Driving sim with no boundaries?

The recent thread about a flight-sim type driving sim got my brain working. Well, that together with a love of the game play of the original Need for Speed, mixed with a boring 1000km drive from Berlin to Switzerland. How difficult would it be to generate a random driving environment on the fly? As I was cruising along the Autobahn (unfortunately in a turbo- diesel truck) I began picturing a future version of Need for Speed. At the core of the game is a set circuit, for the head-to-head races and time trials. But, if in the middle of a police pursuit one decides to take the next exit ramp, then it's allowed. The program starts generating a random environment on the fly, with some simple rules to follow for scenery placement etc. Turn off the autobahn, and the program starts generating two-lane asphalt, with random trees, buildings etc. clumped together in an appropriate fashion. If one decides to turn off the asphalt onto an inviting looking dirt road, then the program starts generating dirt road with more sparsely placed buildings of an appropriate type. Now, this could leave you stranded down the end of a long, random path, unless the computer also kept a little trail of "bread crumbs" in its memory. Limit the random terrain to a set variety of turns, road surfaces, intersections etc., then record the sequence that the track sections are laid down. If you do a U-turn, then the computer could just lay them down in the opposite order. I myself would care much if the random scenery changed for the reverse trip, as I would be too busy driving like mad. Now, if you could also get the program to recognize when it is getting close to an existing intersection on the fixed circuit, and lay the appropriate track sections to link up, well then we'd really have something fun, wouldn't we? Thoughts? Stephen

It would be a good idea if the roads are the imitation of the real world. I guess such as a project would leave it to the big boy Microsoft. Using satellite images of the road. Like the way they have done for CPR. -- Victor Chan

Great idea but there would have to be NO pop up for it to be effective. One would have to be able to see very far ahead for the game to be any fun at all since it would be virtually impossible to memorize the track like most all race games are now.

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> The recent thread about a flight-sim type driving sim got > my brain working. Well, that together with a love of the > game play of the original Need for Speed, mixed with a > boring 1000km drive from Berlin to Switzerland. How difficult > would it be to generate a random driving environment on the fly? > As I was cruising along the Autobahn (unfortunately in a turbo- > diesel truck) I began picturing a future version of Need for > Speed. At the core of the game is a set circuit, for the > head-to-head races and time trials. But, if in the middle > of a police pursuit one decides to take the next exit ramp, > then it's allowed. The program starts generating > a random environment on the fly, with some simple rules to follow > for scenery placement etc. Turn off the autobahn, and the > program starts generating two-lane asphalt, with random > trees, buildings etc. clumped together in an appropriate > fashion. If one decides to turn off the asphalt onto > an inviting looking dirt road, then the program starts > generating dirt road with more sparsely placed buildings > of an appropriate type. Now, this could leave you stranded > down the end of a long, random path, unless the computer > also kept a little trail of "bread crumbs" in its memory. > Limit the random terrain to a set variety of turns, road > surfaces, intersections etc., then record the sequence that > the track sections are laid down. If you do a U-turn, then > the computer could just lay them down in the opposite > order. I myself would care much if the random scenery > changed for the reverse trip, as I would be too busy > driving like mad. Now, if you could also get the program > to recognize when it is getting close to an existing intersection > on the fixed circuit, and lay the appropriate track sections > to link up, well then we'd really have something fun, > wouldn't we? > Thoughts? > Stephen

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> The recent thread about a flight-sim type driving sim got > my brain working. Well, that together with a love of the > game play of the original Need for Speed, mixed with a > boring 1000km drive from Berlin to Switzerland. How difficult > would it be to generate a random driving environment on the fly? > As I was cruising along the Autobahn (unfortunately in a turbo- > diesel truck) I began picturing a future version of Need for > Speed. At the core of the game is a set circuit, for the > head-to-head races and time trials. But, if in the middle > of a police pursuit one decides to take the next exit ramp, > then it's allowed. The program starts generating > a random environment on the fly, with some simple rules to follow > for scenery placement etc. Turn off the autobahn, and the > program starts generating two-lane asphalt, with random > trees, buildings etc. clumped together in an appropriate > fashion. If one decides to turn off the asphalt onto > an inviting looking dirt road, then the program starts > generating dirt road with more sparsely placed buildings > of an appropriate type. Now, this could leave you stranded > down the end of a long, random path, unless the computer > also kept a little trail of "bread crumbs" in its memory. > Limit the random terrain to a set variety of turns, road > surfaces, intersections etc., then record the sequence that > the track sections are laid down. If you do a U-turn, then > the computer could just lay them down in the opposite > order. I myself would care much if the random scenery > changed for the reverse trip, as I would be too busy > driving like mad. Now, if you could also get the program > to recognize when it is getting close to an existing intersection > on the fixed circuit, and lay the appropriate track sections > to link up, well then we'd really have something fun, > wouldn't we? > Stephen

Your thoughts reminded me of an old game called Vette where you would race a Corvette across San Francisco but it came with a street map and you could choose any route you wanted to reach the destination. Jim Treber

> Great idea but there would have to be NO pop up for it to be effective. > One would have to be able to see very far ahead for the game to be any > fun at all since it would be virtually impossible to memorize the track > like most all race games are now. My grandfather used to own a driving "Map" of Washington State, USA, that was in book form from about 1904. Driving from Spokane to Portland, Oregon included instructions along the lines of: Proceed 2.5 miles on the dirt road, turn left at the large red barn with silo, etc., etc. for 300 some miles! :) (One hopes farmers didn't paint often ;) Maybe we can have a "Great Race" from 1904 once Papyrus gets done going back to GP Legends ;) - Matt

Now that's a game that could stand a 3Dfx patch!!! I used to play that on a Mac II, and it was a blast at the time. Clark

> The recent thread about a flight-sim type driving sim got > my brain working. Well, that together with a love of the > game play of the original Need for Speed, mixed with a > boring 1000km drive from Berlin to Switzerland. How difficult > would it be to generate a random driving environment on the fly? An interesting application for this would be a TSD (Time/Speed/Distance) Road Rally simulator. It would be very useful to have a simulator to allow one to practice this type of rally, but in my mind the real limiting factor is that one of the major aspects of a Road Rally is getting lost, and you would need over 5 miles (maybe 10) of "random" scenery down the wrong path to make the simulator realistic. Plus, as you say, the computer would have to remember the path back to the proper course once the contestant realizes they are off-course. The other aspects of TSD are ideally suited for the computer: staying on-course, travelling a proscribed speed, checkpoints, having to deal with traffic, traps in the directions, etc. It would really allow TSD rallyists to hone their skills. -- IBM Microelectronics ICQ UIN: 216830 Burlington, VT Phone: (802) 769-7104 (tie 446)

I saw a Mac once......still haven't stopped laughing.

My biggest complaint was that those old Macs were so small (dinky little b&w screen, everything in one box kinda like a TRS-80) Then they released the Big Mac...

And that was cheesy

>>>Now that's a game that could stand a 3Dfx patch!!! >>>I used to play that on a Mac II, and it was a blast at >>>the time. >>I saw a Mac once......still haven't stopped laughing. Yeah, I'm not really sure why I used to be such a Mac fan. I think it was before I started playing games, er, simulators. Also, in many ways, Windows 95 is a copy of Macintosh circa 1984, but with multitasking and an OS with an integrated web browser. :) I actually had one of those little Macs (a Mac Plus!). The computer that proudly proclaimed on the back panel: 1 MB Clark