Body design optional?

[Frankschtaldt]

I realize this is a pretty controversial suggestion, but....
Would it be possible to make designing the actual appearance of your cars optional? The AI's don't design their cars and the actual design of the cars model has no effect on the cars stats whatsoever.
I think it's a fairly reasonable suggestion as the game is definitely more focused on the running of the business and the numbers behind that than the design part of the game. I can't be the only person that just loads a body and hits finish without actually doing anything to it can I?

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To clarify that last statement a little.
I enjoy playing around the body designer now and again and I think it's an important part of the game.
I just find it annoying that I'm forced to design a body for every car I make when it really has no effect on what is the real focus of the game.

[Eric.B]

There is actually a false assumption there. Design of the body DOES matter.
Weight, Cargo Room, and Aerodynamic Drag all use the calculations based off the body. Everything that requires these 3 things (which is most things) will be effected as well.

For the AI this data is simulated, which is why we have some problems right now with AI vehicle specs.

What will probably happen. Once i get the decal system finished, and all the art added. I'll ask the community to pool together and create a bunch of premade .car files so we fill your "saved car" list.

[Frankschtaldt]

There is actually a false assumption there. Design of the body DOES matter.
Weight, Cargo Room, and Aerodynamic Drag all use the calculations based off the body. Everything that requires these 3 things (which is most things) will be effected as well.

Well, I'll be giggered! So there actually is an advantage to making to models boot bigger and increasing the slope of the windshield. This knowledge alone effects my opinion of the body design requirements.....

What will probably happen. Once i get the decal system finished, and all the art added. I'll ask the community to pool together and create a bunch of premade .car files so we fill your "saved car" list.

That's a pretty good solution I think! I'd be happy to take part in that process when it happens =)

[Eric.B]

Yup, if you make the boot bigger, you'll increase cargo, luxury, and utility ratings. You'll also increase weight, fuel consumption, and acceleration time.

And if I can get turn times under my goal, I'll make old people in Florida love it too! (Where do old people over there retire to? And do they drive Cadillacs like here?)

[Frankschtaldt]

And if I can get turn times under my goal, I'll make old people in Florida love it too! (Where do old people over there retire too? And do they drive Cadillacs like here?)

The Gold coast or the Sunshine coast usually. North and south of Brisbane. Anywhere you'll find unemployed surfer bums really. Makes for an interesting social dynamic....

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So I've been having a bit of a fiddle with the body designer. It would appear that morphing the body has a direct effect on things like weight, cost, space and drag which then effects other things like top speed, fuel efficiency etc etc which basically just confirms what you said.
It would appear however that components such as wheels and lights have no effect on the vehicles stats. Is that correct?

[Eric.B]

You are correct.

[Arakash]

And if I can get turn times under my goal, I'll make old people in Florida love it too! (Where do old people over there retire too? And do they drive Cadillacs like here?)

The Gold coast or the Sunshine coast usually. North and south of Brisbane. Anywhere you'll find unemployed surfer bums really. Makes for an interesting social dynamic....

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So I've been having a bit of a fiddle with the body designer. It would appear that morphing the body has a direct effect on things like weight, cost, space and drag which then effects other things like top speed, fuel efficiency etc etc which basically just confirms what you said.

Your observations are pretty similar to mine.
Its one of the main reasons ive pretty much been giving every vehicle i ever design the minimum height during body designer.
Less weight and less drag afaik.

Onto your actual suggestion, your idea is a good one but i think Eric's solution may be a good way to resolve it.

Edit : Added this to the suggestion link thread.

[Frankschtaldt]

Your observations are pretty similar to mine.
Its one of the main reasons ive pretty much been giving every vehicle i ever design the minimum height during body designer.
Less weight and less drag afaik.

Onto your actual suggestion, your idea is a good one but i think Eric's solution may be a good way to resolve it.

But lower comfort and luxury I'd expect!

[fyakgun]

Hi,
This is my first entry.
I have bought the game a while ago and i liked it. This is the game that i really looking for years as a member of automotive industry from Turkey. But i really need some premade cars (with a upgrade option) to continue play the game. I'm interested in business side of the game more than designing a body. Will be there any improvements in near future?
Thanks,

[Eric.B]

Hi,
This is my first entry.

Hello, welcome to the forums!

I have bought the game a while ago and i liked it. This is the game that i really looking for years as a member of automotive industry from Turkey. But i really need some premade cars (with a upgrade option) to continue play the game. I'm interested in business side of the game more than designing a body. Will be there any improvements in near future?
Thanks,

There are plans to released premade cars, however not all the car artwork is finished. We're still waiting on grills and a few other bits and pieces. When we get these, we'll work in a premade system.

That being said, as mentioned in this thread, you don't need to design the car bodies, just selected a base model and then hit finished. There will be some minor points removed from your ratings, but it is not 100% necessary.

[Antaguana]

Is it difficult to add some impact from the wheels?
Ie larger wheels/low profile tyres = more style and young person interest, better handling (less roll)
High profile tyres = more comfort (more shock absorption) but worse handling (increased roll)
Outer diameter changes gears (ie increase in Dia => larger top speed less torque )
Thicker tyre = more drag but also more grip

etc.

Are there plans to further develop the vehicle designer or are you leaving that to the team at Automation

You have no doubt been asked this a hundred times and are sick of saying no, buuut given Automation have a good vehicle designer and you have good business models; have you thought of teaming up? It would give us the best of both worlds. (ok I understand that having both aspects is not necessarily a good thing as some people want to focus on one aspect or the other, that's why you add in the ability to hire a design team and let the AI do it for you... yeah i know it's not that simple)

[Eric.B]

Is it difficult to add some impact from the wheels?

There is a medium possibility of this happening after we implement pre-made vehicles. There is a segment of the player base who has no interested in the car designing side of things. So I would like to make designing optional before I start penalizing designs.

Are there plans to further develop the vehicle designer or are you leaving that to the team at Automation

Outside of a couple missing pieces of artwork and slightly better paints, the car designer is considered finished. Without a major cash injection, we do not have the funds to redo or improve the artwork. As for Automation, remember, that they've had a free artist working full time for nearly 6 years on their car designer. That's roughly worth $250,000-$500,000. And I believe they now employ another artist full time for the last year, which is another $25,000-$100,000... Compared to our art budget which was around $10,000-$20,000 for the entire game. Big difference.

You have no doubt been asked this a hundred times and are sick of saying no, buuut given Automation have a good vehicle designer and you have good business models; have you thought of teaming up?

I actually made this offer to them when I came across their project around 4-5 years ago. But it was shot down in a pretty braggadocious manner by their programmer, specially after I mentioned that they should port their custom engine rendering stuff to my engine which uses Ogre3D. Which is kind of funny now that they're moving to Unreal which is a lot more work than just following Ogre's upgrade path to Ogre2.1...

Anyhoo the artist is a cool guy, and both of the games/teams have had a friendly, do not step on each other toes, approach. Which is nice. We share many of the same users, people who complain about their lack of tycoon are pointed to us, people who complain about our car designer, crappy UI, or complex game design are pointed to Automation. Works out well, even if they end up the bigger, more successful game.