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Diary 01/04/2010 This website is now being hosted as part of Paul Mannering's portfolio website (Although if you're on this page you'll probably have already guessed that by now...). The Boy Racer homepage can be found at www.paulmannering.com/BoyRacer Paul Mannering's portfolio homepage can be found at www.paulmannering.com
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04/09/2007 Hi, we've updated the contact links as the university e-mail addresses have expired now that we have left (Andrew's staying on so his remains unchanged). Also, the demo has been updated, with a few small bug fixes people pointed out (the gameplay remains unchanged). Further more, you can now see this project on gamedev.net image of the day gallery, at the following link. Finally, the experiment with the compressing all the video did reduce the game size down to 501mb, but the 310mb of sound data (which is all in .wav format) is what really needs compressing. But as we used Direct Sound it's not realistic to easily change the whole sound system just to save space.
31/05/2007 Breaking news! Paul has come across a video and audio compression tool called Virtual Dub, which can use MP3 compression on audio files. This means we could cut down the size of the videos significantly! On a test on the intro movie, the video which was originally 41mb in size can be compressed down to just under 8mb with little (if no) apparent loss of video or audio quality. This means that the whole game could be compressed down to a manageable size for download. Whether this happens or not depends on the time Paul has to spend on this project, as he's currently very busy learning some new advance C#.NET skills for his new game editor, and writing a wrapper (in managed C++/CLI) around his new cross-platform unmanaged C++ game engine (good luck if you understood any of that last bit).
12/05/2007 Finally got around to putting the first boy racer patch online (see downlaods section). Also, the game will be appearing at the Department of Electronics Xtreme Media '07 day in the summer (19th – 22nd June 2007). See the following link for more details. For this day Paul will be updating the game slightly (it'll probibly be the last version using this engine) and finishing off the multiplayer code. Paul has also said he'll be there on the tuesday (19th June), and he'll bring a few XBOX 360 pads along. So if your going that'll be the day to come. On a more general note, we have exams for a few weeks now, so work will commence on the update after that. Although Paul's now working on a new cross platform game engine and learning Directx10 (so it's no longer a prioroty project), but he can assure everyone that this upate will happen before the media day takes place.
19/04/2007 More bugs reported with the demo. Have you experienced this dialog...
...when your graphics card is definetly listed as now supported with the new patch and game demo? Turns out Paul may have updated the shaders to work with older hardware, but the PREngine still has checks to ensure this older hardware doesn't run on that type of hardware (which would cause it to crash the application). Obviously we've updated the demo to fix this, so if you have this problem, you'll need to re-download. The reason we're not including a single file update like last time is that this demo also fixes the specular lighting on the road problem, so you can now play in low and medium shader modes without being distracted by flashes of light all the time. Alos, the new demo can be re-sized in windows mode (the hiding/showing mouse code had a resource leak that prevented that from working like it did in the original version of Boy Racer and took a bit of time to track down).
17/04/2007 We have just been informed that the demo has an issue with showing one part of the terrains hills (Paul forgot to change the texture to a relative filename). We have now updated the demo to fix this problem. However, if you don't want to re-downlaod all 72mb of it, you can fix it yourself by downlaoding this file (update) and replacing the file in the C:\Program Files\Boy Racer Demo\Assets\Meshes\Motorway Track\ folder. Also, on the low shader quality the specular lighting on the road is very strong (to say the least), so it is recomended you play the demo on high or above shader quality if your graphics card can handle it (setting is at the bottom of the dialog that pops up when the game first loads). Also, there are random bumps on the road starting from thge tunnel onwards (Paul smoothed out the track up to that point but was too time consuming to do the other half). Problem originated when track was originally modelled and Bun didn't realise just how smooth the track had to be (as the cars suspension model in the newton games dynamics physics engine is so sensitive to say the least). Sorry for the problems (but with such an ambitious project with only 4 developers there's always ganna be problems when there is very little if any testing untill after the project ships).
16/04/2007 Hi, sorry about the delay but the demo is now up and can be downlaoded from the Downloads Page. The problem Paul's had was that of getting the demo down to a downloadable size (first attempt was over 200mb!). As a result he's cut some of the music tracks in half and also done some other drastic things, so if there's any annomalies with the sound it's down to that and not the games overall audio quality (which is very high, hence the enourmous size it occupies). As for the patch, it will be made avaliable shortly from the downloads page (the improvements over the original Boy Racer are listed on the support page). Hope you enjoy. Any feedback welcome (See contact page).
08/04/2007 Hi everyone (Paul speaking). For all those people expecting the game demo to be posted a couple of days a go (Friday 6th April 2007) I realise that you may have been disappointed. As many of you may know I have a part-time job and this week has been easter bank holiday. As a result I've been working full-time all this week. However, I have next week off so I'll get around to finishing the demo and patch on tuesday (I'm working all day bank holiday Monday) and have both online by next friday the 13th! (Unlucky for some hey...but not this friday). Right enough of the excuse, in terms of updates we have now posted screenshots of the final game (these are offical screenshots) and generally finished off the website conent. Hope this gives everyone a taste of the demo to come. On a more future related point, Paul will use the game as his demonstration game for his next cross-platform game engine so there may be a sequal of sorts in the future (although if this happens all the maps and cars will be changed. Only the game code will remain, and that will be altered beyond all recognision). Although this is a long way off (2008?).
02/04/2007 We're here! New website (Hope everyone likes it). Designed by Andrew and coded by Paul (Reluctantly). So, release date has been and gone, and looking back we feel that we achieved quite a lot in the 6 month time frame we ended up working within. Obviously there were a few bugs in the final game (See support page) but nothing that any of us would consider anything serious (Paul was being VERY fussy when he wrote the list of bugs). As a result, Paul is going to release a patch this week to fix almost all the problems with the first release of the game. And he also says, even the best games, written by the best programmers, have patches, so it's only fitting that we keep with the PC game development tradition and have a patch to! On the features front, at the last minute Paul had to drop the multiplayer from the first release of the game (it was either the option of including it and it crashing while people setup their multiplayer game or disabling the main menu button link). Paul chose the later, and like he said, if it doesn't work it's not a feature. So why have it in the game. Oh, but it will be enabled in the patch he'll release this Friday! Finally, a lot of people want to try out the game, and obviously we'll be happy to distribute the game online. But as the game is so large, Paul has said that he'll remove the story mode and some of the cars and tracks, then release a demo of around 50mb or less in size, that is downloadable this Friday from the downloads page on this site. Time trial and multiplayer modes will be playable (so get your XBOX360 wired controllers at the ready for the best experience, but the keyboard also works well too). Oddly, Paul has had a second heart on what version of Directx to build the game with. The first DVD release of the game required the February 2007 version, which is designed to work with Microsft Windows Vista (But will also scale back to work with XP). As most people are still using Microsoft Windows XP, Paul has now changed to an older version (October 2006) for the demo and the patch. This means that a few more graphics cards will be able to play the game now! For a full list of supported graphics cards, see the support page. Finally, Andrew spent the last week of the project creating full box artwork and a game manual (which looked as good as the games you buy in the shops). He also did a CD label that Paul printed directly onto the DVD with, using his printer. I think everyone who saw the complete package when we went to hand the game in was impressed, but unfortunately we can't release any screenshots yet as Andrew's away for a bit and has the only copies.
30/03/2007 Release day! After the last 2 weeks everyone is very tired to say the least (You should have seen Paul friday). So we'll have the weekend off and then carry on from there...
24/03/2007 Just posted some screenshots of the mod shop before the final release in less than a weeks time. The new website will be up within the week, so this will be the last post here. Thanks to everyone who's been keeping track on the progress of the game and we hope you like the new website and game demo that'll be with you within the next 2 weeks (Demo will be compiled and posted online the weeks after the full game is released).
15/03/2007 Just to let people no we have a new website at www.boyracergame.com. It's currently only a single page, but we'll be moving to that web address fully very soon, with a completely new website design. Stay tuned.
08/03/2007 As there are only 3 weeks left, so much is going on we won't bore you with the technical details today. Instead, we'll just keep you up to date with the cahnges that have occured since the last posting here. To start with, Paul has made a last minute dicision to go back to the totally physically correct car (as apposed to the ray cast vehicle he spent so long doing). His reason being, the ray cast vehicle was too dull for a game called "Boy Racer". He wants it to be exciting, edgy, and seem a little bit dangerous (just like real boy racing). As it was too slow to begin with (one of the reasons he changed it), he's simplified it down to a point where the speed is workable (also helped by the fact we raised to minimum specifications (see System Requirements page) last month when Windows Vista was released). We've also removed the planned shopping feature (where you could buy mods). Instead the mods are now just given to you as the game progresses. For those interested in what it would have looked like, we have included Paul's UI mock-up of the shop (called "Cruise Motor Parts") below (Note: There would also have been a custom shop background drawn by Andrew, in place of the dark blue colour):
On a more general point, Paul has had to make the big dicision to not support standard windows controllers. Only XBOX360 and the keyboard/mouse will be supported in the final build. That's not to say we won't have a patch released later on to fix this (as the code has been there since the start of the project, and time has just run out on the input agenda, with so many other areas needing more attention, and only one programmer to do them all!). On a more posotive note, we will be fully updating the website and moving web address by the time the final game ships on the 30th March 2007. A playable demo will be avaliable very soon afterwards.
22/02/2007 With only 5 weeks left till deadline day, things are starting to come together nicely. Paul is hard at work on the code (user interface stuff especially), Martin is working on the sound, Andrew is continuing apace with the cutscenes, and Bun is getting all the cars and mods into the game. Since the last post, most noticeably we now have an all new in-game user interface setup (See below picture). If you've seen the previous screenshots before it was in, you'll realise what an improvement it makes to the overall appearance of the game.
However, Paul is still working on an improvement to this one (so keep posted).
09/02/2007 We had our prototype presentation yesterday (in which we demonstrated the multiplayer features and had the first showing of the cutscens). Due to difficulties with putting the whole presentation online, we have instead just included the most interesting individual slides below (including all the characters and cars!): In terms of progress, we now have just 7 weeks to the deadline day (30th March), and everyone is working round the clock to make sure everything is ready in time. We know all you really want to know is when a demo will be released online, and all we can say is that it's not too far off!
31/01/2007 Below is a sneak preview of the first car in the game (the one you start of with). Enjoy!
28/01/2007 A few requests have come in this month for a sneak preview of some of the cars in the game. Below we have included some Maya renders (with a few mods on).
As we have our prototype preview in 2 weeks time a lot will be happening over the next week or so, so watch this space for more info (and a first glimpse at some concept art for the characters and cutscenes). Also, in a few days, sees the release of Windows Vista, ultimately bring an end to the fixed function and software emulated age of realtime computer graphics (on the Windows platform). As a result, the PREngine has been optimised for a pure shader architecture (with minimal fixed function render state changes). The result is that the speed of the graphics render is much faster (10fps or more), but also means that we must now up the minimum specifications to at least a graphics card with pixel shader 2 support (see about section for more info).
14/01/2007 Another year and we're back hard at work to meet the 30th March deadline. If you haven't checked out the screenshots section we've recently added a few new screenshots (take a look). We know the mini is still being used from the test demo, but the cars (especially the mods!) are tacking a bit longer than expected (but then they are one of the most important parts of a racing game, so we're taking our time to make sure they look great from every angle). As far as the technology behind the game goes, I don't think you'll be disappointed with what Paul's done with the latest version of teh PREngine. Metallic paint (took us all by surprise), doubled the frame rate and he's yet to do the final engine optimisation, integrated the Newton game dynamics physics engine fully with joints and other complex stuff, and a reflection and shadowing system (the shadows are turned off in the screenshots as they're not finished yet...if you're interested they are cascading shadow map based). In terms of game code the cars are fully setup, you can have as many cars on the track as you want, which can all be switched between and driven individually. Also the car handling has been altered (although still needs a few more tricks to perform what Paul's calling the perfect powerslide...), and the anomalies in the car physics have been ironed out (manly thanks to that physics engine update in the latest version of the PREngine). On the art front, Bun (The king of the Streets) has been re-designed at his request (See below for the difference. Old Bun design on the left, new Bun design on the right):
Also, Andrews been hard at work on the character design front, changing his design philosophy to basing some characters other than us on real people at their request. Anyone who'd like to be in the game should give him an e-mail (See contact page), along with a decent picture (no more costume jokes...please!). Also, over the Christmas period, Bun and Martin have made excellent progress on the sound front (with some unique music for the game), and we've even recorded sound directly from a real cars engine (Paul's currently working on the 3 point 3D sound setup for each car, so watch this space for more info on that one). Finally, the maps are taking shape (part exported Sheerness map shown in the new screenshots) and a whole new material system (all vertex and pixel shader effect system) is now fully available (check out the per-pixel lighting and bump mapping in the new screenshots).
01/01/2007 Happy new year from all the team!
05/12/2006 As we have entered the Christmas period (yes, things have just got very busy) we thought we just spend a little time to keep you up to date with things. Since the last post (god that was a long time ago), Paul has changed to using DivX for the video compression, due to some technical difficulties with the XviD codec (nothing to do with the encoder, but the fact that it didn't play well with the custom DirectShow renderer he coded, when being played back). He's also thoroughly tested and mocked up a lot of the UI, with some great voice acting (which you won't be hearing, we can assure you...we'll not in the final game, although you can make some good raps with it). Andrews been drawing up the storyboard, which has been compacted to help his workload out (by compacted we mean merged/removed frames that we felt didn't add anything to the story). Also, Bun, Martin, and Paul have been modelling the tracks and cars (which are now starting to take shape). That's about it. We'll post here again in the new year (with some new screenshots!), but until then we'd just like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year (yeah we know it's all a bit cliché but it's amazing what a good December can do for the start of an exiting new year).
14/11/2006 Hi again (seems a rather long time since the last post here). In that time Paul has finished the UI (user interface) code, and has even added moving video capabilities (using .avi compressed with the XviD codec). Apparently he's rendering it it to a texture, which is then applied to a polygon that's drawn to the UI screen (so we may use this technology for animated video screens in the tracks!) Andrew has been drawing up some new characters for the later levels (especially the University level), Martin has been modelling a set of prefabs (objects that can be placed around levels. For example, fences, telephone boxes, houses, etc), and Bun has been working on the cars (which are coming along nicely). On a more general note, Paul is now mocking up the whole game UI and modelling the first car the main character starts off with), Andrew is working on the storyboard (which has been cut down to as few slides as possible to help Andrew out), and Martin and Bun are continuing on with the modelling and texturing.
03/11/2006 On a note not to do with the actual game (directly), this week it has become apparent that Paul has gone XML mad! He's only gone and changed all the User Interface code in his PREngine from Lua into XML. As a result, Paul believes this will make it much easier for us to create a lot of menus for the game quickly (Which we're all for). He also recons the whole UI code is faster now too, and he's replaced the colour key functionality for an alpha channel based in the texture files (so it's prettier). On another note, we have a few deadlines for university work next week, so there won't be much progress over the next 7 days. We'll pick-up the work load again in a weeks time, when Paul's finalised the new UI system and we begin moving the cars and tracks into the graphics engine.
30/10/2006 Over the weekend Paul has completely re-written the gearbox and car handling physics, to try and make the whole gaming experience more realistic, but not going overly complicated (hence it still has the arcade handling feel, but somehow is more realistic at the same time). On a more important point though (which was the main reason he started re-writing the code in the first place), Paul has also converted a lot of the car setup C++ code into XML files (Yes, those ones that look like HTML). So now everyone on the team will be able to add and modify each cars mods, physics setup, sound, etc...without having to annoy Paul (well, lets just say not too often).
28/10/2006 Yesterday we had our fortnightly meeting with our project supervisor, and his main criticism of the game was that when it loaded up he just set everything to the highest graphics setting and expected it to be playable. Up to now we haven't really thought about how the user will interact with the more technical side of the gaming experience, and as a result Paul is going to write a system configurator that will work out the best game settings for each individual machine the game is installed on. He also pointed out how flat the game looked without any shadows. However, Paul assures us that the next engine build will have shadows and a dynamic reflection system (so keep watching the screenshots page!). For all those interested in the shadow types being used, the PREngine uses shadow volumes (Doom 3 esk) for hard shadows, and TSM shadow mapping with PCM (percentage closer filtering) for soft shadows. Also, we have had a few requests for us to release the demo we did at the demonstration (nearly a week back now) online. Unfortunately, we have been advised against this as it doesn't represent what the final game will look like, and may give people a false sense of the final quality of the game (sorry, but we have to bear things like this in mind). On another note, we have added a brief outline of the story to the About page. We're not giving much away, but we can assure you that it will be a light hearted and entertaining perspective on the boy racing scene. If you are into this sort of thing, or are just generally interested in an alternative type of racing game based heavily around an entertaining story, then you've come to the right place. Finally, we have had a few requests from people asking if they can be testers for the game. On this point, we are planning to do the testing around the end of January/ start of February time. If anyone is interested in taking part then please e-mail Paul (see contact page) and he will get back to you in the new year.
27/10/2006 We have been working hard on the tracks this week (since the presentation). All of us will be doing one of the 4 tracks that will be in the game, with these being a beginner course, a sea-side town, the university, and finally a motorway stretch to show off the speed of the game. On another issue, we have added a 'Keep it in the Game' message to the intro sequence. The reason for this is because we appreciate that some people may think that the game encourages people to speed on the public roads. We'd just like to take the time to say that this game in no way encourages the use of excessive speed on the public network, and that the game provides an alternate to doing it in real-life. Speeding is not clever, dangerous, and should be kept where it belongs (in the game).
24/10/2006 We had our presentation yesterday and tried to put the group presentation online, but then we found out that you can't put files on this free website over 200kb. As a result, we are going to look for a file hosting site to host all the files on in future. However, at the present moment, this is not a priority (sorry but we are quite busy on the track and car models, sound recording, game programming...etc). On a more positive note, we have finalised the story and Andrew is planning to start the storyboard cutscenes tonight. He's also decided to use After Effects to add 3D camera movements to 2D cut scenes! Finally, as a group, we have decided to wait until after we have put the games assets into the game, before we publish a game demo online. For all those interested in seeing and playing the demo we showed at our demonstration just give one of us a shout (see the contact page). However, we may release a video of the current version as soon as the file hosting situation has been sorted out.
22/10/2006 We have our group presentation tomorrow and everything has worked out well, as far as progress is concerned. Paul has finished the car physics demo for us to demonstration, Andrew has just finished colouring and shading most of the character designs, Bun has finished one of the cars (so we're ganna show the stages it took to complete it from start to finish), and Martin has put together some music for the demo (which we're playing using the PREngine's 3D sound capabilities). We have also decided to post the presentation here after we're done it (in .pdf format) so everyone can have a look at exactly what we're planning to achieve.
17/10/2006 Andrew has just finished colouring in the first series of concept art. We have added the pictures of ourselves on the about page (Note: We haven't forgotten Bun, his is just not coloured in yet as the design had to be re-done). On other issues, Bun and Martin have all but finished 2 of the beginner cars and Paul is working hard on the game code to be ready for next weeks presentation (although the news that we have to do it on a 'multimedia laptop' has raised a few eyebrows about whether it even has a graphics card able to run the game). In any case, we'll record a demo of us playing the game just to make sure we have something to show as a prototype other than still screenshots).
05/10/2006 We have updated the website today to make use of the title re-design. Since the last post here we have been working hard on a demo, but as our university presentation of the game is not for another 3 weeks, we're working hard to get everything looking professional for that date, and not the end of this week as was originally planned (enough of the excuses). On a more positive note, Paul has finished the car physics setup, Andrew is well underway on the concept art, and Bun and Martin have been working together to get all of the beginner cars ready for the demonstration in week 5. Our next focus is on making the tracks and sound recording/ editing.
25/09/2006 Back a university after the summer break. Hoping to get a working demo up and running within 2 weeks of the start of term. We'll post the demo here under the downloads section when it's ready. As far as progress is concerned, the hard work starts now!
11/09/2006 We have meet up for the last meeting before we go back to university (All in attendance). We have all decided that we should include ourselves in the game, as this would be a nice touch. Also, the story has been changed (again), to try and add some substance to backup the gameplay. We also discussed the need for the game to run smoothly on a range of computers (from the top spec to the lowest spec of around 1GHz and a pre-shader graphics card). As Paul's game engine is being used, he is making it a priority to get the game run and looking as good as possible across a range of lower spec hardware, rather than assuming everyone has an expensive computer.
21/08/2006 Holidays over the past month have slowed development. Bun is still away in Cambodia, and Martin is in Spain. Paul is working on the racing game physics code (ie. The handling), and Andrew is doing the Boy Racer title (We'll update it here on the website when it's completed). On a story relating to the title, Andrew initially did a title that was pure graffiti in style. The only problem was that it looked really good as a piece of artwork, but no one could read it! As a result, we have decided that a re-design is necessary, which is more readable but still has a graffiti style (Keep a look out).
17/07/2006 Paul, Andrew, and Martin have had a meeting around Paul's house, to look at Andrew's concept art and decide on a style for all the artwork in the game. We have decided that a graffiti style is the best option, with black backgrounds to make the colours stand out as much as possible. In terms of colour, we'll be using a lot of gradients of really bright colours. We have also re-written the story line for a second time, to try and get the right balance, and decided that the cut-scenes will be hand drawn 2D slides with a limited amount of movement to give them atmosphere. The whole storyboard will be developed in flash and then exported to an AVI file to play in the game. DirectShow.
06/07/2006 Paul and Bun have meet-up this week (around Paul's house), to discus which cars to base our models on, and which locations to use for the tracks. They have also discussed the use of lighting in the game (as the PREngine supports a variety of indoor and outdoor lighting models). The final decision has been to use hemisphere lighting (an outdoor lighting technique that uses an interpolation of a ground and sky colour for ambient background lighting) and traditional N.L per-pixel lighting for directional, point, and spot lights. Finally, they have looked at the shadowing system, but have decided to use both shadow volumes and shadow maps at an art level (basically you can combine shadow types in the PREngine) to create the right look for different areas of the track (as in some places soft shadows are wanted, and in others you need them to be hard).
29/05/2006 The design document has been drawn up and team members given the following tasks:
A detailed checklist has been drawn up but it would fill this page (hence the abbreviation above).
27/05/2006 Idea for game is thought up over lunch. Everyone is in agreement that a racing game based on the modding scene would be the best idea. Also, a racing game is one of the few games we can realistically complete in a 10 month period (deadline 30/03/2007). In terms of technology, we are going to use Paul's Project Realism Engine (PREngine), which will not be part of the actual project, but will allow us to make the game in 3D, using a state of the art vertex and pixel shader rendering pipeline (don't worry it you don't understand the last statement, Paul wrote it). In English, this means it'll look as good as the games you can buy in the shops today!
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