OpenWheel by Brain in a Jar Races to KickStarter

[Murat Erdogan]

your main aim is a hardcore sim or online simcade game? Car setups and damages simulation features but car customization like arcade.

 

[Carl Dalton]

your main aim is a hardcore sim or online simcade game? Car setups and damages simulation features but car customization like arcade.

For feel and drive we are aiming for reality - in the same way that LFS was. They are not 'real' cars, but they will drive just like real cars.
The car customisation is like an extension of a paint scheme editor. Since we are not copying real cars we decided that it would be good to let people build their own. So the cars on the track can look very different to one another, but will handle in a very real way.

 

[Murat Erdogan]

LFS is very good example for players. ı will wait demo.

 

[Baz Cutting]

must admit really like the concept ov this game and how you can build your own car,sounds alot ov fun to be had in that department.thumbs up here.lets get this game out there guys.can see plenty long nights racing this lol

 

[Carl Dalton]

Hi Guys,

First of all. We have updated the project video on Kickstarter. It's a bit shorter and hopefully more informative about the car building/customisation. If you've seen the video since lunchtime friday (21st) you've already seen it.
We are also making progress with the demo.
And I have a question... Do you guys think there would be any interest if we were to develop a version of the game for PS3 - via the Playstation Store?

 

[Baz Cutting]

reguarding ps3 i believe it would go down extremely well,i myself am a ps3 owner.the only half decent openwheel game on ps3 would b f1 n i find that to arcade feel,your game looks perfect and would sell well.there is a market on ps3 for decent openwheel game go ahead

 

[Matej Lakota]

Hi and thanks for the video, but I also have couple questions.
How will visual upgrades affect to car handling/behaving on the track?
Will there be separated "arcade mode" for upgraded cars and let say "pro" without it for rest of the players, who want just race with opponents in equal cars?

Tnx.

 

[Carl Dalton]

Hi Matej,
There is no arcade mode, the components on the cars (mostly) affect it in the same way they would a real car. For example fitting a larger front wing will increase the co-efficient range of downforce and drag. The editor will keep you updated with the important numbers... So, in the case of wings and other aero parts there will be a difference in the ranges that can be adjusted with the car set-up. You can have a car built for Speedways and a car built for tight road courses.
Other elements will have other benefits and penalties (e.g. side pods, exhaust) and I said mostly because yet others will have no physical effect (e.g. mirrors, aerials, camera mounts).
The system is being designed carefully so that there are a lot of parts with similar characteristics to allow for a good variety of say 'short track' cars that will look different, but have similar ranges in their performance capabilities. It's one of the reasons for the large budget, we need to make literally hundreds of car parts to make the system work how we intend it, and it's also the reason for starting with a rolling chassis rather than a bare workbench. Some things will be 'set' such as the engine, minimum weight of the cars, drive-train and suspension components. The diff and suspension settings can be adjusted, but there are no lightened flywheels, turbo chargers, chassis lightening etc etc so the performance of each chassis type will fit within tight parameters.

Having said all that there will be a set of 'standard' cars for each chassis (which will be defined during alpha and beta), with race hosts and championship managers able to specify that only the standard cars can be used... or only cars with parts within a certain performance range... or only a sub-set of parts... race hosts and championship creators can even specify exact designs and setups to ensure all cars are absolutely identical if they wish.
The central idea is to be free and open. We provide the frameworks and the structures for creating cars, race rules, championships, race teams and let it loose to the racers of OpenWheel and see what happens. Tweak and adjust when needed to maintain balance maybe, but put the whole thing firmly in the hands of the community. There may become 'best' car designs for each track - finding that out could well be part of the fun.

The standard cars perform two roles. Not everyone is going to want to build their car for sure, and so the standard cars will provide a quick 'in'. Car builders can share their designs (and setups) as well, so as time goes on we hope that a large library of 'finished' cars can be created. How cool would it be to build a car and have it taken to heart by the community as 'the' car to have for a certain track or event?

Anyway I'm waffling now..

 

[Matej Lakota]

Thank you for really extensive explanation .

 

[Carl Dalton]

This morning I had a long talk with the team. We are going to develop OpenWheel for Playstation3 as well as Windows PC.
Everything we want to do with OpenWheel we can do on both platforms and it could even be possible for cross platform play. PS3 vs Windows championship? Could be cool....

 

[David Ignjatovic]

Another tiny sim I doubt I'll buy and be surprised if many others do.
Not sure why we have such a fractured industry with such a small fanbase, really does my head in why some of you guys don't join forces and build larger games.

 

[Dino Paolini]

Another tiny sim I doubt I'll buy and be surprised if many others do.
Not sure why we have such a fractured industry with such a small fanbase, really does my head in why some of you guys don't join forces and build larger games.

I hope noone sees it as disrespecting the developers of this sims, but I have to agree here.
Especially seeing that a lot of times there are exceptionaly skilled people involved in different aspects of the sims which would make a perfect match to the exceptional people from other very small sims.

 

[David Ignjatovic]

I hope noone sees it as disrespecting the developers of this sims, but I have to agree here.
.

Not at all, but I would much prefer to pay a larger amount for more content rather than have 20 small sim games on my PC.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

My reasoning is exactly the opposite. So far the best quality sim games come from smaller studios where they have the artistic freedom to create what they think is good.

Big studios mean big costs and big publishers that want to reach a larger audience to make big bucks. And we all know what the result is when that happens.

So no thanks. Viva small companies

 

[Kazumi]

I get the point, I'd pay iRacing amounts of money for a racing sim that includes track racing, hillclimb, rally, 'open world' environments, classic cars, modern cars and everything you can imagine. I actually find some sims overdo it with "a bit of everything" so the focus here is something I actually like and understand

But of course I understand the dream of a racing sim-utopia as well, who doesn't?

 

[Stefan Mizzi]

Tiny or big sim does not make a difference to me. If the sim is good and gives me value I don't care who is and how big they are, I'll still support them and buy it.

 

[Andrew Ford]

My reasoning is exactly the opposite. So far the best quality sim games come from smaller studios where they have the artistic freedom to create what they think is good.

Big studios mean big costs and big publishers that want to reach a larger audience to make big bucks. And we all know what the result is when that happens.

So no thanks. Viva small companies

I couldn't agree more. I like some of the ideas this developer has. things like inter-platform competitions, jumping in ai cars during mid race rather than waiting ages for an online race....if workable, will be great.

 

[Omer Said]

Kickstarter is not going well it seems

 

[David Ignjatovic]

20 cars should be the aim of sim developers, and if that means a few companies joining forces, get cracking.

How about a US muscle car legends game that also includes a bunch of the great muscle cars that competed at Bathurst during the 70-78 period?

Lazer scan bathurst and a few of the US tracks and call it something like....

US Muscle Car Legends
Ford and Chevy edition.

Then either include the OZ stuff or sell it as DLC, ie Bathurst Legends DLC, lazer scanned bathurst, GTHO, Monaro, Valiant and the XAGT+XBCobra and the LH Torana{Peter Brock}.