When Slightly Mad Studios were approached to revitalize the Need For Speed franchise after a period of decline one of the key pillars we knew we wanted to tackle was making the player feel the full physical exertion of what it's like sat in the driver's seat wrestling with high-performance machines.
In real-life there are a number of contributing factors that transmit this sensation to your brain such as G-forces, depth perception, transfer of weight, vibration, sound but sat on a couch at home with a DualShock controller most of these cannot be felt.
For Need For Speed SHIFT therefore we knew that communicating each of these physical characteristics through other methods would be key to the 'True Driver Experience' that would eventually become our core message...
In real-life there are a number of contributing factors that transmit this sensation to your brain such as G-forces, depth perception, transfer of weight, vibration, sound but sat on a couch at home with a DualShock controller most of these cannot be felt.
For Need For Speed SHIFT therefore we knew that communicating each of these physical characteristics through other methods would be key to the 'True Driver Experience' that would eventually become our core message...
As a start we created a driver model in the car that had physics of its own that were influenced by that of the car handling, which in turn was driven by the tire model, which was ultimately connected to the road surface. The driver's head therefore moved realistically in relation to the car movement. With that done, we then mapped the (traditionally) two-dimensional HUD to the driver's head which gave the freedom to move in three dimensions relative to acceleration/braking forces, driving over bumps, and being involved in collisions. To the player therefore, regardless of your chosen viewing camera, there was a sense of G-forces and reaction to the road without having expensive hydraulic seating rigs. |
The second step was to fix the restrictive confinement of the long-standing but seldom-used cockpit view. Despite being the view we're all most used to when actually driving a car it was commonly treated in games as if you were looking through widescreen borders and not conducive to getting the best experience from the game.
With our focus on framing the game from the driver's perspective we knew this had to be solved therefore and by mapping direct control of the driver's head to the right-analog stick in addition to the above-mentioned head movement we found both complimented each other and provided a far more 'free' experience for the player. No longer were you looking through a letterbox format - you had complete control over your head and it moved spatially through the cockpit which allowed it to break out of those traditional widescreen borders. By also employing some stylistic techniques borrowed from first-person shooters we were further able to push the believability that you were looking through the eyes of the driver by doing such things as blurring the cockpit out when travelling at high speed to simulate your focus narrowing on the horizon up ahead.
Ultimately for Shift 2 Unleashed we pushed this sensation further with the introduction of the Helmet Cam that also included further enhancements such as the driver's eyes looking towards the apex of the corners and lateral tilting of the driver's head when leaning in to corners...
With our focus on framing the game from the driver's perspective we knew this had to be solved therefore and by mapping direct control of the driver's head to the right-analog stick in addition to the above-mentioned head movement we found both complimented each other and provided a far more 'free' experience for the player. No longer were you looking through a letterbox format - you had complete control over your head and it moved spatially through the cockpit which allowed it to break out of those traditional widescreen borders. By also employing some stylistic techniques borrowed from first-person shooters we were further able to push the believability that you were looking through the eyes of the driver by doing such things as blurring the cockpit out when travelling at high speed to simulate your focus narrowing on the horizon up ahead.
Ultimately for Shift 2 Unleashed we pushed this sensation further with the introduction of the Helmet Cam that also included further enhancements such as the driver's eyes looking towards the apex of the corners and lateral tilting of the driver's head when leaning in to corners...
I've just finished playing the Highway 17 section of Half-Life 2 now and I can see the future is bright for racing games with the Oculus Rift. When you go to see a 3D movie, the bits that work the best for me are when:
Racing games are therefore perfect candidates for the first two items since you're always travelling 'into' the screen with the distant horizon travelling right towards you. |
The potential for this can be seen already from the hovercraft and buggy sections of Half-Life 2 where there's a greater perception of distance afforded by the stereoscopic vision and therefore a greater sensation of speed. You can also freely look around and are therefore more spatially aware. Where it fails slightly is in level design - most of the drivable areas are wide/open and therefore for a majority of time 3D elements are never whizzing close to your head which can actually exaggerate that feeling of speed whilst also providing some near-eye objects to also contribute to the feeling of depth.
So for our current Project CARS game, although head-tracking has been done before (TrackIR, Kinect), Oculus Rift support is extremely tempting as it's a natural next step from the progress we've made on previous titles. Imagine seeing another driver alongside you trying to overtake and being able to glance over at him to check, being able to naturally lean your head into corners, or even to reverse by turning around and watching out of the rear window ;-)
So for our current Project CARS game, although head-tracking has been done before (TrackIR, Kinect), Oculus Rift support is extremely tempting as it's a natural next step from the progress we've made on previous titles. Imagine seeing another driver alongside you trying to overtake and being able to glance over at him to check, being able to naturally lean your head into corners, or even to reverse by turning around and watching out of the rear window ;-)
TO BE CONTINUED...