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

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

Information - News - Progress - Screen shots - Links

    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  

2003-03-04 - Development Abandoned.
It's been months since I had the time and desire to work on this remake so I've decided to abandon my development for the foreseeable future. I simply don't have enough free time to spend coding after a full week's coding at work, and when I do use my computer I surf the Net or play a couple of MMORPG games. I apologise to those kind people who have sent me emails and left guestbook/forum entries expressing an interest in the remake. I will keep what work I have done safe in the slim chance that I will return to it sometime in the future, which also means I won't be releasing any of my source code either I'm afraid. I'll keep this web page active for a little while before shutting it down as well. Kind regards, Mark Rosten.

2003-01-23 - Off on hols!.
I'm just about to leave for 2 weeks skiing in Canada (Cool! ) but I intend to get back into coding my RDS remake when back and fully recovered , so speak to you then! Regards, Mark.

2003-01-02 - Happy New Year!.
Just a quick note to say I haven't forgotten about this site or my remake. I'll be getting back to it within the next month or so, after my 2 week skiing holiday in Banff, Canada . Thanks for your continued support for this remake through emails and my guestbook.

2002-10-30 - Development on hold.
Hi folks. I'm afraid I'm having to put development on hold for the time being, I'm just not getting enough time at the moment to work on this game as well as other real life stuff . Hopefully I'll get back in the swing of things around the Christmas period (when I have some time off from work). Regards, Mark.

2002-10-24 - Site moved.
I've moved web hosts for this domain so please let me know if you encounter any problems on the new site. Thanks.

2002-10-10 - (lack of) Progress Update.
Just a quickie to say I've been taking a brief break from work on the game. I've been real busy at home and work and needed a breather away from the computer. But I am now starting to toy with some rigid body physics code which will evolve into the basic movement and collision code (hopefully ), so work will continue. I WILL finish this game, trust me .

2002-09-29 - Progress update.
I've had a slow week this week, running into a couple of stumbling blocks on the collision system. I'm using the native Blitz 3d collision system but this is starting to give me grief so I may have to scrap that and use my own system. So I felt like I was at least moving forward on the game I've incorporated the race starting code, showing a basic set of traffic lights to count down the start of the race, like the original game did. I may replace this with a modelled object (traffic lights on poles over the start position), but what I've got it similar to the original so I may just leave it at that.

Plans for the week: Look at the collision system some more

2002-09-24 - 2 new screenshots.
Just a quick couple of screenshots highlighting the new camera zoom distance option. I've just implemented the pause function as well.

2002-09-23 - Progress update.
I'm been playing with the vehicle collision code this week, as well as checking into some rigid body phsyics demos that were kicking around the Blitz community. This new few weeks I'll be concetrating on reading my new physics for game developers book, and trying to implement what I've learned into the RDS car control/physics code. As this is all new stuff to me I'm not sure how long it will take to implement, if I can manage it at all . So, as always, watch this space, just don't be surprised if I don't post any updates for a few weeks (no doubt I'll be tearing my hair out and swearing at the computer ).

2002-09-17 - New screenshot.
Just a new screenshot today, showing the new font I'm using for the HUD information in-game. I must stop tinkering and get on with the new physics and control code!

2002-09-15 - Progress update and 2 new screenshots.
I've spent this week tinkering with the menu system, adding a few things and tidying up others. It's working as well as I want right now, so I can leave it alone and get on with the main game again .

I've also started coding the laying of oil and land mines for the destruction part of the game. Currently it only adds basic mesh details to the scene and subtracts from the available amounts of oil and mines, as specified in the menu system. I'll probably finish the code to drop the oil and mines before my next task. Collision detection and crash processing will be left until after I've re-written the control and physics code.

I've added a couple of new screenshots, one showing the race options in the menu system and one showing full screen mode when you are playing one player. I've had to change the temporary texture I was using for the pavement as you couldn't see the oil drops well enough. In one player mode you have the option of playing in normal splitscreen mode (computer player on the bottom), or full screen mode, showing you more of the track.

Plans for the week: Finish the initial oil and land mine dropping code and look at the collision code before getting ready to re-write the physics and control code.

2002-09-10 - Progress update and new screenshot.
I've finished testing the new vehicle selection screen, comparing all the numerous combinations of engine/land mines/armour/etc. to the original game. I've also added a file selector for loading previously saved vehicle data (you can save any vehicle configurations created). A new screenshot shows this vehicle selection screen in action. The rotating 3d model of the vehicle selected is just a place-holder, as are all models I have used so far.

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.

2002-08-10 - Progress update and new screenshot.
I've just posted a new screenshot showing the first version of the menu system. The menu options are all 3d bars which rotate on changing menus. I'll need to tweak the textures of the highlighted options and the logos displayed (the Blitz3d logo is faded in and out every now and then), I'll also probably remove the moving sprite 'Racing Destruction Set' texts which bounce around the screen behind the menu. All I have left to do on the actual menu system is make it work in-game.

The menu system works differently if you call up the menu in-game as the split screen cameras cause a few problems. Hopefully this will be working by the end of the weekend and I can get on with all the menu option screens needed (control selection, inputting player names, track load/save, etc.)

2002-08-05 - Progress update.
After several failed attempts at a new physics engine (just couldn't get the controls how I wanted them) I'm putting the physics re-write on the back burner until a book I've ordered arrives. Until then I'm going to make a start on the menu system and all the things that go along with choosing all the various options of the game. So, progress is moving slowly forward, Just .

The good news is I've got lots of nice little ideas for enhancing the game options.
Things like:
1) Saving and loading race options preferences in different files (pre-made ones will be themed like 'bouncy bouncy' and 'endurance')
2) Saving and loading player profiles (keeping controls per player and any stats the game will keep track of)
3) 'Play lists' for which tracks to play. Simply select a bunch of tracks, along with their race properties (gravity/laps/etc.), save the play list, and play all the tracks one after the other

I've lots more ideas for enhancements to the game, but I'll keep them quiet, for now.

2002-07-21 - Progress update.
A too busy week Real Life (tm) has not left me any time for coding unfortunately . What little time I've spent today has been on a new physics system to replace the one I have. After playing the original game a bit more (via an emulator) I've realised that I need to scrap my current physics code and start again. This isn't a big problem but due to the lack of time spent coding has meant I'm not as far along as I'd have wished.

Plans for the week: Try to find more time to code and continue with the new physics code

2002-07-08 - Progress update, site update, and new screenshot.
After spending more time than anticipated on creating the new curved corners and narrow width track pieces I've finally finished the track designer. No doubt it will need a bit more tweaking when I throw more weird and wonderful tracks at it, but that's to be expected when I'm the only one testing the program (for now).

I've uploaded a screenshot showing the new 3d track view mode within the designer. This is handy to see how the track looks as the above view mini-map cannot show you the heights and widths selected for each track piece. I'm not sure if I'll add anything else to this view at the moment as I really need to leave the designer alone and get on with the main game code .

I've moved the 'Progress' section to a seperate page as the bulk of the text shown there doesn't change that often.

Next item on the agenda: Re-playing the original game on an emulator to try to get my game's control and physics to 'feel' similar. I'm not sure how long this will take but it's important my game feels like the old game. I may have to get a 'best guess' system in place and see what other people think.

2002-07-05 - Progress update.
I've been fixing some problems with the new narrow width track pieces in the track designer this week. I've also added a track view option to the designer which renders the whole track in 3d. This is shown from above but I may add the perspective view used in game to better show the final look of the track. This weekend I'll be concentrating on making sure the new track pieces work fine and adjusting the new collision code I'm adding to stop you from going against the track's route.

2002-06-29 - 2 more screenshots.
2 more screenshots have been added showing the new curved and narrow track pieces.

2002-06-29 - 2 new screenshots.
I'm hard at work coding this weekend. I've just finsihed converting the code to use the new track pieces. All that's left is to make the game use the new width pieces for the corners and turn-offs. For a break I've just uploaded 2 more screenshots showing both cars moving around the track. Notice the lovely slightly more curved corners!

2002-06-27 - Progress update.
I've finished my track piece modeller and created the new track piece meshes. A result of this is having slightly more curved corners and turn-offs, as well as fewel polygons on certain meshes. All I have to do know is incorporate the new meshes into the game, using the new narrow meshes where standard pieces have had their widths slightly reduced. I should get the new meshes in-game this weekend, as well as updating the waypoint data for the new curves .

2002-06-23 - Progress update and new development screenshot.
Progress has been slow this week, too much R/L stuff I'm afraid . What I have done is start work on a quick and easier modeller program to create the track pieces meshes that I am missing in the game. The missing pieces are for track pieces that have had their widths changed.

The previous method I had for creating track pieces was by reading in coloured points on a picture and converting that into triangle information. This was getting harder and harder to work out for the single lane track pieces so I thought I'd create a small modeller app that could help instead.

The screenshot shows a single lane corner piece being modified using the modeller. I design the pieces in an above view by placing triangle vertices by hand.

Plans for this week: Finish the modeller utility and create the required missing track pieces. Incorporate the meshes into the track designer and game.

2002-06-18 - Site update.
I've added a screenshot viewer page that is displayed when a screenshot thumbnail is clicked on, rather than just show the enlarged image.

2002-06-17 - Site update.
I've re-added the old screenshots that I had recently removed. By default the site only shows the last 4 screenshots but there is a link to show all of them. I'm working on a seperate screenshot page for when I eventually redo the look of the site. Working on the website is just a slight diversion from coding the game and it's nice to learn more PHP and MySQL .

2002-06-16 - Progress update and new screenshot.
Coding has gone well this weekend. I'm happy with my progress on simulating the car 'slots'. The vehicle semi-steers towards a lane using the calculated waypoint data. It will also automatically right itself if it ends up facing a strange direction if you leave the vehicle alone. I can adjust how sensitive this auto-steer is and have coded it so that it can be turned on or off completely. So you can play similar to how the old game did, using slots, or without. I still want to make the game play like the original, but having the option to turn off slots completely might be nice.

I've also started work on how to handle the crashes. I'm going to check the impact angle after a jump against the speed and track slope angle to try and determine whether to perform a crash. I'll also use the vehicle armour and weight settings once those are in. I'm not sure the best way to simulate a crash yet so I may have to play the original some more to remember how it was done there.

I've added a new screenshot showing both cars taking a big jump.

Plans for this week: Tweak auto-steer to slots code and work out a method of simulating crashes.

2002-06-15 - News of another remake in the works (not mine ).
I received an email from Thomas Harte today mentioning his remake called Stunt Mania. It's based on the original 'Sports 4d Driving' game by Mindscape/Distinctive. Thomas has only recently started on this project but it's looking good so far. Go take a look at his screenshots now!

2002-06-12 - Progress update and new screenshots.
I've removed the old screenshots and replaced them with 3 new ones. These show the slightly new interface of the Track Designer and the lap times displayed on the game HUD. I'm not sure if I'll keep lap times in the final game, but I thought it would be nice to have in the game. I've brought the progress list up-to-date as well.

2002-06-10 - Progress update.
I've started coding the 'slots' using the waypoint data I have calculated for the track. It looks like it should work ok. I've added a very basic routine to correct the aspect of the vehicle if it hits the invisible boundaries at strange angles. I only really spotted this as I can now change the game's gravity on-the-fly and very low gravity was placing the car in strange places due to Blitz3d's collision checking . As always, with a bit of tweaking this should be fine.

Plans for this week: Continue with the 'slot' waypoints and the collision code.

2002-06-07 - Site update.
I've been updating the site to use PHP and MySQL so I can manage the news and screenshots easily. I have also changed the 'Progress' section to use PHP and MySQL so I can maintain the percentages and what's left to do for each main area of the game.

2002-06-05 - Progress update.
Quite a slow weekend as far as progress on the game goes. I'm setting myself smallish targets for my coding sessions at the moment. The last target was to get a working lap counter in. I'm also pretty happy with the waypoint generation code and have converted this system to validate the map track pieces in the track designer. The map designer validates that all track pieces join each other and that their widths and heights match. If it finds a problem then the position in error is highlighted on the mini-map.

Plans for this week: More tweaking of the car control/physics (getting ready to implement different vehicle types) and making a start implementing the 3 lane 'slots'.

2002-06-01 - Progress update and new screenshot.
After a bit of confusion with working out my waypoints for the different track pieces, the waypoint calculations are working perfectly. I've added a screenshot to show a large map with the waypoints I'll be using the lanes. Next thing to do: use the waypoints in the game (auto-steer the vehicles towards the nearest lane).

2002-05-30 - Progress update and new screenshot.
As the original game was a slot-car racing game, you had movement between lanes but the game steered you into the 3 lanes depending on where you were on the track piece. I am trying to emulate that with way points for the lane information. The basic waypoint system is finished, it just needs testing and them implementing into the game.

2002-05-27 - Progress Update and new screenshot.
This new screenshot contains the new player and lap counter display that I've just added to the game.

2002-05-26 - Progress update.
It's been a busy week so I haven't spent too much time coding on RDS. What time I have spent has been on tweaking the car controls and physics. I've also been toying with 3d sprites for the overlayed lap counters and whatever else I decide to add the the display.

Plans for this week: Finish the track designer. Start work on enforcing the track direction and blocking off exits for cross-overs and turn-offs.

2002-05-20 - Progress update.
After a slow weekend (was paintballing all day Sunday), I've only managed to redo most of the basic car physics system. I needed the car to react better to the ice/dirt surfaces (and later for oil slicks) so I needed a better way of handling slide. The new system works much better and should do for now, with a few tweaks here and there. I'll finish tweaking the car controls before starting work on making sure the cars can only travel round the track in the correct direction (inlcuding blocking off certain exits from cross-overs and turn-off track pieces).

2002-05-20 - Screenshots added.
I've added a couple more screenshots to show the track designer and track viewer programs in action.

Plans for this week: Refine or completely redo car control/physics.

2002-05-18 - New website created.
I'll probably update at least once a week on the game's progress, so stay tuned. If you have any comments or suggestions, please email me or leave a post in my forums. Thanks.

    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.):