April 1, 2011

[April's Fools Joke] SuperTuxKart terminal version announced

With the upcoming 0.7.1 release so near comes a huge and unexpected surprise: SuperTuxKart will soon be ported to work entirely in non-graphics mode, allowing it to be run without any graphical environment. The reasons our project leader hiker gave, are:
...it will allow SuperTuxKart to run even on the weakest of computers, tablets and other mobile devices, and make testing even easier. In the future, we may consider porting it to a web interface, but that will most likely be after ver. 1.0 (patches welcome ;) ).
Here's a work-in-progress screenshot of the non-graphics port, aptly codenamed "ASCII Kart".


As you might (or might not) have noticed, this is a screenshot of Tux in 'Tux Tollway' with 19 AI opponents. I suffered no graphics slowdowns, even with all effects enabled, and this goes to prove how efficient ASCII Kart is. There are still some issues; namely rank, lap, time and map displays needs to be shown more clearly, but as the port progresses these problems will be addressed.

Can't wait to test it on my cheapo netbook! :D

7 comments:

  1. Nice, can't wait for release! *sarcasm*

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  2. You forgot to say that this new version will require Irrlicht 1.8 because only 1.8 version gives power and lightness for this awesome new implementation ;)

    -KroArtem

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  3. Finally, a 3D racer for ArchLinux users!

    Feature request: Can you add a setting so I change the nitro particle effect from a % to a $? :)

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  4. Is there any alpha version to test?

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  5. [You got me.] I hate april fools day. Looks pretty cool though.

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  6. Heh, glad I at least fooled someone. Hard to match Auria's great one two years ago. ;)

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