Velox Nation

[Ostler5000•]

Welcome, Velox Pilot! You're just in time for your briefing!



Velox is a top-down racer crossed with a twin-stick shooter. It takes elements that are instantly recognisable to fans of both F-Zero and WipEout and adds it's own mix of ideas and features.
Velox Nations primary features that make it memorable, are it's pacing, it's 360-degree combat, it's wide choice of drive-able vehicles, and most importantly, it's challenging AI that will knock you on your butt and steal your girlfriend.

Although there is plenty of information in this thread regarding what you can find in Velox Nation, and how it operates, you can find all this and more in the Overworld. Which acts as the Level Hub for all Velox-related levels. For the sake of not overwhelming anyone with just one thread, I have left Power-up and Projectile information out of this thread.

You can see LittleBigDes in this photo.
Up to no good, no doubt. No loitering!


This large screen here is the Overworlds Info Computer. You can find all sorts of information here. Again, here's Des posing after having her ego stroked.



Velox has two game modes which each play a little differently, but the fundamentals usually remain the same.
There is no respawn for destroyed vehicles. All vehicles have a significant amount of health, and there are numerous places and ways to regain any health you lose through crashes or by taking fire from enemy weapons. Every vehicle has lights on it, which blink increasingly quickly, as you take damage. When they stop blinking altogether or you hear a warning siren, pull back and get some repairs!
If you find yourself eliminated, your camera will begin following the nearest human-controlled vehicle. Or, if there aren't any, the nearest AI vehicle.
There are 20 selectable vehicles, but only 8 ever race at a time. In the event the thermo max's out during play, the grid will not be able to spawn all 8 vehicles. The race will, however, try to resume as normal.



Airshark73 and Illume Labs get within range of one another and prepare to open fire!

The first game mode is Casual Race. Which most people will instantly recognise as the most standard race idea ever. In Velox, the standard number of laps is 6. The rules are fairly simple in that whoever completes 6 laps first wins, and then gets to spectate other drivers finishing. You earn points based on the position you finish in. There are no points for failing to complete all 6 laps.

The second is Death Race. Again, fairly easy to understand. Vehicles drive for a maximum of 20 laps. The last vehicle remaining wins. Once the race leader completes a lap, all other vehicles have 15 seconds to do the same, otherwise they are timed out and removed from the competition.
If one vehicle completes 20 laps, all vehicles are automaticly removed, and the race is considered a draw.


Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!



If you're going to be the world champion one day, you need to know how to drive a Velix. (Velox vehicles were first coined 'Velix' by RoneRanger like... ages ago. Velix is both plural and singular.)
As mentioned before, Velox Nation is much like a Twin-Stick-Shooter. The Left Stick controls both your direction and speed - Pushing the stick further will increase your top speed, and increase your turning speed.
While the right stick rotates your 360 degree turret.
The R1 and R2 buttons fire your primary and secondary weapons respectively, and L1 will allow your vehicle to reverse, if held.
Exactly what your primary and secondary weapons happen to be, will vary on your Racing Teams vehicle, but we'll cover that later.

The controls themselves are fairly straightforward, but actually driving a Velix takes a few practice runs. Because Velix machines hover above the road instead of riding on wheels, they are often prone to having little to no traction.
These vehicles will slide, whether you like it or not. Do not try to fight their sliding, learn to control it! To maintain speed and navigate turns well, you must try to powerslide in and out of turns. If you're doing it well, you should find your vehicle has turned to face the inside wall of a corner, while the vehicle itself slides sideways in an arc.
It's not hard to do, Velix vehicles almost turn on the spot, their turning circles are so sharp.



So, now you know the rules and how vehicles work, let's see which Racing Team you'll be signing a racing contract with!
Check the stats and pick the vehicle that fits your play style the best! Remember, you can find all this information and more in the Overworld from in-game, aswell as here.










































I told you the choice of vehicles was extensive!



Velox Nation is set to recieve updates in the form of brand new tracks, over time. For the meantime, Jetropolis should provide plenty of entertainment.
The Velox Grand Prix should be coming to the following venues over the course of the season;
Lost Cavern - A cavern, converted into a huge indoor race track! May not pass health and safety conditions.
Acid Coast - Everyones least favourite holiday resort, not too far away from Jetroplis Circuit.
Magma Slalom - Who needs snowy slaloms when you can drift around lava pits?
Ambitus Jungle - A green environment in more ways than one! Jetropolis' primary power plants are located in the thick of this jungle.
And who knows where else!




Thanks to all those who played a part in making Velox Nation what it has become!
LittleBigDes, Damaz10, Lordwarblade, Speedynutty68, RoneRanger, Shadowbeam, Deaths choice & Tacodelamuerte,
each for test plays and written inputs as the project advanced!

AntiKris, Doopz479, Sehven & Comphermc,
each of whom answered some of my queries when I was working on the original Velox Nation. It was god-awful, but the lessons learned there made a huge difference to the new Velox Nation!

And Pime_Taradox234 for his great work with the Music Sequencer which I can't use to save myself!



See you on the race grid!
I look forward to any and all posts in here! Do let me know how you get on.

http://lbp.me/v/6tcpmw

[damaz10]

Osty my boy, you have outdone yourself! I loved this series even before it was hatched! Seeing and watching you throughout the process of creating this beauty, I knew you had great ambitions to create a unique and fun racing level. The entire setup and presentation of this is very spot on and very well made. The over world is stunning and very immersive with a great tutorial and stats area to get your bearings if you are a first timer. The vehicles themselves are impressive to say the least, the unique drifting you implemented was a really neat change from the norm of racing levels, and the A.I? Beautifully done dude, while most people might end up playing this level alone, you don't quite feel that way on this track... almost had me fooled into thinking I was competing against another player! Overall this is a great start to what I hope will be a popular racing series, this should be a well deserved spotlight pick and I gotta say it... possible a MM pick??!?!?!?!?!? This level rocks hard, anyone reading this, prepare yourselves....

[Ostler5000•]

Haha. Now, an MM Pick, that'd be awesomes.

Thanks again for all your support and advice along the way, man. Some parts of this project were dull as hell dragging my way through. So... many... Labelled Tags. :G


Also, I forgot to mention, the original Velox Nation level, my first LBP2 project is also uploaded. Compare this rubbish to todays Velox, and see what half a year of practice with LBP2s tools has done. Haha.

[damaz10]

O yeah... what do you think I have lined up for an exciting Friday night?

[Ostler5000•]

Oh, yeah, Damaz gonna get himself some hot labelled Tag action!
...I think.
At least that's what I'd spend my Saturday doing.
Who needs alcohol when you can just spent all night labelling Tags and not remember any of it the next morning, either.

EDIT-
Just found Damaz tweeted my level. Thanks man, greatly appreciated.

[Force Ten]

GOD DAYUM SON

You went all out with the showcase topic. That's a great thing, though. I've played nearly every update of this level since maybe after the first 2 or so updates, and boy has it evolved into a beautifully controlled and just plain awesome racing level. I really hope more and more people play this. It's just so good, and as I stated in my review in-game, I can't wait for the new tracks!

[Ostler5000•]

Aw, man, I'm a sucker for a pretty thread.
Wish I'd used Photoshop'd titles for some of my other threads now, actually, haha.

And thanks again for your work with the Music Sequencer. The games official soundtrack simply wouldn't have done this justice, and I've always felt music/audio was absolutely critical to a memorable gaming experience. I hope the Overworld Level Link steers a little traffic your way and gets you a couple of requests, man. Cause you did a wonderful job here.

To anyone else reading this, there are a few other currently un-used audio tracks that'll be used on the other courses. So there's still more of Force Ten's/Pime_Taradox's work to hear.


EDIT-
Nice.

[LittleBigDes]

Finally it's up in the Showcase forums. This must be you biggest and most ambitious project you've done so far. I'm looking forward to to seeing this expand with more tracks. Damaz has said most of what I was going to say in his post. Your logic amazes me, as I don't think there's any other racing levels that have an A.I set up the way you have. I really hope this gets the attention is deserves from the community.

[Turtlelink2]

Its finally done :o queueing for later.

[Ostler5000•]

Rock on. I've never been any higher than 6th or 5th. This is awesome.

I appreciate the queue, Turtlelink.

And, Des, I sure hope it takes off, too.
Would be pretty disappointing for 2 months work of alterations and progress to go to waste realising the level simply didn't appeal to a large audience.
I never expect thousands of plays, but a little recognisation makes the time spent all worthwhile.

[Lordwarblade]

I remember playing the demo or beta of this and since then going by the pics it is looking really awesome i will be sure to check this out again

[LittleBigDes]

Just an idea, I have a tendency to forget which vehicle does what by the time I get to the selection area. So it may be a good idea to arrange them by speed & boost, handling & balance, heavy armour & weapons with a sign or sticker above that group. So people can make a more informed choice whether they've been through the Overworld or not.

[CYMBOL]

Sheesh, just this showcase deserves an MM Pick.

Looks like you put in a lot of work into. Will give it a look.

[CYMBOL]

Am I reading that right? You first published this in Apr? You can't get on Cool Pages with an old publish date.

Oh, sorry, read that wrong, it was the 4th of this month.

Anyway, in the future, I'd recommend posting your showcase within hours of posting your level, not 3 days later.

I've got it queued.

[StarrKable0150]

Wow, these screens really made me curious!
Gonna queue it and give it a try later on!