#Reworking gentle rapids in Barracuda Trials.

7 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

thorny vigil
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During the Alpha we had the gentle rapids you could sail over to give you a speed boost during BT’s. Clearly being in Alpha stage it felt rudimentary in its design, it got the point across but obviously felt very placeholder, a little out of place perhaps in its design.

Confusing Design

So two things. As rapids, they obviously need to look like rapids and I’m assuming work like rapids right? That would suggest they’d be “Rapid’ding” you one way, in one direction. As in “rapid you across a section of water”

Again these are being touted as Rapids not Whirlpools.

But clearly that’s not how they currently work, currently you Sail over a rapid from any direction and you obtain a boost. Ok? That’s odd. So they behave more like Speedbosts from Mario Kart?

Or perhaps the designers meant whirlpools not rapids and just make a mistake? But then they don’t even really behave like whirlpools either which is weird, as any good loving Simpsons fan knows, water spins in only a single direction at a time, not both or multiple directions at once.

Better Design - Whirlpools

So let’s simply fix this weird machanic. And we already have a great solution in-game already.

For starters let’s replace the Gentle Rapid animation with the Krakens whirlpool animation. Which is bigger, clearer and makes more sense as a function from a design perspective.

Meaningful and challenging mechanics

So we now have Whirlpools instead of Rapids in Barracuda Trails. And as Rapids they’re omnidirectional, they only spin one way. This gives a more meaningful and practical challenge to the player in having to hit the “speed boost” from the correct side and the correct angle to gain the optimal speed boost.

Approaching the whirlpool from the incorrect direction of spin would basically slap your boat away on a 45 degree angle, slowing you down and setting you off-course.

Sailing right over the middle would simply cause damage to your ship and spit you out stalling you completely nearby.

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Chasing the elusive Unicorn Run

Moreover, the closer you sail through the centre of a whirlpool the faster and or longer your boost. This tweak alone would make a theoretical perfect run way harder to accomplish and fend off the dreaded Static High Scores where all the rng has been figured within the first month and all creativity for Speed Runs has been completely bled out.

Interactivity and Refinement

Lastly since Barracuda “whirlpools” have suddenly become a much larger mechanic, in both senses. It would make sense to cut down the number of them across the course, as too many considering their lager hit-box and method of approach would cause a lot of clutter and chaos if left unchecked.

So that’s the Proposal. Only here to try and make Sailing the best version of itself that it can be. That’s all I want to do here. Hope you can all see that too.

. . .

TLDR: Replace the Animation of the Barracuda Trial Rapids to actually look like a Rapid. But in real life rapids “boost you one way, In one direction” and currently we can approach them from any direction for a Speed Boost.

So replace the Rapids with Speed Boosting and mechanically interesting Whirlpools instead to make Barracuda Trails a much more interesting and meaningful activity.

worthy vault
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would be better to suggest this in the sailing discord

thorny vigil
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Getting there friend. It’s going everywhere ✨ but just so you know the community managers over there refuse to set up a proper suggestions/feedback feed. Don’t ask me why 🤷🏻‍♂️

robust blaze
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Quick down vote as, yeah, this belongs in the sailing discord

feral edge
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I believe they should either look more like Rapids if they are meant to be Rapids, or should function more like Whirlpools given they look like Whirlpools.

feral edge