skids/assets

Game assets

Everything the game uses is stored here as editable files. The build embeds this folder into the executable. To pick up changes:

• Rebuild: cargo run --release.
• Or skip the rebuild: run with --data assets. Files given with --data override the built-in copy.

These files were converted from the original Amiga disks with skids extract --data <folder with the ADFs>. That conversion is lossless, and running it again overwrites your edits.

Tracks: tracks/<name>/

track.png

The track picture: 1024 × 512, a 16-colour indexed (palette) image.

• Palette: the PNG's palette is the track's palette. Change a palette entry to recolour every pixel that uses it.
• Road vs scenery: colours 8–15 are road (full grip, full speed). Colours 0–7 are scenery (less grip, slower).
• Painting a new route: paint it with the upper eight colours and update the gates to match.
• Saving: keep the image indexed if your editor allows it. If it saves as full-colour RGB instead, each pixel is matched to the nearest default colour, which loses your palette.

track.txt

Plain text; lines starting with # are comments.

• gate x1 y1 x2 y2: lap gates in race order.
  • Gate 0 is the start/finish line, and the grid forms up behind it.
  • Cars must cross every gate, in order, to complete a lap. Computer drivers steer from one gate to the next.
  • Coordinates are on the isometric ground plane. To find where a point sits in the picture: picture x = wx - wy + 512, picture y = (wx + wy) × 31/64 − 252.
  • skids trace --data assets --track N --out t.png draws the gates (gate 0 in yellow) and the computer cars' paths over the picture.
• height: 64 rows of 64 numbers giving ground height × 256. Each number covers a 16 × 8 pixel cell of the picture. Slopes push cars downhill and tilt the car sprites.
• start, flags: values from the original data that the game doesn't use.

To add a track, make a new folder with both files. Tracks are listed in name order.

Vehicles: vehicles/<id>.png and <id>.txt

<id>.png

A 2048 × 800 sprite sheet: 32 headings across by 25 tilts down, each cell 64 × 32.

• Colours: use only palette indices 0–3:

  • 0 transparent
  • 1 tyres / shadow
  • 2 trim
  • 3 bodywork

  The colours in the file are only a preview; each player's car is recoloured at run time.

• Headings: column 12 faces right, and columns advance clockwise in 11.25° steps.

• Tilts: row = roll × 5 + pitch (each 0–4), so row 12 is the car on flat ground.

<id>.txt

The display name and handling:

Setting	Meaning
top	top speed on tarmac
accel	acceleration
brake	braking
grip	sideways grip; higher means less sliding
turn	steering rate
mass	weight in collisions
offroad	speed and grip multiplier on scenery

To add a car, add a new <id>.png / <id>.txt pair.

Palettes: palettes/*.pal (optional)

16 lines of RRGGBB. Each file overrides the PNG palettes:

• track1-3.pal: one track
• track1.pal: every TRACK1 track
• default.pal: all tracks