Well, first of all, i'd like to say that this game is freakin' awesome! From the first few tracks I played last beta weekend, I knew i'd be buying the final version of this product
Great work guys!
I'll try to present a list of my musings and thoughts on the game in as ordered and coherent a fashion as possible
I have a note pad beside me filled with 2 pages of thoughts... so forgive me if I jump around, and forgive me if I point out something that has already been discussed at length. I don't have time to read the ENTIRE forum
I've been running the game on my old machine; AMD Athlon 2000+, 1 gig DDR400, Gefore 6800 AGP8x 128mb, Windows XP SP2;
and on my new rig (specs below in sig) running XP service pack 3 RC.
I only experienced one crash, on the new rig, which occurred after I alt-tabbed to desktop while the track was loading and when i returned to the game, the options screen was up although the game track was moving behind it and i could control my character with the mouse. I closed the options screen at which point the game crashed.
Sometimes if i press escape to bring up the menu from in game, when i resume there a graphical glitches, such as the opacity of the car reflections being lost (making it look like two blocks, very confusing!) and the sides of the track disappear. This happens more frequently if i press escape and then alt-tab.
A big issue already being discussed on the forums is the way the ID3 tags are recognised and how songs are verified; obviously this system needs some fixing up.
I find the 'Friends Songs' element of the scoreboard very untidy and unwieldy. It would be convenient to browse the friends songs by each individual friend, instead of chucking them all on the same list. There are simply some friends I wish to dethrone more than others
How about being able to click on a song that is on your friends list and having the option of challenging them at that song (assuming you have pre-loaded it)? This would be more convenient then trawling through music folders to find the track and would get you into the action faster. Of course I know nothing of the technical requirements needed to achieve this...
How about an in game notifier, pop-up perhaps, that shows when you have been dethroned?
How about showing the current top score for the track you are playing while in the game?
The load/post game screen messages don't fit properly.
The menu music doesn't loop
Why can't we choose different level colour schemes for each character? I prefer the darker schemes and would like to choose those on the casual characters. I realise that adding the 'negative' screen effect kind of does the same thing... but isn't this a long way round?
I find that using the Pro Mono character with the Solar screen effect sometimes causes the cars to resemble grey blocks too closely. (didn't try this with the other mono chars)
Conversely, I like the new screen effects
I find that when i fill my 7 blocks up the warning indicators don't catch my attention at all, since i'm concentrating on the track ahead. The indicators do not appear fast enough in some cases when racing down fast paced tracks. Perhaps a more visible and faster way of indicating that 7 blocks have been filled could be implemented or added as an option for blind people like me
If this was originally conceived as a gameplay element... I'm not sure I like it...
There is a lack of 'OK' or 'Cancel' buttons (or buttons to that effect) in the options menu, which at first left me wondering if my settings had been applied when clicking on the small X on the top right.
Not a problem for me personally, but my friend has trouble spotting the menu buttons, which are a slightly darker green than the background colour... seems that he looks for a button, then reads what it does, whereas I simply read the writing... He's weird I know. Perhaps more contrast?
I'm sure the scoring system has been discussed to death elsewhere; my two cents: Separate scoring sub-categories for each character type.
I liked being able to change my character from within the game (as per beta weekend 1) and it's kind of tedious to quit the level, choose a new character and reload the level.
Finally: How about the ability to create a playlist of songs, so that you aren't interrupted by returning to the menu? This would also be cool for the free ride mode, as you could leave it running in the background as a cool visualisation in its own right (great for parties
)
Well, thats it, hope my comments help!
Thanks for the game, it's really fun already.
