Developer Psyonix is best known for its contribution to the PlayStation 3: the cult hit known as Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. It was a game that was as manic as it sounded, introducing the idea of a soccer-like game with giant vehicles and an even bigger ball. With such an idea taking off, it only made sense that the studio would re-visit this concept on a much grander scale.
With that in mind, Shacknews took some time to speak to Psyonix's Jeremy Dunham about what players can expect from this spiritual sequel. Among the topics discussed are the larger scope, the improved physics, and what it means to take community feedback.
Shacknews: What made you guys want to create a follow-up to Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars?
Jeremy Dunham, Director of Marketing and Communications: The fans were the number one reason. We had such an amazing response to the original game (more than 2 million downloads and a community that still plays the game and makes YouTube videos to this very day) that we had to do another one. We think we've built a really strong relationship with our players and we don't want to lose that.
The original Battle-Cars also has a lot of sentimental value to the studio because it was our first real foray into self-published, self-funded gaming. Plus, we just really love the game's concept. Honestly, there's no shortage of reasons as to why we wanted to do a follow-up!
Shacknews: What are some of the new feature you're aiming to bring to Rocket League?
Dunham: One of the most important changes is our dedicated servers. Ask anyone who wants to play a competitive sports game if they'd prefer peer-to-peer (the old way) or dedicated servers and we think they'd say "dedicated."
But that's just one change. We took all the feedback that our community gave us for the last 6+ years and made it into a game basically (or at least, are trying to get as much of it in there as we can). We have all-new visuals, super-detailed car customization, more realistic physics, and a season mode that will give solo players something to do if they're not into multiplayer. It's a more complete game all around.
Shacknews: The previous Battle-Cars did a good job in creating a soccer-style atmosphere. How does Rocket League improve on that, both in terms of the game on the field and the overall presentation of the game?
Dunham: The aforementioned visual upgrade makes a big difference, and it's a little less whimsical-looking than the first game, which we think adds a little more legitimacy to the idea that this is a real sport. But we've also refined our physics to be more realistic as well -- so the ball and the car do the things you'd expect them to do regardless of skill level.
We have a lot of little detail thrown in there too -- unique goal celebrations, different AI behaviors, dynamic crowd reactions, all sorts of fun stuff that can add a lot to the game. We really like our new user-interface, too.
Shacknews: How did the team go about improving the physics, as opposed to the original game? And how much does accurate physics mean to a game like this?
Dunham: Accurate physics are very important in a game like this because we're trying to simulate or, at least, approximate a sport that most of the world understands. When you play Rocket League, your expectation should be that the ball does what you want it to do when it's hit by a two-ton front-end powered by jet fuel. It sounds so bizarre to have an expectation of something like that, but that expectation is still there -- people know how cars work and they know how ball physics work and our job as the game makers is to make everything work how they'd expect them, too.
As for how we improved the physics, we have a brand new physics system that we think does a better, more realistic job than what we had before. We've also tailored the vehicle impacts to be less explosive than they were in Battle-Cars, making cross-field, goal-to-goal shots less common, and teamwork, both offensively and defensively a stronger focus now.
Shacknews: How will Season Mode work? Roughly at what pace can players expect to earn some of the Season Mode's unlockable items?
Dunham: We're still staying quiet on the Season Mode details until we get closer to release, but it's going to have the types of features that most fans would expect from a sports-oriented season mode. Team rankings, play-offs, a championship game, different team strategies, stuff like that... but one thing we can tell you in regards to this question is that you'll earn something for every game you play. We want people to have fun and always have that sense of discovery, so in Rocket League if you complete a game you're going to get something for it.
Shacknews: You spent six years taking community feedback. What was the one player-requested feature that the team absolutely knew they had to fulfill?
Dunham: More car customization, without a doubt! In the original Battle-Cars, the only thing we had was the ability to change a few skins per Car and that was it. That's not the case in Rocket League. Now we're going to allow players to customize a huge number of aspects to their car, we'll have a lot more skins, and we even have a few surprises thrown in there that we think people are really going to enjoy. Like our Season mode, though, we're waiting just a bit longer before we get into more detail.
Shacknews: What's been the team's experience working with the PlayStation 4? What's been available to the team, in terms of hardware capabilities, that wasn't available before when working on the PS3?
Dunham: We love it. We're developing Rocket League for both PS4 and PC, and the tools that the PlayStation 4 offers us makes that a lot easier -- which is pretty important when you have a small team like ours working on the game.
Compared to the PS3, the PS4 just gives you more of everything -- more power, more space, and more options to think of different ways to approach your game. The PlayStation Share button, for example, inspired us to develop a full replay editor that lets you import entire games into an in-game replay editor and then play it back from any angle you like to help create your own highlight reel. When used in conjunction with Share, we think there are going to be some really cool videos of our game out there, -- and judging by the great videos our community made with the first game, some really creative ones too.
Shacknews: With eSports having become a rising trend in gaming, how does Rocket League hope to embrace that idea? Is competitive Rocket League something that Psyonix has had in mind during the game's development?
Dunham: Our approach at Psyonix for both Rocket League and the other game we've been working on (Nosgoth on PC for Square Enix) is that you can't force eSports. You can't just say, "This is an eSports game" and then it just happens. We believe that the players and community that spring up around your game are the ones who determine whether or not it's worthy of that kind of status.
So, from our perspective, the best thing to do is to support the game with as many features that we can that allows eSports to be possible. Our replay editor, dedicated servers, skill-based matchmaking system, car customization, leaderboards, and completely balanced gameplay (there are no "stat boosts" for vehicles) is a good foundation. Once we're out, if the players have other features they want to see and we can make them then we'll continue to support the game the best that we can.
Look for more information on Rocket League over the coming months. The game is expecte to release on PlayStation 4 later in 2015.
Psyonix director discusses Rocket League and how it hopes to further build on 'Battle-Cars'
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