CREATING
A NEW TRACK
(page 3)
SPACE SYMBOL LABELING
The
next step in creating a track is to label any spaces with the appropriate symbols.
Starting Grids, Corner Arrows and Pit Paint need to be applied for the track
to be playable, so let's dive in.
(If you still have the Filled Polygons
option on, press 
to go back to Wireframe Mode)
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First, let's assign Starting Grids to 8 spaces, allowing up to 8 players to race on the track. Select the space on the Left lane that is just to the left of the Finish Line. This is where we will place our Pole Starting Grid space. |
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Click on the Starting Grid dropdown |
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Select "Pole Position". |
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Now select the space on the Right lane that is to the left of the of the Pole Position space. |
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Go to the Starting Grid dropdown and choose Space 2. You will again see a Starting Grid symbol appear on the space. Go back to the Left lane. Skip a space to the left of the Pole Position space, select and then apply the Starting Grid Space 3 symbol. Continue this pattern until you have applied 8 Starting Grid spaces, 4 on the Left lane, 4 on the Right lane, with a space skipped between each. |
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Next let's tackle the Pit lane. Thanks
to the Tools menu, this one is easy..
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Select the Pit lane space that is adjacent to the first Garage (black). |
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From the Tools menu, choose Create Pit "Paint" Spaces. You'll see Pit Paint spaces appear along the length of the Pit lane. |
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Once finished, the Pit paint colors should match the Garage colors and should
be in this order:
Team 1, Team 6, Team 2, Team 7, Team 3, Team 8, Team 4,
Team 9, Team 5, Team 10.
The last step in symbol assignment are the arrows
that dictate movement in the corners. Formula PC actually does not use these
arrows when determining a player's next moves. Due to the complexity of the
shapes of spaces in corners, arrows don't provide a concrete logic to which
the game can adhere. For an easy example of this, try grabbing your Monaco gameboard.
Look the corners, specifically Loews-Portier. Notice how the arrows point to
the left and right, but only through careful study is it clear to which space
the arrow is actually referring.
Rather than have Formula PC "guess",
we use a system that lies beneath the arrow symbols shown on the spaces (we'll
get to that system in a moment). The arrows are strictly for the player's benefit,
giving guidance as to what moves can me made through a corner.
So let's begin.
If you're adapting an existing track from Formula De,
then things are easy. You simply go along each lane, selecting the appropriate
space and applying the appropriate arrow.
But when you're creating your own
track, you have to determine what moves should be legal for players to make.
Studying the existing Formula De tracks is a good idea. It will help in understanding
what lines are typically accepted through a corner.
For now a simple rule
will do:
You cannot move from the inside lane of a corner to the outside.
This will, of course, not apply when corners begin to have compound curves
("Esses" as they are called) but since our track has corners that
only go one way, we can adhere to it for now.
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Start by selecting the Right lane space just before Corner 1, where the lane starts to curve. |
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If you look at most tracks, a heavy arrow dictates forward-only movement going into a curve at this point, so that's what we'll do. From the Space Symbol Dropdown, select Arrow, Single, Heavy (This can also be accomplished by pressing the H key). You'll see a heavy arrow appear on the space. |
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Right-click to accept the change to the space (or press 
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or click the Add Space button on the toolbar) and the cursor will move forward.
Place an Arrow, Single, Light on all the spaces of the Right lane throughout
the curve.
(This can quickly be accomplished by pressing 
once each space is selected).
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Once you have tagged all spaces on the Right lane curve your track should look similar to this. |
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Now, select the space on the Middle lane that is to the left (1/2) of where we placed our first heavy arrow. |
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If you study the Formula De tracks, you notice that corners start sooner and end later the further out the lane is, so we'll make the tagged area of our Middle lane a bit longer than the Right. Place an Arrow, Single, Heavy on the selected space and apply the change. |
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Now, as we move forward on the Middle lane, we can't just place Single, Light
Arrows as we did on the Right lane.
Remember our rule, you can't move from
the inside to the outside. But in most Formula De corners, you can
move the outside to the inside on certain spaces.
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It is entirely up to you how you would like to lay out the arrows on the Middle lane, but I would suggest something akin to this, since it is a vague interpretation of how Formula De handles curves similar to ours (i.e.: Tarzanbocht at Zandvoort). |
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Finally, select the space on the Left lane, directly above where we placed our first heavy arrow. This is where we will start the corner on the Left lane. Again, you are free to create your corner arrows as you like. Here's the pattern I chose: |
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Once you have all the arrows to your liking, it's time for another round
of congratulations. You've just completed symbol-tagging your first corner!
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Repeat the previous steps for the second corner. After the second corner is tagged, the track should look similar to this: |
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Feel free to press |
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We've now completed all symbol tagging for the tutorial track, which means we're over half-way to having a playable circuit.
That completes the creation of the track
layout.
Next Page of the Tutorial
Return
to the Contents page
CONTACT:
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact
me: onyx@malagraphixia.com
Formula PC ©2000-2001 ONYX (J Boen) This page
and all items pertaining to Formula PC
are in no way related to or endorsed by EuroGames, the makers of Formula Dé.
