Hi guys.

The silly change to grip/torque that I did in v34 is now reverted - mod should now be actually playable again!

This version is basically v33 with some underlying bug fixes and physics changes which slightly improve speed consistency. Should not be noticeable to the naked eye but it does affect balance.

A thousand apologies for taking so long with this - most of you know that I'm busy with the speedo and work. I'm also busy with a game I'm making, and I'm hoping to show you the results of it soon(ish).

You are all champs for sticking so far! I hope to hold another balance mod session soon(ish).

Hi guys,

I've recently pushed 0.34 out for download. You can get it via the Updater, which is here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46534045/SASRT%20Mod%20Updater.rar

Note the latest version of the Updater has a check box to disable AI in Single Race. Those of you who have been using the Updater from 0.30 onwards do not need to update if you don't want to use this, however.

It contains a series of fundamental changes to the car model aimed at increasing momentum in cars between boosts. This is a fairly significant change, and not one that I'm hesitant to revert.

-I plan to reduce the boost deceleration values significantly for higher acceleration cars. This means that their boost curve will be more 'boat-like'. I'm hoping boosts will always make a car faster in this case.

-This means that a high acceleration car can, with a chain of boosts, sustain speeds well above its top speed just like boats can.

-The current values in 0.34 have it set to 4 acceleration for ALL levels, which is pretty high. Obviously this is temporary. Plan is for 1 acceleration to stay the same as is, and to buff the boost and speed stats a little more from where it is now to compensate.

-My extremely naive interpretation of these changes is that it enhances the difference of feel of cars, and allows some fairly great speeds on certain tracks. High acceleration cars will be harder to control.

Let me know what you think, or if I'm smoking something funny!

Hi guys.

I've updated the Updater (redundancy ftw). This update is optional. It has the following changes:

-Added a check box to disable AI in Single Race (feature request).
-Various UI tweaks
-More graceful detection if you click 'Launch' while the game is running

The previous Updater still works fine, and will continue to work fine.

Grab it here.[dl.dropboxusercontent.com]

Hey guys,

v0.33 of the Balance mod is now live. Changes are here.

As usual you can grab it by using the Updater. If you don't already have that, then you can grab it from here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/46534045/SASRT%20Mod%20Updater.rar

Hey guys,

First off (and I'm probably sounding like a broken record right about now) thanks to all who came to event - I was expecting one full lobby, instead I get almost two full lobbies. This really took me by surprise and it certainly showed during the event! Next time I'll make necessary provisions to ensure that things start up a lot more smoothly.

This really gives me an opportunity I'll likely never experience again in this sort of way when it comes to nudging the metagame, integrity of mechanics and determining the importance of the feel of the game. The reason for this is because I've got a very experienced user base who have played the game a particular way for a very long time who are open to change. This is rare even in professional development scenarios.

Apologies also for the lack of AI removal in the initial version we used - a change seemed to have gotten reverted when I built the patch. I'll make sure it doesn't happen next time.

The issues raised during the event were interesting, to say the least. Some were obvious, and some were not so obvious.



-Removal of Super Boost: The inherent problem with Super Boost as a pickup is that, due to the nature of the weapon, it will give a flat advantage to your distance in relation to other racers. First place has the best shot at grabbing a super pickup out of any other position. In Transformed, first place is easily defensible by way of reverse weapons, and the availability of Glove while first. Dealing with weapons from only one direction, as well as track mechanics that favour first over other places (like Galactic Parade's ramp during the lap 2 transition) is a huge advantage and quickly negates threat from all weapons bar Swarm and Drone as distance is gained from the pack. Let's not even begin to talk about lag bumps...

This is weighed up against the feel of obtaining a Super Boost. There's absolutely a positive reinforcement for when you just let it rip after obtaining a Super Boost, and it's sad to see it go! :(

So for the most part, I see the removal of guaranteed Boost pickups as an important improvement to the metagame, considering that in the original game they are so common. This sentiment was echoed across most of the players in the event, so that's always good!

-Seasonal Shrines: The sweeping changes to this level regarding weapon pickup density was overall very positively received given that this was the most weapon intensive track - there had been about a 40% reduction in amount of pickups. The additional Super Pickup, I felt, was not strong enough in light of the strength of Drone in the Balance Mod. It will most likely go up to 3x Drone in a future version. Additionally, I'd love to be able to do something to the Super Blowfish pickup (some of you didn't even know that it existed!) to make it worthwhile, but given that the path to obtain it is easy but so far out of the way, it's hard to give a good reason to go there.

-Graffiti City: This was more of a mixed bag - a lot of people enjoyed the reduced amount of weapons during the building jump section, but some didn't enjoy it. The reason why I made this change was due to the chaos that can ensue when a weapon (or several) hit during this section. It can be really damaging to a player's position, and not very fun. The starting position on the track now matters a lot, and I'll have to experiment more with different weapon positions during this section to alleviate this problem. So, interesting idea I find, but needs some tweaks. The Boostx2 is also going to disappear next version, with something else there instead...


-Samba Studios: So I didn't hear anyone complain about the removal of the Glove and the first set of weapon pickups in this. I feel these are both very positive changes. My next step is to do something to the Firework pickup during the S bend! That's not a very good spot for it, I find, and can lead to some spammy moments in lap 1.



-Ice: First off, LOL. The change (had to sneak one crazy thing in, after all!) that was thought up of nearly at the last minute actually worked better than I expected! However, it definitely needs some adjustments. My reasoning behind the change in the first place was that it would reduce the amount of backspam on straights, without reducing its defensive capabilities. It worked, sort of, but it definitely does need further tweaking so as to not be a burden around bends, where most found it was lethal. It will see a moderate bump in its speed next version, and will not hang around for as long.

-Boost item: With the removal of Super Boost, the existing change that had Boost be level 3 instead of level 4 makes Boost seem weak as a catch up weapon in relation to others. So it's going to go back to being a level 4 next version.

-Hot Rod: Almost got the increased duration animation right! This will be tweaked a fair bit in following versions. I'm also going to make the initial boost a little stronger!

-Drone: Finnicky little bastards as they are, the changes I had hoped to alleviate the problem of speeding up rapidly for no reason seems to have not worked. The increased speed overall feels okay - however in some edge cases it can leave the Drone flying straight into you with no warning. Again, further experimentations are needed, and I can't necessarily do this offline as Drone behaves very differently online.

-Swarm: Again, finnicky bastards. Fish_Goes_Moo reported that he was able to drive through the bees in all situations in Graffiti City, something which is clearly not meant to happen. I suspect it's to do with the hit box offset falling through the ground in some areas. This happens in the normal game, too, but seems to be more of a problem here.



These are some ideas I'm toying around with, nothing is final:

-All-Stars: Ever the titular reference for this game, it's hard to strike a balance between being fair to those who use it and those who are on the receiving end of it. The bump to speed in a previous version I did (Earlier on, they were a fair bit slower) seemed to come off as a tad overpowered now. However I realise the complaint that prompted this change was that All-Stars were too weak! So I'm going to try a different approach next version:

• All-Stars duration extended to 15 seconds, from 12.
  
  
• Projectile based All-Stars will be balanced around being able to be used 4 times, up from the current 3.
  
• Melee based All-Stars will be balanced around being able to be used 6 times, up from the current 4.
  
  
• All-Star car speed bonus reduced by 17%.
  
• All-Star boat speed bonus reduced by 12%.
  
• All-Star plane bonus unchanged.

This will hopefully smooth out the burst power of All-Stars, and be able to lower the difference in power between using a car All-Star against a plane All-Star. It will be less enticing to hold on to an All-Star for over a lap to use at the end of a race.

-Changes to Glove: Currently there's a small time frame after Glove is triggered (0.5 seconds) that you're invulnerable for. I plan on reducing this next version. The time means that if you're going fast enough, you can completely mitigate Swarm with one Glove, something which I feel is too powerful & secure for first place. If this change goes through, I'll most definitely be making Swarm less powerful than it's current iteration.

-Additional pickup changes: Although I've hit what I feel to be the biggest offenders, I'll start poking at other tracks and trying out alternative edits that make the longer routes more attractive options. I like choice!


Hope everyone had fun, I certainly did though it was a bit hectic! I'll be organising another session in the near future for those still interested.