Gameplay discussion

[haenry]

Where did you hear the canyon music?

[Der-Kleine]

Thanks for the collection of videos, the handling of the car seems to combine the awesome parts of the handling of the cars in United!

And did I hear open beta somewhere?

[wiidesire-2]

Thanks for the collection of videos, the handling of the car seems to combine the awesome parts of the handling of the cars in United!

And did I hear open beta somewhere?

yes someone in background said open beta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QX67lNEZxg

[Der-Kleine]

Thanks for the collection of videos, the handling of the car seems to combine the awesome parts of the handling of the cars in United!

And did I hear open beta somewhere?

yes someone in background said open beta

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QX67lNEZxg

Even better, it will be an open hot beta!!

[haenry]

It might be because you don't know who said that. I could have been a random guy and so it has no meaning...

[Der-Kleine]

It might be because you don't know who said that. I could have been a random guy and so it has no meaning...

Or the person could be talking about another game, because that happens in other parts of the video.

[wiidesire-2]

It might be because you don't know who said that. I could have been a random guy and so it has no meaning...

Or the person could be talking about another game, because that happens in other parts of the video.

yeah but actually ,,Der-Kleine´´, you hear that he is directly answering to the interviewer and the interviewer say then okay, so that could be not possible. @haenry yes it could be a random person, but I don't think a random person would say this in front of a camera without having a clue

[rocc]

After having a discussion in the "Screenshot/Video/Article Collection" topic and reading hakkiJunior's interview after the DHS TM² Final I decided to start a controversy about TM2's gameplay.

So, I observed a discrepancy between a fun-racer with a very sensitive and realistic physic engine and the noexistence of "aircontrole" which leads to awful, unexpected, twisted, crooked and screwd jumps.
In my opinion there is a huge loss for TM2 in its capability of playing a major role in the esports community. Noone wants highspeed combined with unpredictable or rather uncontrollable physics.

hakkiJunior's statement confirms me in my opinion:

What surprised me most: There are no Air Control! This is silly, because expanding Nadeo tracks with big jumps and there is no possibility to influence the movement of vehicles in the air? What is this? This is another point that breaks down in the Trackmania, because Air Control was one of the best features in TM.

[Trackmaniack]

This is why the Maniaplanet franchise is to remain open, and up for modification by Nadeo. So they can add it later. Further, this lack of "air control" (please use spellcheck ) strongly suggests to me that TM2 is going to be a series reboot, remake, and complete graphical overhaul. Think about it. What was the first released environment for Trackmania? Desert. What's going to be the first envi for TM2? Canyon. Similar. What do the cars look like? Souped-up, tricked out American-style muscle cars. And the gameplay? Fast and tilty. For both environments. Environment 2 for TM2? Most likely Valley, which looks a bit like a remake of Valley, the second environment in TMO. Now, this last bit is kinda a stretch, but as this is my opinion, you can accept or reject it as you see fit. Cryo, the original first environment for SM, has been delayed/cancelled in favor of making SM:Storm, which seems to have a completely different flavor--rather than going for the "one theme per environment", as is the TM's MO, they've gone with possibly a broader brush with their FPS...which leads me to believe they -may- (emphasis on may) be transferring Cryo over to be use in TM2...which would complete the triangle with being a remake of Snow.

And, if I am right, or for those that believe me, before you jump on Nadeo for not doing anything new, I must say I have yet to see a Desert track piece pop up in the editor. And that's just the basics. So, even if, by the slim chance, I am right, and TM2 is essentially an overhaul of TM1, it's the most amazing overhaul I've ever seen and is still the most epic racing game ever.

[Romain42]

In my opinion there is a huge loss for TM2 in its capability of playing a major role in the esports community. Noone wants highspeed combined with unpredictable or rather uncontrollable physics.

The trailers really give this feeling. But maybe it will be different if you build tech tracks (and that's what is played the most in esports...). If you watch at island or bay extreme tracks, it seems already quite hard to succeed a jump, especially if the map isn't very smooth in itself, and even more if you shooted the video with lots of crashing replays and speedy effects in order to make it more spectacular. But it doesn't prevent to have awesome tech maps in island and bay for league racing. Desert, Rally and Snow have already very few ways to control the car once it jumped, it doesn't prevent to have fun with them. Maybe the lack of air control may add more constraints linked to the jumps in league mapping, but it doesn't actually imply more for me at the moment.

I just hope Nadeo took care to make this environment okay for tech mapping, rounds/league racing, consistency research and without annoying bugs. I hope also they selected enough tech/league players to make the beta-test, so that they are ensured to have enough serious and solid feedbacks in this matter... If they didn't, it's (unfortunately) probably too late, since i guess the gameplay will not be fully revolutionized now.

EDIT : Because it could be interesting in this topic, i'll link a statement of Hylis on the French TM1 forum :
http://www.trackmania.com/fr/forum/view ... start=2115

He answered questions about the gameplay:

Je pense avoir réussi le combat entre l'immersion et le fun, entre le grand public et l'expert, entre le réalisme et l'arcade. C'est la somme de ces éléments qui est un défi, puisque faire qu'un seul des deux à la fois, c'est non seulement dommage, mais toujours réducteur pour celui là même que l'on fait

He said he tried to have a good balance between immersion and fun, between mass market and pro gaming, between realism and arcade. For him, it's the sum of these elements which is the challenge, because making only one thing is not only a pity, but also simplistic, even for those the game is intended for.

It's somewhat vague, but it seems to keep the spirit of TM1 regarding the casual/pro balance. Let's hope the facts follow the discourse!

Regarding the look/graphisms, TM2 seems to target more those who look for appearances and beauty, even if it's fake (hide lack of research over the gameplay). But may we complain about better graphisms?