More Realistic Surfing With Airs
Okay, so the surfing has been changed. Everything is still the same as before, you can pump for speed, take off at an angle, and do carving and slashing turns, and cutbacks, but now you can land airs.
AIRS
When you are going vertical, press "slide" and you will slide like before. However, if you get enough speed and go off the lip of the wave, hold down "slide" for a while and you can land the air. Yip de doo. Hold it down too long, and you will fly away, land too far from the wave, and soon wipe out. I'm keeping with generally realistic surfing simulation, so it's not too easy to do an air. You need a lot of speed, which you can't get with any wave, and to master airs, you really need a good touch. Once you get it, it is not too difficult, but it's definitely not automatic. The idea is to do it smoothly, and at the right time, on the right wave, and try and land it and continue surfing. Which I think is how it works. Rotation is based on how you are turning when you start the move.
CUTBACKS
I added features for a sharp cutback and reduced the way that slides are done. Now, if you are going vertical and press slide, you will slide the same as before, however, if you are less than vertical, press slide and instead of sliding, you will turn sharply back. The longer you hold "slide" the sharper your turn will be. This simulates a more realistic cutback by planting your foot and really pushing into your cutback, laying the board on it's rail and getting a hard sharp turn, and all this just by holding the "slide" button.
EVERYTHING IS THE SAME
If you haven't used the "slide" button, then you should notice little difference from before. But if you use the slide button, then you will see that the players surf quite differently from before. It may take some practice to get used to it, but I think it adds another level to the surfing and the goal of reacting closer to realistic surfing. Let me know if you agree, or if it makes no difference, or if you don't like it.
FALLING
In keeping with realism and simulation, falling has been adjusted to make the game more realistic. The surfer now will slow more quickly if he is not maneuvering for speed, such as pumping, or turning on the wave, or when doing too long of a bottom turn. Though there is a better trim angle for getting slotted, and cruising, too much surfing on the flats will now result in quickly stalling the board and make it more difficult to recover speed. It has also been made so that if you hit a steep lip, you will get fly swatted into a wipeout, as you should be in real surfing. So don't try and do turns into steep lips. These are all slight adjustments where the attempt is to simulate reality, so let me know where I'm missing the point and what is working too, and I'll will continue to tweak the surfing until is really works well.
MAP
The map has been updated in the style of a ski slope map, since ski and surf are both similar, then many surfers ski and vise versa. The difficulty levels of the breaks have been added to the map, with blue circle being beginner breaks, green square being intermediate, and black diamond advanced breaks. All add to the menu to pop up at the press of a button.
SECRET SPOT
Now that there's a map there needs to be some breaks that are not on the map. Here's a pic of one. It's not so secret though, since the break near the tiki house has been made slower, this break was moved, and is the original one down the beach from the tiki house.
AIRS
When you are going vertical, press "slide" and you will slide like before. However, if you get enough speed and go off the lip of the wave, hold down "slide" for a while and you can land the air. Yip de doo. Hold it down too long, and you will fly away, land too far from the wave, and soon wipe out. I'm keeping with generally realistic surfing simulation, so it's not too easy to do an air. You need a lot of speed, which you can't get with any wave, and to master airs, you really need a good touch. Once you get it, it is not too difficult, but it's definitely not automatic. The idea is to do it smoothly, and at the right time, on the right wave, and try and land it and continue surfing. Which I think is how it works. Rotation is based on how you are turning when you start the move.
CUTBACKS
I added features for a sharp cutback and reduced the way that slides are done. Now, if you are going vertical and press slide, you will slide the same as before, however, if you are less than vertical, press slide and instead of sliding, you will turn sharply back. The longer you hold "slide" the sharper your turn will be. This simulates a more realistic cutback by planting your foot and really pushing into your cutback, laying the board on it's rail and getting a hard sharp turn, and all this just by holding the "slide" button.
EVERYTHING IS THE SAME
If you haven't used the "slide" button, then you should notice little difference from before. But if you use the slide button, then you will see that the players surf quite differently from before. It may take some practice to get used to it, but I think it adds another level to the surfing and the goal of reacting closer to realistic surfing. Let me know if you agree, or if it makes no difference, or if you don't like it.
FALLING
In keeping with realism and simulation, falling has been adjusted to make the game more realistic. The surfer now will slow more quickly if he is not maneuvering for speed, such as pumping, or turning on the wave, or when doing too long of a bottom turn. Though there is a better trim angle for getting slotted, and cruising, too much surfing on the flats will now result in quickly stalling the board and make it more difficult to recover speed. It has also been made so that if you hit a steep lip, you will get fly swatted into a wipeout, as you should be in real surfing. So don't try and do turns into steep lips. These are all slight adjustments where the attempt is to simulate reality, so let me know where I'm missing the point and what is working too, and I'll will continue to tweak the surfing until is really works well.
MAP
The map has been updated in the style of a ski slope map, since ski and surf are both similar, then many surfers ski and vise versa. The difficulty levels of the breaks have been added to the map, with blue circle being beginner breaks, green square being intermediate, and black diamond advanced breaks. All add to the menu to pop up at the press of a button.
SECRET SPOT
Now that there's a map there needs to be some breaks that are not on the map. Here's a pic of one. It's not so secret though, since the break near the tiki house has been made slower, this break was moved, and is the original one down the beach from the tiki house.