A PC game based on the classic Commodore 64 game
Written by Mark Rosten, using Blitz 3d

Original version (c) 1984, 1985 Electronic Arts
Programming: Rick Koenig & Connie Goldman, Sound: Dave Warhol

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    Information  

After getting to grips programming with Blitz Basic writing my popular Bruce Lee remake, and after a bit of a break from programming, I decided to start a new project using Blitz 3d (the 3d incarnation of this great programming language). As I like the retro remake challenge I decided to try and create a new version of Racing Destruction Set, based on the original Commodore 64 version (were there other versions?).

The game will be 'based on' the original Commodore 64 version and a not a direct remake (like my almost pixel-perfect Bruce Lee remake was). I'm hoping the game's original look and feel will still be there in this new version, but as it's using a 3d engine instead of 2d it will of course look different to the original. I'm hoping that all of the original's features will be included with a few enhancements here and there.

If you are not familiar with the original game, view a review of it at the Stadium 64 website >here<.

    News  

2002-09-08 - General news.
I've had a very kind offer of help from Brent R Homer, offering his 3d modelling services for the track side objects needed in this remake . I was going to leave all the object modelling until very last but if someone out there is kind enough to help me along then I'll gladly accept . Thanks Brent!

2002-09-08 - Progress update.
I've been working on the vehicle selection screen yesterday and today. The basic display and changing options is working but I know have to incorporate all the original games many, many, (many!) options. To that end, I spent a while with the emulated game and wrote down all the different values for the vehicle options, things like: what tyres can be selected, what engine sizes were allowed, how many land mines/oil gallons were allowed, etc., etc. There were a huge number of settings per vehicle allowed so now I'm adding data tables to the code to cope with all these settings. Getting all the data in and correct and working will take a day or two as there's so much of it! I'll post a screenshot once I'm happy with the layout of this new screen.

Plans for this week: Finish entering all the vehicle statistics data and implement it in the vehicle selection screen.

2002-09-04 - New screenshot.
Just a quick screenshot addition, showing both cars navigating a slippery cross-over section of track.

2002-09-01 - Progress update.
I've just added the finishing touches to the track selection screen. I've tried to make it more intuitive and quick to use. It now displays a tool tip like effect to explain the various options, mainly the play list controls. Everything works fine now including the saving, loading, and deleting of this play lists. I've also re-uploaded the last 2 screenshots showing the new changes to the track selection screen (rather than upload seperate images).

Overall progress update:
I'm quite happy with the progress on the game to this date. I don't always get as much time working on it as I would like (Real Life is a pain sometimes ), but the game is moving along, even if it's the not-so-interesting aspects of it like the menu system. Once all the menu screens are complete I'll be getting back to the main game engine and ripping out the physics code and starting from scratch. The gaming physics book that I ordered from Amazon arrived a few weeks ago so I'll need a couple of weeks digesting that and determining how 'exact' I need to be with the physics and control code.

Edit:
I've just added a newer screenshot showing the track designer as the previous ones were starting to look old.

Plans for this week: Start work on the vehicle selection screen

2002-08-26 - Progress update and 2 new screenshots.
I've been working on the track selection screen within the menu this week. The original game only showed a list of track names and that was it, but in my game I wanted to show a 3d preview of the selected track (smoothly rotating around). I've also expanded the selection screen to incorporate the playlist selections. You can basically group a bunch of tracks (up to 20 at the moment) into a playlist and save it away for future use. You can add tracks to the playlist and then change the order of the entries or delete entries. All the code for adding to, scrolling within, and deleting entries has been done. All I need to do is allow entry of the playlist name and handle saving and loading of playlists.

I've added 2 new screenshots showing the new track selection screen in action. You can't see from the screenshots but it all fades in and out beatifully. You gotta love desiging a GUI using 3d .You may notice from the screenshots that I've changed the font used for the menus as well. It's only an anti-aliased version of the Comic Sans MS font, but looks better than the first stab at a menu font .

Plans for this week: Finish the playlist selections on the track selection screen and, if I have time, start work on the vehicle selection screen.

2002-08-18 - Progress update and new screenshot.
I've been coding away on the menu system this weekend. I've removed the temporary 2d backdrop I had in place, along with the moving text that bounced around behind the menu. The saving and loading of the game options is done, as is the initial use of those options in the game (graphics resolution, whether to display shadows/lap times). Today (Sunday) I've been adding the options for the configuring the player controls (input device: keyboard/joystick/gamepad, joystick port/sensitivity, keys). I've added a screenshot showing the first version of this configuration screen. All the items you see on screen are 3d objects, whether they are cubes for the background of selectable items or spheres for option select or custom quads for the text labels themselves. This allows me to fade in and out everything individually and to make life easier determining which options are highlighted by the mouse pointer.

Plans for this week: (1) Test the joystick/gamepad configuration (assuming I can borrow my friend's joystick/gamepad), (2) Remove the ugly control up/down/left/right sprite (a bog standard Paint Shop Pro image) and replace it with 3d objects, and (3) Start work on the track selection screen.

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    Screen shots

All screenshots are WORK IN PROGRESS!
Models/Textures will be changed before a demo is released.

Development shots (menu system shots, track designer shots, etc.):