Sumo Digital Q & A's, Not Bad...

Hey guys, I hate to play the role of "news reporter" (as opposed to news analysis/pundit) but here's the new Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed trailer.

Wow, there's an After Burner track. You can see it in the video--it's just like the first stage of the game (nice and blue). That, OutRun, Virtua Fighter, Shenmue--it's nice to see AM2 games get some appreciation again. This can only mean Daytona USA 1/2, Scud Race, and Sega Rally, yeahhhhh!!! There's also Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, and Skies of Arcadia tracks too.

Already mentioned it, but here's the Sumo Digital AMA thread and I got the chance to ask DarthSol a few questions (page 133).  The thread is huge--it's been around since May so I couldn't dig up everything (maybe later). I can't say the answers for me are that great but what can you say. If he's reading this then thanks for putting up with my dumb questions!


1. What exactly was the rationale/influence behind this game? Or who came up with these Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing games and why? I know there's Mario Kart but let's put that aside. Was there this huge desire from the fans (like me) wishing for Sega to make a new racing game again (I know this is Sumo but close enough)? Or was there a desire to see more games celebrate Sega's roots so you guys decided "What the hell, let's do both?" I suppose this is a good answer but any more details I forgot would be great.

We'd done two games, we went 'Let's do a third' and went from there. We decided more could be done with a racer with land, air and sea in a single track, which meant Transforming vehicles. Initial design was probably written on the back of a beer mat - and we've been figuring it out ever since!



2. Some of my friends who are more into the "hardcore racing" side of Sega like OutRun & Daytona are concerned about the game's framerate. Should we be worried about the FPS dropping below 30 in the final build?

We're aiming for a locked 30fps, unless you're on PC of course. I'd love it to be 60, but the water alone means that's unlikely.


2.5 EVEN MORE, I guess I should reiterate the previous question. The guys are concerned that the game will cater more towards the Sega fanbase rather than the racing fanbase, hence this isn't as "good" of a racing game as it could be. Could you reaffirm to me and the other guys that this is still a serious racer, just once more to get them to ease up on the game?

We're aiming to make a pretty awesome SEGA Arcade racer based on all manner of classic SEGA franchises. It's been done by the same team as ASR, and I have the Lead Designer of Blur and PGR3 and 4 working full time on the project. This time we're going for a slightly older look so not to distress the hardcore. Not sure what more I can do to convince anyone really!


3. How much effort has been put into balancing the character tiers? In the first game, my favorite character was Jacky Bryant but he was dead last in tiers. I always played as him online though but barely kept up with the Sonic/Shadow abusers :S

It's no secret that we've brought in volunteers to do a better job of the balancing. We're committed to getting it right. We want to avoid tiers and there are things in the game that make that even less likely to happen.


4. How about backwards drifting? Has that been nerfed or not? My preference is towards removing it (seeing as it was unintentional, I think) but what do I know.

Not in. Wasn't supposed to be in the original either and we very nearly killed it with an update.


5. Any new content pertaining to Daytona USA, OutRun (besides the bonus track), Crazy Taxi, Sega Rally, Virtua Racing, or Scud Race?

Read the first post in this thread. If it's not revealed, we can't and won't discuss these kind of things!


6. Has Yu Suzuki, Toshihiro Nagoshi, or the AM2 team sounded off on this game? Do you think they will seeing as they were also responsible for OutRun 2 and other Sega racers in the past?

We work closely with SOJ. Some of the people mentioned may have played it, I'm not at liberty to say :P


7. What will Danica's character look like in the game (realistic, cartoony) and what will she be driving? I don't ask this because I'm attracted to her, I just wonder how she will fit into the scope of the game.

Again, you'll need to wait and see. We should have footage out shortly for this though!


EDIT: More questions & answers!!!  Here's what I got:

1. I know there's drifting in cars, but what is the equivalent boats and planes? The ability to do stunts for boosts I suppose? Or can you "drift" in planes/boats too?

Each surface has its own way of handling ...like in the air a tumble left or right can get you right back on the ideal racing line... But yeah, they all have 'drifting' of a sort, but it's not identical in each form. 

2. What are your tasks & responsibilities pertaining to the game (anybody who answers)? Probably already been answered but since I'm into game development, I'm wondering how I can relate to your tasks at the moment? I'm a programmer BTW.

S0L is "Guardian of the Library of All Knowledge", and I think he is known by mortals as "Executive Producer" (correct me if I'm wrong buddy) He is also, the "Argumentor Persuivant" ...the upholder of the forums. If anyone has fought for the wishes of the forums, it is S0L!

I am commonly called "the Twit with Part of a Crayon Stuck up his Nose" and also known amongst the beasts of burden as Lead Artist/Creative Director. My powers are weak and age shrivelled, like an old current which fell from a cake many, many years ago, disappearing down the back of the sofa... A old and desiccated thing. 

SumoSpartan is known only as "Tim". A shy mysterious creature, he flits mainly from dark corner to dark corner, fixing design issues where he is needed. If Commisioner Gordon shines the "Tim" lantern onto the night sky, you'll probably end up with Batman turning up wondering what the hell that shape is. And then "Tim" will arrive with his powers of 'creating unsolvable puzzles' to bamboozle all! He survives mainly on a diet of gingerbread men.

3. How would you say the atmosphere at Sumo Digital is right now? I suppose everyone is excited but are they exhausted rushing to get the game done? Would you say everyone is serious or are they laughing & having fun? Dumb question but I'm just interested in you guys and hope all is well.

Everyone is working hard at the moment. Well it seems we always are... But on the whole enjoying it. Lots of late nights and weekends... No home life, stress, depression, waiting for that comet with our names on to end it all, but, yeah. On the whole, good clean fun.

No more multiple questions now guys.... It's hard work! Lol.

Take what you want out of this, but I guess it will reassure you all a bit.  Yeah, me posing in my Daytona 2 avatar & signature...the Daytona Universe is still omnipresent.  NOTE, if you want to post questions too, only ask three at a time (he's adamant about that now).  Also if I ask more questions, I'll let you know.

CAREFUL YOU'LL MELT YER TIRES

INVISIBLE OIL SLICKS!!!  BRILLIANT!!!

No doubt about it.  This was one wild race at Watkins Glen, but for unusual reasons.

Tony Stewart spins out.  Dale Jr. spins out.  Jeff Gordon spins out.  It's down to Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Marcos Ambrose on the last lap.  Kyle starts losing traction and Brad gives him a little nudge.  GOODBYE KYLE!!!  Then Brad starts losing traction and Marcos gives him a push.  Then Marcos wins after some down and dirty racing: Driving off-road like this is Gran Turismo, then Marcos nearly pins Brad into the wall on that last turn, if you caught it (vote to kick Marcos from the Forza server!!!).

There must've been oil on the track, presumably from Joe Nemechek as he DNF'ed his way off the track.  No flags though!  They've stopped races for stupid things like beer bottles and plastic bags on the track but oil they couldn't see?  RACE IS ON!!!  Time to compete with vidya games like Super Sprint, deal with the obstacles!!!  BTW, do these guys have traction control on?  To avoid spin-outs?  No, cause driving aids are for the dreaded, offensive c-word...CASUALS.

Anyway, when it comes to circuit racing, always bet on the foreigners.  Except for Juan Pablo who sucks.  Now I have a legitimate excuse to play this song so BLOODY GOOD JOB, MATE!!!  Marcos the Aussie.

And now Junior is in 4th in the points.  DAMN!!!  This is not good, we don't need another Jimmy Johns championship, GTFO (ha, jk, Jimmy is a class act).

BTW, I would like to congratulate all of the following drivers for losing their jobs and having their driver's licenses revoked.  Here are the drivers:

Jeff Burton
Kurt Busch
Joey Logan
Juan Pablo Montoya
Denny Hamlin
Jason Leffler
Dave Blaney
Michael McDowell
Josh Wise
Jamie McMurray
J.J. Yeley
Chris Cook
Patrick Long
Brian Vickers

Why?  For placing worse than Joe "My Car DNF'ed After 3 Laps" Nemechek.  Losing to Joe is like losing to Glass Joe, it's OVER for you.

BTW, you saw what happened yesterday?  To Sega All-Stars Racing Spokeswoman Danica Patrick?  FIRST TURN OF THE RACE, she gets taken out.  Apparently, Ryan Truex, the genius, decided to cut on the inside of the first turn and hope to bounce off the other cars Gran Turismo-style (real driving simulator, my ass).  And guess who just happened to be behind Ryan Truex at the time?  Danica.  DOINK!!!  She finished 43th place--dead last.  No matter whose fault it is, the fact is Danica has this rain cloud following her wherever she goes and it's a given she'll find a stupid way to set herself back.

Before the Nationwide November race at Texas, when Danica drives the Sonic & Sega All-Stars Car, we're having a prayer vigil.  Sega + NASCAR should be a slam dunk win (Daytona USA) but that's not the case with Danica.  Lest you forget that Danica has won only one serious race in her career (2008 Indy Car race at Twin Ring Motegi) so we must truly pray that Danica does not fudge this up and that Sega is able to win again.  Cause Lord knows Sega needs every advantage it can get.

Good Racing Games Not Made By Sega (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

What if I told you...

there were good racing games not from Sega?

I can't be bothered to photoshop text in this pic.  So anyway, one of the unfortunate things that I (and I guess you to) have to do is find a new racing game to play.  This is tough.  Games like Scud Race, OutRun, and Daytona are great, but it's clearly obvious Sega's going nowhere (other than this Sonic All-Stars Racing 2 which I'm still cautious about).  I think you could get by on Dreamcast & arcade emulators which I guess is a good thing.  There's Metropolis Street Racer (good guy rjay's favorite) and Sega GT (my Sega Gran Turismo game come true?) which is good, but I sure as heck wish there were current-gen games worthy of being played.  Forza 4 is great but even with the DLC cars, driving the same tracks over and over again gets super-duper old.  Honestly, I don't have the patience to look at all of these racing games--I'm on break and I'm a tired programmer who's just too impatient to wade through this crap anymore.

One game I'd like to talk about though again is...Need for Speed: Most Wanted 2012.  The game by Criterion.  Now don't get me wrong, I still don't like this game, but looking at the gameplay footage AGAIN, I still notice a few things:

One thing I notice that is quite good is that there's a tactile sense of speed.  Well, what do I mean.  The camera tends to rock back and forth when you turn.  The suspension cradles the Porsche on the turns.  I haven't seen stuff like this since Daytona USA and OutRun.  In other words, NFS: Most Wanted's sense of speed is...not so bad.

The problem I still have with the game is that it's basically as Burnout-ish as you can get while still remaining a NFS game.  Cops everywhere, dingy orangish-teal hues, wreck cams, same damn Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo lineup of sports cars (I like licensed cars but it gets old when you abuse them like this), the Facebook "beat your friends' scores" concept don't matter to me (I have no friends), and the car handling still looks like crap.  I truthfully give Criterion props where it's due but the rest of the game doesn't sit well with me.  Plus I sure as hell ain't giving EA any more of my money so that's the breaks.

Seriously, I reiterate--just the way the camera & the car react to the turns makes all the difference in the world when it comes to racing games.  Most racing devs opt for fancy production value over simple stuff like sense of speed and it's no wonder some of my favorite racing games ever were just regulated to mere arcade racers.  OutRun, Daytona, etc. were meant to be these brief arcade experiences but instead, they still stick with us today, a lot more than all these crummy Need for Speed/Burnout clones that have come and gone.

Right now if I really had to pick a racer, I would go with some sims like Nascar: The Game, F1 2012, or even i-Racing.  Need to buy a steering wheel too.  I just want something rewarding to play that doesn't feel aimed at the "CoD bros/epic win/YOLO idiots" of the gaming world.  I have mad respect for Formula 1 although I know little about it.  Now's my chance.

A CodeMasters game better than that Derp racing game.

BOOGITY BOOGITY...again, yeah.

I don't know...NASCAR the Game comes off as a bit bland but it's NASCAR, what did you expect.  Meh, I don't even know how you can call me a racing game fan anymore when I've fallen behind the curve.  It's my fault, I apologize.

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Oh by the way, another Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Transformed Update!   Two Sumo Digital employee (DarthSOL and SumoRex) have been answering questions on the Sega official boards.  The thread has been in existence for two months and nothing interesting has popped up but we do know now that there will only be seven Sonic characters in the game (Sonic, Tails Doll, Sanic the Hegehog, Emo Shadow, Pingas, a bean from Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, and Sally Acorn.  EDIT: DLC includes Froggy, neutral Chao with paper bag over head, Chris Thorndyke, and Mighty the Armadilluh) so thanks Sol buddy.  Prepare for the "Blaze the Cat for DLC!!!" topics.  Sawnik fans are hard to please.  If you're curious, keep tabs on the topic and asks some questions if you want.

BTW, there's a special OutRun track that you can only get by pre-ordering the game which is lame, but do it for Sega, please.  I assume it'll be both land and water, seeing as it's a beach, after all.  Prolly will look like something from the Sonic Tennis OutRun stage : D

BTW, logging into the Sega official forums is a pain.  Can't tell you how many times it says I successfully logged in only to log me out on the main page.  I say don't log in using the quick forms on the top of the page--click the login button to be taken to the "main" Login page and try from there.  Check off the "Stay Logged In" box and try different web browsers if it helps.

Inept message board...just like Sega in general

I still am worried about this Sonic All-Stars Racing game.  Does it look good?  Yeah.  Does it do Sega's heritage a great service?  Of course!  I am just curious if the driving in the game is actually up to par with Daytona/OutRun.  The game already runs at 30 FPS which is a minus right there.  It looks more into production value than actually having that tactile feel of being a great racer.  A great deal of the game's fanbase aren't really into racing games per-se--they're just into requesting Sonic characters and other miscellaneous Saturn/Dreamcast characters (please put Segata Sanshiro in the game).  But frankly, love or hate this game, it's practically Sega's last-ditch effort to make a unique racer so I pray it does well.

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Back to racing games: I'm still trying to polish Super...err, Hyper Sprint and get it out there as soon as possible.  No online modes yet, those got all fudged up on the last month or so.  The goal is hopefully to make something small yet fun for everyone, particularly those not into big expensive racers that require steering wheel peripherals they don't own.  But yeah, I'll see what I can do in the future.  Until then, keep updated since I may post my next entry in less than four days.  Laters....

Battle Fortress Tortoise

Hi guys, this is the capstone game I've been working on at FIEA in a team of 20 for the last eight months (January - August 2012).  It's called Battle Fortress Tortoise.  It's about a clan of gnomes riding on the back of a gigantic tortoise (like a battleship).  And hordes of barbaric hyenas run up to the tortoise and climb aboard in an attempt to kill you & the tortoise.  So use your handy-dandy crossbow to shoot tracer shots (to fire cannons) and bolts (standard rifle shots) to ward off enemies.  It's a PC game that's played using the Xbox 360 controller.

August 3rd was the capstone final presentations.  All three games, BFT, Penned, and Plushy Knight turned out great--I cannot lie.  BFT was done in UDK while the other two were done in Visions.  The problem that Penned & Plushy Knight have right now is that the Scaleform license (used to render Flash movies in-game) only has a limited use so if they were to burn copies of the game now, it would be rendered null & void in a few months or so.  So some guys are working on getting the limitless Scaleform license.  On the other hand, BFT doesn't have that problem since Scaleform is built right into UDK, haha.  Yes, the BFT team has bona-fide copies of the game, box art, disc, instruction manual, all of that stuff.  Here's photo proof of the copies we received:

From March (after Vertical Slice) to July, everyone plugged away at the game.  This last month, the programming team didn't do much besides bug squashing so it was all on the producers to finish the level design, sound clips, voice-overs, trailers, box art, etc.  And this is one of the final trailers.

I suppose I could show the Penned & Plushy Knight trailers but I don't know where they are yet.  Anyway, I wonder what your opinions are on BFT.  It wasn't my idea obviously (I pitched the racing game) but yeah...the game's cool.  Props to my friends Gabe for the idea, Blake for being the fearless project lead, Max, Rock, Yanan, and Mark for being my fellow programmer friends and laughing at all my jokes, producer Jeff who actually likes racing games (so does Gabe), and everyone else for working so hard.  Check out the game's website.  Not much else to say.  After eight months, it's good to see a final product at last.  Now on to RACING GAMES, hah!!!  REVIEW SCORE: 9.9 out of 10.  Only losing one-tenth of a point for not being as good as Super Sprint.

Zynga Sucks

I'm pretty sure everybody threw up in their mouths a bit after seeing The Ville trailer.  And just when you think Zynga got away with copying The Sims...  Warning: PG-13 Language.

I do not condone profanity but I guarantee that EA's response was equally as harsh.  And it was so EA sued Zynga.

I know that this has been reported in many places so you think "zynga sucks, ea sued them, haw haw," you really need to skim over this complaint that EA wrote.  It rather lengthy and some of it is repeating what you know (i.e. description of The Sims for the idiots who think video games are a waste of time (and they're right) ) but it lays into pretty much every transgression Zynga has made.  Mafia Wars, FarmVille, CityVille, Dream Heights, The Ville with plenty of pictures...  Hey, that's GOLDEN blog post material there so props where it's due.  I mean this is good s*** we're talkin about.  Really.



"As The Sims Social increased in popularity and visibility, Zynga turned to its well-known competitive playbook: "Steal someone else’s game. Change its name," then cross-promote the Zynga clone to its extensive user base. It has been widely reported that much of Zynga’s current position in the online social gaming market is not the result of creative development and innovation, but rather has been achieved through cloning rivals’ games."

Good riddance.   EA did one thing right out of what...a million things?  How often does a big game publisher sue another big game publisher?  Well EA declared war--it's go-time baby.

Comparing Battlefield to any Zynga game, oh yeah that's fair. 

I can't say I'm surprised by this.  Recently, Zynga sued another company for using the "Ville" in one of its game titles.  Oh, and then there's this--Kotaku recently posted an interview with Zynga dude John Schappert who, by complete coincidence I bet, worked in senior positions at EA and Microsoft.  Traitor to the MOTHERLAND!!!  Then the interview is loaded with cotton ball questions...nothing truly vexing.  And the comments sections are loaded with all sorts of (thoughtful) vitriol and I think...damn, Zynga vs. EA for the Worst Company in America Contest!!!  Bank of America, pssshhh.

EDIT: This is also from the Zynga interview: "And then he says this about the question of how one would make Nintendo's famous game free-to-play: "It's a horrible admission, but I don't know that game, Super Mario Bros, well enough to sit down and off the top of my head say what would I do…""  Anyone not surprised that these corporate big wigs don't know about Super Mario Bros?  They know how to make money but not how to make GAMES?  Figures...  EDIT AGAIN: Hey guess what guys?  This John Schappert bloke just resigned today.  After giving such a great, GREAT interview about how wonderful Zynga is???  Rage quitter.  Go work for Activision, an equally pathetic "gaming" corporation.

But really, I could care less how this turns out.  Without slandering social/mobile gaming in general (thinking about my job security), this whole new frontier is such a mess, trying to gaming, social updates, microtransactions, and advertisements all in the same package and hence it ceases to hold my attention (and maybe yours, too).  EA has been pushing tons of social/mobile games too (75% of their games this year alone, as opposed to 25% console/PC games???).  So f*** it, I really don't care.  All I know is that EA's stocks are down, Zynga's stocks are down, and Sega is making a profit again.  Maybe there will be a heaping dose of humility too.  There is a shining light at the end of the tunnel.

BTW, I wonder if Super Sprint (now named Hyper Sprint) is just as bad in terms of law-breaking.  Hmm, it can't be because A. it's a non-profit game that actually acknowledges its source material and B. I don't go as far as to copy the whole game (including the RGB values of the cars).

Anyway, why the hell am I talking about Zynga again?  Anyone here care about Zynga?  EDIT: Zynga doesn't make racing games anyway so what do I care what happens to 'em.  I should say Zynga has had a recent impact here at FIEA.  First day of classes, there's free breakfast (donuts, bagels, orange juice, etc) compliments of Zynga.  Okay!  Then a couple of Zynga folks pass on through with the usual propaganda.  And Zynga even did interviews here too.  I didn't want to work for them not because I don't really like them or their games but because they're also located in San Francisco and I don't want to move to California unless it's for Sega (because of living expenses & distance from home).  Couple of people from school actually got internships (I like them just as much had they not received offers) although they were really hard on the programmers so I don't think any of them got offers.  I see how it is.

Speaking of programmers, I feel bad for those programmers at Zynga anyway being forced into the gunfire...making clones of existing games only to potentially have them stripped away due to lawsuits.  Poor people stuck working on this crap.  I mean, isn't the game industry about making games you love?  NO, it's not.  It's about making money.  Well, money's good but not at the cost of creativity.  And now you know why I'm so miserable.  F*** video games.  Later.