Thanks to all of you that participated in the Logan Kart survey. Now it's time to present the results, as well as some commentary regarding your responses.
1. How do you feel about the current GUI / HUD?
A plurality (44%) expressed content with the current UI, although desire for tweaks to aesthetics or usability was quite common. Only 3 responses were in favor of a UI overhaul.
Logan Kart was built using the old, pre-Unity 5 UI system so at the moment it isn't worth porting the whole mess to something that looks better. That being said, some tweaks have been made to the navigation of the menu already that should hopefully reduce confusion in navigation in some menus.
2. What changes should be made to the game's physics?
The results for this question were fairly evenly split, with about equal amounts preferring "no change" and "major change," and a plurality choosing "minor change."
I can confirm the vehicle physics in Deluxe are different than classic Logan Kart 8. While the underlying systems are quite similar to before, acceleration has been increased on higher speed classes and the bounciness of vehicles has been reduced. It is also now possible to rotate your vehicle in midair to help avoid the aftermath of a poorly landed jump. All of these changes are still under testing, however, and may change before release, since some new problems have emerged.
These changes are the primary reason behind the new speed class names (60, 120, 180... to differentiate and separate them from classic Logan Kart and its old physics), but if people don't like this it can be reverted before release.
3. Stars. They kinda suck.
Nobody wants to get a star in Logan Kart because they suck. Most of you wanted the star to suck a little less, and a good chunk (more than 25%) wanted entirely new star behavior.
Good news, the stars are indeed now immune to explosions! The physics engine doesn't want to cope with any sort of "push other carts out of the way" mechanic, however, so while the star will do more than it does now, it still won't be unstoppable.
4. What current item needs the most fixing?
Oh dear. Google Forms does not handle these short response questions too well. I was expecting some one- or two-word responses, but some of you wrote entire sentences, and the software spit out a very unhelpful chart. I think every item got at least one vote, but most people wanted changes in the star and a certain blue item that targets the leader of the race. Most of the requests here fall in the "bug fix" category, so hopefully the items should be a little bit more predictable. In general.
5. The Essay Question.
"Please add a restart button to time trials."
Yes (Improving time trials is planned and partially implemented already).
"Add luggy and Mayro"
No (Logan Kart 8 Deluxe is a certified no-meme zone. OK, not really, but still no).
"Was this game made with asset store stuff?"
No.
"Three is no low end:("
I have no idea what this means.
Some of you guys are really torn about physics:
"The physics are incredibly broken"
"More wacky physics"
Thrown into the mix were a lot of duplicate requests, things that are now in the game, or responses that reflected a desire for new content (as addressed in the second section of the survey).
6. Which of these four would you like to see more of most? (Characters, Karts, Items, Tracks)
Tracks won with 48%, and indeed that's the focus for Deluxe. Not as many wanted items or karts. The number of items will be the same but some of them will have re-skins and behave differently, and the vehicle selection will be completely unchanged other than perhaps some graphical updates.
Part of this is I'm too lazy to expand the selection screen beyond the current roster of nine. However, there will definitely be some new characters to replace the you-know-whos.
7. Which would you most like to see added into the game? (More content, battle mode, hold two items, etc.)
"More content" won with a majority (54%), so as stated before that's definitely an area of focus along with the bugfixes and physics and usability tweaks.
Five of you wanted the ability to hold two items, so while this is a possibility, it is not high on the priority list. It is the same with battle mode, although that came in second with 17% of the votes. I've been thinking about incorporating battle-mode-like mechanics into regular races (like a health/damage mechanic) but that may be too radical a gameplay change and will likely be excluded or at the very most optional.
So the focus will be more content, battle mode, and then two items, in that order, for the time being, but I wouldn't expect to see the latter two in Logan Kart 8 (Logan Kart 9 here we come?). As for someone's "story mode" and another's "online multiplayer," both of these are beyond the scope of this project.
8. The Other Essay Question
"unlockable [characters and tracks]"
Probably not, unfortunately.
"make intentional shortcuts"
I won't be rearranging any of the old tracks, but some of the new tracks definitely have some interesting design features.
"add purely random items setting for VS mode"
Oh boy. Are you sure you want this?
"Add sound effects. Either there's not many or they're just that quiet to not recognize them."
I admit the sound effects are lacking. This is not a huge priority but it's something I'm definitely considering.
"Melancholy Damp Area"
Sorry, no "Synonym Cup" this time around, although one of the new tracks will be quite miserable.
"Give the characters their own unique advantages"
Yes, this is something I'm considering, since right now the only difference between characters is their mass, which doesn't affect driving too much.
"I wrote my other suggestions the last eight times i took this survey"
Don't you have something better to do?
That's a wrap! Stay tuned for more Logan Kart updates, hopefully at least on a weekly basis until release.
