Motorstorm Interview – New Screens Included

If the Tokyo Game Show was good to any one game, that would be Motorstorm. Having had the luck of actually getting my hands on Motorstorm at E3, I could tell there really was something special about the game, the graphics just needed a kick in the pants. TGS showed that Evolution Studios had given its title just such a kick, and then some. The fine guys at 1up sat down to chat with Pete Smith, senior producer at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to talk specifically about the game’s graphics, here’s an excerpt:

1UP: Okay, so everyone knows about the E3 2005 target video by now. Are you relieved that you were finally able to show something at TGS that looked pretty close to what that video promised?

Pete Smith: From day one we knew that hitting the standard of the target video was going to be a challenge, however we created the movie as a representation of what we expected the final game to be. We’re delighted we’re delivering that, but we’re not surprised. The movie delivered an intense piece of brutal racing, but it was non-interactive. Now you can actually pick up the pad and be a part of the action — it reaches another level. We estimate the TGS demo is around 80% complete. The game has already progressed quite a bit since then.

1UP: When the game is 100% finished, how close do you think the visuals will be to that target video?

PS: I think we will be very close and in many places we’ll surpass it. But to me it’s about more than just the visuals the movie showed; it’s the intensity of the action. You guys played the TGS demo so you know the action is already totally full-on. We’re in the polishing and balancing phase now. This is always where the gameplay makes huge progress and that is definitely the case here. A game like MotorStorm with the variety of routes and vehicles needs this time to deliver an experience to match the visuals. The final game will definitely blow people away in terms of both visuals and gameplay.

1UP: The TGS version of the game felt a bit slower than we expected it to. Is this part of your approach, or just the result of an incomplete TGS demo version?

PS: This is simply due to the demo being incomplete. We want every vehicle to feel fast and since TGS we have made improvements to framerate and tweaked the cameras and handling and already the game is much faster. I don’t expect anyone to find the final game slow.

1UP: What kind of features can we look forward to with the game’s online play?

PS: Online we’re targeting somewhere between eight and 16 players, offering single races and various tournaments. We’re also working on some cool modes, but we haven’t locked them yet, so I can’t give details. Obviously we’ll have in game chat, lobbies, buddies, etc. Imagine a full-on multiplayer MotorStorm experience with you screaming at your mates to get out of the way and ramming rivals into a rock face and you’ll get the idea.

1UP: [There have been conflicting reports on the use of the tilt controller.] Do you have plans to use the PS3’s tilt controller as an option for steering in the game?

PS: The TGS demo actually works with the tilt pad as the primary control, [but] we’ve not yet decided whether to include this in the final game. Some people like it, but it’s pretty tricky to stay in control when you’re flying ’round the track at full speed. At the moment we’re looking at in-air control with the tilt pad and a few other cool little surprises.

If the Tokyo Game Show was good to any one game, that would be Motorstorm. Having had the luck of actually getting my hands on Motorstorm at E3, I could tell there really was something special about the game, the graphics just needed a kick in the pants. TGS showed that Evolution Studios had given its title just such a kick, and then some. The fine guys at 1up sat down to chat with Pete Smith, senior producer at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe to talk specifically about the game’s graphics, here’s an excerpt:

1UP: Okay, so everyone knows about the E3 2005 target video by now. Are you relieved that you were finally able to show something at TGS that looked pretty close to what that video promised?

Pete Smith: From day one we knew that hitting the standard of the target video was going to be a challenge, however we created the movie as a representation of what we expected the final game to be. We’re delighted we’re delivering that, but we’re not surprised. The movie delivered an intense piece of brutal racing, but it was non-interactive. Now you can actually pick up the pad and be a part of the action — it reaches another level. We estimate the TGS demo is around 80% complete. The game has already progressed quite a bit since then.

1UP: When the game is 100% finished, how close do you think the visuals will be to that target video?

PS: I think we will be very close and in many places we’ll surpass it. But to me it’s about more than just the visuals the movie showed; it’s the intensity of the action. You guys played the TGS demo so you know the action is already totally full-on. We’re in the polishing and balancing phase now. This is always where the gameplay makes huge progress and that is definitely the case here. A game like MotorStorm with the variety of routes and vehicles needs this time to deliver an experience to match the visuals. The final game will definitely blow people away in terms of both visuals and gameplay.

1UP: The TGS version of the game felt a bit slower than we expected it to. Is this part of your approach, or just the result of an incomplete TGS demo version?

PS: This is simply due to the demo being incomplete. We want every vehicle to feel fast and since TGS we have made improvements to framerate and tweaked the cameras and handling and already the game is much faster. I don’t expect anyone to find the final game slow.

1UP: What kind of features can we look forward to with the game’s online play?

PS: Online we’re targeting somewhere between eight and 16 players, offering single races and various tournaments. We’re also working on some cool modes, but we haven’t locked them yet, so I can’t give details. Obviously we’ll have in game chat, lobbies, buddies, etc. Imagine a full-on multiplayer MotorStorm experience with you screaming at your mates to get out of the way and ramming rivals into a rock face and you’ll get the idea.

1UP: [There have been conflicting reports on the use of the tilt controller.] Do you have plans to use the PS3’s tilt controller as an option for steering in the game?

PS: The TGS demo actually works with the tilt pad as the primary control, [but] we’ve not yet decided whether to include this in the final game. Some people like it, but it’s pretty tricky to stay in control when you’re flying ’round the track at full speed. At the moment we’re looking at in-air control with the tilt pad and a few other cool little surprises.