Spintires - (Mud simulator on Kickstarter) - "the taiga, which needs your wings"

Spintires: The ultimate off-road challenge! - ( link to KickStarter )
Demo version offered on KickStarter link to a page with a demo
Earlier demo version of 2009 direct link
Source code of the demo version of 2009 direct link

Oovee Game Studios , one of the rising stars of the United Kingdom came out on Kickstarter with the debut project "Spintiers". The event, though marked on the famous British news resource Rock Paper Shotgun (which in itself speaks for the game), but, unfortunately, did not cause enough resonance among the players. The reasons may be different and not the last of them is a genre. This is not a racing simulator, not a full-fledged truck driver simulator, but a mud kneader simulator. At least, from the demo version is the impression. However, even the demo version is much deeper than it seems, even if you do not fall into a rut. If you look closely, this is a great base for a future game, an unusual setting not without raisins.
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But in the demo, by the way, presented a chic park of the domestic automotive industry. With proper performance, this can make it a kind of stalker from the world of wheels. From the womb of the iron monsters, when you switch the gearbox, there is a strong Russian speech, a picturesque taiga is spread around, cut by lines of broken paths and roads, and after all the Christmas trees-sticks ... everything is really native, from and to. How so? In Britain, there were fans of the wheeled Russian spirit? The million dollar question.



What else can you say about this game? The first thing is that Spin Tires is not a game, but a demonstration of the Havok physics engine. Technical demo version created specifically for the Havok Physics Innovation Contest.
The features of this demo version were the presence of "physical" coatings (water, dirt) and the interaction with them of objects (trucks and not-so-cars), the deformation of mud and water areas of the landscape in real time, very beautiful and spectacular lighting. As often happens in the case of successful decisions - the demo gradually began to turn into a game. It is with this demo that Oovee Game Studios turned to the players to raise funds for a full game.

All of the above is an easy sketch of one’s own emotions based on available and typical information that can be easily gathered online. And what happens if you dig deeper?



Also in the network you can find information that the development of the project has been going on since 2009, that is, more than 3 years ago. That the author of this project, Pavel Zagrebelny, also known by his nickname - Kopavel. Suddenly, the love of sticks and domestic technology ceases to be surprising and everything falls into place. The author of the project is our compatriot.



For 2009, this publication is listed. In it, the author tells in detail about the work with Havok, giving examples of code, describing the advantages and disadvantages. The organization of the landscape on which trucks drive. Here I should stop, because the programmer is speaking. Better than him about the work done to say no one. Curious, I strongly recommend that you read his article on the resource UralDev.RU. The article includes not only the demo version of that time period , but also the source code .

I would like to note that the demo version with Kickstarter (not to be confused with the previous version) has everything that a self-respecting project needs. The rudiments of this respect. Excellent physics as an original solution for the organization of the future game-play, nice visual picture, good effects, and a native setting. What could be better for fans of heavy cars? There is only one trouble - 10 days before the end of the fees at Kickstarter, the collection rate slowed down seriously. At the moment, the author has collected £ 29,125 thousand from the requested £ 40,000. Nevertheless, the amount already collected looks impressive in terms of the number of people who have already supported the project.



It is difficult, brothers, to keep in this mini-publication from the phrase that the future game deserves. Unfortunately, in many respects the trends in the development of genres in the gaming industry are very cowardly. All new causes cautious twitching of the shoulders, sour smiles with an eye on various failed products. But everything is simple - any idea that someone else has filled up can always be done as it should. Any There are no bad ideas - there are bad implementations.

After downloading the demo you will see that the insides are no worse than the screenshots of the game. And they almost look like a frozen picture of the artist. Like art that can be hung on a wall. I am ready to bow to this artist, who with such love made textures of cars, where with a relatively low resolution of texture, each camera angle in the game makes you rather quack, snapping your tongue, and, speaking about myself, "oh, so lucky."



She is worthy of life. Spirit and strength are felt in it. All you need is to grease a little with clay and burn, while still fragile, legs of the future giant. It remains only to pray to the gods of the game world so that they give a chance to these trucks and give them the wings of our support.

Note 1: As requested to reduce traffic, all images in the article (except shovels) are saved in .jpg format.
Note 2: This text is not an advertisement of the product, or an auxiliary PR action by the developer. Publication made on the rights of "groan gamer"
Note 3: Suspension brackets, the realism of the work of mechanizations - I intend to omit, because are already the subject of heated discussions among fans. This is a demo I love as a player. Let motorists reason about realism from the point of view of machine mechanics.
Note 4: At the moment, the demo is very flexible with regard to modding, which provides fertile ground for those who like to integrate what was not enough (this is not the only link, but an example of what has already been done and is being done by fans).
Note 5: The online demo versions are different from each other. A week ago, the demo version posted on Kickstarter included the ability to switch between MAZ and UAZ through the inside of the game interface. In the current version, some readers faced the problem of the lack of this option. The lucky ones who have a version with the ability to switch machines can do this using the [MAZ] and [UAZ] points (see the image below). To do this, directly in the game, make a mouse click and use the cursor to switch one type of machine to another.
Update on 04/06/2012 : For those who are not lucky, it is better to proceed to the official developer site and download the “two-headed” (in the sense of the two machine) version of the game there - a link to the “mirror” for the jump . Information found and kindly provided by alexis_assa .



Note 6: Literally a day after this publication, players at the Kickstarter make a dash and they almost manage to pull the stuck car out of the mud of lack of money. Currently, the number of funds raised by them has increased to £ 34,509. In one day, the SpinTires project is gaining more - £ 5.384 . I will add on my own that I worry and worry even more than when Tim Schafer and Brian Fargo collected their first millions. In those cases, these were “guys with names” who drew strength and resources from the wallets of people in love. In this particular case - this is not a very well-known developer with a good, but clearly not a mainstream game, not a generally recognized guru in brilliant clothes.
Note 7: If the demo was launched but stopped doing it (for example, you installed a new version), there is a solution proposed by YoYa when the \ AppData \ Roaming \ SpinTires directory is deleted. This allows you to run the swapped demo.

Final note

On June 13, 2013, the project that collected the required amount of £ 40,000, blocked it by another £ 20,000 and the total amount of fees was £ 60,935. What is one of the conditions of stretch-goals. For collected £ 50,000 players will get co-op multiplayer and more equipment than in the previous version.

Unfortunately, the sum of £ 80,000 thousand was not reached, and theoretically we would not see the wonderful cockpit cars, we could not compete with each other. But ... I hope that the developer of this game will understand that the distance of 30.000 was too significant, and will make them for us - just like that. For the players and for the sake of a good project. If he shows interest - I am ready to participate in the project and make a number of these cockpits. I voiced the same intention in the comments of the bakers. There is experience, rusty and ours - love to do. However ... not about that.

It should be noted that at the time of writing, the situation was quite shaky. As can be seen from the screenshot in the header of the article at that time 29 thousand were collected with the participation of 778 sponsors.

What can you say? With one more victory indie ... and they sympathize! See you again!