World of Speed Interview: ‘You Can Play The Entire Game Without Ever Spending A Penny’

World of speed is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online action racing which is under development at Slightly Mad Studios, the talented studio behind the upcoming visual splendor which is Project CARS. Although both are racing games and share specific technologies, Slightly Mad Studios’ creative director Andy Tudor assured us that they are different from each other.

GamingBolt was also able to discuss about the potential of PS4 and Xbox One versions, micro-transactions, the club aspects of the game and the mechanics behind the loot system. Check out Andy’s response below.

Leonid Melikhov: Let us get the obvious out of the way – with a high profile project like Project CARS in the works, why opt to create another racing game like World of Speed?

Andy Tudor: They’re completely different. I think we’ve been quite clear on this since day 1. They’re completely different games you know. Project CARS is all about being authentic, being a Motorsport driver going through a calendar of seasons, representing different Motorsports. All that kind of stuff like realistic sim-handling, real-life drivers helping us out, circuits, it’s a different type of game than World of Speed.

World of Speed is action oriented team-based racing. Upgrading your cars, making them look cool and things like that. Jumping into games, free-to-play obviously as well, so they’re just miles apart and have different development teams. They benefit from similar technology and things like that, but other than that they’re completely separate.

"[On PS4 and Xbox One versions] No, we're concentrating on the PC right now. It's an MMO which has more of a root in PC and also we want to make sure we include the community in that kind of stuff and we want to make sure we talk to those guys on PC, make sure it runs great on laptops and make sure it runs on keyboards really great, so that's our focus right now."

Leonid Melikhov: Project CARS is more like for the niche hardcore car geek market and then you got the one that’s more arcade and easy to get into. For example: I am not a fan of Gran Turismo, I like what it does, but personally I prefer games that are more approachable and more arcade. This is what I felt like World of Speed was where it’s easy for me to jump in but as opposed to a game which has super real-handling.

Andy Tudor: Project CARS is influenced by Forza, Gran Turismo but World of Speed is influenced by like Burnout, Project Gotham Racing and Need for Speed. Miles apart, but both use their expertise.

Leonid Melikhov:  Got both games for both audiences, makes sense.

Andy Tudor: Exactly.

Leonid Melikhov: What can you tell us about the team-work aspects of World of Speed, especially with the specific roles some players can take? Since the game is an MMO, it will be interesting to see how those mechanics can be weaved into a racing game.

Andy Tudor: Team-based racing has a very “MMO” equivalent of having a bunch of friends all teaming up, going into a raid all with their different characters, all with their different kind of kits and builds on those characters and then completing side quests and earning loot. Exactly the same thing can be said about World of Speed. It’s been built up from day 1 to be like that. Rather than bolting on MMO aspects afterwards, we thought about that from day 1.

The equivalent here is creating a club or joining an already established club. You’ve got your guild banner that is your club crest in the game, you’re owning specific cars that take on specific roles. We’re talking about customization here about how to get those out with the best kit for specific roles as well. It’s not all about buying the most expensive items, otherwise everyone ends up with the most expensive items and everyone is on the same plateau which doesn’t make any sense.

Going into a race/objectives which are equivalent of quests and those quests actually influence who wins the event in the end and therefore you get more loot. It’s not all just about a solo player going in and trying to go as fast as he possibly can.

Leonid Melikhov: Much more social

Andy Tudor: Much more social, much more team-based and you’re going to help each other in this kind of stuff.

Leonid Melikhov:  Project CARS is currently bound for PS4 and Xbox One as well as PC. Has there been any thought for World of Speed on PS4 and Xbox One?

Andy Tudor: No, we’re concentrating on the PC right now. It’s an MMO which has more of a root in PC and also we want to make sure we include the community in that kind of stuff and we want to make sure we talk to those guys on PC, make sure it runs great on laptops and make sure it runs on keyboards really great, so that’s our focus right now.

"Don't worry about micro-transactions though, you can play the entire game without ever spending a penny. Please believe me when I say that, I'll say it till the day I die, it will be upon my gravestone."

Leonid Melikhov:  What are your thoughts on DirectX 12? Do you think it will have impact on PC and Xbox One development?

Andy Tudor: Yeah, it’s awesome and it’s something we’re all thinking of.

Leonid Melikhov: Microsoft have been pushing the so call of power of cloud. If the game does come out on the Xbox One, do you think you can use it to push the game even more given that it’s an MMO?

Andy Tudor: Yes, so the base on PC is constantly calling a server for different things and obviously the equivalent of that on consoles is the Cloud, so yes we’d definitely be using it.

Leonid Melikhov: How many cars and tracks can we expect at launch?

Andy Tudor: In terms of cars and tracks, again, everyone wants to know this, but we talk about cars in terms of variety, we talk about different tiers that there are. Everything from Japanese cars, muscle cars, road cars, super cars and whatever else with a number of light cars within each of those categories. Track wise, it’s the same kind of thing, we’re talking about city tracks, closed circuits and there will be more information on that over the coming time.

Leonid Melikhov: Are there any new details to share on the game’s micro-transaction system?

Andy Tudor: No. Don’t worry about it though, you can play the entire game without ever spending a penny. Please believe me when I say that, I’ll say it till the day I die, it will be upon my gravestone. But, believe you me you can play the entire game without ever spending a penny and obviously there will be some way of improving certain aspects of it or accelerating time. Please don’t worry about that stuff, it’s not evil. [laughs]

Leonid Melikhov: Right (laughs). DriveClub is working to create mechanics that keep players from “rage quitting” with various challenges and such to be achieved. World of Speed will have randomized challenges as well – can you give us some examples of the same?

Andy Tudor: We don’t want people to quit out of events. It’s lovely that we announced that and then DriveClub announced it after, it’s flattery in it’s best form. Objective wise we want people to be thinking even if they’re in last place they still have something to go after. That’s like really important. If you’re in last place and you got no way of winning, no way of getting cool loot then of course you will quit out. But with objectives to go after you can still do something to improve and get rewards for it and contribute to the team and things like that.

"The Madness engine is very scaleable. If you plug in an average laptop the game will still run at high-frame rate and look amazing."

Leonid Melikhov: In terms of visuals, we currently have to give preference to Project CARS over World of Speed. However, there must be more to the story – were there any considerations that had to be taken for the latter’s performance vs. visual quality? Will PC players still manage to max out the game’s resolution and frame rate?

Andy Tudor: Right, yeah, absolutely (laughs). Wow, longest question ever, but ultimately the game is based on our Madness engine. And the Madness engine is very scaleable. If you plug in an average laptop the game will still run at high-frame rate and look amazing. It may not have all the bells and whistles of everything, but if you do have have that and you like the latest Titan card or something like that, then it’s going to scale to that and it’s going to look amazing.

Leonid Melikhov: How much of the assets are being shared from Project CARS or is the game being made up from the ground up?

Andy Tudor: They’re completely different teams, they share certain aspects of technology wise. If something happens over here then we question “would it actually benefit this project as well?” and if it does then it’s shared technology, so that’s great. In terms of assets-wise, there is the odd car that is actually in both projects, but usually they’re either built from scratch by different teams or shared-expertise. They both kind of benefit each other really. Since they’re both totally different types of games ,they don’t really compete with each other, so it’s all fine.

Leonid Melikhov: Sounds awesome. Thank you for the interview.

Andy Tudor: No worries!

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