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Stunts (video game)

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Stunts
North American cover art
Developer(s)Distinctive Software
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Stanley Chow
Brad Gour
Rob Martyn
Don Mattrick
Kevin P. Pickell
Programmer(s)Kevin P. Pickell
Artist(s)David Adams
Kevin P. Pickell
Mike S. Smith
Nicola Swaine
Composer(s)Krisjan Hatlelid
Brian Plank
Michael J. Sokyrka
Platform(s)MS-DOS, Amiga, NEC PC-9801, FM Towns
ReleaseOctober 1990: MS-DOS
1992: Amiga
1993: PC-98, FM Towns
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player

Stunts (also known as 4D Sports Driving) is a 3D racing video game developed by Distinctive Software and published by Broderbund in 1990. The game places emphasis on racing on stunt tracks and features a track editor. It is influenced by the arcade game Hard Drivin' (1989).

Gameplay

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The track editor

In Stunts, players race a lap around the circuit, with the aim of completing the lap as quickly as possible without crashing. These laps often feature special track areas such as loops, jumps (including over tall buildings), slalom roads and corkscrews. The game area is restricted by a large fixed size square area defined and surrounded by a fence in which the game is designed to prevent the player from leaving. Players can either race against the clock or choose between six different opponents; there is no support for real-time multiplayer. Stunts features 11 different drivable cars, with either automatic or manual transmission. Replays of races can be saved and reviewed. There are four camera views available during replay and actual driving, and the dashboard is an optional overlay on all views. It is also possible to continue the race from any point in the replay, but the time for that race will not be recorded. Another major feature of the game is the built-in track and terrain editor which allows the user to design arbitrary new tracks or modifications of existing tracks.[2]

The cars can drive on paved roads, gravel roads, icy/snow roads, and grass if driving off the track — which all offer different levels of grip. The game has a relatively advanced pseudo-physics engine for its time which can simulate oversteer and understeer; the grip is also proportional to the banking of a curve. The game features a 3D engine with flat shading and no textures, it uses polygonal graphics for most objects, including trees and road signs, there are few sprites. The resolution is 320×200 with 256 colors. There is an option to select high and low detail. The game is written for DOS and executes in real mode.[3]

Stunts includes a form of copy protection. Each time after running the program, players must complete a specific phrase found in the game manual before being allowed to race. If the player fails to complete the phrase three times, the next race will still load, but approximately four seconds into the race, the player is informed that they did not deactivate the car's security system, the car crashes, and the player is returned to the main menu.

Development

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Programmer Chris Taylor would portray Skid Vicious in the game.[4]

Designer Kevin P. Pickell said Stunts initially began as what he described as "a smash-up derby game in an arena".[1] Progress on this format of game was halted as cars predominantly drove backwards in demolition derbies, making it difficult to execute a 3D game where the player was primarily driving in reverse.[1]

The game was influenced by the arcade game Hard Drivin' (1989) by Atari Games. Pickell said that while he felt he could not "be as good as that game", stating that arcade hardware led the market in terms of visual quality, but said that what they could do was include a track editor that would set the game apart and make it a very different experience from Hard Drivin'.[1] The track editor in the game was initially a tool Pickell used to design the default tracks in the game.[1] Pickell continued discussing the 3D graphics in the game, stating that texture rendering would be to slow to process at the time, which lead to making the game use a general single-colour convex polygons which would render the graphics through code run by the CPU. This was done as using a graphics card would not be a viable option during that period.[5]

Stunts features an unrealistic game engine by design, with the idea that landing from jumps that would easily crash a real car did not sacrifice enjoyment for players.[6] Pickell said there many glitches in the physics engine of the game, such as being able to break when in mid-air which were known by the developers and left in the game intentionally. Pickell responded to them saying that most of the glitches in the game were known but the team did not have time to fix them.[6] Other known issues in the game that made it to release was the opponents controlled by the computer. Pickel said that it was difficult to have the drivers even stay on the road and it was not difficult to design a track where they would get confused on where to go. Some of the characters in the game were programmers such as Chris Taylor, who portrayed Skid Vicious.[4]

The game features a replay mode that would showcase up to ten minutes of replay footage from a race. The code for it just save dthe key or joystick inputs and compressed them.[6]

Release

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Stunts was released in 1990 for personal computers (PC). and was published in the United States by Broderbund. When looking for distributors in other territories, the game had to be renamed as Broderbund had the name Stunts. Distinctive Software had previously developed a game titled 4D Sports Boxing and used it as a basis of the games title in European markets.[1] 4D Sports Boxing was based on the version 1.1 of Stunts, which featured a few minor tweaks.[1] The game was later ported to the Amiga, FM Towns and NEC PC-9801.[6]

The Amiga version was published in 1992 by Mindscape under the name 4D Sports Driving (version 1.2). SFX and music are played with samples instead of FM synthesis or PC speaker.[citation needed]

The PC-9801 version was titled 4D Driving (version 1.0) and was published by Electronic Arts Victor in 1993. Due to PC-9801 limitations, this version had the music synthesized and title and menu graphics changed from the previous platform's releases, although the gameplay remained mainly the same.[7][better source needed]

FM Towns version is also named 4D Driving (version 1.0) and was also published by Electronic Arts Victor in 1993. Due to FM Towns capacities, music has been changed and improved, and new songs added. Title page and menu graphics are also modified, close to PC-9801 version but with better graphics. In FM Towns version, the opponent's photos has been changed, and Bernie Rubber character is replaced by Masahiko, a Japanese guy. His dedicated track remains the same as Bernie's track.[citation needed]

Reception

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In 1994, PC Gamer US named Stunts the 22nd best computer game ever. The editors wrote that the sense of speed, and the degree of control the players have over their vehicle, make this a must for every gamer.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Henderson 2008, p. 82.
  2. ^ 4D Sports Stunt Driving Review at Gamershell.com
  3. ^ STUNTS from Broderbund / 4D SPORTS DRIVING from Mindscape by David Leadbetter for Game Bytes Magazine. 1994.
  4. ^ a b Henderson 2008, p. 85.
  5. ^ Henderson 2008, p. 81.
  6. ^ a b c d Henderson 2008, p. 84.
  7. ^ "PC 98: 4d Driving (intro) on YouTube". YouTube. 22 August 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-15.
  8. ^ Staff (August 1994). "PC Gamer Top 40: The Best Games of All Time". PC Gamer US. No. 3. pp. 32–42.

Sources

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