FAQ  •  Login

Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

<<

Killrob

User avatar

Developer - Lead Beta Tester/Producer/German Efficiency Expert
Developer - Lead Beta Tester/Producer/German Efficiency Expert

Posts: 3711

Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2011 1:00 am

Location: Lower Hutt, New Zealand

Cars: I owned a Twingo... totally bad-ass!

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:18 am

Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

Background

And it happened again, it is like groundhogs day, the ever reappearing question here on the forums is:

"How large/small will I be able to make an engine of type X?"

The worst thing with it: it's a perfectly valid question. Until now I have not seen a clear concept for what
displacement an engine of type X can have and why. So I'd like to make a suggestion that will save these
forums from further questions of the above stated form (that's wishful thinking really), and probably
save the developers quite a bit of work:

Fix the displacement range on a per-cylinder basis, regardless of engine type.
My suggestion: 100ccm to 1200ccm per cylinder. (Makes a 9.6L V8 and a 1.2L V12)


Current Situation

The Inline-4 engines we currently design have a minimum displacement approximately 400 ccm, and a
maximum displacement of around 3100 ccm. This is a really good and sensible range for Inline-4 engines.


How?

The current displacement range of 100ccm to about 770ccm is not enough for the big V8 engines that have
been built, while the lower limit even in a general perspective makes sense (with my limited knowledge).

Displacement is a function of stroke and bore, and thus in order to fix the displacement range, both the
stroke and the bore range have to be fixed, i.e. made the same for all engine types (further simplification
that does not hurt).


Why?

This is the crux of the whole thing, and the repetitive forum questions are definitely a minor point here ;)

Advantages:

- Modeling of components: Currently we have three engine block sizes for the Inline-4 engines: small,
medium, and large. Modeling parts may not necessarily be very difficult to do for Daffy, but it takes a LOT
of time. With this simple change sizes stay constant, which means existing models are easier to reuse and
thus, potentially saves a lot of time.

- Modeling of physics: What has to be modeled for large V8s is equally applicable on I4s... at least on the
inside of the cylinders. As all of them behave more or less the same way, modeling them individually would
be a lot of time wasted that could be spent on improving other areas of the game.

- More freedom: Fixing this range automatically means more freedom of choice on all engine types as the
minimum and maximum have to fit the lowest and highest displacement engines respectively.

- Emergent behavior: Why not build a I3 with 3.6 L!? Well, because it probably would suck (be very rough)!
Car nuts will try out stuff like this with joy.


Disadvantages:

- Emergent behavior: There is a downside here for the exact same reason: it may frustrate people less versed
in the art of engine building... but fear not:

- Solution: Each engine type can have a "suggested" displacement range:
Engine displacement shown in white: within suggested range
Engine displacement shown in yellow: slightly outside of suggested range
Engine displacement shown in red: quite a bit outside of suggested range
This in combination with a mention in the description text will work wonders.

Conclusion:
Everyone wins, the developers save time on modeling 3D-art as well as physics, and the user has some more
freedom designing his/her engines.

/Robert
<<

loady740

Silver Supporter
Silver Supporter

Posts: 314

Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:01 pm

Cars: 1985 Dodge W150
1999 Dodge Dakota Sport 3.9 V6 Magnum,5spd

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:51 am

Re: Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

i like this idea :)
LJZ Cars
Company ID: 201022
<<

JeffreyCor

1-Star Beta Tester
1-Star Beta Tester

Posts: 204

Joined: Sun Nov 28, 2010 4:59 pm

Location: Homeland, CA

Cars: 1986 Chrysler LeBaron
1999 Saturn SL2

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:36 am

Re: Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

This sounds like a really good idea! both from a player standpoint and streamlining the development to around 1/3 the amount of work. Great suggestion!
<<

Punkal

User avatar

Platinum Supporter
Platinum Supporter

Posts: 98

Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2011 8:48 pm

Location: Richmond NSW Australia

Cars: 2011 Toyouta Aurion
2011 Triumph Daytona 675R
2015 Indian Scout

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:32 pm

Re: Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

Well thought out and a very good idea. +1 for me
<<

Daffyflyer

User avatar

Developer - Lead Artist
Developer - Lead Artist

Posts: 3444

Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:36 pm

Location: Wellington, New Zealand

Cars: 1993 Mazda Lantis Type R V6 Racecar, 2006 BMW 530i

Post Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:43 pm

Re: Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

JeffreyCor wrote:streamlining the development to around 1/3 the amount of work. Great suggestion!



Only in terms of answering less questions :P


But yes, seems like a sound enough Idea, we'll have a look at it
3d Artist, Game Designer, Marketing Guy

Follow us on
Twitter - http://twitter.com/AutomationGame
ModDB - http://www.moddb.com/games/automation
Facebook - http://goo.gl/omJzt
Chat http://automationgame.com/irc
<<

machalel

2-Star Beta Tester
2-Star Beta Tester

Posts: 227

Joined: Sat Jun 25, 2011 3:12 pm

Location: Canberra, Australia

Cars: '01 Subaru Liberty B4

Post Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:16 pm

Re: Fix displacement range on a per-cylinder basis

good idea... One of the reasons I am really excited about this game is the potential to go and develop car ideas that are "outside the box" of what is the norm these days. I really love the spirit of innovation in the early 20th century, where you saw 2L V12s and 8L inline-4s.

Return to Suggestions

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests