Background: I actually got a job of game designer in a company. I will work on handling in arcade car and/or bike racing games. By arcade I mean the "walk into arcades, insert coins and play" kind, 100% arcade. Current machines are only sold to China, though. So I doubt many of you here will get to play the games I work on.

Market research? Yes. I'd like to know what kind of arcade racing you might like to play? What are the points that you absolutely can't stand about current arcade games, and which games? What arcade games contain elements you like? For example I loved Sega Rally Championship for its beautiful stages and controls that rewarded good discipline. Current "hot" car racers here are huge drifting types like Initial D. This game requires almost no braking, but precise (in time) steering; features pivot-point physics, licensed cars and pretty graphics. Is car licensing a deciding factor for you? Would you like mandatory drifting through every corner, useful drifting when provoked or realistic/slower drifting when you make a mistake?

What cars would you like to see covered? Personally, I'm very interested in making very light sportscars like the Ariel Atom and KTM X-BOW.

What hardware features would you like to see? Steering wheels that offer "real" feedback? Real-ish cockpits? What about bike controls? What do you think of the current controls that control lean by leaning the machine with a fixed handlebar? Or would you like to lean by steering and let force feedback lean your body?

What would you think about a non photorealistic graphics approach? I'm thinking Team Fortress 2 or Mirror's Edge kind of rendering. I'd like the game to totally stand out in the arcades, so a very unique art direction could help.

Is there anything else that could really entice you to give it a try? And what could bring you back again for another go?

I know LFS players won't be our main customers, but still, if a few simple design decisions help broaden the appeal then why not? Maybe you'll get to play a decent arcade game as well, if we sort out the licensing issues to sell machines worldwide. Who knows?

Hmm, well realistic cockpits and good FF would be nice.

As for cars, well anything that doesn't handle completely rubbish would be nice. Licenced cars would be good but not overly important

As for bikes, something that was fun and semi-realistics. And because of this, rider lean would need to be controlled because you have to countersteer on a motorcycle, steering inputs aren't even visible above 30mph.

Something like TF2 or ME would be really good in an arcade, because all the arcade machines we have are all running graphics engines from the late 90's/early 2k. :hide:

sort of cell-shading graphics would be new for racing games, dunno if that is even possible. Maybe in a hillclimb/head-to-head envirement, which would fit the x-bow and atom quiet well. And of course good FFB

Something that is fun and rewarding for car people (and not just sim people), but also easy enough for beginners (e.g. car person's other half) to play without being made to look stupid.
A decent cockpit view, a bonnet view and a chase view.
Perhaps some weather effects - wet races in arcades are rare.
Do not overdo the sense of speed, or the ability of the cars too much. It just makes them look and feel crap.
Have a clutch in the steering system so that if it's abused too much (yobs, youths and frustrated players) it doesn't render the whole unit unusable for months. I've seen people slam wheels from lock to lock as hard as they possibly can, so it must be able to withstand that level of punishment.

like.. lfs physics but very forgiving, especialy the RWD.

i think something with great graphics, Tons of cars and ofcourse multiplayer would be ideal ( i.e 2-4 player, over 4 machines )


something to stand the test of time

control wise I would say something like NFS Porsche Unleashed. Cars are quite easy to drive, good sense of speed and you'll need to use the brakes to get a good lap / run.

most important thing for me is dont filter the inputs too much
if it takes 5 seconds for the game to react to any steering inputs (eg trackmania with a wheel) its failed

are arcades still being made?

Quote from BlakjeKaas :

are arcades still being made?

They certainly are! Especially the music/rhythm games are very popular.

Quote from Shotglass :

most important thing for me is dont filter the inputs too much
if it takes 5 seconds for the game to react to any steering inputs (eg trackmania with a wheel) its failed

Indeed. Our current bike game has filter in lean. Imagine you already have to lean your massive body and the controller, and still the in game bike lags a bit.

Quote from kingfag :

control wise I would say something like NFS Porsche Unleashed. Cars are quite easy to drive, good sense of speed and you'll need to use the brakes to get a good lap / run.

PU was a game I really liked. Perhaps taking out the understeer from it would work in an arcade?

Quote from theirishnoob :

i think something with great graphics, Tons of cars and ofcourse multiplayer would be ideal ( i.e 2-4 player, over 4 machines )


something to stand the test of time

We'll definitely do multiplayer. Would a national ranking be a plus?

Quote from tristancliffe :

Something that is fun and rewarding for car people (and not just sim people), but also easy enough for beginners (e.g. car person's other half) to play without being made to look stupid.
A decent cockpit view, a bonnet view and a chase view.
Perhaps some weather effects - wet races in arcades are rare.
Do not overdo the sense of speed, or the ability of the cars too much. It just makes them look and feel crap.
Have a clutch in the steering system so that if it's abused too much (yobs, youths and frustrated players) it doesn't render the whole unit unusable for months. I've seen people slam wheels from lock to lock as hard as they possibly can, so it must be able to withstand that level of punishment.

I didn't think about weather effects! I'll keep it in mind. I'd really like to give cars semi-realistic performance but still keep the sense of speed. That's why I leaning towards the Atom which is nimble and close to the ground. About punishment, you should see the H-shift on the only F355 machine here - totally miserable LOL.

Quote from LFSn00b :

nah, not hillclimb imo. more like a downhill racer(alps, possibly) with old 80's Lambo's, Ferrari's and Porsches would be damn sweet.


I don't really care about the graphics, but sure it would have atleast little prettiness in it? As long as the gameplay and fun factor is there, i'd get it.

Yes, considering people still play arcade games made nearly a decade earlier, the gameplay has to work. Up/down hill racing (as in Initial D) is hugely popular here and provides very concentrated tracks. But anyway to make a track naturally concentrated, but not hillclimbs?

Quote from ACCAkut :

sort of cell-shading graphics would be new for racing games, dunno if that is even possible. Maybe in a hillclimb/head-to-head envirement, which would fit the x-bow and atom quiet well. And of course good FFB

Auto Modellista is one cell-shaded racer I know. I think it works better in urban scenery, though.

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

Hmm, well realistic cockpits and good FF would be nice.

As for cars, well anything that doesn't handle completely rubbish would be nice. Licenced cars would be good but not overly important

As for bikes, something that was fun and semi-realistics. And because of this, rider lean would need to be controlled because you have to countersteer on a motorcycle, steering inputs aren't even visible above 30mph.

Something like TF2 or ME would be really good in an arcade, because all the arcade machines we have are all running graphics engines from the late 90's/early 2k. :hide:

I'd prefer a more realistic cockpit, too. Maybe steering wheel displays like rev/shift led's, on-wheel digi speedos. A revolution on bike input could be heaven or could be hell. A LOT has to be considered for a countersteer-based bike input system: input precision/lag, FFB precision/lag, visual lag... It's something I'd really like to see realized!

Great feedback, everyone! I'm not sure how much say I got outside of handling, but life is long Got any particular "theme" you like? Legal/illegal? Hill/urban/highway? Retro/futuristic?

Quote from yoyoML :

We'll definitely do multiplayer. Would a national ranking be a plus?

absolutly, also, make it semi urban as all the Good games are highway style, knock offs of Tokyo extreme racer..

I thought arcade racing games are dying.

my bottomline requirment is the game does not have a "secret trick" and you can drive normally to be competitive, example of secret tricks are like the "eraser" technic in initial D and "handbrake+clutch" technic in BG4. (i dunno what you call it in taiwan )

It must have basic but sound collision detection and physics, because so often in arcades the bastards who ram into everyone's ass gets away with it, and ramming became the norm of arcade racers, they put me off going to arcades for a long time.

I wouldn't mind a fictional theme, or fictional cars and tracks as long as they are well done, the upside of arcade is it doesn't have to be uber serious, as long as you steer clear from the ricer-tokyoshit route I am happy!

If you are looking for a genre of racing not being done many times in arcades before you can look at banger racing - especially look at Flatout 2. banger racing has lot of good ingredients for an arcade racer, it's loud, messy, you are entitled to ram and the dirt track bit are oversteery, which many arcade goers like. The races are short and there's always randomness and variety.

good luck, maybe I'll have a chance to try your games.

oh and it absolutely must have magical sound shower

Quote from JJ72 :

I thought arcade racing games are dying.

my bottomline requirment is the game does not have a "secret trick" and you can drive normally to be competitive, example of secret tricks are like the "eraser" technic in initial D and "handbrake+clutch" technic in BG4. (i dunno what you call it in taiwan )

I know they continously shift up and down in Initial D3, but dunno if it's the eraser. I do get the idea, and hope our physics engine doesn't accidentally reward secret tricks.

Quote from Shotglass :

oh and it absolutely must have magical sound shower

Err... what is that?

Magical sound shower is probably the best (my favourite song) from the OutRun Games

shame on you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOQRRZYF5LA

i like the motorbike ones, where you sit on top of motorcycle and you drive it like in rl

Quote from ACCAkut :

sort of cell-shading graphics would be new for racing games

O RLY?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Modellista

that looks pretty sweet... maybe if you comfine that with the sparkling clean look of mirrors edge youd get something extraordinarily beautiful

Quote from Shotglass :

shame on you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOQRRZYF5LA

Oh god another lesson from the merciless LFS forumsMy earliest arcade memory only goes back to "Gentlemen, start your engines!"