How Smash Kart is Broken (and how I fixed it)

[@ridleydiddley5872]

Just a friendly tip: If you want more readable track layout (esp. upcoming turns) consider adding more contrast between the wall and the floor. With the tunnels in Gerudo Road, for instance, sharing a flat wall texture with the floor leads to being unable to read the environment. Bowser's Castle is an excellent example, with the red carpet and checkerboard floor standing out against the dull green brick walls.

[@worldscoolestperson7672]

This is exactly what I was gonna say about that one spot on Zebes where the walls and floor are both white right next to a pit. Teeeechnically they are slightly different shades, and I still dig the stark aesthetic, but even a couple little lines to show texture on the wall would be great. IDK could just be a me problem and not the course.

[@totidoki05]

Alos vertex color lighting could help a lot, banjo kazooie and zelda did it a lot on n64 and it really helps with depth perception at a negligable performance cost

[@JamesTDG]

I think having the floor be sandy could really help with the design, and contours could be applied to the texture to inform the player about turns

[@FrankKnife1]

Nice name

[@nate3487]

I think the bigger problem with the Zebes jump is a texturing problem. The floor and wall are nearly the same color, and on a low rez CRT you won't be able to tell the difference. It essentially causes the gap to be invisible. There are similar problems on other courses too.

[@avasam06]

This. You don't see the gap until you"re over it.

[@Snooplax]

This was a fantastic video. All the changes made look great. It was great hearing your thoughts on the changes also!

[@splitthecat]

Idea for Mushroom Raceway: instead of Cobble/Dirt on the inside maybe something like red carpet? Still gets the point across it’s hard to drive on but idk (Awesome Mod by the way)

[@JamesTDG]

Carpet wouldn't work, look at browser castle

[@JMPDev]

7:52 the main problem here is that the underside of the platform is a flat light beige, while the road is flat white, and so reads very poorly. As you approach the turn the light underside just looks like slightly different colored road. This edge would be way less of an issue, even after adding the wall, if it had more contrast and the geometry was easier to tell at a glance.

[@pidey]

I think the turn at 7:50 has another problem that you didn't mention, but your changes still fixes it. There is little contrast between the white ground and the white wall beyond it makes it very hard to see that the ground does indeed end.

[@terradev64]

I only make n64 looking games with the godot engine, but I love seeing homebrew/hacks of n64 games. Love your work. 🙏

[@IMainLuigiInSmashBros]

You're doing a bang-up job, mate. Hearing you reflect on your own work and address and fix all these issues is great, And honestly, quite therapeutic lmao

[@Litronom]

Very good video! Taking feedback the right way and reflecting upon yourself and the work you did is the right way to tackle stuff! Here's some more feedback: -Make OoB areas clear to the player, so they know won't get trough certain areas. For example, darken the grassy OoB in the middle of Mushroom Raceway on your improved version. -Generally, use more vertex colors, so geometry with the same texture applied doesn't blend into eachother too much and to make the courses more pleasing to the eye, haha. Believe me, vertex colors can make visuals much more pretty! (Hills on the side of Mushroom Raceway, tunnels on Gerudo Road, some of the terrain on Zebes Sprint) -Avoid double sided textures where clipping the camera through it will disorient the player. There is no need for backfaces on every texture! I hope you will continue to improve the mod further and further and I'd like to see another one of this devlog style videos. Cheers!

[@Squishrug]

I feel like the geurdo valley map could be heavily improved by some effect (moss?) creeping up the edge of the walls to give a bit of depth to the track corners, also benefit from more in-theme arrows, like painted wood or something, just to sell the visuals a little better for minimal rendering costs

[@maxthompson7107]

I was not expecting so much trouble arising from a Zelda themed kart track. Great changes though. I’m sure you can help people learn how to use their breaks in a different course.

[@GaIeforce]

These are all great updates! I'm glad some of my feedback helped. I hope we get to see more in the future. :)

[@thunderk666]

This was a really cool video! Please post more. The main thing that caught my attention about Smash Kart was the levels and the potential you have in making them so getting to see how you're making them and updating them is really interesting to me.

[@flint9064]

Hey! I’m an retired somewhat mario kart wii track creator and I’m here to drop some quick tips I’ve learned about track design over the years. I hope this advice helps you to create even better tracks! - To me, a good shortcut should be hidden off from the player instead of just out in the open. One example I can think of is Wario Goldmine since it’s not immediately obvious to new players that it is a shortcut, but it’s not like total invisible. - Also be sure to balance your shortcuts more, I think some of your current shortcuts are a bit to powerful as if you get the mushroom, you kinda win the race. To me a good shortcut should keep it close (assuming no item play), not an auto win. - Finally, Be sure to make it more easy to read what is and isn’t out of bounds. It’s basically just as disappointing as an invisible wall blocking off an entire part of the world These are all things I’ve picked up from my experience. Unfortunately there isn’t a guide to making good mario kart tracks, but I guess that just means there is more room to experiment and get hands on with approaches! This project already looks very impressive and I can’t wait to see where it goes next!

[@Goober_tony]

i watched this video to the end, heard 200 subs and said "that cant be right??" criminally underated

[@chvgcharts]

Now this mod is 10x better well done! Also looking forward to more improvements to this mod in future!

[@mattb6522]

Great mod! It is very interesting to hear your thought on the development process and the improvements! Testing is always one the key elements that goes into any game or program. Adding in arrows to guide a player through the course is a simple change, but it can make all the difference in a more enjoyable experience. These all seemed like very thoughtful changes and it is great that you were open to constructive criticism in the community. I definitely will check this mod out as Mario Kart 64 is a childhood favorite of mine!

[@Stevoisiak]

The changes look good. The Gerudo changes are such an improvement.

[@evanwilliams6406]

Sometimes it takes a full re-design to get everything running smoothly. Good job getting the Gerudo Road fixed.

[@peehaleyour]

this is actually sick, more dev videos would be cool!

[@thabluturret]

The reason people were following the AI to their deaths was because in zebes sprint, that section of the track is unreadable. The floor color is too close to the other tracks wall, making the turn completely hidden.

[@crowmaster9652]

I like how you go in detail as to why its a problem and detail the solution it really helps to cover the list of variables/factors, I'm sure it took a while to implement these fixes great video

[@alexandreturcotte6411]

As somebody who does some low poly art, I would be glad to see more of your model breakdown in Blender! [Becomes 499th sub]

[@kazii_the_avali]

personally for the mushroom course i would suggest shortning the dirt path so it fits a mushroom boost other then that it looks fun

[@sanctum1575]

Here is a tip from a game designer. In response to what you said about shortcuts when discussing changes to the mushroom raceway course you mentioned that a way to balance them/make them a "good shortcut" is to reduce their accessibility. While this is true a better tip is to actually focus more on the risk vs reward aspect. For example take the major shortcut for koopa troopa beach, the risk for that shortcut is incredibly high, missing it causes you to not only waste a mushroom in most cases but also slam into a wall as well as forces you to take the outside of the turn losing you a lot of time. However the reward is very high skipping a rather large section of the course (for a vanilla shortcut). This causes it to not only be very balanced (outside of top level gameplay) but also feel very satisifying to pull off.

[@BinglesP]

Who else had no idea this was an actual ROM Hack? I thought this was going to go over RelaxAlax's pitch video or something.

[@JoLiKMC]

I played a little _CTGP-7,_ a mod for _Mario Kart 7,_ recently. Made the mistake of hopping right online without really playing any of the new tracks. And... it's surprising how many courses have absolutely no guidance or "direction". I actually got kicked out of a match because a course had a roundabout and I somehow ended up driving backward… So, I definitely don't blame you for adding arrows. In fact, *thank you.* 🙇‍♀

[@MeesterTweester]

It's cool you went back and fixed these tracks, they look a lot better now!

[@cravdraa]

You know, I'm not sure all those changes in gerudo road were needed. The light streaming in from the windows was a course obstacle. Obscuring the player's vision slightly in a few select places isn't a bad thing. It makes choices. Do you take the outside of the track where you know it's safe, or cut through the middle where you might hit an item? And as for the narrow halls with 90 degree turns, Bowser's Castle in MK64 has narrower hallways and 90 degree turns similar. Really, that one depends on how difficult you want that particular course to be. I think you may have over-corrected because you were self concious from all the complaints.

[@avasam06]

Bowser's Castle is a lot more readable though. Compared to the tunnel's near-identical floor and walls. Bowser's Castle also smartly uses thwomp to indicate where the track is going.

[@pheonixmmkc]

I love devlogs, especially romhacking

[@MoonStaysServing]

Honestly very well-made video, been showing smash kart to some friends over discord and got a few to try it out

[@worldscoolestperson7672]

An entertaining video for a cool mod. Good work, my guy.

[@Larx3476]

You made awesome rom can't wait to play it when it's finished

[@LinkOStalker]

7:54 This problem could be fixed by changing the texture of the track and the wall in the background, as there is not enough contrast to tell between them

[@dykemoder]

yessss the tunnels in gerudo feel so much more mario kart now that they’re scaled up. any of the castle or mansion etc levels in mario kart have a large, grand scale feel imo, bigger than what you would probably expect the maps to really need when making them

[@Replicatte]

I'm glad to play test the mod on EverDrive and report any issues! It's been fun and I can't wait to try out any patches. ^^

[@tamagosalada]

The Zebes course was honestly more or less fine without the border wall, BUT- the edge of the track was too visually indistinct from where the next part of the track began, so it looked flat and driveable. You could also have changed the floor color of the part beyond that little corner to accomplish something similar

[@OrbitKnives]

wow this looks really good i am gonna have to try it

[@bobbywalden9818]

NEEDS MORE ARROWS!!!

[@timfitz96]

This is my first time hearing of smash kart ever! Your video definitely made me interested in the game. Also, I really enjoyed your positive attitude and willingness to change aspects of these courses for the better. Hope to see more of your content in the future

[@OMGreeni]

*Very interesting. As a video game dev & designer, I think you really need to work on two things :* -racetrack design as a whole. There are a lot of resources online about why a track is interesting and what makes it fun and challenging to race on. This has to come before trying to match & stay faithful to the environment (for gerudo for example). I *really* think the tracks need more work, even without the issues of balancing. They should be fun to play without any textures or art, it's not just about going left and right. Try to have meaning behind it : what's challenging, why is it fun, what are the good ways to drive this. -scraping work. I know this is the hardest, and you want to feel like you're going forward, but progress also comes in removing issues that are too big to fix. You might need to get rid of huge parts of your tracks. for example, that shortcut on the mushroom track is still TOO long, like taking it with a mushroom makes you slow down significantly at the end of the tunnel, that isn't a good feeling, and also "using a mushroom" doesn't really require skill. Make that part shorter + harder to enter (or curved) and you have a shortcut that requires skill + opportunity (mushroom) to use, and that feels good while doing it. Work on Gerudo was a good step in the right direction for me. Congrats on taking feedback and making things better.

[@FennorVirastar]

I appreciate turns that encourage you to brake, also in arcade games like f-zero or mario kart. I didn't play this hack and this might be an unpopular opinion as from my experience people prefer going fast, but I think I would have been sad about the removal of such a turn and having it replaced by a more mainstream turn. To me the bad acceleration of Link, and the open space behind the turn leading you into thinking that is where you need to go and the CPU not being able to make the turn is what makes it problematic. Not sure if the CPU part is something fixable though. Regarding the corner where you put an arrow sign: I think it is not just about the player following the AI, it is just hard to see that there is a gap. When looking at a 2D screen it can be hard to correctly judge distances, the arrow might even obscure the view on the gap even more. Maybe there would be a solution to make it visible more naturally, like a different color for the wall, or maybe make the part with the green ground texture go uphill a bit. I think track design can be a lot about little visual nuances that make a player judge things more intuitively. Overall good changes though, It is great that you put effort into your hack.

[@wombatpandaa9774]

This looks awesome! I've been wanting a Nintendo Kart or Smash Kart or something for ages

[@IZEAS_null]

this looks really cool im gonna have to try this out at some point i would recommend though making the bottom part of that one corner in the zebes stage a different color bc it really blends in with the white texture of the road i could see that turn still being pretty annoying especially on original hardware

[@XradicalD]

Keep up the hard work! It's hard to get things nailed down when starting but you're pretty far ahead into it.

[@bebdergame]

This is a very neat project!

[@xanderac]

The mod looked like a lot fun and thankfully the issues with the gerudo track are going to be fixed

[@n14c0]

this is rad, can't wait to see what's to come!

[@teenageapple3788]

The Mushroom race track shortcut should have its off road shortened just enough so at least one mushroom is enough to clear the off road

[@Ursi_]

> “don’t make shortcuts that everyone can take” > “everyone can take this shortcut but it doesn’t save much time so I will leave it” wha

[@simontravers2715]

The Gerudo track’s original design would’ve worked, but for AI being about as realistic as Krunch’s CPU in Diddy Kong Racing, not acting like a player’s input would

[@YawningGirl]

This is so cool! Keep up the good job :)

[@Theover4000]

I didn't even know about this game until just now and I want it now! I wish I knew more about video game modding.

[@LukasPeace]

I'm hype to see these changes in game! Keep up the amazing work!

[@2garts379]

Never heard of this before, but it looks fun! Can't wait to see future updates. ^-^ Also, love the arrows. I'd never know where to go without them. 😅

[@Tinkerer_Red]

One note for short cuts, if they are blatantly obvious then they should also be blatantly difficult to a new player. for instance even as a kid everyone seen the jump through the tunnel, although even a kid could tell you before ever attempting it, that it wasnt going to be a simple jump. Conversely your cobblestone and gravel shortcuts are both obvious alternatives although with out a fair understanding of the mario systems most people may not realize there is a trade off for those short cuts, and simply feel robbed from taking them. instead of blaming their slow downs on their own personal skill level, bringing back up the jump through the tunnel. Two additional notes, the pit fall on Zebes course you were discussing, and the gerudo interior, both of which share the same texture on two different planes, so when the two planes overlap it's hard to see where the road drops off in the first example, and where the tunnel turns in the second example. I'd suggest something simply like adding either extra arrows in the tunnel so you can get a feeling of depth between the two different walls to better know where to turn, or possibly a solution for both would be to have a slightly different texture along the edges of the planes, kind of like a "curb" except one of them would be vertical lol. This would simply help accentuate the difference between the depth. The tunnel how ever might just benefit from a different floor texture, and the gap might benefit from a different under-road texture. Note: time stamps to see these two are 8:02 and 10:32 All around this is really great work! I personally would not have been able to make such great content.

[@marshtomp8]

I'm guessing the Pokémon track will probably be Celedon down bike path to Fuscia.

[@JVstarry]

Your ambition is shining. Hope to see this get the attention it deserves!

[@MisterBones223]

Very very unique design perspectives (in a good way)

[@madmanmortonyt4890]

I agree, arrows are underappreciated. Especially in custom Wii tracks. There are plenty where I just have no idea where I'm going. It also helps to use more contrasting colors so that everything doesnt blend together. Finally, I recommend heavily testing the course before adding too much decoration, or else you'd end up with another Gerudo Road.

[@some_goomba]

It's nice to see when a developer acknowledges their mistakes and works to correct them. You have my respects, Goofy.

[@petermarker7855]

will it have smash inspired tracks? would be fun to see race to the finish on mario kart

[@goofydudeguya]

that's a good idea actually, I might make that a track at some point

[@robbiewalker2831]

@@goofydudeguya The Mario Party music track you used on Mushroom Way, seems like something that could work for a battle track.

[@nate3487]

Also Gerudo Road still has a huge problem with the final stretch. It makes no sense for the ending of a race to be a giant straightaway. It's going to give Heavy characters a huge advantage, and is also really boring.

[@8-NabBit]

This is great! Would love to more of this 😋

[@PhrozenFox]

Gerudo place seemed alright with just bouncing off the walls. You don't need to constantly drift. The bounce kept most of the momentum.

[@yeeoof1995]

nice video! although i am left wondering what else you'll be adding outside of courses and racers...

[@reiko6105]

"plain white" is just not a helpful "texture" for the floor in Zebes, the edge needs some kind of visual border

[@EllieCollie]

If you can add more tracks, you should add the cut city track

[@nuclearcommando9729]

One idea for Zebes Sprint Since it looks like you can go both ways around the save station, maybe add split arrows showing that? It's not quite obvious that you can do that, and maybe some might prefer going right instead of straight

[@SplashCinder]

no offense, but peache's castle in mushroom raceway looks kinda scuffed up, i think a lil more model and or texture work would do it wonders, everything else is exceptional though, great stuff!

[@neam7695]

I really think there's a better solution to the shortcuts being too accessible. Making them slower doesn't really add risk more of it just rewards you for having the same item. That's fine for one track but I feel like at least one of those shortcuts could become a riskier ramp instead of just being slower to drive on, makes them sort of lame

[@YouFooF]

Personally i think you should make the mushroom raceway shortcut a single shroom

[@geschnitztekiste4111]

Don’t kart racers usually have a couple of checkpoints on each track that have to be passed in order for the lap to count?

[@rubykenny3851]

how does this guy have under 1K subs this is so cool

[@Patrick-bn5rp]

Ok. This was an interesting video. Subbed! Do you happen to have any interest in the Tales games?

[@Littlebigwilliam]

I don't know if you're making more maps for smash kart but a kirby map set on nova from milky way wishes would be epic

[@MaxH0ward]

Im really curious to see what the pokemon track will look like

[@Caolan114]

Interesting Insight on game development I like changing the terrain to dirt to slow down the player In peach's castle but does that make sense In the context of the level.. why does peach's castle have dirt on the floor? It looks weird next to the white walls

[@Grimssbane]

I couldn't tell, but did you make the Out of Bounds on Mushroom darker? I think a visual indicator would be nice to know where the limits are, so that a newer player doesn't avoid grass entirely.

[@goofydudeguya]

I will, thanks for the suggestion.

[@matisinsimpson3739]

@@goofydudeguya did you get any character voices finally changed yet? any almost ready to push out next version of your rom to play one day?

[@LittleFlame23]

Blessed be the arrows

[@myhandleiswhat]

If we go by Japanese pronunciation, Zebes is said like the 'e' in eh rather than the 'e's in bee. Although curiously the first e in Zebes in Japanese is elongated (it just means you say it like eeh instead of eh) and Samus is said completely differently to how we usually say "Sam" in Japanese it's more like Sah mus (where the u is pronounced more like the oo in moo but not as elongated) Sounding closer to how the Melee announcer says Samus, but he still says mus like mas in Christmas. Speaking of that course, some of the texturing looks incomplete. Especially the white/grey parts. like at 8:15 it just looks incomplete with a solid color texture. I know it has detail on it, but, it still doesn't look all that good in my opinion.

[@JustJulyo]

This looks so cool!

[@a7pokm]

it would be great if you make a hd version, i will really love to see this with a little bit of better graphics

[@HeyItIsMichal]

Very good. I love the changes you've made. Any way to download the updated version of the track?

[@goofydudeguya]

I'll include all these updates in the next demo

[@HeyItIsMichal]

Thanks!@@goofydudeguya

[@jon_bone]

I would talk to the creator of the hooting time mk hack about how he made extra character slots in his hack. Perhaps you can get all the smash characters in with his help.

[@Alph4Falc0]

We want falco

[@linktheordonianhero9098]

Can this now be played on a Wii U without the antipiracy flaring up?

[@ddnava96]

I believe Kirby is way too small for that kart. Other than that, everything looks to be great!!

[@chaoscontroller316]

You gave your first level of the mod a Grumble Volcano style Ultra Shortcut?

[@jamesissadyo]

Smash kart melee?😍

[@BuggzyBX]

Some how the game crashes on special cup for me. After a while playing

[@Thesassyiscute]

Is that blender he's using to modify the track geometry?

[@CasiniLoogi]

You should really learn how to use follow active quads, it would make the uvs sooooo mucb better, theres so much seams and stretching

[@BLOODY__FATALITY]

YAYYYYYY KIRBY AIR RIDE IS THE GOAT!!!!!!!!!

[@gokuworld]

What software do you use to build the stages?

[@evilartnboy]

What were you using to assemble this? Is there some n64 dev program?

[@Jkid101090]

How'd you make the lights on Gerudo Road semi-transparent? I was under the impression we couldn't do that on N64.

[@goofydudeguya]

You can, it's most commonly used for either lighting meshes or water surface textures. Think Hazy Maze Cave in Super Mario 64.

[@ClaerisGames]

Where can i download the newest version of the hack to try it out?

[@Pyrodiac]

I forever Lothed people who say they were the 1000th Subscriber. Even after experiencing it I still don't understand.

[@kerokerocola99]

based fanhack fixer