Oto rozmowa NFS Community Team z twórcą U2 - Scottem Nielsenem i asystentem producenta Justin Wiebe`m. Zapraszamy do lektury!


Community Team (CT): Thanks for taking time from your hectic schedules to chat with us, gentlemen. Let me start of by asking this. Were you surprised at the phenomenal success of NFS Underground?

Scott Nielsen (SN): The buzz that followed the development of the game was unbelievable, creating really high expectations for Need for Speed. We were really excited with the game when it went to manufacturing and were cautiously optimistic with our own expectations. I think the phenomenal success of the game was a bit surprising to us, but at the same time it really validated the fact that we created something special. It feels really good to be a part of that.

CT: So now that Underground is complete and in the hands of millions, what do you feel were some of the strongest points of the game?

Justin Wiebe (JW): I believe we really hit the nail on the head with regards to the car customization and the night time racing visual look of the game. The nearly unlimited number of possible car configurations in the game really gave the ability to create visually unique cars. Whenever I played online I found it really interesting to see the different types of cars the players had created.

CT: What were some of the things you learned in making this game that wee different from your experience with making the last game in the Need for Speed series, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2?

SN: I guess first and foremost is the fact that there are many different types of car enthusiasts out there, from exotic fans to tuner fans to truck fans, etc. I think we produced a game that featured two major types of gameplay packaged in the same box -- Racing and Customization. It was really important for us to try and remain as true to the tuner culture as possible in conjunction with making a phenomenal racing game -- and I think we succeeded.

CT: What were some of the things you wanted to do with NFSU, but weren't able to due to time constraints?

JW: Unfortunately we're not really in a position to talk about feature sets that didn't make it in the game as we could still wind up using some of them in future products. The more generic items we would really have like to expand on were both the story and the number of unique tracks in the world.

CT: Darn, you caught on to my trap! So then without giving too much away, can you talk about some things you'd like to see added to the next game in the NFS series?

SN: There were a number of game modes that had to be cut from Underground that were really cool. A few of them related directly to the tuner scene and a couple of the others were pure racing modes. I can't give too many details away on the new game modes (for obvious reasons!) but I'd love to see most, if not all of them appear in a future NFS game.

CT: Excellent. That's definitely something to look forward to. Let's talk a bit about online play. What will be improved upon for a solid, online gaming experience?

JW: We're looking into finding new motivation to keep players online. We believe a solid reward structure, online recognition, and changing weekly tasks or objectives could be a great place to start. In most online products players are all ranked together around the world. I know personally that logging onto NFS Underground and seeing that I'm ranked in roughly 9000th place isn't very encouraging to continue racing, so we are looking into ways to ensure that players who put in the time will always see themselves at the top of a list at some point during their experience.

CT: Need for Speed Underground was an amazing game which was created under a tighter production schedule than many other titles. Are you feeling the pressure to make lighting strike twice as you begin pre-production for the next game in the series?

SN: It always seems that you are under the gun to produce a great game under extremely tight deadlines. We've worked really hard and invested a lot of time and resources into making our pre-production processes more efficient - which will allow us to spend more time with the actual tuning of the game. As we've transitioned into the development phase of the [next] project, it looks as though the changes made are going to pay dividends for us. Hopefully the next edition in the Need for Speed series will follow in wildly successful footsteps of Underground!

CT: [Laughs] There's so many ways I could read into that statement, but I'll let that one go. Online cheating had an incredible impact on the user experience. What steps are being taken to address this in the future?

JW: I think one area we underestimated was the potential to cheat. We knew a few players will always cheat, however we had no idea how many cheats would be developed for the casual player to use. To help remove this issue we are looking at stepping up our cheat detection, streamlining it to ensure we can modify it on the fly. I'm also designing a new system that will allow the community to manage who they choose to play with by using an "accuse cheater" system in conjunction with a server accused cheat system. If players have the ability to see how many times each other have been accused of cheating in games by both he server and other players they can decide whether or not they wish to play together.

CT: That would be awesome and a major leap in the right direction. I'm definitely hyped about the next game. Thanks again for your time, guys. We really appreciate letting us get an inside glimpse into the world of Need for Speed.