Catch-up mechanic by relaxing max speed limit a bit?

[complyue]

Catch-up mechanic by relaxing max speed limit a bit?

[complyue]

pixelwheels/core/src/com/agateau/pixelwheels/racer/Vehicle.java

Lines 364 to 366 in 0cbca1a

	if (groundSpeed < 1f && !turboOn) {
	Box2DUtils.applyDrag(mBody, (1 - groundSpeed) * GP.groundDragFactor);
	}

Also confused here why groundSpeed < 1f? I'd perceive 1 as a very small speed, is that the case? So the drag force only applies when it nearly stopped, so as to get it to completely still?

[agateau]

Seems there will always be some force applied to the wheel, then how it actually get max speed limited?

That's a good question indeed. It's been a long time since I wrote this code, but playing with it a bit, if I remove the "0.2" factor the vehicles are very slow. I guess given a long enough straight road they would accelerate indefinitely. Or maybe there is a cap in Box2D. This game is the first time I use a physics engine, and I sometimes don't fully understand what's happening under the hood (or I dive in to understand, manage to understand, then a few weeks later I have forgotten about it...)

Also confused here why groundSpeed < 1f? I'd perceive 1 as a very small speed, is that the case?

No, groundSpeed is a "normalized" speed, where 1 means normal, no change, <1 means slow down (sand, grass, water tiles), >1 means speed up (turbo tiles). See Material.getSpeed() for the actual values. The material of a tile is defined in the .tsx files defining the tiles (in android/assets/maps). You can look at them using Tiled.

[agateau]

Forgot to add: there already is a catch up mode. AI players ahead of the player are slowed down if they are better ranked, see AIPilot.updateAcceleration().

[complyue]

I created #437 to experiment with the idea, shall we move the discussion to there and close this issue?

[agateau]

I created #437 to experiment with the idea, shall we move the discussion to there and close this issue?

Sure.