Couch Vs. Racing

[Sp4m]

I *love* playing couch Vs. games with my friends, and I *love* the creative expression that comes from building drones/ machines in games.

I think it would be amazing if there was a game where we could make racing drones, then play them in couch multiplayer vs. our friends.

I learned GameMaker, and I've been working towards this on my own, but progress has been slow, and Nimbatus would be a *perfect* platform (www.goodideagames.com)

This gameplay deviates a bit from Nimbatus' core and default controls, so it may be more appropriate as a separate launcher that can import models from Nimbatus.

Looking at Retimed, I'm hoping we share a passion for Couch Vs. Games?

[Lurkily]

Just to clarify, you're talking about local multiplayer? 

[ManTheMister]

So what it sounds like to me, is that you want to work with Stray Fawn Studios to create a splitscreen version of Nimbatus that would run on PlayStation and/or Xbox or some other platform that connects to a TV. Am I right?

Specifically, you want to make it so that 2 (maybe 4, but then the editor would be tiny) people could work in the editor simultaneously and then race the drones?

I assume that if there was splitscreen editing, then you would want people to be able to play simultaneously on a planet in splitscreen.

I’m all for a splitscreen Nimbatus that I can play on console.

[Sp4m]

@Lurkily, yes! Sorry if I was vague.
Local multiplayer, and controller support.

As I mention it's a different sort of game from Nimbatus' core experience, but there's never been a game like that.
 

[Lurkily]

My only concern is how much work would have to go into controller support.  Tags, for instance, couldn't be easily used. 

[Sp4m]

1 minute ago, ManTheMister said:

So what it sounds like to me, is that you want to work with Stray Fawn Studios to create a splitscreen version of Nimbatus that would run on PlayStation and/or Xbox or some other platform that connects to a TV. Am I right?

Specifically, you want to make it so that 2 (maybe 4, but then the editor would be tiny) people could work in the editor simultaneously and then race the drones?

I assume that if there was splitscreen editing, then you would want people to be able to play simultaneously on a planet in splitscreen.

I’m all for a splitscreen Nimbatus that I can play on console.

X^D I wish.

As an MVP, I would keep the editor in Nimbatus, and let the Couch Racers game import drones that had been built there.
RE: Split screen... for top-down games, I prefer a "Smash Brothers Cam" style, where the camera zooms out to keep players on the screen. Naturally, your levels have to be small enough where max zoom level is still playable.

     See Stardock's new StarControl Fleet Battles as an example where too much zoom-out becomes a problem.

This type of camera makes it more viable to race from waypoint to waypoint in a sandbox arena, rather than follow a track, though there are some *great* games that handle this elegantly. My favorite is Blaze Rush. They have a conventional 'track' system, and when the camera reaches a maximum zoom level, players that are too far behind the leader are simply teleported forward. Or killed, depending on the game mode.

[Lurkily]

Importing drones would require it to be uploaded to the steam workshop first, but I don't see why not. 

[ManTheMister]

you could just download the drones off if the steam workshop and then play them in the training section of racing, like Sumo has now. If you wanted manual control, then it would be different. I assume that you'd use a controller, so You would have to be able to keybind things to the joystick, or the D-pad if the joystick doesn't really work for Nimbatus controls.

[Lurkily]

Most controllers can be set up to provide keyboard output with controller input, but you'd still have to modify the drones to fix the bindings. Asynchronous is planned, but I'm pretty sure sp4m specifically wants active local multiplayer. 

You COULD set up a pair of drones that decouple from the core, with separate controls and wireless parts, and play by your own rules in the test area.