Dev Chat: Producer Troedsson and Designer Bach

You may know Digital Illusions CE (DICE) from its fine work on Battlefield 1942, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. DICE has been one of the busiest development houses around, and over the years, its developers have created a number of racing games (not to mention Secret Agent Barbie, but we won't go into that). Now on the docket is RalliSport Challenge 2, the sequel to the roughest, toughest, and nastiest racing game out there. Recently producer Karl Magnus Troedsson and designer Patrick Bach took time out of their hectic development cycle to talk with us about the challenges of bringing the violence and intensity of Rally racing to the Xbox.

Xbox.com: RalliSport Challenge has made a strong showing as one of the best Rally games on any console. What were the qualities in the first game that you felt led to its success? Did you make a special point of carrying these forward into the sequel?

Troedsson: Well, RalliSport Challenge received a lot of positive feedback for the detailed in-game visuals, but even more so for the fast-paced gameplay and the sense of speed. Some thought of it as being too arcade-y but we think it landed just where we wanted it—somewhere between a simulator and an arcade experience. We’ve been trying to carry all of these traits forward into RalliSport Challenge 2, with one change: the game is definitely more of a sim now. The gearheads that like to dig a bit deeper under the surface will find extensive car tuning possibilities and a much deeper career mode.

Xbox.com: Did any other racing games inspire the design of RalliSport Challenge 2?

Troedsson: Several, but the biggest one was of course the original RalliSport Challenge, and Grand Prix Legends was another one. We played almost all rally and racing titles out there. Sadly, we found that many of them were substandard, but you can always learn something from looking at your competitors. Then, we sat down to rethink what the genre actually needed, instead of looking at other games' feature sets. We tried to implement features in our game based on how we wanted to use them, instead of how others had used them before.

Xbox.com: No doubt you've heard a lot from the fans of the original—both what they loved about the game and what they were hoping to see in a sequel. What were some of these features, and were you able to include any of them in RalliSport Challenge 2?

Bach: When we started designing the sequel, we spent a lot of time compiling the ideas that were being tossed around in the forums on the 'Net. Many of these were features that we wanted to include in the last game, but that we didn’t find time to implement. Some of them were really wild or would have been too time-consuming to include, so we had to be somewhat selective. Two of the really big ones were the in-car view and “really long tracks.” Online play was, of course, also widely requested. Some also had dreams of flaming skid marks and free-roaming worlds, but these got cut quite early. After more than two years of production, there's so much more to the game than just a few added features. Play it, and you’ll see for yourself.

Is that track long enough for you?

Xbox.com: It’s already been said by numerous gaming publications that RalliSport Challenge 2 has the potential to be the best racing game to date, with the best graphics to boot. How do you feel about such high expectations?

Troedsson: We’re happy, of course. It’s not every day that you get such acclaim from the press. But, we aren’t shaken by the expectations. Our own goals are very high, for both the full game experience and the visuals. The Xbox is an impressive machine, and we’re actually somewhat puzzled why more developers haven't produced games that push the level of detail that RalliSport Challenge 2 shows off. But, to be honest, while the visuals are important, they come second for us. If the cars don’t feel right or aren’t fun to drive, then who cares about eye candy? So, that’s where our main focus has been.

Xbox.com: The particle physics and smoke effects in the preview build are some of the most realistic effects we’ve seen in any game to date. Rather than act as window dressing, it affects the race as the driver’s windshield gets obscured by rain, snow, and dust that’s kicked up by competitors. What effect were you shooting for with the particle physics, and how happy are you with the result?

Bach: Well, this actually turned out to be something of a gameplay problem. We managed to display so many particles that it actually made it hard for the last driver to catch up—he was completely blinded by the big tail from the other cars. The effect looked really convincing, but it needed some tweaking. The weather effects have always been close to our hearts, since we care so much of the immersiveness of the environments. Altogether the results won’t disappoint anyone.

Xbox.com: The use of ghost car downloads will undoubtedly be a hit with Xbox Live subscribers. Tell us about this feature.

Troedsson: When we started the development of the game (a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away), Xbox Live wasn’t in the top three of our list of important features. That changed as soon as we noticed how well received it was by the public. In order to please the masses out there, we’ve basically borrowed some goodies from other successful Xbox Live games (like Project Gotham Racing® 2)—but we turned them around and added our own twist. We have some new features in there that are really nifty, but you’ll have to go online to find out exactly what. And, while you're there, don’t forget the downloadable content!

Xbox.com: One of the things people seem most excited about is the realistic crash physics. Tell us about this implementation and how it improves the gameplay experience.

Bach: This was one of the areas in which we knew there was huge potential for improvement. We decided we wanted crashes that visually came near to their real-life equivalents. Auto body parts should hang loose and scrape the surroundings, doors should open and close, and windows and lights should break spectacularly. We also wanted to simulate the huge amount of dust particles and general debris that are produced when a car goes off the road. This wasn’t an easy task, but the result was well beyond our expectations.

Troedsson: When the car rips away and you lose control, the crash camera kicks in and your jaw drops as the auto body tumbles, spraying parts around while clouds of particles and plastic debris are rendered around the car. It's awesome as hell.