[The Simpsons Hit and Run: Yellow Shift] Alpha 2.2

Well the strict time limits are there because the mod is meant to be challenging. A Normal mode and a Hard mode would solve your issue as well as MACCA's issue, as the Normal mode can be similar to SHAR's difficulty (perhaps slightly harder because of how easy L1 in SHAR is). As for Hard mode, that can be similar to the mod in its current state. Three difficulties wouldn't be necessary in my opinion because the difficulty curves in both Normal mode and Hard mode would offer a range of experiences wide enough to cover most peoples' preferences. I never denied that the time limits were strict either; I merely said that they weren't unfair. MACCA has never liked the time limits because he prefers an easier difficulty when it comes to mods, but that doesn't mean that the mod is objectively too hard. Subjective opinions like this can't be satisfied with one setting, which is why two settings would work well in this case and in most cases for mods. EDIT: Also, hard doesn't equal bulls***. lol

''Hard doesn't equal bulls***'', well, in some cases in this mod, yes it does, actually. As for the difficulty modes, I'm satisfied. I never said I don't like difficulty, but I don't like crash-once-and-you're-done difficulty. Imagine you were at the end of the last mission, and then you crash into a wall, losing about 2-3 seconds, and in the end, you end up not having enough time. That's my point and flaw with this, well, the main one at least.

Hey there.

I've read through most of your comments on this mod, and I have a few responses.

The street races I decided not to do because I knew that Marge did her street races later in the SHAR story, and when she does them she sounds as though she's never done one before, indicating that was the first set she did.

The music in level 1 is actually a remix of "Sunday Drive" from The Simpsons: Road Rage slightly remixed by user MACCA, As for now, I'm off this project, but it's possible that the remaining mod team will make the music changes a separate mod so users can choose whether they want the music changes or not.

As for the time limits, I'll admit that a few of the missions (particularly in Level 2) had some airtight timers that made the mission very difficult to complete if a major driving mistake was made. However, what you must keep in mind is that this mod was made to be hard. It was essentially made to continue the SHAR story from another perspective that would only really make sense if you played the original game, so upon making the mod I pretty much assumed that everyone who would be playing it had played through the main game at least once, and thus would like some extra challenge in a mod. I don't personally think the mod is hell(f)ishly challenging; it just requires some patience and focus. There are a few time limits in my mind that are just plain annoying and sort of unfair, but as I stated above, I'm off of all SHAR projects for the time being, so I'm leaving it up to the other Pancake Team members to adjust things as they see fit.

Thank you for reviewing the mod; I really appreciate our community members giving feedback to modders so they can work to improve their work.

I also just want to say that the only way that I would ever consider a mission timer in a mod bulls*** is if it was inconsistent with the previously established difficulty. As far as I remember from my playthrough of Yellow Shift, there wasn't all that much inconsistency in terms of the difficulty curve. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the increasing difficulty seemed pretty natural. I remember L1M7 frustrating me, but that was because of the mission design that made destroying trucks seem tedious, not because of the timers. For a timer to be unfair, I think it has to be very hard relative to the other times; if difficult times are consistent throughout the mod, then it's just plain difficulty. If a player dislikes consistently hard times, then that is due to the player, not the developer. The spots in this mod where "crash-once-and-you're-done" timers are present aren't all that sudden; correct me if I'm wrong. We understand not everyone likes this level of difficulty, but that's not really bad design by any means. I'm sure this mod has flaws in terms of time, but I don't think they're as prevalent as previously suggested.

Again, thanks for giving feedback for this mod. I love talking about mod design with people who have played our mods because we can learn from a variety of perspectives.

... you got me there, the difficulty does raise. Well... my point still stands, some of these timers are just a no-no, ever for the whole point of ''difficulty raises the more you play''. I mean, to be fair, the places where the ''crash-once-and-you're-done'' aren't THAT hard, except for the last few levels, so yeah. I still don't like the difficulty BALANCING of this mod. I don't mind challenge/difficulty(to a lesser extent) but there are some missions that are unfair. However, the one thing I would find more difficult than the missions would be the wasp camera locations, ugh. I swear, you have to check every corner to ensure you've got everything, it's not very fun when you're at the end and are missing like 3 wasp cameras. Anyways, back on point, to be fair, is it worth making a mod only long-time players could enjoy and play, while others would go away due to its difficulty, or is it worth more to make an all-rounded mod every player can enjoy? And again, you're welcome for the feedback, I like giving it on mods I want to be improved/altered.
EDIT: I also think I played every mission with the stock car, so that might be the issue of my timers... so yeah. The above still applies, though.
EDIT 2.0: Oh, sorry Max, didn't see your reply :P. Well, I don't think the mod is the hardest thing ever, but like you said, it has some noticeable spikes in some missions, thus making it pretty unfair. And I forgot that Marge did her races in the fourth level, my bad :P

Do you have any specific missions and timers you want us to take a look at? If we make another release, we'll look over every mission, of course. But we'd love for some feedback from players regarding specific missions. It's okay if you don't remember particular missions you want fixed, but I was just wondering if you have some in mind.

Also, this mod is difficult because as Max said, it's meant for people who have played through the game and know their way around it. I assume Max made it this way because it's what he considered the most fun. After all it's not a huge deal if some people don't like tough time limits. Hopefully we'll have a Normal mode and an Expert mode in the future, the Normal mode being more along your lines. The Expert mode would have time limits suited to those who enjoy the added challenge, and that way people who don't want said challenge can stick to the regular one.

As for the wasp locations, I don't really remember all of them. However, it doesn't concern me that much considering it's just an extra addition to the game that might be fun for people who like hunting things along those lines. It's fine that you didn't like it, but nothing forced you to seek all of them.

As I said, I know nothing forced me to get the wasps, I was merely stating they were a pain, but yeah. Also, I think level 2 mission 7 has a strict time limit either near/at the end , so yeah. Can't remember much about the others, though. Also, I'm fine with the normal and expert mode selection. As much as I had trouble with this mod, it wasn't the hardest mod I played, but there are some tall spikes here and there that impeded my progress. All in all, it was still a pretty hard mod, and I can see the potential spikes(or even some normal missions) driving away some players. While my point still stands, I still think I oversold the time limits a bit, since looking back at it there weren't TOO many, but they were still prevalent and they made me forget that this mod had any fairer missions. So yeah... that's my 2 minutes of typing into the conversation.

Odyssey of Springfield. Army of Cola. Now Yellow Shift. Why is it every mod I am excited about, other than Donut Mod, always seems to get discontinued?

I don't think The Odyssey of Springfield is discontinued, although you'd have to ask its creator Will Johnson to be sure. This mod also is not necessarily discontinued; I was merely stating I'm not going to be involved in development anymore. I think there's a good chance the rest of the team will continue the mod.

Yeah, this mod isn't cancelled. After a bit of talking, we currently plan to continue development at some point.