Hello all,
I had a thought that might allow better integration of workshop content, specifically new car models, into the campaign mode.
Perhaps it could also improve the graphic representation of each vehicle’s stats as you choose a body to use.
The idea is basically to have some way of changing / editing the base stats of a body design as you share it or as it is imported from the workshop.
So that if I’m developing, say, a big luxury car model for the workshop it will ask me for the base stats of that car, and I will invest more points into a higher comfort, and maybe more practicality at the expense of drag coefficient or lower weight.
I noticed that many of the downloads from the workshop are a bit buggy with stuff like 0.00 drag coefficient, or they weigh 5 tonnes, stuff like that!
If your car that you’re sharing to the workshop is from an earlier year, maybe you will have less base stats to play with, or there will be maximum value restriction placed based on year.
Of course, some people are always going to share a modern Hypercar and say it’s from 1946, but these measures will prevent that being used for a game advantage. And it’s their own immersion they’re wasting!
My idea is that at some stage, maybe with a tool in the game which exports the model to the workshop, you set the base stats of that model with a UI, which will limit how good the model can be in the base stats, and the exporter / creator of that content can pick suitable base stats, but not so much that it cheats the game.
If I disagree with the base stats the creator has used, maybe I could use the same tool in the game to tweak the design to my liking, changing the year the body style is released etc. for greater realism (but not for competitive advantage).
Maybe something like this could be represented by a polygon plot, this sort of thing:
http://junkcharts.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341e992c53ef019104c21c3e970c-pi
That way you could also show the data changing (maybe practicality at the expense of prestige for example) as the player morphs the model in the pre-design stage.
At the moment I don’t recall seeing the stats change as I morph a body, for instance if I want to make the footprint size bigger for greater prestige in Gasmea versus making it smaller for a nippier Fruinian car.
So basically, I’m suggesting that each car design has a base stat set which is tied to the car and limited in its overall potential by the year and other mechanisms to prevent abuse. This base stat set can be edited by the player for them to tailor the game to their needs.
Perhaps an overall development time / cost increase could be included in these stats. I’m not exactly sure what you have under the hood as regards base stats, so these things might already be implemented behind the scenes.
Cheers!