This was something I just quickly put together. Didn't think it was "site material." My bad.
I have other stuff, although, I'll have to work around some "minor" issues.
I also have some cool sh!t with some comments from developers, but, those developers are looking forward to a forum thread, not site material. (maybe I can work something out)
^^ but, ignore everything I said above for now! ^^
Xantar
How much space would a player's ghost take up on a memory card? I've never played a racing game with a ghost, you see, so I'm just not sure.
And at the speed that F-Zero runs, would full online play be unfeasible anyway?
I haven't had any run-ins with such data on the GC mem card as yet. However, I'm pretty sure that it shouldn't require any more than a few KB. Around 150 KB at most, considerably less with more efficient code. How much is GC's mem card 59? Half a MB? What's that.. 500 KB? That's more than adequate, and since you'll be able to upload/download ghost data to the network, all you need in enough space for one ghost file, while the network store the rest(let's say 10 per player). It's comes down to engine code, how efficient is it, and the size of the footprint developers manage to shrink data down to. Notice how Pikmin took 19 blocks/3 files, while Mario did they same with just 7 blocks(Metroid Prime is said to require 1).
As for how feasible full online play is; technically, it shouldn't be a real problem, even on a 56k modem combined with the speed of F-zero.
During online play, the modem tranfers/downloads the data of the other players in realtime, (each frame) to your current game, while simultaneously, your data sent/uploaded to their game, as a result, you are able to race each other. This
data included everything from player coordinates in the 3D environment, vehicle model and it's color, plus what other unique data developer include. How complex this data is, greatly effects speed. (everything else, like visuals, physics, sound, would depend on the game itself, and doesn't have to be sent through the modem). Likewise, if developers can keep this data small enough or employ some neat tricks to reduce trivial data, that's all the better, and speed is retained.
Of course, with dial-up factored in, the likelihood of slowing down the game for everyone else when more players are in the game, is always there. (more players = more realtime data needed = too much data per second for 56k to keep up = slowdown).
For better performance, the network have 3 options:
1) Limit online play to broadband only(denying 56k gamers),
2) Use different servers for different connections, and alter the game to offer something more for those with faster connections(ultimately, more expensive), and
3) Use 56k as base performance[much like PSO], which would mean limited players per game(possibly disappointing those with faster connections and can afford more players).
Then there's always
choice 4. Do none of the above and just let 56k players fvck the experience for everyone.
