CrazyCar is a simple(ish) car racing game that I have written in over a the last month or so. This is a beta test version, so there are a few bugs here and there.
This program is send-me-a-donation-to-charity-if-you-like-it-ware. If you like the program, keep it. If you don't, delete it. Please also send me comments, bug reports etc. and any tenners you have lying around the place. If I get a response, I will probably add more features to the program and release a new version.
I am not charging for this cos it is a beta version and hasn't got a few things that it ought to. However, any spare tenners send to the Malcolm Sargent Cancer Fund for Children c/o Middlesex Hospital, London, England. (Thats where any money you send me will go.)
If you live a long way from Britain and it is awkward to send a donation, a postcard or E-mail will do. I'm sorry, I can't afford to answer non-E-mail enquiries about the program.
I must confess a vested interest in this particular charity. I was diagnosed with cancer about 18 months ago, and have benefitted from this charity in the past. This is one of the ways in which I am trying to say thank you. The Fund provides financial support to children (and their family's) who are suffering from Cancer, and it has strong links with a number of hospitals in this country.
System Requirements:
A PowerMac. Sorry all you guys out there without one, but my coding isn't up to writing a program that does as much graphic stuff as this program does and still runs at a reasonable speed. I did try to get it running under 68k emulation on my PowerMac, but it didn't co-operate.
A compatible video card. Sorry, this is a big problem. Most macs have a standard format to video memory, and those are OK. Unfortunately, some are incompatible with the low-level routines I wrote to get the game speed up. These include 7200's, Powercenter clones (I think -try it and see) and a couple of other models. The best way to find out if it works is to try it and see. If the program loads up fine, but when you get into the game the track graphics are screwed, then this is probably the problem. I am working on it! (Ths *is* a beta test)
2500-ish k of Ram. If you're short (on a PowerMac, come on, get some more, its cheap at the moment!) try shaving some off this figure in the Get Info Box. Be warned, below 2300k the program may well crash.
A 256-color 640*480 screen. If you can't set your monitor to this resolution, tough. I may build in support for 800*600 soon.
System 7.1. (At least I don't see why it shouldn't run under 7.1 though I haven't actually tested it. I use 7.5.5 :)
A word of warning:
This product is provided as is and without any guarantee that it will do anything that you may have expected it to. I don't guarantee that it will work flawlessly with your system. This is a beta test. One more thing, the only system that this has been tested on is a Performa 6200. I know it works flawlessly on my computer.
Help and other information:
Single Player Mode:
Race against the clock, and perfect your mastery of the track before playing someone else.
Two Player Mode:
This is far more fun. The object is to win.
Default Controls:
Player 1: Player 2:
Accelerate: f. Accelerate: Keypad 8.
Brake: c. Brake: Keypad 5.
Left: z. Left: Keypad 4.
Right: x. Right: Keypad 6.
Options:
The Options Dialog allows you to set a number of game parameters:
No Of Laps - between 1 and 50.
Screen Size - The faster your Mac, the larger you can make this.
Alternate line display - Likewise, on a fast Mac, your can turn this off.
Keyboard controls - Obvious, really.
Credits:
Displays a credits screen.
Quit:
Exits the program.
Program Setup:
The program requires the graphics file to be in the same folder as it is otherwise it will complain. It also requires a file called 'Track' to be in the same folder. I supply a number of tracks with the program. Just duplicate one and rename it 'Track' to use (a bit like Marathon levels).
If you want the track file format to write your own editor, E-mail me and ask me nicely. Send me a copy of the editor too, if you like.
About the program.
If any programmer out there is interested in how the program works, E-Mail me and I'll tell you. Briefly though, is uses 2D texture mapping, and a bunch of routines for drawing directly into screen memory rather than using the excellent but slow Quickdraw routines provide by the system. The maths is simple in practice, but hard to explain if you haven't got a couple of Maths qualifications under your belt during the course of your education. (e.g. A levels)
About Me!
I am 18 and have been programming since I was eight. This is the first time I have released anything, since it is the first time I have written anything worth releasing. Most of my programs are experiments to see if I can acheive a particular effect, and then I can't be bothered to finish the program to give it a nice user interface and write loads of documentation. My main interest is graphic programming, and I worked out all the algorithms used to rotate textures in this program myself.
Enjoy!
Ben Roughton.
E-mail: roughton@webfactory.co.uk
Real Address: 44 Jasmin Way,
Packmoor,
Stoke-on-Trent,
Staffs, ST74UJ.
ENGLAND.
Revision History:
v1.0 Initial beta test release.
v1.1 Added Keyboard control config, ( smile all u Powerbook owners)
Fixed a buch of memory leaks,
Added a load of error checking for things like missing track files and so on.
Fixed a (very minor) bug in the track loading routine.
