During the design and the creation of Xpand Rally its developers were aiming towards completely new quality and realism level in a racing game. It�s obvious that the easiest way to achieve it is by realistic graphics. From the very beginning however the biggest attention was put on the realistic simulation of the dynamics of the game�s world. Because it�s most important part from the player�s point of view is the car � its physical simulation had to be designed extremely realistically and with maximum care for details. At the same time though car handling had to be fun and playable.
Below is a list and description of the most important elements that have decided about achieving the above goals.
CURVE EDITOR
Most of the parameters of the physics simulation has a nonlinear character and can be modeled with the help of curves. To make modifying those parameters easier we have developed a special tool for editing the shape of functions. Thanks to it one can easily and quickly examine and change the behavior of the car. As an example in this way one can modify the functions of friction depending on various parameters of the state of a tyre.
ENGINE
Each engine in the game has its own characteristic. The parameters describing an engine are among others: RPM range, the function of the torque, power and internal resistances. All those parameters are dynamically computed during the game. Most of the parameters are modeled by curves (e.g. the curve of the torque which gives the value of the engine�s torque for a given RPM). The amount of internal resistances of the engine depends on lubrication and its temperature. If the cooling system is corrupt the engine�s temperature will increase and it may be damaged. Another example is roofing after which more oil gets to the engine and is burned there � in the game it can be seen as a change of the color of exhaust.
During the implementation of the simulation of the engine and the transmission one of more important problems is the stability of the discreet (done with a certain step) integration of the state of such system. Because of mechanical joins between real elements in a car such system is relatively difficult to be accurately and stably simulated. The solution of the problem required a lot of time and scientific mathematics knowledge.
|