onEbest viewed with NetSurf
SimCar - another driving simulation with realistic physics(available for download at sourceforge.net; current version: 5.2.0) A video
This program is also an electric car driving simulator and since version 5.0.0 it's essentially similar to Skunks, but for the dynamical simulation it uses some simpler functions written by me, instead of Open Dynamics Engine. A video showing version 5.2.0 is below. For the purpose of showing the advantages of electric cars, the video starts with images from another driving simulation program, which simulates cars with internal combustion engines.
The music in the video is from modarchive.org. This program accurately simulates the behaviour of an electric car, so if, by any chance, you purchased an electric car and it doesn't do the things shown here, then there's something wrong with it and you should return it and ask for your money back.
The story
In 1990 I got my first computer, an HC-85
,
which was a Romanian
home computer equivalent to a ZX Spectrum 48K. These
computers inspired many people to start programming, because there weren't (m)any good games available
for them and although all ~11 games that were worth playing can now be found at
worldofspectrum.net, back then they weren't so
easy to obtain, because there was no internet. Therefore, people often had to find other interesting things
to do with their computers.
Chequered Flag,
ZX Spectrum, 1983, the first driving simulation made for a
personal computer (I had it)
|
Stunt Car Racer,
1989, the only
3D
driving game made for ZX Spectrum (I didn't have this one)
|
I had 9 of the 11 games mentioned above, but Elite and Turbo Esprit were missing the documentation, I only had Starstrike II on magnetic tape and couldn't transfer it to a diskette, so I stopped playing it when I got a floppy disk drive, and I was never smart enough to play chess, so I actually only had 5 good games to play and they weren't the best ones, hence my interest in programming from an early age.
In 1998, when I got my first PC (shown in another page, last 2 photos), I was suddenly introduced to the awkward concept of having to pay for the software that runs on the computer, a concept unknown to me until then. However, I (almost) never paid anything to proprietary software vendors, although I did use proprietary software until 2003 (including Window$ 98), because I obtained it from legitimate sources.
User of proprietary software
|
Legitimate source of proprietary software
|
Compared to free software, proprietary software has a few disadvantages, such as:
- It usually comes with various
restrictions like, for instance:
you may not use the software or its features. - It's often
malware
:
So many cases of proprietary malware have been reported, that we must consider any proprietary program suspect and dangerous. In the 21st century, proprietary software is computing for suckers. [- Richard Stallman] - The providers of the software will use your money
to screw you over
;
- Even if you obtain a proprietary program from a legitimate source (see picture above) and don't pay anything, by using it you give free advertising to an organisation that works against you.
Midtown Madness, 1999
|
Turbo Esprit,
ZX Spectrum, 1986 (the exact same thing)
|
However, the graphics were 3D and colourful, so they inspired me to make a program for rendering 3D models, which eventually led to the development of the game presented here.
Versions 1.0.0 - 4.1.0
1.0.0 (2010-01-02)
First version. The track is entirely horizontal and the simulation is very simple. I hadn't yet figured out how to make 3D coordinate transformations, so here the entire track is just translated and rotated horizontally at every time step according to the control inputs. The position of the camera (X = Y = Z = 0.0) can't be changed, obviously. I actually knew the mathematical relations for the 3D transformations from school, but they were taught in an algebra class, not geometry, so it took me a while to figure out what they were for.
MD5: d314d9f8577c69ae7d0f09557edba633
SimCar 1.0.0
|
Track element, SimCar 1.0.0
|
I think there might be some problems with how things are taught in school, considering what conclusions some people come to
:
* Mathematics - In real life you only really need the basic addition, substraction, multiplication and division. Maybe percentages. All of this could be taught by parents. Fluff like calculating the areas of geometric figures is never really used beyond school.
No such thing bad student. Only bad teacher.
Also, there are no bad children. Only bad parents.2.0.0 (2010-01-31)
Added slopes and a few other 3D models (bridges, tunnels etc).
The Ivory Tower
|
Not exactly the same thing, but...
|
Version 2.0.0 was adapted for MotoMAGX and is available at forum.motofan.ru
and here.MD5: d5a3efbcf3ed2d9c40b7da7ddb9b17bf
It was also mentioned in an article at gizmos.republica.com
.
Por ahora SimCar se limita a ofrecer la posibilidad de conducir un coche por una carretera ambientada en 3D. Como podrán observar en las capturas, los gráficos poco realismo ofrecen y son más bien una pequeña prueba de las posibilidades que podría llegar a ofrecer la plataforma de visualización Simple3D.
3.0.0 (2010-02-28)Put some cars on the road, all moving at the same constant speed. For each track, the number of cars and their speed are specified in the file with the parameters of the track. Version 3.1.0 has a few technical improvements, was also adapted for MotoMAGX and is available at forum.motofan.ru, motoezx.at.ua
and here.MD5: 97219577e0c458d6d152bb0de1fd5fa7
4.0.0 (2010-08-??)
Added background images. Version 4.0.0 is no longer available at sourceforge.net, but it was adapted for AmigaOS
and is available at
os4depot.net,
aminet.net and here. Version
4.1.0
is essentially identical, with slightly improved performance.
SimCar 3.1.0
|
SimCar 4.1.0
|
SimCar 4.1.0
|
SimCar 4.0.0 with a few features missing, running on a
Dingoo A320 console
(operating system µC/OS-II)
|
AmigaOS:
MD5: 61165b546f88ed9f77140d5686d2b912
MD5: e8f6313913c58c11adacc00dc926a340
Dingoo A320:
MD5: 35d23a416da8d37a51e9058e641941d5
Comments
happypenguin.org
2010-01-03 But wheres all the real games? I want a game, not an experiment that usually wont compile very easily, and once it does i can fiddle with for 2 minutes and never touch it again!
2010-01-04 Very cool, it reminds me of "Stunts" by broderbund, an ingame level editor, a simple HUD and making the car a bit fa[s]ter outside the track, and we have something enjoyable :)
2010-01-05 if you are interested in knowing what to do to make the game playable, then I'm also with making this game more Stunts - like. Hills, ramps, tunnels, and other stuff. Check out ultimatestunts.nl . Your game has the same potential.
2010-02-07 That said, I like the project so much that if I had time, I'd help cleaning the source a bit (no offense), making it more library-like, or maybe even port it to C++.
2010-03-04 Oh almost forgot DONT port it to C++ for the love of god. I saw someone suggest it and turned pale.