought??


Finally... in your own games.. JUICE JUICE JUICE...

My background : Been playing video games since PONG!! I have played A LOT OF GAMES! Owned my own video game store in England. Now live in Texas.

Developer(+2)

Thank you very much! I'm glad you appreciate my game. I've indeed put a lot of thought in it, so it would be fun and not too frustrating.

And thanks for the constructive feedback. This really helps the game forward.

The picture of the mechanic is my father who passed away in 2013. When I played the original mode of Super Hang-On on the Genesis when I was 6, I thought it would be cool if my father was the mechanic. So this picture is probably going to stay, unless someone can draw a nice 16 bit rendition of him.

That is very cool! Keep him in!

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This is my favourite game by far lately.
i already finished it many times, so i would sugest new cars and new routes to expand the gameplay loop.
 Perhaps the car from Sega Ages Outrun or chase HQ.
Also new routes, i would love some routes with tracks based on the Outrunners ones.

Keep on your good work, this game is nearly perfect already, it's everything i evr wanted as an outrun fan

Developer

Thanks!

Yes, new tracks are coming in one of the next updates.

I'm not sure of the cars though. I don't have a lot of sprites left that I can use. Maybe the 928 from Chase HQ if Taito isn't going to sue me. 😆

Hi,maybe stuff to drive over/through like for example waterpuddles, wooden roadsigns,etc.

Also ,the female yelling in fear sometimes would be nice, and perhaps switching drivers in that the Woman is driving and the Man is screaming😅

Btw. I love this fanmade version, also.love fiddling with the reshade on it🙃

Developer

Yes, I'll add those road stuff eventually!

And I would also like to add an option to switch man and woman. 😉 If I find some nice screaming samples I might add those in the future. Maybe..... 😆

buenas noches desde barcelona ciudad, España!! Primero felicidades por tu extraordinario trabajo. Una pregunta. No tengo claro para qué plataforma has echo éste Out Run. Es para Android? Windows? Ps5 o megadrive?

Y quería preguntarte si sabes hacer menús personalizados para la sega megadrive, como los juegos Mega Games, para poner tres juegos o más en un menú y grabarlo luego en una pcb,como los de aliexpress que te vienen un 196 en 1, por ejemplo. 

Muchas gracias ✌️✌️😁👍

this game is brilliant!  it looks and runs amazing on steam deck oled but displays in 4:3 causing missing graphics on the left and the right of the screen.

As for improvement suggestions,  ..when using the hang-on motorcycle, it sits very low down on the screen allowing you to see the road ahead clearly, ..but with using the normal ferrari car it sits higher up/ more forward on the road so it kind of blocks the view of the road ahead.

It's a fantastic game, thankyou

Developer

Thanks you very much!

I'll try to make it compatible with 4:3 screens.

And yes, I'm about to lower the cars very soon.

please note i did finally fix the mentioned 4:3 screen problem on steam deck, so i don't think you need to concern yourself with it.

. . . it was a case of me changing the display settings in the steam settings menu just before launching the game

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As an Amiga fan, it would be awesome to have the choice between a Jaguar XJ220 and a Lotus Esprit ! 😍

Your game is a dream! ❤️

Developer

I'm glad you like it!

I would like to add the Jaguar, but I can't find the sprites anywhere. Anyhow, they both have a different art style and they might look weird in this game, especially the Lotus.

I love it! Honest feedback - The upgrade/repair menu needs review/balancing, or like the original. Drop the repair mechanic (which could be good for a OutRun Rougelike? :) ) If you need PXL art support or OST remastering, new xbit tracks, I can "help" to some degree if you need it :)

Bless up for this release!  

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i think i read somewhere  that the pic of the" repair mechanic" is a pic of the developers Father who sadly passed away...it is more of a Tribute.

Apologies! I meant the game mechanic loop is confusing to me not the art. So sorry!

Sorry me,for misunderstanding

Developer(+1)

Thanks! Yeah, the repair/upgrade stuff seems a bit too much for some people. That's why there is also the Outrun mode. I'm also going to add an additional mode where you can drive from A to B without branches like Super Hang-On.

The repair/upgrade stuff is going to stay though, because I really like it. It's inspired by the original mode of Super Hang-On on the Genesis with a little bit of WRC in it. (Hence the time limit instead of the use of money.)

I may add an option to reduce the damage.

Can you draw a sprite of an 959 facing forward? 😆

Would be awesome if you can make it work on  smartypi so we Outrun Arcade owners can play it on the original cab. Alot of these arcades are made and i would not hesitate so buy it for a few hundred bucks

Developer

That would be awesome, but that means I have to rebuild the whole game from scratch. And I'm unfamiliar with the smartypi, so I don't think it is possible for me I'm afraid.

(+1)

Just need to be able to re-define the keys - I am sure I'm not alone wanting to drop this onto my home arcade, but some of the controls dont match up (for me).

Developer(+1)

Done!

in latest V 0.3.8 at the mechanic upgrade/repair screen the yellow square can not be moved (on xbox 360 gamepad)

Developer

Can you go up and down through the upgrades? And does the left joystick work to go left and right?

no,the yellow square wont move,still the upgrades are showing.,but cant chose nor upgrade.

It hanged and had to ctrl alt delete.

I only tried it once,will try again this evening.

Add the Porsche 959 cabriolet and its occupants as an option for us to play with.

Developer

I will if I have a sprite of it facing forward.

i just played the game and won the first race,Yellow square moved with xbox360-controller and i chose extra turbo.After chosing i could not move anymore and the game hanged.

ctrl alt delete to exit

Developer

I've changed some input stuff and I also added some values to the log file. If it hangs again, would you mind send me the log file? You can find it here: C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\LocalLow\TurboCompany\Turbo Outrun Reimagined\Player.log

Oh and perhaps try hitting the keyboard arrows. That probably didn't work either...?

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i played latest version and it works great,no problems as far as i know. GREAT work.

Btw. A minor thing ,dunno if its possible.

Can you animate the tires of the Testarossa?

Maybe you can re-use the animation of the other red car IF possible.

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latest C-test version.

Xbox 360 gamepad and keyboard stopped working at beginning of the race.

Had to ctrl-alt-delete

Edit.

By copying "options.txt file" from previous version over the C-test version and overwriting, all works good again.

Developer

That's weird. 😆 I'll look into that. It should work without the file too.

Developer

Got it. It was a little oversight. I left the steering wheel option turned on, which disables the other inputs.

I'm going to upload the corrected version this evening and perhaps change some stuff so you can still pause the game and navigate with the keyboard.

Latest update works great.

Nice animation of the tires on the Testarossa :)

(+2)

wat a rush,pitty that i'm not that good.

very nice D-update

(+1)

Hi, on latest update (F) ,on name entry as soon as i hit the letter"P" the game moves on.

All else is working great👍

Developer

Oh right 😆 That's also the pause button. I used it to continue. I'll fix that next week. (I'll won't be home this weekend.)

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I was playing with 0.3.7e alpha for a bit.

Concerning the Classic/W.I.P. mode, it has a REALLY TIGHT clock, is that normal? That'd be great to have a diagram of the route also.

Other than that, the game is CLOSE TO PERFECT!

Developer

Yes! 😁 I had the Genesis/Mega Drive version of Super Hang-On in mind. It also had a very tight time limit, but! You can upgrade your bike in the original mode and use your upgraded bike in the arcade races with the time limit. You can do that too here.

Oh ok, we can use upgraded cars in W.I.P. mode? That's a game changer! I'd still make it a little bit less tight though, personally :-/ But I'll give it another try!

I would also add a diagram of the route and for Original Turbo OutRun Mode I would add a total time of the 5 races at the end of the race if possible. That'd be really awesome.

Developer

I'm probably going to add an option to choose a slightly less brutal time limit. ;)

I'll try to add such a diagram! I won't be able to make a nice screen like the one in the original OutRun, where you see a miniature car driving through all the stages with the scenery and stuff though. That means I have to draw. xD

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The one thing I would really love to see is to have an option for low res texture on the road, and chunky pixel gauges. The game looks fantastic and like a true super scaler except for the higher res elements, especially the road, that clash with that.


Maybe you cam fiddle with reshade to make it all look more low-res?

give it a try.

I like the clean pixelated look of everything else. Rather just try to have a low res texture on the road than make everything distorted.

Developer

I'll eventually add options for different resolutions/screen sizes. 😉 For now you could use the low-res mode, but that won't pixelate the UI.

Hi Yves,
i love your game very much and play it every day. I convinced my dad last week to donate you 60€ and i hope you received it?!

Do you think it's possible to implement more weather like snow, rain, storm in the levels?

Greetings from Germany

Sirina

Developer

Hello Sirina,

That's really kind of you! Yes, I got a donation of 65 dollars from Jochen. Is that your dad?

Of course that's going to happen! I'm about to work on some new stages that will include different weather conditions like the ones you mentioned.  It might take a while though.

Hi Yves,
yes that's my dad. I hope it's a fair price for you?

But i think the biggest thing is that you're making a lot of people happy. Me too... :-)

Thank you for including more waether conditions in the new levels. :-)

I'd like to create a new car. Can you explain me how i can do this? Or are there any good manuals for creating sprites in the net?

Greetings Sirina

Developer

Hello Sirina,

Ofcourse that's fair! It's more than enough.

Here is a screenshot of the upcoming heavy snow storm effect. ;)



If I can find some extra time, I would like to explain it to you. The values part is the easiest and if you know which car you want, you can also tell me and I'll do the research and fill in all the values myself. The sprite part is of course the hardest. I suggest you use a program like paint, but more suited for pixel art for games and animation. It's easier when you can work with multiple layers. I'm also trying to draw one myself. It's a tedious job. I've pretty much finished the sprite of the car facing forward and I'm using that sprite to draw the car at an angle. I'm also using picures of the real car below my drawing so I can trace it. There is a website of a oldtimer dealership here in Belgium where they make 360° pictures of every car they have. That's where I get my pictures from, from that particular car that I'm drawing. I'll try to make some screenshots in the future so I can explain it even further.

Hi Yves,
oh my god that looks amazing!!! I loveit!! :-) Can't wait for it!

As far as i understand a sprite is nothing else than a pixel graphic?

Greetings Sirina

could you add in to the game the Space Harrier (Arcade) sprite as a playable racer/character?

would be fun to 'fly' through the game as the space harrier guy! :-)

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Hi Yves,

This is an amazing game, the sound effects, the car selection, and the music are simply great.  If I may suggest to improve the game  I would add the following:

Adding more cars from the 80s, such as Chase HQ, General Lee Dodge Charger, Porch Carera, and the Automan's 80s TV series black Lamborgin Countash for driving at night time with the same electric engine noise. Also Kitt from Night Rider will be a great addition. 


Since road race is illegal I would add police cars chasing the game player and the police will stop you down and on the following level they will also start shooting at t uphe drivers car

Also chased by a police helicopter - sprites can be obtained from Chase HQ arcade game.  


Road block with police cars, and the only way to proceed is to drive up on a tow truck or trailer at high speed lunching the car into the air.

 

A level crossing  (train crossing car drivers road) where a railway line and a road meet each other, same as above to keep going further the only way is to drive up on a tow truck or trailer at high speed lunching the car into the air. 


Stopping in petrol station for fueling or fixing.


Driving inside a trailer to hide from the police or to replace the car or driving the trailer, similar to Knight Rider.


Similar to the video game Spy Hunter, stopping the car at the harbor, and switching to a powerboat for a boat race similar to Miami Vice, and for an amazing atmosphere utilising the Miami Vice sound track. 


Adding CRT monitor filter, examples here https://forums.libretro.com/t/cyberlab-death-to-pixels-shader-preset-packs/35606  I can suggest you the best filters if interested

If interested I can add more ideas


I am an average user with Photoshop, I'll try to design a car.


Video clip of car launched at high speed from a tow truck 


I think the images of the cars below can be downloaded for free or by taking a print screen 


Auto man's Lamborgini Countash 

https://youtu.be/5Q528VJuORY?si=8yO4OAdeo1uwQADa

https://youtu.be/J98Kb55ZWLM?si=zTDE8DzD5XVtCtMJ


Kitt  Pontiac Firebird 1982- 360°

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/pontiac-firebird-kitt-1982-d56185c31fa5444f828a1...


https://3dmodels.org/3d-models/pontiac-firebird-knight-rider/#360view



Jaguar XJ220 1992 - 360°

https://3dmodels.org/3d-models/jaguar-xj220-1992/

https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/jaguar-xj220-c66c15ab194643ee994ba5bd73aab15b

The desktop version runs in low resolution and the web version does not detect Xbox joysticks well