Topics

I've had the home or "welcome page" in mind for some time now, then I read this:

I was thinking it would be nice to post a short teaser on the upcoming season on the main page of Zakstunts. The teaser could contain details like when the new season is going to start, the car bonuses for the first track etc. I am hoping this would attract the interest of new pipsqueaks, who may be browsing the page between Christmas and new year's eve.

Currently, the home page shows:

• Name and deadline of the current track
• Sometimes: birthdays
• Sometimes: pending track ratings
• Two most recent news posts
• Snippet of shoutbox from X years ago, on this day

What would you think should be on this page? For both new visitors and logged in pipsqueaks.

[4th/5th of March]

The live race calendar for 2022 was a great success: we had three well attended and exciting events, a record in recent years!

Do we want to run something similar next year? Or do we want to try four events this time?

Spacing them evenly during the year:
- three events: first weekend of April, July and October
- four events: first weekend of March and August, 3rd weekend of May and October


[edit] Calendar here!

• 4th/5th of March - Alan Rotoi + ?
  
• 20th/21st of May - dreadnaut + Cas
  
• 5th/6th of August - KyLiE + ?
  
• 21st/22nd of October - Overdrijf + ?
  

I know, this season is not over yet, but it's a good time to thing about teams for 2023! (see 2022)

Would you like to join a team, or start a new one? This is the place to discuss and look for friends
It's also the right thread to confirm existing teams, or any changes.

New thread for the guest tracks! (see 2022)

Want to design a competition track? Book your race below.

Tracks for the competition are designed by its participants. If you have an idea for a track and would like to contribute, just choose an available month below!

• ZCT258 (starts 16 Jan) - Daniel3D
• ZCT259 (starts 13 Feb) - Argammon
• ZCT260 (starts 13 Mar) - Cas
• ZCT261 (starts 10 Apr) - Shorty
• ZCT262 (starts 8 May) - KyLie
• ZCT263 (starts 5 Jun) - Alan Rotoi
• ZCT264 (starts 3 Jul) - dreadnaut
• ZCT265 (starts 31 Jul) - Shoegazing Leo
• ZCT266 (starts 28 Aug) - Daniel3D
• ZCT267 (starts 25 Sep) - Overdrijf
• ZCT268 (starts 23 Oct) - Frieshansen
• ZCT269 (starts 20 Nov) - afullo

The ZakStunts of tomorrow, today!
Miss the old times? Too bad   But you can help us steer the ZakStunts boat towards interesting waters, maybe in the East Indys, where Melanges and Lambos swim free, and the sun never sets. Like in Stunts.

While the game stays the same, the Competition is open to rule changes. This thread is here to collect and discuss suggestions, and also to decide which custom cars will be allowed for the coming season.

See also: Cars and rules for 2022

New thread for guest articles! (see 2022)

Yes! We want to read your take on a race!
Choose a track, keep an eye on the race for that month, and send a short and informal news piece once it's over. No marks! A friendly editor!

• ZCT258 (starts 16 Jan) - Daniel3D
• ZCT259 (starts 13 Feb) - Alan Rotoi
• ZCT260 (starts 13 Mar) - Duplode
• ZCT261 (starts 10 Apr) - Overdrijf
• ZCT262 (starts 8 May) - ?
  
• ZCT263 (starts 5 Jun) - ?
  
• ZCT264 (starts 3 Jul) - ?
  
• ZCT265 (starts 31 Jul) - ?
  
• ZCT266 (starts 28 Aug) - KyLie
• ZCT267 (starts 25 Sep) - Cas
• ZCT268 (starts 23 Oct) - Erik Barros
• ZCT269 (starts 20 Nov) - ?
  

The third live event of the season is coming up, add it to your calendars!

The event will run on Saturday 1st of October, following this tried and tested schedule:

Saturday 09:00 Buenos Aires
Saturday 09:00 São Paulo
Saturday 14:00 Amsterdam
Saturday 14:00 Budapest
Saturday 14:00 Rome
Saturday 22:00 Brisbane

More details coming up this week

Some pieces were already there, but I have expanded the ZakStunts API to include seasons, races, and easy access to replays.

You can start here: http://zak.stunts.hu/api — if you are using Firefox, you should be able to click on links and explore further; other browsers might need an add-on like json-viewer.

This should make competition data more accessible. I can add new stuff if you need, and maybe CSV versions for certain resources. I'll wait until a use case pops up though, so I don't build stuff that no-one needs.

Eight years after the last one, we're about to bump the versions of a few pieces of stunts.hu: PHP, MySQL, SimpleMachineForum, WikiMedia. This will give us safer everything (including HTTPS, I hope, which means no more browser warnings), and updated software.

I have tested ZakStunts and Forum locally and those should be OK. I have not done it with the Wiki, I lack experience and time to investigate — maybe Afullo could give us a hand here?

I'm making copies of all things of course — the database is backed up every day!

Found this piece on trying to understand how MicroProse F-117A generated certain missions. So many mysteries in old games

https://github.com/debugcom/Hacking-F117A

ZdnBurns comment about generating multiple track preview (which could be done with phpStunts from the command line) reminded me of an old idea I have never put into practice.

Windows' Explorer supports plugin that generate previews for specific file types. If we had a preview generator in any modern compiled language, we could build a .dll that exposes the Preview Handler interface, and get previews straight in the file manager.

Attached a made-up screenshot of what it would look like. One can dream

I'm working on updated seasons standings. The global ones are ready, and they sit now at a new addresses which look like /seasons/2022, mirroring /racèrs/..., /tracks/ZCT..., etc.

That made me think:

• should the Amateur table appear on the same page, or a separate one?
  
• what should be the address of Teams and Amateur scoreboards? should I nest them under /seasons/2022/...?
  
• what would you like to see at /seasons/; possibly a summary view of all ZakStunts seasons?
  

Fire your suggestions!

Most of the team logos on ZakStunts are 75×50px. They look good on the website, but you can't really scale them up, for example on an hypothetical "team page".

Do we have larger versions of historical logos around? At least 150×100, or even 300×200?

I think we're done with season 2021 - dries forehead. I quite enjoyed this season, many interesting tracks and challenging races. I chose to spend less time on racing, and that showed on the scoreboard, but I had fun! A few new faces around, with interesting stories—hello! And so many cool things happening with cars and reverse-engineering. That feels like the way forward to me, rather that try to build something new that behaves like Stunts.

Next couple of weeks, I should complete what's needed for the Amateur system. There's a bit more work than I expected, as I have to rewrite much of the scoreboard calculations while keeping the previous seasons working. Hopefully it won't be necessary, but there could be an week of delay starting. But thanks to Cas and KyLiE, Race4Kicks will be there for you

Now, what about you?

• What did you enjoy in 2021?
  
• What felt less interesting or exciting?
  
• What are you looking forward to in 2022?
  

[Track of the Year 2021]

In 2021, at the end of each race, we asked participants to rate the track from 1 to 5 stars. Single votes and averages have been hidden during the season, but here we are for the grand reveal!

The Track of the Year 2021, with 12 votes and 4.3 stars on average is...
— ZCT244: Crazy Eight, designed by Daniel3D!

Well done Daniel3D, it was a fun track with many options, carefully designed!

Runner ups:
4.2 (13 votes) - ZCT236: Lightning by Alan Rotoi
4.2 (12 votes) - ZCT243: Atlas Air by Duplode
4.0 (9 votes) - ZCT242: Full Fontal by Overdrijf

Pretty good ones:
3.9 (8 votes)- ZCT241: Emptyness by CTG
3.7 (13 votes) - ZCT234: Lockdown, Worry and Fear by Akoss Poo
3.6 (12 votes) - ZCT237: Marshland by dreadnaut
3.5 (15 votes) - ZCT235: Mirror Lake by KyLiE
3.5 (13 votes) - ZCT238: Symbolic Link by Cas

We enjoyed these less:
3.4 (14 votes) - ZCT245: Amateur Hour by Zak McKracken
3.3 (12 votes) - ZCT240: Lignano Pineta by afullo
3.1 (10 votes) - ZCT239: Urtutako Glaziarra by Shoegazing Leo


Final ratings will appear on the track list in the next days.

Any feedback on the voting system itself is welcome!

Hello everyone, it's time to think about teams for the next season!
Would you like to join a team, or start a new one? This is the place to discuss and look for friends

It's also the right thread to confirm existing teams, and any changes.

[three]

Let's try something different for 2022!

We will have three live races in 2022, the dates are decided and listed below. I am looking for 2/3 volunteers for each race. They will design the track, sign up pipsqueaks, and find the best time during the weekend. At least one of them should be around to run the race itself.

First volunteer in each race get to name it!

2nd or 3rd of April - Race A
Organised by: KyLiE, ...

2nd or 3rd of July - Race B
Organised by: Cas, Overdrijf, ...

1st or 2nd of October - Race C
Organised by: dreadnaut, Cas, ...

We will advertise each event a month before the race weekend, to refresh everyone's memory.

Last track of the season, maybe we'll see a slower car on the podium?

New thread for guest articles! (see 2021)

Who wants to write race summary posts?
Just choose a track, keep an eye on the race for that month, and send a short and informal news piece once it's over. No marks! A friendly editor!

• ZCT246 (starts 16 Jan) - Duplode
  
• ZCT247 (starts 13 Feb) - ?
  
• ZCT248 (starts 13 Mar) - dreadnaut
  
• ZCT249 (starts 10 Apr) - Alan Rotoi
  
• ZCT250 (starts 8 May) - ?
  
• ZCT251 (starts 5 Jun) - KyLiE
  
• ZCT252 (starts 3 Jul) - ?
  
• ZCT253 (starts 31 Jul) - ?
  
• ZCT254 (starts 28 Aug) - KyLiE
  
• ZCT255 (starts 25 Sep) - Cas
  
• ZCT256 (starts 23 Oct) - dreadnaut
  
• ZCT257 (starts 20 Nov) - ?
  

New thread for the guest tracks! (see 2021)

Want to design a competition track? Book your race below.

Tracks for the competition are designed by its participants. If you have an idea for a track and would like to contribute, just choose an available month below!

• ZCT246 (starts 16 Jan) - CTG
  
• ZCT247 (starts 13 Feb) - Duplode
  
• ZCT248 (starts 13 Mar) - dreadnaut Daniele3D
  
• ZCT249 (starts 10 Apr) - Akoss Poo
  
• ZCT250 (starts 8 May) - Alan Rotoi
  
• ZCT251 (starts 5 Jun) - Cas
  
• ZCT252 (starts 3 Jul) - Leo
  
• ZCT253 (starts 31 Jul) - Daniel3D KaoS
  
• ZCT254 (starts 28 Aug) - KyLiE
  
• ZCT255 (starts 25 Sep) - dreadnaut
  
• ZCT256 (starts 23 Oct) - Overdrijf
  
• ZCT257 (starts 20 Nov) - Zak McKracken