Author Topic: Kong123's Deathrace  (Read 3050 times)

If you don't know, kong is not gonna be hosting anymore. I'm just wondering if anyone wants this server brought back to life. If this server does come back though, I'll make sure the gamemode is revamped and all that.

Absolutely! One of my all-time favorite gamemodes. I would love to see it become a publicly released gamemode if you're willing to go that far.

Love Kong's, I'd die for Beachland but I think this could use a better map, always seemed like the maps could have been better somehow.

Once I have actual time (instead of planning a date) I'll release the source with new updates and fixes (will require more testing of course) upon a lot of mods I have made in the past years and some modifications to some mods. Also a custom team and game mode system using the standard minigame system, I basically wanted a super light mod to control how the game works so best option was to make my own.

Also a custom team and game mode system using the standard minigame system, I basically wanted a super light mod to control how the game works so best option was to make my own.
Why not just use Slayer for teams? Is there anything in particular you want to do with teams that Slayer can't accomplish?

Why not just use Slayer for teams? Is there anything in particular you want to do with teams that Slayer can't accomplish?
I figured that this question would come up. It's more about efficiency in a mod, not saying slayer is slow. Although it's been having so many bugs and there's just so many features I don't want specially for this game mode. So making a light version was part of the idea.

Another reason I didn't mention is I highly dislike dependencies. In my experience when I've hosted sometimes a mod would just crap on itself because it was missing a function or it just was depending on an add-on to exist. I'm okay with support files being dependencies because there's tons of different version functions that were copy and pasted and it's best to just download one file. In Slayers case there are just too many things in the mod that won't really be used. I like gamemodes to be best as possible and not have features that are never used. It's also fun making your own stuff and see how it all goes.

I figured that this question would come up. It's more about efficiency in a mod, not saying slayer is slow. Although it's been having so many bugs and there's just so many features I don't want specially for this game mode. So making a light version was part of the idea.
What bugs is it having? Also I wouldn't consider extraneous, unused features as a valid reason to avoid using Slayer per se. That's essentially an argument against code libraries as a whole.

Another reason I didn't mention is I highly dislike dependencies. In my experience when I've hosted sometimes a mod would just crap on itself because it was missing a function or it just was depending on an add-on to exist. I'm okay with support files being dependencies because there's tons of different version functions that were copy and pasted and it's best to just download one file. In Slayers case there are just too many things in the mod that won't really be used. I like gamemodes to be best as possible and not have features that are never used. It's also fun making your own stuff and see how it all goes.
While in most cases I would avidly defend code reusage, Blockland add-ons don't exactly exude good development practices. Even add-ons like Slayer and BLG, which are essentially the best developed add-ons in this game, don't include unit tests or a clear client contract (i.e. what classes and functions developers using these add-ons should expect to persist across versions). So I'll concede that point.

I suppose my main worry is that you're falling in to the trap of perfectionism (like the rest of us). At the end of the day, it's all for fun. But I just hope you're aware of what you're doing.

What bugs is it having? Also I wouldn't consider extraneous, unused features as a valid reason to avoid using Slayer per se. That's essentially an argument against code libraries as a whole.
I wouldn't know anymore because I stopped using Slayer after v4 (I don't remember how far I was in v4 but I know it was before v4.1 came out), seems dismissive a little on me. There would always be something breaking or Slayer would spam my console, so I stopped using it after having a few weeks of frustration trying to figure out why Slayer would do this and then something new going wrong. I have reported bugs in the past such as the camera randomly zooming in when you spectate.
 
With lighter mods it's much easier to track the issue down. It takes a lot less time to fix the incoming problems (especially if you're just making a small gamemode) - lighter mods may not have as many features or other cool stuff but they do reduce resource usage especially if you don't need many features. It's a benefit on the machine too. If you plan to use a lot of the features, definitely go with Slayer.
The features Slayer has are so many, but I don't really need much of it and they still run through the game and process. An example: Kong's server had a lot of mods and they were required, the solution is to make them all compatible, not disabling add-ons that just cannot work - so this took time to fix and had to force the server to stay on version 3 because version 4 broke the gamemode completely, everything was being spammed the minigame took over 5 seconds to reset even with less than 10 people. While this may sound like an excuse to not use Slayer, it's more of I refuse to fix any odd/crazy bugs in a large mod like Slayer after having more frustration experiencing with the development feautres.

I suppose my main worry is that you're falling in to the trap of perfectionism (like the rest of us). At the end of the day, it's all for fun. But I just hope you're aware of what you're doing.
I usually do it for fun and it's been a while since I've played Blockland. I don't really care to perfect a mod, I just want it to work the way it originally did before another mod was introduced. Mods can't be perfect, but they can be more compatible depending on how it was written - this is a different argument though leading to "Blockland add-ons don't exactly exude good development practices." Some mods are so old that the person who made it either has no interest in fixing it or does not have time. It's now up to me (as the host for example) to either delete some add-ons and make it work again or I try to fix the other mod to be more universal (not saying Slayer is inactive but it was updated last year and I see people reporting bugs).

That sounds perfect for what I'm trying to do here. The main change I will be making is to the shop. I kinda felt like most of Deathrace's problems is from how unbalanced weapons can be while racing. Maybe making pistols the only savable weapons, and having the rest of the weapons single round use items with lower prices could solve this.

The only problem I can see with this is the shop needs to be a whole lot more accessible than it is right now.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2019, 10:54:25 PM by Monoblaster4 »

i made new spawn areas and shops for this u can ask kong for them

i made new spawn areas and shops for this u can ask kong for them
I have not seen Kong online for a long time. I'm not sure if it is an option for me to get anything other than the normal game files right now.

That sounds perfect for what I'm trying to do here. The main change I will be making is to the shop. I kinda felt like most of Deathrace's problems is from how unbalanced weapons can be while racing. Maybe making pistols the only savable weapons, and having the rest of the weapons single round use items with lower prices could solve this.
Personally, I am not a fan of single-use weapons. There's nothing more irritating then splurging on a single-use weapon only to die near instantly out of the gates. Also considering the unpredictable nature of Blockland vehicle physics, this problem is amplified.

That being said, I get what you're saying. The most frustrating aspect of Kong's Deathrace was how long it took to get points for weapons. The less weapons you have, the fewer points you get, and the fewer points you get, the less weapons you have. I would propose giving participation points. After the round starts (so after you've killed off the AFKs), everyone alive gets 1 points every minute or so. This rewards good drivers who aren't necessarily good fighters.

Personally, I am not a fan of single-use weapons. There's nothing more irritating then splurging on a single-use weapon only to die near instantly out of the gates. Also considering the unpredictable nature of Blockland vehicle physics, this problem is amplified.
Yeah, I get what you mean with the unpredictability of vehicles and such, but I think this idea needs to be explored a little more. The whole point of doing this is to make every weapon a lot more accessible while keeping weapon usage high. As said before pistols will be savable, but will have a higher price, making it so it doesn't feel like you're losing any progress when you die. Melee weapons might be added into that too.
I would propose giving participation points. After the round starts (so after you've killed off the AFKs), everyone alive gets 1 points every minute or so. This rewards good drivers who aren't necessarily good fighters.

Yeah, this idea works for sure, although it kinda makes spawn camping viable for getting points. I think something that might be fun is giving points depending on what position you are in, making players want to race a whole lot more. The only problem is we would need to do checkpoints or something to make sure we have the right person in first place and so on.

Yeah, I get what you mean with the unpredictability of vehicles and such, but I think this idea needs to be explored a little more. The whole point of doing this is to make every weapon a lot more accessible while keeping weapon usage high. As said before pistols will be savable, but will have a higher price, making it so it doesn't feel like you're losing any progress when you die. Melee weapons might be added into that too. 
Give it a shot, see what player's think. If the prices are low enough, the occasional freak accident shouldn't matter that much.

Yeah, this idea works for sure, although it kinda makes spawn camping viable for getting points. I think something that might be fun is giving points depending on what position you are in, making players want to race a whole lot more. The only problem is we would need to do checkpoints or something to make sure we have the right person in first place and so on.
The easiest solution I can think of would be to kill anyone in the spawn area right before the game starts giving participation points (use a zone brick), and to kill off anyone not in a vehicle. Of course, people could hop in a vehicle and camp right outside the spawn area. But that would require them to come back to the game every 5 or 10 minutes anyway, at which rate they may as well just play the game.

As for the checkpoint approach, instead of keeping track of first, second, etc, you could just give more points to the first person to reach that checkpoint. For example, the first person to reach any give checkpoint gets 5, second gets 3, thirds gets 2, everyone else 1. It could still get tricky track of who is in what vehicles and whether they all count for x-th place. So perhaps a simple flat rate for each checkpoint would be best.

As for the checkpoint approach, instead of keeping track of first, second, etc, you could just give more points to the first person to reach that checkpoint. For example, the first person to reach any give checkpoint gets 5, second gets 3, thirds gets 2, everyone else 1. It could still get tricky track of who is in what vehicles and whether they all count for x-th place. So perhaps a simple flat rate for each checkpoint would be best.
For now, I think a way of telling what place you're in would be nice, and as an added bonus you will be awarded points at the end of the round according to your place and number of players in that round. Using current checkpoint + distance from the next checkpoint can easily determine who's in what place accurately.