Night time racing was a key new ingredient in SHIFT 2, and forms the perfect showcase for the new deferred lighting technology Slightly Mad added to the core engine that served them so well in the original game. Finally we then wanted players to share this experience with others - hence Autolog (which we called "The Driver's Network" at the time before discovering Criterion were coincidentally developing a similar system) which is a game-changer for the sim genre and other game genres can benefit from. We then set out to double the number of cars and tracks - but ensure that there was variety within them (so no 'five variations of the Toyota Corolla' but categorising them into Retro, Modern, Muscle, Drift etc).
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We also knew we wanted to mature the product even more with a premium presentation, a streamlining of the different currency systems (XP, Stars, Cash), and the inclusion of authentic real-world boss drivers and licenses (FIA GT3/GT1). We knew we wanted to keep on top of the cockpit innovation since competitors would no doubt start copying it.
The two main areas were authenticity and variety we knew we wanted night racing - it provides variety and we wanted to add gameplay challenge there based off the personal feedback from real-world racing drivers.
Therefore we knew we had a great base to work on for the sequel and the telemetry and community feedback really reinforced the roadmap we already had in terms of the features we knew we wanted to add and improve, and the areas we knew we were going to streamline or remove. It's a journey of player's growing expectations and changing play styles, and a journey chronicling car culture over the years. When I talk about SHIFT I always talk about 'the journey'. The quality level was high and that was reflected in both sales and scores. So looking back on SHIFT we were happy that we'd achieved the specific goals we'd set for that particular product - we had a fantastic cockpit experience that really rebooted the pure raw fun of racing a car at 300km/h and we shook up the traditionally sterile sim genre with a number of second-to-second, minute-to-minute, and meta game objectives and rewards. We never saw Need for Speed SHIFT therefore as a single-release product even from the initial concept stage each iteration is specifically designed to be a further step on that journey that takes us to a place where we're the most authentic, realistic, visceral racing experience out there. SHIFT was always meant to be the next step in that journey transitioning players from the illegal street racing of Underground and Carbon and that 'Fast and The Furious' mentality, through 'legitimate' racing in ProStreet (that brought 'organisation' to the racing), and finally onto bona fide circuits for the first time. With your first game complete, what was your overall assessment of the final product? What were you pleased with and what areas did you want to redress?Īndy Tudor:When I talk about SHIFT I always talk about 'the journey'. Q:Let's start off by talking about the SHIFT post-mortem. The scale and scope of this piece is such that we've decided to split this piece into two parts, with the concluding segment of the interview being published tomorrow.
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Previously we've concentrated mostly on the technological aspects of the games we've covered - but with the assistance of Slightly Mad, in this piece we're able to expand the scope significantly to answer all of the questions we have ever had on how a top-tier racing game is actually made, the core assets the teams have access to in terms of cars and tracks, plus we've gone in-depth on the whole process of the racing simulation.Ī great many thanks go to the following Slightly Mad staff for their extensive help in putting this feature together: Andy Tudor (Design Lead), Ged Keaveney (Lead Programmer), Tim Mann (PS3 Lead), Jan Frishkorn (Vehicle Lead), Andreas Moll (Art Director), Doug Arnao (Physics Lead), Dr Stephen Baysted (Audio Lead), Rob Dibley (Render Lead), Peter Nicholls (Render), Stephen Viljoen (COO), Suzy Wallace (Producer). In our biggest and most expansive developer interview to date, Digital Foundry talks extensively with Need for Speed SHIFT developers Slightly Mad Games on the genesis of their most ambitious racing game yet, discussing topics are diverse as the original title's post mortem, hopes and ambitions for the sequel, the evolution of the NFS brand and of course the technical underpinnings of the game itself.