[Audyssey] Rail Racer news

[Che]

  Hi gang,
  I have been away from the list for a while working on the Rail Racer multi 
player code, but I am back now with some good news for all you adrenaline 
junkies out there.
  A whole lot of features have been added to the game since my last update 
here, and I am going to give a full listing of features in about a week 
after the active beta testers and I polish off some of the code. 
Additionally, I will be offering a pre purchase with a discount for those 
that are interested.  The full release will be 38 dollars U.S., and the pre 
purchase will be 33, more details to come next week.
 In the meantime, here are some of the major features:
Force fields and loops and hurdles, oh my:  This isn't your typical racing 
game, as your racer is equipped with jump jets so you can jump over hurdles 
in the track.  This has to be timed just right so you don't waste time in 
the air by jumping too high, but you have to make sure your altitude is high 
enough to get you over the jump.
  Loops will test your ability to make quick and accurate shifts, as you 
will first have to climb the first half of the loop and then quickly shift 
up as you come out of the loop.
  Force fields can be placed on a track, forcing you to slow down before the 
field.  Try and take the field too fast, and you are gonna come to a 
screeching halt, but again, you don't want to slow down too much, or you 
waste valuable time and speed.  Delicate driving baby, delicate driving.

  Mouse control:  Besides the standard keyboard and joystick support, you 
can drive your racer with the good old mouse, pushing up to accelerate, 
pulling down to slow, and leaning left and right.  Mouse buttons will shift 
you through the gears.  The mouse is a great way to control accessible 
games, and along with Liam's new shooter, I hope to see more and more games 
take advantage of it.

  Damage management:  Your racer will take damage in the higher skill levels 
if you take a curve badly or crash into a hurdle or force field.  If this 
happens, do you burn the time fixing it in the pits, or try to finish the 
race with your damanged and therefore slower racer?  It is all up to you 
little buddy.  Along with fuel management, deciding when or if to pit can be 
the difference between entering the winners circle or crying in your beer.

  Web posting: All Tracks have their own web page on the Blind Adrenaline 
web site, so you can post your times and see how you stack up to the 
competition.

  Career play: You will earn money as you win races, as well as accumulate 
points for bragging rights.  The money can be used to upgrade your racer as 
you become more successful.  These upgrades include a superCharger to boost 
acceleration, nitros and extra nitro ports for a sudden burst of speed, and 
a gravity puller to get your racer back on the track quickly after a 
successful jump.
  Also, as you accumulate more points, you will open up more and more tracks 
that get progressively harder and more complex to race.

  Track editor: I know, you are thinking, wow, those loops and force fields 
sound pretty cool, wish I could make my own tracks with that stuff.  Well 
you are in luck my racing friend, because Rail Racer comes with a track 
creator that will allow you to create and race your very own tracks, setting 
section lengths, curve placement and peppering your tracks with force 
fields, loops, hurdles and cheering crowds to your hearts content.  If you 
build a true masterpiece, send it to me and if it is worthy, I will include 
it online so others can race it both in single player mode and online 
against other players.

  Tweak your ride: Like fiddling with your racer to get the best speeds 
possible? Once again you have come to the right place.  In the garage, you 
have the ability to adjust your gear ratios and wing angle to achieve the 
perfect balance of control, speed and acceleration.  Some tracks will 
require quick acceleration for tight turns and lots of loops and jumps. 
Others will go hand in hand with a high gear ratio and low wing angle to get 
to your highest speed.  Fiddle around a bit and see what settings work the 
best for your favorite tracks.

  Multi player code running on a dedicated server:  What this means is you 
can jump right into a online race with your friends and enemies right from 
the game, no swapping of IP addresses to find a server.  The dedicated 
server is blazingly fast as well, so no lag issues to worry about.
  You will be able to place bets before an online race on yourself against 
any of the other racers in the game.  If you beat them, you will receive 
that amount of money, and they will lose that amount, that is of course if 
they agree to the bet.  This money can be used to upgrade your racer as 
mentioned before.
  Currently I am projecting that up to 20 players will be able to race each 
track at one time, but so far we have only tested with a max of seven.  I'll 
let ya know later on how it works with more players.  This isn't to say only 
20 can race at once, merely 20 per track, the server should be able to 
handle a couple hundred over several tracks with no worries overall.

  Aditionally, audio tutorials will be included that go over every aspect of 
the game, so for those of you that hate reading manuals, rest your tired 
fingers.

  I will be updating the blind adrenaline website with more details about 
the game as well as a brand new audio trailer of game play next week, and I 
will let the list know when the trailer is ready to download.
  Once I near completion of the game, hopefully in Q1 next year, I will 
release a playable demo of the game, so you can take it for a little test 
drive to see how you like it.
  In the meantime, feel free to ask any questions you may have, and though 
we are pretty close to the final release, I am still willing to listen to 
suggestions that would make the game better and more fun.
  My objective with this game is to set a new standard of both the 
accessible racing genre, as well as a new and very convenient way of playing 
against your friends online.  I think we're getting pretty close to those 
goals, but in the end the players will have the final word.
  I look forward to hearing from all you adrenaline junkies out there.
  Take care.
  Che Martin
email and msn:
che at tridigitalbb.com
Blind Adrenaline Simulations
Games by one of us, for all of us.
http://www.blindAdrenaline.com