Hello. Now I''m developing a racing game. You have to choose a boat and then race on whater envirorments against another players or computer. I need any idea you can come up with for cool features. For now it will have path shortcuts, items to be collected, items that float on water for speed bust, ramps and some kind of reactions of the envirorment to the race, like some birds to run away when you go near them. Any cool ideas? Thanks, Pet.

hmmm... sounds a lot like wave race 64, or as it is also known wave race for the gamecube

There was also a console speedboat game (Playstation I think), made after Wave Race 64 but before Wave Race: Blue Storm (the Gamecube sequel). It wasn''t very good, mainly because it lacked Wave Race''s excellent water physics. If you''re going to make a water racing game you should definitely play one of the two Wave Race games, the ''feel'' of the water is very important to whether the game is fun or just a sub par racing game with water textures.

Perhaps include the option to upgrade your jetski/boat in between each race. Say if you earn money for finishing first/second/third and could use that money to upgrade your speed/stability in the water/damage resitance/turn rate, whatever you decide.

As for cool features during the race.

Mabey jumps over static objects (boats, small sections on land).

Risky sections of the map, where perhaps you may get stuck for a few seconds and the tide moves out, rocks fall from the roof in an underwader cavern, or you risk being knocked up agaisnt rocks by the waves......would probally be best to include them in the short cuts.

Well i hope one of my ideas are usfull to you

A water chute. (Sloped hole through a mountain, whatever)

A waterfall. Avoid or even go down it. Possibly gives a bonus or a shortcut if traversed properly.

Rapids, possibly needing to traverse up OR down stream...

Slingshot entry (enter one side, get shot out the other along with a nice stream of water)

Thank you.
The one with water currents is nice, but we have to think how to do it... because it''s tricky in the current design. For now we have only arhimede, gravity phisics and ofcourse... waves
It is normal that at high speeds the boat to became instable as it knock waves and balance at the point it turns upside down? This is what our physics engine turns out now.
Pet.

It needs a death ray addon

The first thing that came to my mind when I read "water race game" was that I hate when the boat/speeder jumps on the waves like a frog or something. You don''t get the feeling of that the engines are working/you get the thrust - since the propeller spends most of its time in air where it''s useless.

I for one would play it more and enjoy it if you made the water vehicle spend more time in the water. After all it is a water racing game - not an air show game.

Besides just realistic water physics how about extremely realistic collision physics. Instead of having scripted ramps, let the player ramp over anything that is inclined assuming they have the right speed and hit it at the right angle; if they miss make them tumble off and crash. Allow the boat to smash into objects; make it tumble, flip, etc. realistically. If you''ve ever played Re-Volt (I know it''s not water based, but I need it to make a point) it had the most realistic physics engine I have ever seen in a game (it was an RC racing game by the way). For example there was a museum level where you could drive partially up a t-rex skeleton''s foot assuming you hit it at the right angle; if not you would tumble off to one side. A big part of the fun of the game for me was thinking up clever ways to manipulate the game world for unexpected and cool results. In one level there was a basketball on the ground that I pushed/bounced around the entire track. A supermarket level had shopping carts that I managed to push around the level; I suspect that it''s possible to ramp into them but my aim''s not that good.

Anyhow that''s long winded...sorry. Bottom line I like a REAL world because I get to use my own creative strategies.

I''d try something similar with the waterboat racing game. Focus on ramps as there''s nothing cooler than catching some big-time air in any type of racing game.

Good luck; do you have a website with screenshots (or that will hold screenshots; I don''t know how far along it is)?