Asphalt 9 Dev Chat (May 2021 - New Location and Tracks)

The May 2021 Dev Chat was the 9th Dev-Chat and was done on May 28, 2021, It was centered in talking about Tracks, the process of making them and plans for future coming tracks.
== Full #Dev-Chat-Answer ==
Chris718:
Hey everyone, going to start in a sec just let me get myself organized
also I suggest not spamming discussion immediately as I might cover some stuff
Welcome 
Alright let's kick of the 4th or 5th devchat for the year (wow this year is going fast I'm losing track).
Welcome everyone, our topic today is Tracks (I forget the exact wording but this is basically it), I'll cover a few different things today and try and answer a bunch of the question that have been submitted.
One thing to note as many of the submissions were suggestions for track locations, no need to spam them again in the discussion channel we have them compiled and have noted them (and you will hopefully see why shortly)
ok first area
==== Creating Tracks ====
let's start with a brief overview of what it takes to create a track, I want to give you all a bit of context on the work involved and some of the decision making elements as I think it will answer some questions but also give you an insight to the effort involved in creating a new track.
So when we 1st start thinking about creating a new track we know that it will involve a number of people across a number of teams (and sometimes studios) and takes a fair bit of time. The normal process is:
* Brainstorm of what the track should do, where it should be, the feel etc. We look at the surveys that have been run and run new ones (like we did for Nevada) to see what people would like (this is were all your locations suggestions come in) as well as look at how well a location would work in the game (I’ll talk a bit more about this). 
* Once we agree on a location and style of the track the level designer and artists go off to grab some references and research the location. This means they look at real world images, grab pictures, lighting/mood style etc. 
* We then have a meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page and we don't see any red flags that might cause problems (or if we do we are aware of them and work around it). 
* The level designer will then create a rough 2D layout of the map with key elements. This usually goes through a couple of rounds of quick sketches on paper until we have the rough shape we want and then we label elements we will need e.g. Towers, tunnels, bridges, landmarks etc. 
* We then have another meeting to agree on the 2D and high level of the track. This meeting is generally a check-in to make sure what has been sketched can actually be built, at which point work really begins. 
* The level designers will start blocking out the track in 3D to get the circuit the right shape and put in large objects for line of sight testing. The end result of this is a really really ugly flat colored track which we can then test drive in our engine to make sure it works with cars. 
* While this is ongoing the art team is doing concept sketches and mood boards for lighting as well as start working on the larger props for the track. 
* More meetings to review
* Once the level designer has the track shape done (this means not just the road shape but also how it goes up/down and curves) it gets passed to art to place all of the scenery, the sky, collisions, track textures and all the other bits and pieces around the track. 
* More meetings to review the final art version. 
* It then comes back to the level designer to place ramps, nitro, destructible objects, respawn locations, basically anything on the track that can move or be easily modified. 
* Design and art do a final pass to make sure it is "looking good" 
* It will go to the QA team to test, they try to break it in as many ways as possible by crashing into every conceivable object and angle trying to be as comprehensive as possible to find any issues and make sure it all works. 
* While QA is doing this the designers add it into the game and setup the relevant names and other database entries. 
* It is then ready to launch
as you can see their are a fair few steps to get a track from concept to launch and involves a number of people and time.
So why did I just go through this? Well please keep in mind when I talk about tracks and things we want to do these take time and resources and while we would love to do lots of new tracks the reality is if we want to produce them at the quality that they are we can only do so much each year.
==== What makes a good track location? ====
So one of the most common questions/feedbacks about tracks was do a track at X. 
But why do we decide to do 1 location over another, or why do we decide to do 1 style of track vs. another
Well there are a few reasons, firstly let me talk a little bit about verticallity and what it means for building a track
As you all know A9 is a game with jumps and drifting, and while drifting is easy to work into tracks jumps present a different sort of challenges. Jumps in the game add verticality which means you can see over objects or down on to objects and we need to factor in this verticality in a couple of ways.
Firstly in general we need to have some sort of verticality in the game as we don’t load all of the track visuals at the same time we hide things when not on screen so that the game runs better. This means all our tracks need to have an element of up/down to block views and keep the play focused on what is in front and not way off to the side, when you add in jumps to this it becomes a potential issue as a barrier which might solve this such as trees is something the car could now be flying over (not to mention if you can look down on something it means more art to produce as it needs a top/back). So for tracks out in the desert, savannah’s etc this is a problem we need to solve and can add a chunk of work to the track creation.
I'm not saying we won't do these sorts of tracks it is just more work and limits some options. And before anyone says do a track with no jumps, that wouldn't be A9 if we didn't have jumps
So when we look at tracks we are looking for locations that have a natural sort of verticality such as cities, areas in mountains/hills etc as these allow the creation of natural obstacles to block line of sight or we work out ways to fake it
Another thing we look at for tracks is how similar it is to existing tracks, we want to add variety to the game so we look at locations that give us not just different visuals but also the opportunity to have different sort of track layouts and shapes. At the same time the track needs to fit in the world of A9 (so no tracks on the moon for now as cool as that might be). We also look at what the last track added was so that we can try to avoid adding 2 of the same types in a row e.g. we added NY last year so didn't want to immediately add another big city track (One of the reasons for Nevada)
The other thing we look at is the location should have landmarks that we can make feel iconic, this does not mean we can use real life landmarks as sadly to many of them are legally protected and getting licenses to use them would be prohibitive for us. So sadly no destroying the Eiffel tower or racing around Elizabeth Tower (where Big Ben is located). It does mean we look at places were we could do our own version of those landmarks
Fourth but not last as there are a bunch of other things we consider is how “expensive & complex” it is to make the track in the sense of work hours, if we are making a huge complicated track like Osaka or New York it takes us longer to do than if we do a remaster of an existing track like we did with Nevada.
so what does this all mean for this year and into next (yep i'm going to be using my crystal ball a bit and talking about next years work)
==== New Tracks ====
So disclaimer, I may get shot because of what I'm going to say next so if I don't do the next Devchat Clauwudia you know who killed me
We are actually working on a couple brand new tracks this year. The 1st track we are aiming to have launched in August (don’t quote me on this as things can go wrong).
and the 2nd track we are shooting for December release but it might be tight so may slip to early next year
with regards to the 1st track this year, let's call it our Summer track (Sorry all the poor people stuck in the cold southern hemisphere winter)
I saw quite a few requests for tracks that are:
* at night
* F1 or Nascar
* Feature wide lanes and straits
well good news. actually hopefully good news I'm sure someone will complain when it launches but really I think it's an awesome track and the majority of people will love it.
The new track is based on existing real world race tracks
it is not a copy of any existing one but takes elements of inspiration from some of the great F1 races (especially Singapore's fantastic night race) as well as elements from Nascar tracks (insert just turn left joke here), it is a night track and has a great atmosphere.
As to what it will be called and where in the world it is located, well I'll keep that secret for now
What about the other track?
It is in it's early stages still (currently it is a truly ugly orange colored 3D track).
With this one we are basing it in a real world city. Hopefully when done it will capture the excitement that is Buenos Aires and let you race through a "fictional" version of the city, so before I go on I've got a question for all of you (we will put up a poll)
==== Elements of tracks ====
One of the big parts of a track is the shapes of the track itself (straits, curves etc). I’d like to get a quick straw poll from everyone to see what style of track you would like, this will help us with next years tracks, you should see a poll over in the poll channel, please go and give it a vote.
So while people are voting let's talk about
==== Remaster A8 tracks ====
I saw a bunch of comments about this in the other channel and we got a bunch of questions submited
Remastering an A8 track is something we do look at when deciding on what next track to make, one of the reasons to look at remastering is in theory it is "quicker and easier" to bring it across because all the assets are done and the track is designed. well, not quite as easy as that
A8 is a few years older than A9 and things have moved on since many of those tracks were 1st created and we as a team have also learnt some more about what makes fun tracks. Not to mention phyiscs and car behaviours are different between the 2 games, so not all A8 tracks can be translated across all that easily.
When we do look at it we consider 2 things primarily: 
* Polls from the community for popularity 
* Can we reuse the assets?
As many of you played A8 (or still play) we can get some great info as to what tracks people would like to see, it's one of the reasons we chose Nevada last year. The other factor of reusing assets depends on the track, if we cannot take the majority of assets for use it means we have to basically build everything from scratch so it becomes closer to a new track from scratch when we need to work on it.
The other thing we keep in mind is remastering a track is great for nostalgia but it is not as exciting as a brand new from scratch track or location
ok let's shift track topics a little bit and talk about
==== What else we can do with tracks? ====
Since tracks take time to build, what else can we do with tracks? and what do we do with tracks.
This is an interesting area for us since we want to get as much use out of our tracks as possible. When we create tracks they are not just a single loop but actually consist of multiple roads and shapes so that we can open/close elements to create different tracks out of the 1 track (way to many uses of the word track there if your tracking it). so when we look at the thing you drive on (can't use the word track again in that sentence), we also look at the various props (ramps, nitro, obstacles) that we can place to give it not only variety but also different uses.
As I'm sure you all know we have short 30's tracks, mid range 60's and longer 90's tracks, which depending on the shape and end points can be 1,2 or even more laps if we want it to be (and depending on the mode). Something we are always looking at and bouncing around as ideas is how can we use these different shapes and length in a different manner (this is part of the GP's came about wanting to have short tracks). So question for you all as I saw someone suggest this and I thought it was a good idea so am going to steal it and take credit (unless everyone hates it then it's not my idea at all and I had no idea about it).
If we were to setup a different sort of MP event with different lengths of tracks would you like.... go to #dev-chat-vote and vote please
ok looks like long tracks are popular for MP
The other thing we can do with tracks is change up where and how many ramps or nitro bottles are present so we are taking a look to see if we could make variations of these that give us something that is fun to play. bit of a shameless plug we have a "new type of event" called Nitro Pollution in the next update were we tweaked some of the tracks for you to try out. Give it a go and let us know what you think afterwards
alright back to me answering some of the questions.
==== Questions and Answers ====
What about time of day or weather?
I saw a few questions about tracks with changing lighting (day/night) or weather? Unfortunately at this time we can have only 1 fixed lighting for the track due in part to how we create the track but also due to the performance hit devices would take if we had multiple light conditions. So if we were to have track that goes day to night that is basically 2 tracks from how the game sees it so not something we can do right now. Dynamic weather is a similar sort of issue, having said that we currently don’t have any tracks with weather so it is something we are looking at having in the future.
Player created tracks
This is something that comes up fairly often and not just in A9 but lots of games.
While I'd love to have this in the game creating a tool that allows you to put your own track together, share it with others etc is not a small tasks and is unlikely to be something we will have in A9 in the near future as cool as it would be to have.
Length of tracks in GP
I just saw this question in the other channel and as I talked about in in MP let me talk about it a bit for this.
Currently GP have their own set of tracks (or well segments of the tracks) and tend to be short or medium, for now we want to keep them at their current lengths as the focus in the GP is going as fast as possible in the shortest time possible.
Now having said that there is no reason we cannot take a look at the lengths and do variations of them to shake up the normal format. Also GP tracks rotate through 15 or 17 different ones (I forget the precise number) so their is a fair bit of variation overall and we will add more as we get time to set them up.
Add more tracks to multiplayer
I had a look and there are a few tracks we are not currently using (e.g. some of the 90s tracks) which we could add to multiplayer so will look at doing so to give it more variation (separate from the poll question).
Dynamic events in tracks
This is something we like to do when possible and is something we look at each time we create a new track to see if it fits and how it would work in the game. Some people love them and some hate them so we try to use them were they make the most sense and fit in with the overall style of the track.
Alright let me look at the other channel and answer a few other questions
@Alvin B. Lin free roam of tracks is not something we have in the game. We restrict the camera to the replays of the track to prevent cameras going outside the track or clipping through things. Blocking it out so that it still did this and allowed free view is ton of work which is why we haven't done it.
Q: Adding new tracks never been in the game and have them be balanced.
Yeah this is something we are looking at for the next,next,next track (mid next year roughly), we haven't decided on a location or anything yet but we are looking at doing something totally new with it
Q: optimization of tracks 
I won't got into to much info on this (mainly because it's a technical topic on it's own). The engine team of the game continually works to optimize the game (this covers all areas). Unfortunately as the game grows and as phones get better overtime it is natural for older models to not perform as well, we try to keep the game running as well as possible on as many models as possible but sadly given how many variations of devices (Android mainly) there are it is not always possible.
Q: Would remastered tracks from A6 or A7 be considered. 
We couldn't take these tracks and remaster them however the locations can be considered and might be (I'd have to look them all up)
Q: What about futuristic tracks (e.g. Terra , Mars etc).
Generally we are staying away from more fantastic/futuristic/arcade style tracks at the moment as we think there is more than enough awesome locations here on earth for us to play with.
Q: Fix rough patch in Nevada 
At the moment we don't plan to fix it, knowing were the patch is and chosing the right car or approach is part of mastering the game.
Q: make a totally different lighting version of an existing track.
Yeah we can do this, it is ton of art work to do so at the moment we would prefer to keep the artists focused on making something new.
Last Poll 
Ok before we start looking to wrap up today let’s do a final poll with regards to tracks you think we should look at next year. I don’t want to focus it as much on location but more style of track so please go across and vote
Alright while you are all voting let me just say thanks everyone for being involved this month, tracks initially seemed like it might be a boring topic but for me it was interesting to read all the comments and feedback. Hopefully you enjoy the new track when it launches and we will keep you posted on the other future ones.
have a good weekend all.
== #Dev-Chat-Vote ==
Mina:
=====Vote 1:=====
What style of track would you like to see in Asphalt 9: Legends? 
* Predominantly straits with easy curves 
* Windy track with hairpins and switchbacks 
* Balanced (straits and curves) 
* Tracks with narrows & wide elements 
* Wider open tracks (few or no narrows)
[Most people voted for the Balanced style]
===== Vote 2: =====
What would you prefer for MP? 
* MP event with short (30s) tracks 
* MP event with medium (60s) tracks 
* MP event with long tracks 
* MP event with random track lengths
[Most people prefer long tracks for MP]
===== Vote 3: =====
Which tracks should we look at next year? 
* City based track e.g. in a big modern city 
* Open track e.g. in a desert, on the plains etc 
* Mixed e.g. some open some city 
* Race track style e.g. F1/Nascar style track
[Most people voted for mixed tracks]
===== Vote 4: =====
How did you like the New Location and Types of races on tracks chat in general? 
(1 - I do not like it at all, 5 - I love it).
[Most people loved this Dev-Chat]
Category:Asphalt 9 Dev Chats