The game actually feels and steers very nicely! I love how it feels and works except for some cases which I’ll go over
Drifting:
Triggering drifting can be a bit uncomfortable because you have to start holding the directional key at the same time as the drift key when it feels more natural to be able to hold the directional key after the car lands from the drift’s “jump”
Going over speed boosts when drifting boosts you in the direction of the camera instead of the current velocity of your car which is very disorienting
Regarding Pine Valley, it’s a very nice map. I love the detail and personality! However, there are a few issues with it
Pine Valley
Some of the shortcuts just aren’t worth taking because they ruin the flow of your drive due to the positioning of their entrances
Some shortcuts end up being slower (such as the cave) than the main road
Overall Game Handling
Regarding the netcode, it’d be nice if it were similar to Ballrace’s method where you move on the client side and send the message to the server instead of waiting for the server’s response before moving client-side. It can be very awkward and disorienting to play on a host with even 80 ping. (I also believe Virus should follow this method as well)
Offroading (whether by accident or on purpose for, say, a shortcut) is not worth it. The slow effect is way too punishing and can put a player WAY behind. I think the slow factor should be lowered a tiny bit
There doesn’t seem to be any influence behind which items a player gets (or at least I haven’t noticed). In Mario Kart, a player gets better-suiting items for whichever place they’re in. For example, the lower you are, the better catchup items you get, or a player somewhere in the middle gets a Blue Shell. Stuff like that.
Minor Bugs
Bumping into something head on which bounces you backwards displays the “You’re going backwards” message
So I’d say my biggest issues are the drifting issues, the netcode, and the overkill offroad punishing.
Either way, great job on the gamemode! It’s really great and fun. Nice job
While this may seem like a good solution, in the long run it is not. Clientside would open to an insane amount of cheating but also would de-sync all the items. We’re still refining netcode for this alpha.
Virus also cannot be client side as players shoot and overlap with other players. Ball Race is the only one that can use full client side as players don’t interact with each other at all.
One thing we found during testing is that you can get out of dirt by jumping and drifting as the drift logic will end the dirt effects.
There is item influence based on player position. First player will only get melons and bowling balls - they won’t get any other major items. Last players or players falling behind will receive dragon and flux items to speed them up. If you’re playing singleplayer, you’ll only get melon boosts.
Although, technically, this is a solution to the issue, it’s a very spaghetti one and let’s be honest. It’s not exactly intended. A more solid solution would be more sufficient.
