We got a chance to catch up with Jon Gibson, design director for the new vertigo inducing racer that goes by the name of Pure. Have a read and hear about ways to stop players plunging head first off a clip, cross platform development and how a good UI can make all the difference!
Matt: Thanks for taking the time out to have a chat to us about Pure, from what we've seen today it's pretty insane! Just for the legal record, who are we talking to and tell us about your job at Black Rock Studios!
Jon: I'm Jon Gibson, I'm design director on Pure for Black Rock Studios. I manage a team of designers working on Pure, and also help, well myself and the game director, help define the creative vision for the project.
Matt: So you guys drive the direction
Jon: Exactly!
Matt: So Pure, what's it all about, I mean it's an extreme crazy racing game, tell us more!
Jon: That's pretty much it! It's an action sports game featuring quad bikes, and uh, it's called Pure.
Matt: Yeah I was going to ask about the name
Jon: Well when we were coming up with names, we find a lot of names around, some good, some bad, and then someone came up with Pure, and Pure describes the experience. The experience of that vertigo rush when you go over a mountain and the whole world opens up beneath you, it's pure adrenaline, pure excitement, pure fun, hence the name Pure.
Matt: I'm sure you're aware when the first batch of media hit everyone was screaming 'Motorstorm Clone', but since the a lot more info is available, hows it being received?
Jon: People are responding to it really well, I mean there's nothing like this out on next gen at the moment. People are making comparison to titles like Tony Hawk, SSX and uh, Freakstyle, and these are all great titles to be associated with.... well maybe the first two...
Matt: [Laughs]
Jon: ...but yeah, great titles to be associated with but there's nothing out there like that at the moment. Pure is different though because of key mechanics like the trick system is very different, the whole tiered boost or bonus system we've got in there hasn't been done before. But it's very different to some of the dryer racing games coming out at the moment.
Matt: Yeah the trick system is really interesting in that it's not built around unlockables or anything that really blocks you off from doing something, how did that come about?
Jon: Well the main reason we wanted to do a tier trick system, if you've played games with a trick mechanic in the past what tends to happen is people end up learning how to do the best trick, and they always do that trick! And then you never see any of the other tricks. All tricks are unlocked from the beginning, we award boost and points based on the trick the player is doing, so the A tricks score less points than the special tricks. Now if you have them all unlocked it's very hard to get people doing that, the tier trick system encourages the player to bust a load of A tricks, bust a load of B tricks, bust a load of Y tricks, and then do the special tricks. During the course of a lap you'll see them doing tricks from the different categories, so there's a lot more variety than you get in a lot of other trick games where you see the same thing over and over and over again. So in Pure you're constantly doing a new trick, and you're constantly doing something different. And along with that we've got a lot more tricks than most action sports games.
Matt: So it looks great during multiplayer?
Jon: Yeah it's brilliant, when you're level with another player in mid air and they're busting a special trick or doing something else, it's really cool!
Matt: Awesome! One thing I noticed today was that all the environments a really natural, there's a real lack unnatural and natural barriers. Have you had tons of people driving off cliffs expecting to pull some massive trick...
Jon: Yeah it's been quite a fine balance to reach, since this build [build = version of the game] there's still a few places where the track language isn't quite right, so we've addressed them is subsequent builds which will be even better. But we started off with a tag line when making this project, break out of the stadium and take on the wilderness... so we wanted that feel in the game, we didn't want to litter it with track blocks and hay bails and all these other objects. So where possible we've tried to eliminate that. Now since this build we've added more distinct tyre marks so there's a bit of directionality in the track so you can actually see where things are going off. If there's a point where tracks converge, it's all churned up, and these subconscious elements that players take in, it helps guide them around the track. There are a few points where people get lost, people go off the edge of the track, so we've tried to address those by putting in natural objects rather than something like a hay bail or a track block. So there's bushes on the corners and little other objects. It's always been very important to create the feel that you're riding in the wilderness.
Matt: Now like you said it is a very arcady kind of game but you've also got this very complex quad bike builder... well the actual interface isn't complex but what you can do with it. In this day of casual gaming on one hand you've got this real casual arcady element to Pure, but on the other hand you've got this very complex bike building core element to it. Has that been hard to balance and keep it relevant to all players?
Jon: Well it has. but that's why we've got functions like the quick build in there. We've done a lot of blind testing, well not actually blind players [laughs] but people who who have never approached a game before. We call them Pure virgins.[more laughs] A lot of the time they'll quick build a quad bike but then they'll change the color of it or they'll change the look because that's the most visual element They won't get involved in all the other options because they don't understand them. But as they play through the game, they start unlocking performance parts. They might unlock a new shock, a free style part that will give you more air and then they'll go and put that on their bike. So people tend to gradually get into the vehicle builder as they play through the world tour, and by the time you're done with the tour you've pretty much tinkered with every aspect of your bike.
Matt: So it's like player training...
Jon: Yeah it's like player training, so there are going to be users who have ATVs [all terrain vehicle] and are going to think 'well I know what all these parts do, I'm going to tweak it all from the beginning'. But we anticipated users gradually getting into that. And we think it's going to come into it's own with the hard core multiplayers who are trying to shave a fraction of a second of a lap and want to put the time and effort into doing that.
Matt: Yeah you can just see clans and web forums forming around online bike tweaking, and that's pretty cool in itself. Just back on the casual gaming stuff briefly, on an industry level do you think it's a gamble trying to blend both core and casual into a game?
Jon: Well something like this, I think it's a real pick up and play game, the depth comes from online modes, racing against 15 other people online. I think it can be a gamble, but if you get it right, it's the best of a both worlds.
Matt: Now you are launching on three platforms, Xbox 360, PC, and the Playstation 3 with all its fun programing shenanigans, but you've actually got a game that's running on three different platforms and is pretty comparable to some of Sony's internal stuff, but on other platforms like the Xbox. How's it been developing for all three platforms?
Jon: It's been fairly straight forward to be honest, we've got our 360 engine, which we did MotoGP '06 and '07 for THQ back when we were Climax Studios, so we had had a core base of technology to build upon for the 360. Also working on the ATV Fury franchise with Sony, so again we had a bit of a head start with PS3 tech, and we've kept those channels open with their tech guys. And you mentioned the Sony side of things, we originally started on the 360, and we've got a bunch of guys who work on PS3 specifics stuff. And then we moved across mid development. We started on 360 and finished on the PS3, it's not like there was even a lead platform. Both versions, we developed it with complete parity.
Matt: So it's not a software wrap?
Jon: Nah, our engine we developed cross platform. Obviously there's different things you need do for different platforms, but the core libraries are pretty much cross platform.
Matt: Multiplayer has been in from the start?
Jon: It's been on the feature list since the start, and as soon as it was up and running we played lot of online games internally. One thing that previous experience has taught us is play online as soon as possible and find out all the niggles. And it gives the team a chance to come up with lots of cool ideas. So loads of stuff, people have said 'I don't like that, maybe it should do this instead' so there's a lot of features in the game that have come out of that.
Matt: Can you give us any of the music featured in the game?
Jon: I can't name the artists yet but there's 32 tracks in there, and they've all been picked on how they compliment the game play. So it's not just a random set of tracks we could get our hands on. Our audio director basically did a review of what style the game was and captured all the moments and thought 'what kind of music will fit this best'. And you'll notice it's got big beats and compliments the game in it's type. We've got everything from trance to drum and bass, to hip hop and rock so you've got quite a wide selection in there.
Matt: Just when we were watching the demos before, even the cuts of the tracks seem to fit everything like the start to a race really well
Jon: Yeah that's interesting 'cause there's a lot of things that do that, like when you go from the front end to a loading screen the music keeps on playing, which not a lot of people do. We do that by cutting a song, and having a sample looping. And it's the same with song transitions, using sample loops to have a seamless transition. So there's a lot of subtle things like that our audio magicians have put together.
Matt: It's funny you mention the interface because that's really seamlessly designed, I mean at the end of the day its there and you push go to start, but Pure's just seamlessly moves from screen to screen with all this smooth animation rather than being a jerky experience, is that sort of thing important?
Jon: We just got the right guys doing the job, we invested pretty heavily in our front end interface. What a lot of companies do is put their more inexperienced people on user interfaces, but actually it's the wrapping for the game. It's what you first see when you approach the game. We've got quite a large presentation team that focus on those subtle things like even these spline elements on the menu [Sorry, we don't have a screenshot of this, but it's pretty!] and when you select something it'll transition with that spline. And you'll find those kind of themes running through it all.
Matt: I'm just so used to interface being the last thing anyone thinks about...
Jon: Well they normally are! They get the game done and then they're like 'Shit, we gotta come up with a UI!'
Matt: I was playing some game a while ago, like a big multi million dollar game, and it had this just boring front end it just makes you go 'cheap!'
Jon: Yeah! And especially when it the first thing you see!
Matt: So being a trick game, Xbox Live achievements, I'm assuming they're in full force, any favorites?
Jon: I can't remember what it's called, but pulling two signature tricks one after the other in the air without hitting the ground.
Matt: And the PS3 Trophy System, is it going to be supported straight out the gate?
Jon: Nah, not at the moment
Matt: Patches for trophies?
Jon: Possibly, we're actually looking into it now and if we can we'd like to, but we I can't really give an answer yet.
Matt: Awesome well that's probably about it! Thank you very much!
Jon: No worries!
03/07/2008
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