Sunday, March 21, 2010

One polygon at a time...

I didn't manage to extend the track out any further this weekend, instead, i adjusted - readjusted, did some more adjusting, etc - to the the track, track width and the surrounding terrain for the first half of the Flats. For whatever reason, it just wasn't feeling right and i had to do some serious tweaking.

Changing the track width isn't such a big deal, but using the 'handlebars' on track nodes once you've already got the terrain laid out causes some real trouble. The terrain doesn't adjust to any track tweaking when adjusting the nodes and you end up having to pull the terrain around to adjust it to the track changes. That wouldn't be so tough if it weren't for subtle hills and areas where it isn't just a matter of pulling a section of terrain one way or the other, but carefully adjusting each intersection to make sure it matches the curvature of the track.

But whatever, i conquered that asshole and i'm back to pushing forward in the evenings to come. Weeee! Seriously though, i'm pumped to start into the Hicky's Ridge town. I might break off just before i get into the town and make a "Dead Man's Flats" loop, but i haven't decided on that yet. I'm nervous about adding too much detail before getting all the terrain laid out. If i detail out what i've got thus far and it kills performance during the meaty track and terrain tweaking i have to do for the rest of the track, i'll be pissed.

So yea, not sure what i'll do at that point, but i'm not far off now.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Chugging along

Didn't get too much done this week, but i did manage to put in about 8 hours overall. I'm half way through Tornado Flats with fences and houses and about a 3rd of the way done with the terrain. I've got some road-width issues that will take some time to iron out, but i should be able to get it done by next weekend. In fact, if i can get the Flats done in a non-detailed way during the next week, i'll feel fairly accomplished.

I can see moving a lot faster once i'm past these areas that i've already built once before in the first version of the track. The Flats are pretty boring to build and the sense of repetition has it feeling like quite the grind. Thankfully it'll only be another week or two and i'll be on to virgin territory. :)

Sunday, March 7, 2010

On to the Flats

It's been a busy week of work, parties and other random distractions, but i've finally managed to get the track built up to the beginning of Tornado Flats. I'm still leaving most of the detailing for a later date and pushing just to get the track raceable, but some amount of detail is necessary just to know i'm putting it together right. So you'll see fences, light poles, houses, brick walls, general terrain and a few big rocks, but it's not too pretty.

I was itching to do a video of racing up and down Dead Man's Run, but i don't think it'll be worth it until it's all detailed out with trees, grass, texture blended terrain and other polish. Since i've decided to save the detailing for later, it'll probably be awhile until another video comes along. In the meantime, here are some screenshots of the turn-around in all its roughness: