[Special] Geschreven door Gebruiker 3303 op 2004-05-27 19:52:53

Interview met Synetic

GameQube had een exclusief interview met Andreas Leicht, Product Manager bij de Duitse developer Synetic, over het bedrijf zelf en de nieuwe game World Racing! Pas geleden werd de racegame World Racing uitgebracht voor de Gamecube en PS2. Sommigen onder jullie kennen de game misschien nog wel van de Xbox, waar het met gemengde kritieken werd ontvangen. Ik had een interview van de Product Manager van Synetic, Andreas Leicht. In het gesprek stelde ik vragen met betrekking tot het bedrijf en de game, en wat World Racing onderscheidt van andere spellen in het genre. Lees het volledige interview hieronder: [QUOTE] GameQube: First of all, I would like to ask you a couple of questions about the company Synetic. When was the company founded, and how many people do you have employed? Andreas Leicht: SYNETIC - The Funfactory' is a German development studio specializing in the development of racing games and experienced in the creation of successful racing simulations as well as fun focused arcade racers. Currently the core team consists of these 6 developers. SYNETIC is also supported by a number of freelancers working on additional graphics or in-game music and sound effects. SYNETIC is located in Gütersloh, Germany. The name SYNETIC is a derivation of 'synergy', defined as 'acting in combination'. This name was meant to symbolize and emphasize the great team spirit that is predominant at SYNETIC. GQ: Your latest racegame, World Racing, is not your first project. But which game has been the most successful in your opinion? AL: The most successful game was "N.I.C.E. 2" also known as BreakNeck across Europe. It is an arcade style racer with various options including career, championship- and deathmatch modes. GQ: What is the reason Synetic has chosen to develop World Racing for the Gamecube and PS2 systems as well? AL: Our aim was to make the game accessible to a wide audience and for all platforms. GQ: What effort has been made to ensure that World Racing is a unique and new experience, compared to other games in the genre? AL: First of all there is our game engine, which not only creates exciting visuals for landscapes and car models but also incorporates a sophisticated and accurate driving physics. The engine still is very unique and allows to have race tracks embedded in a massive 3D environment. In World Racing the player is absolutely free to leave the racetrack and to test drive in a virtual world without boundaries. GQ: World Racing for the Xbox was released over a year ago. But why did the release of the Gamecube version took so long? AL: World Racing was originally created by Synetic for Xbox and PC. For the portation for PlayStation2 and GameCube we were using the support of the development team Spirlahouse. The portations started after we had finalized the Xbox code and worked on the PC. Unfortunately the different hardware specifications of PS2 and GameCube involved Synetic much more into the porting process than we had estimated. To make our technology run on these consoles a lot of engine tweaking and communication with Spiralhouse had been necessary. GQ: Are there big differences between the two versions of the game (for instance extra tracks or altered physics)? AL: There are no differences in-between the console versions. We have just adapted the steering controls for the controller of each console. The cube version now offers a very precise car handling. GQ: There are a lot of cars featured in the game, is there much difference in handling if you compare certain cars? AL: The handling of each car is based on over 150 data parameters supplied by Mercedes-Benz. These physics data ensure that each car is unique and behaves as it would in real life. The data we used covers every aspect of the driving mechanics, from acceleration, to breaking, to suspension, etc. If the arcade/simulation slider is set to 100% simulation, players will be able not only to experience the difference between the various model ranges, but also between the different models and engine settings of each specific model. GQ: Does the game feature multiplayer, and if so, what kind of modes does the game boost? AL: We support multiplayer as split screen. You will be able to drive with all cars in an endless championship. GQ: Why was Mercedes-Benz chosen to be part of the game, instead of Porsche, Ferrari or other brands? AL: One of the unique points about World Racing is the great variation of different car models offered in the game: You will be able to drive standard cars, as well as off road models, racing cars, vintage cars or even prototypes. Mercedes-Benz brings in great motor sport heritage offering exciting cars for every aspect of driving. GQ: Does Synetic have any interest on bringing more games to the Nintendo Gamecube? AL: As stated earlier, our aim is to make our games accessible to a wide audience of gamers. For future projects we will check all requirements for every individual platform and in cooperation with our publisher decide which current and future platforms we will approach. GQ: What is your relationship with Nintendo, and what do you think about the company? AL: The cooperation with Nintendo is excellent and we’re given a lot of support from Nintendo. GQ: Thank you very much for your time and the best of luck in the future! A: Thank you for this interview and being interested in our game. [/QUOTE] Links [*]Officiële Website [*]World Racing trailer [*]TDK Games

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World Racing (Nintendo GameCube)