ADG Filler #71 - Wacky Wheels HD: QA Report
230May 2020 Update: As far as I can tell, the author of this game decided not to renew his license for the Wacky Wheels name and it has since disappeared from Steam; He's shifted his priorities towards his own IPs which, TBH, is probably the better approach for him, but it'd still be nice to see this game return, fully fixed up and fleshed out, someday in the future. :B
------------------------------------------
Today's filler video was originally going to be a critique of the broken mess which is Wacky Wheels HD, however, the reason this video is a day late is because Gemini uncovered some of the truth about this game's existence, so rather than bash on it a more productive approach was to turn the video into a sort of "Quality Assurance Report", documenting the mass of bugs present, visually demonstrating some of them, and offering recommendations as well.
Below is the full list of bugs and recommendations presented in the video. If these issues are ultimately addressed and the game becomes worthy of your money, I will post an update video and link to it at the top of this video description!
------------------------------------------
TOP RECOMMENDATION
1. Stop using Torque 2D - Go 3D with Godot or Unity
CONFIGURATION ISSUES
2. Add option to select full screen resolution
3. Make it possible to assign ALL gamepad buttons, not just ABXY and Bumpers
4. Add option to enabled/disable joystick/gamepad support
BUGS (or related)
5. Performance issues galore - Likely solved simply by switching engines
6. Pressing handbrake and turning directions simultaneously doesn't work right
7. Getting hit by an attack can lock the player into a left/right turn
8. Holding left turns right and vice versa when stopped
9. Handbrake boost should take a second to charge up instead of being instantaneous
10. Engine sounds overlap and multiply without limit from dash/jump panels
11. AI opponents can travel over rough terrain and water unhindered
12. AI opponents can get stuck on obstacles forever
13. Race timer runs a lower framerate than the actual gameplay
14. Position in race can fail to update properly during the first lap
15. Add a speedometer
16. Race results do not reset properly between games played
17. Duck Shoot high scores don't display properly beyond 99
RECOMMENDATIONS
18. Overhaul the animal designs / Possibly use 3D models directly in the game
19. Ditch the current stats, replace with: Speed, Accel, Cornering, Boost
20. Speed stat needs to have a smaller range of effect
21. Accel stat needs to have a greater range of effect
22. Cornering would affect how quickly turning occurs, both normal and drifting
23. Boost would affect boost speed from all sources
24. Boost speeds should be faster overall
25. Show track layouts when selecting one for a single race/shootout
26. Special Fireball and UFO hedgehogs should be remade into powerups instead
27. Regular hedgehogs should be more numerous
28. Have more animations for the hedgehogs
29. Collisions need stronger consequences, especially hitting someone from behind
30. Put the out-of-place music back where it belongs
31. Podium screen needs some spicing up
32. Add a credits screen
33. Add ghosts to time trials (and an option to turn them on/off)
34. Add different CC modes to affect overall speed of the races
35. Add the Kids Mode
------------------------------------------
Pixelmusement Website: http://www.pixelships.com
ADG on Pixelmusement: http://www.pixelships.com/adg
Alphabetical Index of ADG Episodes: http://www.pixelships.com/adg/index2.html
Kris' Patreon Page: https://www.patreon.com/kasick
@Pixelmusement on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Pixelmusement
Other Videos By Pixelmusement
Other Statistics
Wacky Wheels Statistics For Pixelmusement
Pixelmusement currently has 25,624 views spread across 2 videos for Wacky Wheels. His channel published less than an hour of Wacky Wheels content, making up less than 0.16% of the total overall content on Pixelmusement's YouTube channel.