Hotshot Tales, Part 16: Back in the Wheelhouse

Hotshot Tales, Part 16: Back in the Wheelhouse

In creating a new spinner wheel set for generating event type/car choice combinations in Hotshot Racing, I had to consider a lot of possibilities within the set. Not only did I have to take into account the map and track variant hosting the event, but I also had to plan for the type, speed class, and length (in laps) of the event in question. In addition to this, I needed to create two extra wheels: one for the team being chosen, and one for the car that will be entered from that team. Finally, to shake things up further, I added an eighth wheel: one for wild card modifiers. I designed that wheel to have a 50% chance of not generating a modifier, as well a 50% chance of generating one modifier that required me to spin one or all of the wheels if it landed on such a space. There is, however, a caveat in that this wheel set does not apply to Grand Prix mode (which cannot be played using any rule set other than Arcade Mode, or any distance other than 3 laps, except for the Boss Level GP, whose races are always 4 laps long, and even then, each Grand Prix always consists of four events raced consecutively, with each one taking place on a different map from the other four, although the actual variants used differ between GPs).

After my first attempt with the options for each wheel definitively finalized, the wheel set gave me this result:

Above, from top: This is my first viable result created using the Hotshot Racing Random Event Generator spinner wheels. I would have to pick Alexa's Balanced car (the Stallion) for a 7-lap Single Race in the Expert speed class on Heated Highway, the third variant of the Coast map. No wild cards were active on this attempt, though.

I then decided to attempt the event with the specified conditions, and somehow, I won - which was no mean feat considering how challenging the track was.

Above, from top: Some highlights from the randomly generated event whose parameters were created using my new Spinner Wheel set. It was tough, but I prevailed in the end, winning this grueling 7-lap battle by less than a second.

In short, I had a lot of fun with this new Spinner Wheel challenge - and it could even be adapted to multiplayer, with the Wild Card and Team wheels removed (seeing as I find them to be unnecessary for any multiplayer mode, in which players must be given the chance to choose their teams freely, with the additional requirement that no two players can select the same team) but with all other wheels retained and left as-is. In fact, I like the idea so much that I could even create a second set of spinner wheels for this game - but this next one could be based on customization options for a given vehicle from a particular team, for use in any game mode.