(02-25-2014, 02:15 PM)Sarchez Wrote: Arakash Edit: Edited down for space, read up to see the original post.Nice post.
Ill first throw in a disclaimer that i know little to nothing of how racing works in the real world, so im hoping to limit my comments to the game mechanics suggested (hopefully)
Ill make comments on the driver, the calculation of laps and the benefits.
I can first make a bunch of comments on the driver system suggested, as ive seen quite a number of personnel management systems in a variety of games.
If we stuck with your suggested attributes, i would replace Risk-taking with Aggressiveness. Ive seen that before in other games, and i think its a better and more general word to use that covers what your thinking of.
Im not a huge fan of the word Quickness, though i understand the concept you were aiming for here. Im not sure what to replace it with in this case.
If i was to choose two attributes to represent the drivers, i would probably generalise it to something like:
Talent -Which would have a large effect on times and how well the driver can utilize the vehicle
Consistency - Reduces the chances of accidents and poor performances
These are quite abstract, but im trying to be generalized and fairly simple.
If you wanted to go the other direction, you could go as in depth as you wanted to, as some games like Football Manager do with 20-30 attributes (many hidden), but i think we are looking for something much more simple here.
Onto the general lap system proposed.
First, having the laps individually calculated sounds like something that would put a fair amount of load on the game. This is purely an assumption on my part, but i think it could be a problem.
Imagine, once the mods come in, having 10-20 racing series, where each lap (lets say 20-30 laps each) is calculated individually when the turn button is pressed. So 200-600 lap calculations, using the lap and series numbers i guessed there.
Second, im not really sure we need to calculate out each individual lap anyway. Just have the game make a calculation, based on the statistics provided by the system you suggested (driver, vehicle etc) about who wins.
Its probably going to give similar results to calculating each lap anyway, with less hassle. It may be my ignorance, but im not seeing the benefits of having laps calculated individually.
Finally on the Benefits
This is the part i really like, and would imo, add a depth to the research.
I think i mentioned it already on IRC anyway, but i really like the idea of having racing expenditure feed back into your research in some way.
It would have to be balanced ofc, but i like the extra motivation to get involved in racing and develop racing teams/cars.