Online Racing Championship News

Online Racing Championship News http://www.siroccoracing.com News relating to the Online Racing Championship racing simulator Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:53:36 -0600 Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:53:36 -0600 New Video: Menu walkthrough http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=135 We have created quite a thorough video that walks through the menus showing the features that have been implemented.  It also shows what we hope will be the final design for the menus (barring a few tweaks here and there).<br /> <br /> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/k9gN6zlAWgk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/k9gN6zlAWgk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> <br /> <br /> If you have any comments, please let us know on <a href="mailto:ashley@siroccoracing.com?subject=News%20comment">ashley@siroccoracing.com</a> or on <a href="http://twitter.com/RacingChamp">twitter</a> or if you want to comment directly to our main developer follow <a href="http://twitter.com/AshMcConnell">http://twitter.com/AshMcConnell</a><br /> <br type="_moz" /> Sat, 17 Jul 2010 08:53:36 -0600 Oh Mr. Menu you are hilarious! http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=134 Oh ok, well menus aren't actually that fun* and even less fun to code, but they are very important and fairly useful when you get to know them!<br /> <br /> Just doing a quick update to ensure people we are still about and still working as hard as ever.<br /> <br /> We have been working hard on the menus in order to make them as easy and intuitive to use as possible while still trying to keep them looking stylish.  There is nothing worse than a game that shows great potential, but you can't actually figure out how to select the controls or start the engine!  <br /> <br /> We have also converted the menus from Hikari (a flash based menu system) to MyGUI, a native C++ menu system.  This was mostly to avoid having to have flash installed, but also to allow cross-platform versions of ORC at a later stage.<br /> <br /> Trying to get a good user experience will be an ongoing process and hopefully our beta testers will be able to shout at us if we don't make it easy to use.<br /> <br /> We did a little work on the spectator mode, allowing drivers to spectate either using trackside or car cameras<br /> <br /> We have also been looking around for people that are interested in doing sounds for the sim.  We have someone who is interested, but as always with these talented artists, it's hard to get much of their time.  Hopefully we can report some progress in the next update.<br /> <br /> One of the next areas we are looking at next is to use <a href="http://www.fmod.org/">fmod</a> sound library to add the track as geometry in order to have stuff that can block and muffle sounds.<br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: smaller; ">*A possible exception is </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alain_Menu"><span style="font-size: smaller; ">Alain Menu</span></a><span style="font-size: smaller; "> (I've never met him, but I wouldn't like to brand him as unfunny)<br /> <br /> <br type="_moz" /> </span> Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:51:49 -0600 Speed, Speed and more Speed http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=133 Lots of progress from the ORC team since the last update, mostly concentrating on making things work faster. <div> </div> <h2>Speed!</h2> <p>We have tamed the mighty multi-core processors.  This has led to a big bump in performance.  We have also been optimizing quite a lot of the code in order to get it running faster on slower PCs.  For example we have a 4 year old PC ( pentium D 2.66Ghz dual core and a 7900GT ).  Impressive for 4 years ago, but starting to feel it's age now.  It is running ORC at around 200FPS with 21 cars.  Of course, the “real” graphics haven't been added yet, but it's a good start.  If you want to see the gory details, visit <a href="http://ashmcconnell.blogspot.com/2010/03/physics-on-separate-thread.html">Ash's blog</a> </p> <h2>Networking</h2> <p>We have also been battling to get the network bandwidth down as low as possible while still having smooth movement from the cars.  We have started to get good results.   800Kbits/sec for 20 cars at the moment (LFS is around 1200Kbits/sec for 20 cars).  Of course we will probably add more data as we add more features, but it's heading in the right direction.  Hopefully this will allow users to host 20 cars from a 1Mbit upload connection (like Ash's O2 broadband!)</p> <h2>Car Handling</h2> <p>Gregor has been doing some of his physics wizardry with the physics params.  He has been using values from a real-world car in order to create a very realistic experience.  The results are feeling good, it's fun and challenging to drive.  A couple of bugs with Aerodynamics and anti-rollbars were also squashed.</p> <h2>Menus</h2> <p><a href="http://www.lilaclily.co.uk">Lynsay </a>has been working hard on skinning the remaining parts of the menus.  This was mostly the garage menus where you can choose your car components and setups.  This is pretty much finished and looking good.  We just need to put it into the game.</p> <h2>More Shadows</h2> <p>We have made some faster shadows in order for slower machines to keep high framerates.  It is a more static way of doing it, but it works fairly well.  Here is a video of it in action!<br /> <br /> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/28Ws4hAOWak&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/28Ws4hAOWak&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> <br /> <br />  </p> <h2>Twitter </h2> <p>If anyone is interested in the day to day ugly details of the game follow <a href="http://twitter.com/AshMcConnell">AshMcConnell </a>on twitter.  For just the big news notifications follow <a href="http://twitter.com/RacingChamp">RacingChamp</a> on twitter or join the <a href="http://www.facebook.com/OnlineRacingChampionship">facebook group</a></p> <div> </div> Tue, 20 Apr 2010 10:30:47 -0600 Soft Shadows and Tidy Up http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=131 Hello All and a Happy New Year.  We have been working hard after a nice Christmas break.  Most of the work has been boring internal and security work which is very essential, but isn't exactly a spectator sport <img alt="" src="http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gif" /> .  <br /> <br /> We have also been working on the menus to make them a bit more user friendly and a little prettier.  There has also been a lot of work done removing some annoying bugs that could potentially cause crashes<br /> <br /> However there has been some more visual results for our efforts, here are the soft shadows in action.  As always, these are placeholder graphics and will be replaced.<br /> <br /> <br type="_moz" /> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/f4kKjRoPbS0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/f4kKjRoPbS0&hl=en_GB&fs=1&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:00:42 -0600 Car Loading and New Menu Designs http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=132 Over the past few weeks we have been working on menu designs and efficiently loading cars during a race.  <br /> <br /> First of all, quickly loading cars during the race is important as we don't want any "blips" while someone joins as this can really put you off your racing line and cause an almighty pileup <img alt="" src="http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/msn/regular_smile.gif" />.  We have managed to get the loading time down to around 70ms, hopefully we can even spread that out a bit by splitting it up into tasks so that it will not be noticeable at all.<br /> <br /> The other big job was mostly tackled by <a href="http://www.lilaclily.co.uk">Lynsay</a> .  She has produced stylish, simple and easy to use menus.  You can see them in action in a video we made.  To watch it in full detail, view in HD (720p) and fullscreen<br /> <br /> <br type="_moz" /> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/kmdFbPterKY&hl=en_GB&fs=1&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/kmdFbPterKY&hl=en_GB&fs=1&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:00:05 -0600 Race Awards and Motion Blur http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=130  We have been working on quite a few things over the past few weeks.  <a href="http://www.lilaclily.co.uk">Lynsay </a>has been working on some designs for the racer stats and achievement pages, it's starting to take shape, but there is a bit more work to do before we show off her work.  We have also managed to get the stats pages showing in-game so you don't need to leave the game to get up to date stats.<br /> <br /> We have also started implementing Race Awards which will analyse the stats for the last completed race and hand out rewards.  Here are examples of what we are hoping to put in.<br /> <br /> <div><strong>Quick Nick </strong>- Fastest theoretical laptime</div> <div><strong>Lead Foot</strong> - Longest % time on full throttle</div> <div><strong>Brake Tester </strong>- Longest % time on brake</div> <div><strong>Steady Eddie</strong> - Most consistent laptime </div> <div><strong>Saintly Driver</strong> - Least amount of crashes</div> <div><strong>Getting There</strong> - Most improvement in laptime</div> <div><strong>High Climber</strong>  - Most overtakes</div> <div><strong>Battler</strong> - Most overtaking manoeuvre </div> <div><strong>Speed King</strong> - Highest top speed</div> <div><strong>Durifto</strong> - Longest Drift</div> <div><strong>Fighter Pilot Reactions</strong> - Fastest start reaction time</div> <div><strong>Screecher </strong>- longest skid</div> <div><strong>Woh Nelly</strong> - longest wheelspin, </div> <div><strong>Smoothie </strong>- smoothest driver, </div> <div><strong>Petrol Sipper</strong> - most fuel efficient</div> <div><strong>Gas Guzzler</strong> - most fuel used</div> <div><strong>Unremarkable </strong>- yawn, boringly average</div> <br /> If you have any ideas of what extra awards could be handed out, please drop me an <a href="mailto:ashley@siroccoracing.com?subject=Award%20Idea">email</a><br /> <br /> Finally we have created some motion blur on the tyres as the short video shows below.  As always, please ignore the placeholder graphics, these will be replaced in the coming months.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br type="_moz" /> <br type="_moz" /> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KLtysT3-NAQ&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KLtysT3-NAQ&hl=en_GB&fs=1&rel=0&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:59:53 -0700 Lies, damned lies, and statistics http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=129 We have been working hard this week on the ranking and stats system.  We are hoping to make the ranking system an important part of the simulator and to be able to compare easily with other people without leaving the game.<br /> <br /> We have also been creating a points system that hopefully will be fair to newbies and veterans alike.  This will be undoubtedly be tweaked and added to as we start beta testing<br /> <br /> Some of the ranks/stats we have created so far are: -<br /> <ul> <li>Fastest Laptime</li> <li>Fastest Sector</li> <li>Races Completed</li> <li>Wins / Seconds / Thirds</li> <li>Distance Driven</li> <li>Laps Completed</li> <li>Lap Ranking (World and Country)</li> <li>Points System</li> <li>Points Ranking (World and Country)</li> <li>Lap / Sector records broken today / this week / this month</li> <li>Winning streak</li> <li>Near Drivers List for each rank</li> </ul> <br />  Here are a couple of previews (in-progress)<br type="_moz" /> <br /> <img width="500" height="276" alt="" src="/NIACUS/pageUploads/image/simplestats.PNG" /><br /> <br /> <br /> <img width="500" height="572" alt="" src="/NIACUS/pageUploads/image/stats2.PNG" /><br /> <br /> <br /> There are a few more stats/ranks to do yet.  If you have any suggestions just let us know at <a href="mailto:ashley@siroccoracing.com?subject=Suggestion">ashley@siroccoracing.com</a> .  The next step is to start getting the ranks into the game in order that you can be notified when you break that record or gain a position in the ranks!<br /> <img width="0" height="0" alt="" src="/NIACUS/pageUploads/image/stats2.PNG" /><br type="_moz" /> Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:47:35 -0700 Website Tweaks http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=128 We've tweaked the layout of the website slightly and spruced up the graphics a bit with the help of Lynsay McConnell from <a href="http://www.lilaclily.co.uk">Lilac Lily</a> .  <br /> <br /> We have also added a couple of ways that you can keep up to date with ORC news, you can join a facebook fan page, follow us on twitter or subscribe to our RSS feed.<br /> <br /> We have also worked hard to make the site quicker with a few optimizations.<br type="_moz" /> Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:41:08 -0600 ORC site launch! http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=2 <p style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;" class="MsoNormal">We have launched the Online Racing Championship site to give a bit of info about ORC and what you can look forward to when it is released.<br /> <br /> Below is a video showing the car in action.  More videos are available at <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AshMcConnell">http://www.youtube.com/user/AshMcConnell</a><br /> <br /> <span style="font-size: large;">*NOTE* </span><span style="font-size: small;">This is only development progress, the artwork is just programmer art (track) and a free model (a ferrari f1 car) - they are just place-holders until the artwork is finished</span></p> <object width="560" height="340"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UAKXL6CYN4E&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1" /> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UAKXL6CYN4E&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&hd=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:24:25 -0600 Physics Engine Optimization http://www.siroccoracing.com/racing/public/resource/viewnews?id=125 <p class="NoSpacing" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt">Gregor has done a lot of work making the Physics engine faster, it is currently 25-30% faster than it had been running.  It now uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streaming_SIMD_Extensions">SSE </a>to do vector operations in parallel.  It was a hard job getting it working, but it's definitely worth it for that amount of improvement.  Hopefully we can squeeze a little more out of it in the coming days.</p> Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:17:24 -0600