LÖVE

So here I am again, years later, with another Mario Kart thing. This time it's a bit more playable, though.
2 years ago, hatninja PM'd me about my Mario Kart shader demo, asking for a bit of help to make this
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=83309
and that helped me get sprites working, but I never really got around to making an actual game with my shader.
And now, on the 10th anniversary of my Youtube channel (which started out with a Super Mario Kart video,) I have an early test release of Mario Kart: Extreme Drift, a box2d-based, drifting focused Super Mario Kart clone with more advanced physics and 100% faked 3D.

The game is licensed GPL v3, and the code is mine apart from some help with sprite rendering from hatninja. I do have at least 2 other people who plan to help with code and custom tracks after the first stable release.

Controls are hard-coded for this initial release, arrow keys and space bar for player 1, WASD and left shift for player 2. Also you can hold L to see a 2D version of the track, and use numbers 1-6 to change the view perspective.

I love how it looks and sounds!

However I found that the runspeed was way too fast and the controls super-super-sensitive.

After having worked so many years on my Super Mario Kart editor, it's interesting to see the game remade with modern technologies. Some limitations are no longer there, but some things are missing (like moving lava). Anyway, nice work!

retrotails wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 1:38 am The game is licensed GPL v3, and the code is mine

The game looks cool, but I think somebody already has a license on Mario.

ivan wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:49 am The game looks cool, but I think somebody already has a license on Mario.

That'd be assets and trademarks, GPL only covers code, which is owned by me.

randomnovice wrote: ↑Sun Feb 10, 2019 6:18 am I love how it looks and sounds!

However I found that the runspeed was way too fast and the controls super-super-sensitive.

I assume you have a non-60FPS monitor then. Some Box2D stuff is framerate-dependent and some stuff isn't, I haven't yet tweaked it to work at any framerate. I plan to separate the update code from the draw code anyway to make online multiplayer easier later on. I explicitly set dt = 1/60, which is normally a pretty bad practice, but things don't control much better with a high framerate. I might have an update soon with a hack work around.

Really cool looking and runs solid. I love the low resolution, it fits with the original.

I really like how this looks and plays, but can you not reverse? I keep getting stuck on a wall unable to turn or back up at all. Plus I don't know how to actually drift.

As for the look, I really like the polish and effects. The reflective water, the smoke particles and the burning rubber on the ground. Really neat touches.

New version, v0.2 in the main post.
It has a new track with some fancy rain effect.

Changes:
New level, Luigi Circuit from MK: Super Circuit, with added rain effect and wet physics
- Rain effect is a bit slow, especially on android
- Seems love.graphics.line is pretty slow, is there any way to do GL_LINES directly?
- I tried it with ffi, couldn't get it to work.
Added AI, though not for Bowser Circuit yet.
- At one point they were not half bad, then I updated physics and haven't been able to tweak them enough to be decent.
Added resolution selector
Controller support, including vibration.
- Vibration made with Dualshock 4 in mind.
Character sprites now shown on map when you hold L
No longer FPS dependent, though I would like to see a fixed-framerate love.update option...
- I tried something that does successfully limit the framerate, but it adds stutter
Reduced draw calls, canvas and shader switches for better performance
Re-configured all physics (actually multiple times since the last release)
Animated lava
Better doppler effects
Distance fog now applied to sprites
Slightly improved particle effects
Hazards are now configurable
Better splitscreen, optional horizontal/vertical split
Clouds now move when you're still and are properly centered
Better cloud textures
SFX are more consistent, work better in 2 player

Jasoco wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:34 am I really like how this looks and plays, but can you not reverse? I keep getting stuck on a wall unable to turn or back up at all. Plus I don't know how to actually drift.

As for the look, I really like the polish and effects. The reflective water, the smoke particles and the burning rubber on the ground. Really neat touches.

Yeah I never actually got around to implementing reverse, I always jump and spin around. Drifting is initiated by just jumping in the middle of a turn with the space bar.
Next version should have reverse, time trials, an in-game menu, better controller handling, a graphics menu, touch controls, and falling into lava, plus a new track or two.

I know you've done stuff with raycasting, I've vaguely considered adding raycast walls for that bit of extra depth... maybe a little too involved at that point. I'd probably need to use a depth buffer to keep the sprite sorting from being a complicated mess. I did attempt to use a depth buffer earlier instead of manual sorting, but I couldn't get alpha working and performance was... meh.

You really should consider replacing the assets with your own graphics to make this a full game.

The rain effects are impressive.