Q: When is the release date for Trials Evolution?
A: Read the below article and maybe you will find out!
(See what I did there? That is called a hook. Now you HAVE to read this.)
Over a month ago, our very own ShiftySamurai somehow managed to get the RedLynx team to agree to answer a few quick questions regarding Trials Evolution for an article on this website. However, since Shifty turned these simple questions into complex, multi-layered essay questions, weeks passed without the answers. The wait is now over, and the answers just popped into my inbox less than an hour ago.
I know that at least 93% of the people seeing this article are just going to ignore what I write and go directly to the Q&A, so I will quit stalling and let you read them now, but make sure to read what I write afterwards! It is sure to be exciting, risque, hilarious, informative, and possibly semi-racist.
[The following responses are a collarbotive effort from all of the amazing folks at the RedLynx office]
1. Can you explain how the leaderboards and matchmaking will work across the various game types (will skill and race leaderboards be separate? How does matchmaking work? Do Custom Tracks have leaderboard replays)?
Each trials track has its own separate leaderboard. Tournaments, which are races where the user must ride through several tracks in one go, also have their own leaderboards. There is also a Global Ranking leaderboard that basically counts together all the user’s separate track results, including Tournaments, into one score. And then each Skill Game has its own ranking board, these however are not part of the overall Global Ranking, since each one is so unique and over-the-top.
The Global Ranking leaderboard also has a feature we call Medal Level: a strip of five medals that correspond to each of the five track difficulty levels: Beginner, Easy, Medium, Hard and Extreme. If a user has at least a Bronze from all Beginner and Easy tracks, and at least a Silver from all Mediums, that user’s Medal Level strip will read bronze-bronze-silver-empty-empty. This lets you check out another player’s Trials skills at a glance.
Multiplayer leaderboards will be divided by game type/playlist: Supercross, Trials and Hardcore Trials. Custom tracks each have their own leaderboard with leaderboard ghosts (the in-game markers with a gamertag and arrow), as well as one showcase replay recorded by the track’s creator.
Matchmaking has three playlists: Supercross, Trials and Hardcore Trials. Each playlist has ranked matches of max 4 players. Users can use a My Group function to join public matchmaking as a pair with one friend. The Supercross playlist has just Supercross tracks, the Trials playlist has easy-to-medium Trials tracks, and the Hardcore Trials playlist has hard-to-extreme Trials tracks. Players in a lobby can vote between two tracks offered from the playlist before each match. We are currently working on the match specifics: each match will probably feature more than one track and/or more than one heat (run) per track. With multiple races per match, players are awarded points and the winner determined by total points in the end.
2. How does the reward/money system work (do you earn money for every race regardless of single player/multiplayer, and in-game/custom track)?
Money is awarded for all single-player tracks, and when leveling up in multiplayer. Custom tracks do not have money awards for game balance reasons, because there’s no way for us to tell how hard a user-created track is and how much money it should award and because we can’t make it too easy to buy all the expensive outfits in the game just because you played some tracks that gave away tons of money.
In single-player, each track has set money amounts that are awarded based on a “grind+medal” principle. Each time you finish a track, you will be given the Grind reward. Whenever you get a better medal than what you used to have from that track, you will be given the corresponding Medal reward. Once you have the Platinum medal, you can still get the Grind reward from that track (Platinum medals are hard to reach, exceedingly so on harder tracks).
The rewards are ramped so more difficult tracks and better medals will give considerably more money. The goal is to encourage users to go for better medals from harder tracks since this will have a good payoff.
3. Can you explain how some of the new features work, like Curved Driving Lines and adjusting terrain?
A considerable amount of curve is allowed in the racing line. If the user makes a curve that is too tight (like 90 degrees on the spot), the line will turn red at the offending point and running the track is not allowed. By keeping the curve shallow, users can make spiraling tracks, tracks that cross over themselves etc.
Users can use adjust the terrain to place roads, paths, grass, dirt and other natural features. There are also combination decals that will do terraforming and texturing at the same time, so the user can for example place a textured dirt jump into a track.
4. Will co-op editing be allowed, either at the same time by multiple people or by setting some type of flag to allow certain people to edit your tracks?
No, we have a one track, one author policy. Something like that would be cool for sure but we just had to limit what can be done somewhere, so currently it’s one author per track and we’re trying to make it as solid an experience as possible. You can really create mad stuff with the editor, much more than the previous editor.
5. Can you estimate how many items will be available in the editor, including tools, triggers, lighting, "power-ups", and are there still afterburners?
Counting everything available in the editor including variations, we have about 1500 objects and tools available. There are about 500 “general” objects like boxes, cylinders, ramps, rocks, cliffs and buildings with numerous parts. There are more than 100 different effects, sounds, and other kinds of things. We’ll be going deeper into the editor with a video later this year.
6. Can you explain about the different bikes and their capabilities in relationship to each?
There are two learner bikes and two main bikes in the game. The two learner bikes are designed for gently easing new players into the Trials gameplay. The two main bikes are the Scorpion and Phoenix and their characteristics are pretty much the same as in HD (if it ain’t broke, why fix it?). This time though bikes are visually customizable: you can swap body parts, wheels etc. This will not affect the bike handling in any way.
7. It seems as though setting the time of day has returned, can we also set other weather conditions?
We have fog, and users can use the dynamic environment settings to create interesting atmospheric effects such as cool lighting, sounds, and other events. All environmental settings can be controlled via the editor, so for example you could have the ambient lighting change when your track moves from indoors to outdoors. Naturally the complexity of the effects is limited only by your imagination and skill with the editor.
8. Trials HD limited users to 200 tracks per storage device, up to a total of 600 tracks. Will Trials Evolution have increased limits?
Yes, definitely. Each storage device can now hold an amazing 1000 tracks, plus there is no upper limit on the number of storage devices you can connect. So if you have enough devices, you can try to collect every single user track ever made and play them all. Each and every last one of them. It is quite possible you will never, ever leave the house again!
[end]
I don't know about you, but I am slightly arroused after reading that. 1000 custom tracks per storage device, Skill games having a separate leaderboard from Racing tracks, and 1500 editor tool/objects... Wow.
In conclusion, I am laughing to myself becuase you thought that the release date would be in there... it is not. The game will be released when it is done, so STOP ASKING.
Thanks again goes out to the entire RedLynx team for taking time out of their insanely busy schedules to put this together for us here at Trialshd.net, and for giving us a nice chunk of "exclusive" information regarding what is sure to be the greatest game in the history of mankind.
[Nytmair]