[Suggestion] Idle Animation

[Alayan]

Actually, the graphics are too good in this game.

The lower the number of polygons is, the easier it becomes to improve the game in a, let's say, more consistent way. If one kart looks way too polished over the others, it doesn't feel right, does it? The issue has to do with work and that becomes easier if the graphics are more simple.

Fortuneatly Quake-Early-3D-style is acknowledged as it's own style, as Pixel-sytle is since decades. And Playstation-2-style as well, where Supertuxkart would fit in kind of.

It's definitely easier to make the quality level consistent when the highest targeted quality is low, but low quality is low quality.

Having a vast amount of low quality content wouldn't be of much help to help promote the game. First impressions matter a lot, and if we aimed for bad quality graphics because it's easy, the vast vast majority of potential players, that might otherwise enjoy the game, wouldn't even give it a chance.

PS2 type graphics would be a disaster.

Of course 2004 Moorhuhn Kart 2 looks more alive than Supertuxkart. But I wonder if graphics have priority for the developers of such a small free-and-open-source-project (regarding many topics on this board that ask for better graphics).
It just would be a fight that can't be won against corporations with 100 of paid 3D artists on that turf.

Obviously, a higher quality target means that less people are able to make core contributions (although there are still many ways open), and we we have to remain realistic about what can be achieved. The main goal so far is to make quality much more consistent, by bringing tracks and karts to the quality level of the best ones that already exist. Not to do cutting-edge graphics that would require many experts both for the assets and for the graphics code.

But in the end, if you think that libre software is plainly unable to compete, that'd be an indictment of the model itself.

Rather than looking at ways to reduce quality to make it easier to generate content, there is more merit I think in looking for ways to promote the project and fund development.