Still early pre-planning. Just tossing around some ideas and concepts. These are proposals I have come up with so far.  --- //[[jjp@oddbeat.de|Nikolaj Leischner]] 2007/01/28 00:32//

== Gameplay ==

The basic gameplay can be described as: arcade racing with top-down perspective. I think there won't be a lot discussion about this because it is a pretty straight forward idea. As far as I see the only question is how camera movement should be handled - does the camera rotate with the player vehicle or not? To both add some depth and make the game a little more unique I suggest to introduce a set of special items similar to those e.g. to be found in Mario Cart. I really like that system for its simplicity. Of course key would be to find some interesting triggered abilities.

Further I think this needs to be multiplayer. Network play seems to be necessary. Split screen would be possible from the perspective of gameplay but I consider it as nice-to-have but not required. We have to discuss how many players should be supported. AI drivers would be neat - e.g. two player games get more fun with some additional moving obstacles. However I have no idea what it would take to implement this. 

== Technical tasks ==

  * physics
  * sound
  * camera
  * network play
  * some kind of gui style
  * controls
  * gameplay stuff like special items etc.
  * AI(?)
  * split screen(?)

== Media tasks ==

  * how to use shaders
  * tracks
  * cars
  * additional objects and effects
  * gui elements
  * sound effects
  * sound track(?)

== Design tasks ==

  * more detailed work on background, try to incorporate it into our Oddbeat universe
  * design a special item system
  * consider different or modified modes of play (that could be added without much work) besides the classic "first who finishes wins"

== My personal wish list ==

  * use shaders and produce a "round" look, if necessary concentrate on few tracks and make them beautiful instead of more but less detailed tracks
  * have a "real" menu and gui, not simply the ogre splash screen
  * introduce the world of Oddbeat as good as possible. E.g. write really short background texts for different vehicles/drivers (and represent the drivers visually), consider how tracks could show interesting or characteristic features of our world
  * Record some songs for a short (but not too short) sound track (maybe a mixture of real instruments and electronic stuff)

== Project execution ==

I believe it would be ok if we work out a more detailed plan so it is possible to finish within about 3-4 months from the day we start working "for real" on it. Maybe get the game working after one month with basic features. Then finish most art and get network play functional after another month. That would leave a further month to finalize art, playtest a lot, fix bugs and polish everything a little bit. Taking into account that we naturally will have some interuptions 3-4 month sounds ok to me. So we need to do some research to find out if and how it could work in more detail :)


== Concept images ==

{{car_concept_01.png|}}

{{empty_test_track.jpg|}}