| FlatOut Facts : | ||
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| BHMS: Anytime a new "Sim" title is announced it seems like the first question that always seems to pop up is the physics. How would you classify the physics engine within FlatOut? Would the handling characteristics be similar to Rally Trophy or is this title going to be more geared toward an arcade? BugBear: FlatOut is very different from typical racing titles. I guess it's easiest to explain this by elaborating on our design process first. You see when we started working with FlatOut we used a completely different genre of gaming as inspiration. While all of us are hard core racing fans we were in fact looking at the recent developments in the FPS genre where physics and interactive environments are fast becoming a norm. As part of our research we were looking at games like Half Life 2 and going "hmm… almost none of this stuff is done in the racing genre" and "wouldn't it be cool if you'd have a racer which not only was a competitive driving game, but also included all those cool features". So when we are talking about the physics we don't limit that just to the way the car handles. Yes, we're still using the same simulation technology that was used in Rally Trophy, but we've considerably expanded that. Now we're not just simulating the way the car handles and reacts, but rather we're simulating the way the whole world acts and reacts. As the handling of the car goes we're internally calling FlatOut "a hyper realistic arcade title". This means that we are literally still doing all the simulations things we did with Rally Trophy, but at the same time we've wanted to make sure that the title is easily accessible. For example while we do calculate damage to the car based on all the nitty gritties you could wish for, we've tuned down the effect that this has for driving. In a real world simulation the first time you crash through the fences going over the top while doing 150 it would be a game over. But we don't really want that. We want to keep the player on track and fighting for each mile most of the time instead of spending their time in the reloading menus. BHMS: What kind of tracks will be in the game? Will all tracks be simply bull-pin style arenas or will there be a mix of rally-circuits, road courses, oval tracks and possibly stadium style racetracks with jumps and dips? BugBear: The tracks vary a lot. Some of them are old school rally driving in the gravel pits or forests. But at the other end of the spectrum we also have city tracks and asphalt racing tracks, not to mention the special tracks that are available in different minigames… BHMS: Does BugBear plan on including a track editor or possibly other open source-code goodies to entice the Mod Community? BugBear: We haven't made final decisions about this yet so it's too early to say. BHMS: Rally Trophy had some very creative ambient music. What can we expect from FlatOut in terms of background music and other sounds as well? BugBear: Music would be one of the topics that I'd also hesitate to comment given that we're still going through different alternatives. BHMS: There's a rumor going around that not only parts of the cars fly around with other objects and debris but the driver could also suffer some damage. Just exactly what kind of particles are we going to see in an incredible wreck in Flat Out? Are we going to see drivers thrown from their cars and if so what will happen if the drivers are ejected? Explain what we will experience from the damage modeling. BugBear: Hmm... It's certainly true that we want FlatOut to be a very aggressive and violent driving experience. If you're doing a 140kmph four-wheel-slide on gravel and someone slams into your side tearing away your right side door that should be a violent and personal experience! But I'll withdraw any comments about drivers for now. Suffice to say that we don't want to do anything tasteless (this is Half Life of racing games, not Soldier of Fortune for heaven's sake! :) Another part that really makes a difference is the debris and the environments. When we started to play around with the physics we went "oh my god but that's cool" when we finally saw on screen how the cars could be wrecked. Visually it is really, really rewarding to have the racing world react in an ultrarealistic manner. But we didn't want to leave it at that. We actually wanted to make sure that dynamic environment and persistent car wreckage was something that would factor in as a real game play element. And this is working out really well. When you're racing in FlatOut you can actually use the environment to your advantage. Each track has many different shortcuts or situations where you can either win time for yourself or cause obstacles to your opponents. In addition, given that everything on tracks is both dynamic and persistent, you'll never know what the track is going to look like for the next lap. After crashes there might be someone's hood, door or windshield lying on track just after the next turn and this will keep you on your toes all the time. In other words the tracks really keep constantly changing based on the way people drive and this makes especially multiplayer way more challenging. BHMS: Will we see a replay option with a healthy supply of view angles to watch and move around, trade and enjoy? What format can we expect these replays to be in? BugBear: Yes, absolutely. You can't have a game like this without the heavy duty replay functionalities. We're still working on cameras etc so I won't go into details about this.BHMS: What kind of AI Drivers can we expect to see? Will the AI cars possess the same physics as the players' car? Will they also cause havoc amongst the other AI drivers or only the players' car? Will there be some type of aggression adjustment as well as the skill level of the AI drivers? BugBear: Yes, yes, and yes! With AI were shooting for an aggressive personal driving style. Not only is the AI aggressive, but it's also going to keep in mind if you slam into it and try and return the favor! We're right now looking into things like instead of making a regular "strings attached" handicap we'd like to balance the game in a manner that the AI will start to make more mistakes if it's leading "too much". This somehow makes the AI way more personal as you can see that it's not perfect either. BHMS: How many different car views will be in Flat Out? ( Bumper Cam, Roof Cam, Cockpit Cam, Case Cam... etc. ) Will we have the ability to disable the steering wheel in the in-car view? BugBear: Um. Err. As I said this the cams and replay are still work in progress status so I don't want to say anything that might still change. BHMS: What different models of cars will be in FlatOut? Are there trucks or other unique vehicles? Will there be a garage or a salvage yard to rebuild or upgrade the players' car? Is there a career mode with structured events where a driver can earn money for car upgrades? BugBear: The cars are a blend of European and American styles. They range from small cute to big and very exceedingly powerful. No bikes or trucks as that wouldn't really fit the design. Yes, there's a garage for tuning, upgrades and repairs. The basic game play consists from the career mode and minigames. The player can always access anyone of these options to earn more money for upgrades or buying new cars. BHMS: What kind of adjustments will be available in the setup menu and will there be the ability to share setups with other players without the need for an import utility? BugBear: Again this kind of stuff is still at work in progress status and I don't want to comment just in case something might change before going gold. BHMS: Tell us what the capacity of players in Multiplayer Mode will be? Will there also be dedicated servers provided so people can race Flat Out online soon after the release? BugBear: Multiplayer is up to 8 people on PC and Xbox Live! With PS2 we support split screen up to 4 people. And trust me, this really is a multiplayer game! We're seeing this at the office when we play against each other. The damage modeling and dynamic environments makes racing a completely new and really personal experience. Given that FlatOut plays out as very aggressive and violent racing game it is way more emotional than what you'd expect. In multiplayer it is so easy to get upset about someone who just pushed you off the road or through the fences that you might easily miss the best lap times just because you're hunting someone with a vengeance. It's a lot of fun too! There will also be new kind of multiplayer modes where we get to experiment a bit with the physics, but we need to keep something secret for now. : BHMS: In Rally Trophy it seemed to take many steps to get from the start of the game to the actual race. Will Flat Out have a quick race or quick start feature? BugBear: Yes. We're shooting for a fun game first and foremost. Don't get me wrong though, when I say fun I don't mean kids. FlatOut is certainly a game for a bit more mature gamers. BHMS: Will Flat Out accept multiple controllers, split axis controllers, native support for the Act-Labs RS Shifter and a working clutch? BugBear: We'll disclose the detailed feature set later on, okay? BHMS: Will there be support for Multiple Monitors via the Matrox 3 screen card? BugBear: See #13. BHMS: Name some of the key elements that you feel will make Flat Out more than just another racing game. BugBear: We're still holding back on some of the key features, but for now let's settle with damage modeling and dynamic environments. Again, FlatOut is the first racing title ever that actually takes these features and turns them into game play elements! When you're playing the game that's going to be a very different experience compared to any racing titles so far. BHMS: Will we see a pre-release demo of Flat Out? BugBear: Yes. Absolutely. |
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Comments : |
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| Author: Cubits | 28-02-2004 |
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Flat out seems to be really cool, something never done in a racing game... unless you count the carmageddon series. Lucky the easing off by SCI on that particular franchise has left the door open for another niche game, this time somewhat more family oriented... |
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| Author: Dave W | 28-02-2004 |
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I loved Rally Trophy but this seems to be a step in totally the wrong direction. 60s and 70s Touring cars would have built on the success of RT but covered a new area too. Just my opinion of course. |
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| Author: me | 28-02-2004 |
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yaaahoooo I want it now! |
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| Author: MurdocTlC | 28-02-2004 |
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Yehaa. I`am really looking forward for this game. My Dreams come true: A game with a full realistic car damage. However, waiting for the release makes it really hard. Damnit. Nice Interview |
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| Author: Scott Michaels | 28-02-2004 |
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very ambitious, bugbear will have to really pull this off well if its gonna be good. sounds interesting, but certainly not the best up-coming game ive got on my wanted list. still, should be fun. and why isn the ps2 version going to be online? grrr! |
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| Author: Wooppe ass | 29-02-2004 |
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Hey Mister Bugbear? Please put some effort into some meaty v8 sounds for this game. Please dont wimp out and go for the normal "vacume cleaner under a pillow" type sounds. Leave these sounds for the consoles please. With some thumping engine sounds this game will rock. Cheers. |
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| Author: chris | 29-02-2004 |
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just my cup of tea,what could be better than coming home from along day and start (virtually,mind!!)smashing cars up. But bugbear are being skint on info ,is this bad news? |
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| Author: Meteor | 01-03-2004 |
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What we want is a video !! please |
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| Author: Jure Zagoricnik | 02-03-2004 |
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Video should be released soon. :) |
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| Author: AJ | 12-03-2004 |
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Can't wait to try this one out. |
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| Author: Donald | 13-03-2004 |
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That is a great article for a superb looking game. |
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| Author: herman | 29-03-2004 |
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Please put these features in Rally trophy 2 , for PS2 , naturaly !!!! |
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| Author: ToeTag | 22-05-2004 |
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I have been waiting a long time for an "Insane Racing" style game. Too bad it will be restricted to track style racing and not have the open field racing like "Insane" had. Needless to say, I can feel the sadistic carnage building within me once again. Any word on a demo date? |
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| Author: greg | 01-08-2004 |
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how do i get this game and many of the others on your site |
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