Twisted Metal: Harbor City
- Thread starter fillyacup
- Start date
Jaffe responds to the attack on TM's visuals.
07/05/10 at 12:19:45
http://www.twitlonger.com/show/22ce0b
From the twit;
"Regarding the attacks on our visuals, I have this to say:
1) We deliver an anti-aliased, 720p, HDR experience. We support 1080p
output (with noticeable improvement to UI elements). We're not "sub HD"
by any stretch of the imagination.
2) We're still pre-alpha which means we aren't even done writing
graphics code let alone tuning the art content to go with it.
3) Many textures and shaders are pre-alpha quality and will be improved.
4) Most screenshots and video on the web were taken from video cameras
rather than direct screen capture. They don't represent even our
current quality level.
5) We don't want to drop our frame rate even though we have a megaton of
action on the screen with dynamic physics and lighting (and eventually
four player splitscreen!)
6) Our levels are large with very long draw distances. Everything you
see is an interactive world, not simply static geometry. A lot of it is
destructible.
and finally,
7) We haven't even shown our best stuff yet. If anything, we've only
shown our oldest stuff, and our artists keeping discovering new ways to
improve visual quality.
SO- with all that said- I think players are in for a treat all around, visual included. Our team is super talented and crazy hard workers. It's only going to get better from here!
David"
"If you freeze the copter it drops out of the sky and smashes in the ground. Takes a bit of damage but more than that: opens itself"
"The plan is to toss debris and flip cars when a big ram occurs but it's not happening yet."
"Way I understand it, we'll be tossing out new vehicles and characters as the year goes on."
"You CAN switch vehicles in a game either by dying or suicide."
"No, you can not get out of the vehicles in TM. Cycles, copters, cars, trucks and more BUT no on foot."
"We originally wanted drivers and gunners to make the car combat feel more realistic. It became clear very early that
# since Team MP is key AND since we had so many other things to do, that building 32 characters was prob not the best way to spend resources. "
"Local MP will be a very strong aspect of the new TM. We would never abandon it. It's a KEY aspect of any TM game"
"Standard split and online free for all will be there. And you can pick between all the cars to battle. But in that mode, each car will be driven by 1 of the 4 chosen faction driver/gunners...you will not have 16 unique characters for each of the 16 vehicles. To us, the vehicles ARE the characters, especially in multiplayer. Made more sense for us to focus on the game and levels and such vs. modelling and animating 16 different in game characters + gunners (32 total), most of which would look like normal peeps from beind camera."
"The stories and world and characters are VERY important to us. BUT the bread and butter is MP so made more sense to put mucho effort into the levels and design and modes and balance vs. tons of time making more and more factions that really don't affect play"
twitter messages from the creator dave jaffe
http://twitter.com/davidscottjaffe
I sadly wont be able to play this game because of my lack of owning a PS3 or wanting to purchase one. *big sigh*.
Ok Sweet Tooth faction... I understand that they wanted the clowns to look all creepy and shit but I think they shoulda brought the other clowns back from the one with all the clowns in is haha( I think 4). I cant think of which one it was. And I dont think I feel right that Dollface gets her own faction. I get that shes another creepy masked character. I mean its be weird to have hella Axels running around since his appearance is, well, his appearance. It cant be another persons, but I feel that an old character shoulda been the other faction. Did they mention that there will be more factions? I dont remember from when I watched the vid. If they do then I bet there will be a team with hella people with skulls on there head Mr. Grimm style... maybe even more minions
Ok Sweet Tooth faction... I understand that they wanted the clowns to look all creepy and shit but I think they shoulda brought the other clowns back from the one with all the clowns in is haha( I think 4). I cant think of which one it was. And I dont think I feel right that Dollface gets her own faction. I get that shes another creepy masked character. I mean its be weird to have hella Axels running around since his appearance is, well, his appearance. It cant be another persons, but I feel that an old character shoulda been the other faction. Did they mention that there will be more factions? I dont remember from when I watched the vid. If they do then I bet there will be a team with hella people with skulls on there head Mr. Grimm style... maybe even more minions
IGN: The games industry is a lot different nowadays compared to when Twisted Metal first launched in the 90s. It seems that car-combat style of gameplay really isn't relevant anymore. It's more about first-person shooters with deathmatch in games like Call of Duty and Halo. How is Twisted Metal still relevant today?
Jaffe: The gut answer is: I don't care. We think Twisted Metal is really cool and fun. We know we have an audience out there but we don't know how big that audience is. Whenever you make a game it's a huge investment of money and time, and you have to make something that you are passionate about. You've got to find something that at least the key people, or most of the people, on the team are excited about.
Maybe the reason I don't care is because I don't agree with the statement. If I agreed that it's irrelevant I'd care very much. I want to make a hit; we all want to make a hit. Look, I love cars; [Eat Sleep Play Co-Founder] Scott Campbell loves cars. The idea of guns with flamethrowers, guys with grenades and Uzis leaning out the window, and helicopters crashing through suburbs; I think that's always fun. What we've done with this one, because we're online now, is built a lot more cool, deep team modes into it.
I would agree with you if what you were saying or suggesting is that basically it's the same game we made back in 2001 or 1996 in terms if it hadn't evolved. Our vehicles are almost class-based in terms of the different functionalities they bring that are designed specifically for the game modes, like Nuke and Team-Deathmatch.
I don't know, I'm struggling to answer your question because the things you're implying by saying first-person shooters are relevant, I don't really like as much as other people do. I've said this before to the press, and I don't want to bore your readers. I like first-person shooter multiplayer a lot, but at the same time I don't like the real fast deaths, or the fact I can't form relationships with my teammates or with my enemies where it's like a couple steps out of a bunker you get shot in the head and you're dead. I miss the days of gameplay sitting on the couch with your friends where you can actually have a tug-of-war and a back-and-fourth where I'm about to die but I get the health at the last minute and I turn the tables on you.
For me it's almost like bringing back what we loved about multiplayer shooters that we feel has gotten lost in today's sort of massive-mega-online-shooters that feel exciting and visceral, but also feel very chaotic. It's a really good question because I know where it's coming from, but I guess I just don't really agree with it. To me [Twisted Metal] is like Chess and Uno mixed with Unreal Tournament and Quake Arena. I think it's very relevant, deep and exciting. I'm a big fan; I wouldn't be making it if I wasn't.
IGN: Are you still shooting for this year?
Jaffe: There's no shooting, we'll be out this year. I mean, you never know, but no one has come to me and said we need to extend. And Sony hasn't said they wanted to extend. So the plan is 2011 unless you know something I don't.
IGN: What would you say is the rough estimate of units Twisted Metal would have to sell to be profitable and to get a good return on investment for your studio?
Jaffe: Let's dance around the question only because I'm not at liberty to give you numbers. I know what they are but I'm not allowed to say.
IGN: Ok, so obviously the development of this new Twisted Metal is very different than the first Twisted Metal in terms of budget.
Jaffe: Absolutely, Twisted Metal 1 was $800,000 to make and sold well over 1 million copies. So it's very different now.
IGN: There's such a big risk nowadays in development considering the size of these budgets and teams. Has it been more difficult for you to make this Twisted Metal given the expectations and marketing budget compared to the past games?
Jaffe: This Twisted Metal started as a PSN game. Sony is the one that came to us and said they wanted more; they liked what they were seeing and wanted to make it into a full retail product. We actually went from PSN-only, and then we were going to be like Warhawk and SOCOM Confrontation in terms of it was going to be a $39 product that was multi-player only, and then Sony's like "No no, they want the stories" and Marketing's like "Yeah, you guys don't realize how many fans love the Twisted Metal universe, you gotta give us the stories." We weren't going back to Sony begging for more money to make this bigger. They wanted it bigger and of course we wanted to do that. Sony is a very smart company; they've done their market research to see if there are enough Twisted Metal fans to merit rolling the dice. It has a great legacy for Sony and SCEA, and I think everybody was on board.
But we're not delusional, we understand the market has shifted and we understand that if you're going to greenlight a first-party game, there's a difference between what you would spend and get on making say God of War 3 or God of War 4 or 5 or whatever and making Twisted Metal. You gauge the risk accordingly and you budget appropriately based on those risks.
In terms of a bigger team, making games is always hard. Scott Campbell is he guy who's actually in the trenches every day up in Utah with the team managing. We're still a small team of guys and women who have been on this title from the very first one. We're like 36 people. Every game's a challenge. But it hasn't been a super hard thing for Sony to get behind. They were behind it before we were.
theres 4 pages..click below
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1155383p1.html
Jaffe: The gut answer is: I don't care. We think Twisted Metal is really cool and fun. We know we have an audience out there but we don't know how big that audience is. Whenever you make a game it's a huge investment of money and time, and you have to make something that you are passionate about. You've got to find something that at least the key people, or most of the people, on the team are excited about.
Maybe the reason I don't care is because I don't agree with the statement. If I agreed that it's irrelevant I'd care very much. I want to make a hit; we all want to make a hit. Look, I love cars; [Eat Sleep Play Co-Founder] Scott Campbell loves cars. The idea of guns with flamethrowers, guys with grenades and Uzis leaning out the window, and helicopters crashing through suburbs; I think that's always fun. What we've done with this one, because we're online now, is built a lot more cool, deep team modes into it.
I would agree with you if what you were saying or suggesting is that basically it's the same game we made back in 2001 or 1996 in terms if it hadn't evolved. Our vehicles are almost class-based in terms of the different functionalities they bring that are designed specifically for the game modes, like Nuke and Team-Deathmatch.
I don't know, I'm struggling to answer your question because the things you're implying by saying first-person shooters are relevant, I don't really like as much as other people do. I've said this before to the press, and I don't want to bore your readers. I like first-person shooter multiplayer a lot, but at the same time I don't like the real fast deaths, or the fact I can't form relationships with my teammates or with my enemies where it's like a couple steps out of a bunker you get shot in the head and you're dead. I miss the days of gameplay sitting on the couch with your friends where you can actually have a tug-of-war and a back-and-fourth where I'm about to die but I get the health at the last minute and I turn the tables on you.
For me it's almost like bringing back what we loved about multiplayer shooters that we feel has gotten lost in today's sort of massive-mega-online-shooters that feel exciting and visceral, but also feel very chaotic. It's a really good question because I know where it's coming from, but I guess I just don't really agree with it. To me [Twisted Metal] is like Chess and Uno mixed with Unreal Tournament and Quake Arena. I think it's very relevant, deep and exciting. I'm a big fan; I wouldn't be making it if I wasn't.
IGN: Are you still shooting for this year?
Jaffe: There's no shooting, we'll be out this year. I mean, you never know, but no one has come to me and said we need to extend. And Sony hasn't said they wanted to extend. So the plan is 2011 unless you know something I don't.
IGN: What would you say is the rough estimate of units Twisted Metal would have to sell to be profitable and to get a good return on investment for your studio?
Jaffe: Let's dance around the question only because I'm not at liberty to give you numbers. I know what they are but I'm not allowed to say.
IGN: Ok, so obviously the development of this new Twisted Metal is very different than the first Twisted Metal in terms of budget.
Jaffe: Absolutely, Twisted Metal 1 was $800,000 to make and sold well over 1 million copies. So it's very different now.
IGN: There's such a big risk nowadays in development considering the size of these budgets and teams. Has it been more difficult for you to make this Twisted Metal given the expectations and marketing budget compared to the past games?
Jaffe: This Twisted Metal started as a PSN game. Sony is the one that came to us and said they wanted more; they liked what they were seeing and wanted to make it into a full retail product. We actually went from PSN-only, and then we were going to be like Warhawk and SOCOM Confrontation in terms of it was going to be a $39 product that was multi-player only, and then Sony's like "No no, they want the stories" and Marketing's like "Yeah, you guys don't realize how many fans love the Twisted Metal universe, you gotta give us the stories." We weren't going back to Sony begging for more money to make this bigger. They wanted it bigger and of course we wanted to do that. Sony is a very smart company; they've done their market research to see if there are enough Twisted Metal fans to merit rolling the dice. It has a great legacy for Sony and SCEA, and I think everybody was on board.
But we're not delusional, we understand the market has shifted and we understand that if you're going to greenlight a first-party game, there's a difference between what you would spend and get on making say God of War 3 or God of War 4 or 5 or whatever and making Twisted Metal. You gauge the risk accordingly and you budget appropriately based on those risks.
In terms of a bigger team, making games is always hard. Scott Campbell is he guy who's actually in the trenches every day up in Utah with the team managing. We're still a small team of guys and women who have been on this title from the very first one. We're like 36 people. Every game's a challenge. But it hasn't been a super hard thing for Sony to get behind. They were behind it before we were.
theres 4 pages..click below
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1155383p1.html
