Biker Bash

[Ryzza5]

SMS are thinking of recruiting a smaller team of devs (sister company Gamagio) to build an action arcade bike racing game similar to Road Rash where apocolyptic riders use Street Fighter-esque moves to eliminate opponents under the same WMD platform as pCARS. It would be a smaller title with lower budget and build time if they go ahead with it. right now they're just asking who would be interested in it.

 

 

Here's a quick GDO they knocked up:

http://wmdportal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/BB_GDO_v12.pdf

 

 

~20 of us TDUCKers have joined pCARS, so how many would be interested in supporting this concept?

 

For those who have pCARS accounts, visit the forums and click the banner announcement to view the thread and dev posts (replying to questions).

 

 

Here's a bit of insight into the concept...

 

So we all love racing, right? *listens for huge roar of agreement from the community*

 

And there's plenty of excitement, enjoyment, adrenaline, sweaty palms, concentration, goal-striving, skill perfection, immersion to be had from racing a virtual car around a virtual course - regardless of whether you lie on the 'real/sim' end of the spectrum or the 'arcade' end.

 

BIKER BASH takes those same feelings, puts it on bikes, and adds the second-to-second gratification that you usually only get in a first-person shooter or fighting game by including weapon-based combat. Ie those 'micro-wins' of nailing a perfect corner or taking the inside line are converted into the satisfaction of seeing an opponent fly after smacking them with a baseball bat, or successfully landing a huge jump or filling your Rage meter and firing off the nitro.

 

The game obviously takes inspiration from games that we grew up with and are critically acclaimed - Road Rash which allowed you to maneuver nimbly through traffic and deal damage directly to the rider as opposed to other weapon-based driving games where you damage the vehicle. If you're doing fighting too then the visceral combos and animation poses of Street Fighter IV are obviously the benchmark out there and the gesture-based input of Fight Night provides a natural way of performing those moves quickly whilst still managing to steer.

 

And we do want that fighting to be brutal! Game ratings give us borders to work within on what is acceptable to do to humans and what isn't. Pulling the arms off a minotaur in God Of War 3 is fine since they are mythical creatures but you'd never be allowed to do the same to a 13-year-old girl. A stylized look therefore distances us from those problems and therefore opens up the possibilities to go even further with the action/gameplay. The style of the Gorillaz therefore satisfies that with a mature edge without going into South Park territory.

 

Gameplay-wise therefore you'll be racing through stages in a very arcade manner and upgrading yourself between them. The over-arching motivation is simply to win each stage in order to reach the final one and beat the game (so proper old skool in keeping with its initial inspiration). Along the way you can buy items that will help you do this and primarily you play through 'Arcade Mode' in order to build a kickass bike/weapon combo you can then take online to play with friends either in co-op or a variety of versus modes.

 

So think of the fast pace of Hot Pursuit mixed with the gratification of Marvel Vs Capcom 3 and you're along the right lines.

 

There's an argument to be said that BIKER BASH should gain a fair amount of publicity simply from the perspective of "Oh my god, finally someone's doing a fighting game on bikes again!" so we'd hope it attracts potentially even a wider audience than Project CARS has (and that's pretty wide!) from a variety of different players outside of the current racing community (eg.. fans of the original Road Rash, more 'casual' gamers, console players etc..) and doing so will not only strengthen the WMD platform further but will raise even more awareness of the WMD community and Project CARS.

[ScoobSTi]

The title of Biker Bash at first glance would greatly appeal to Jeremy Clarkson.

 

On topic, I'd rather have a nice bike racing game with the CARS engine, even though I prefer cars instead. I've never played a bike racing game. TDU1 doesn't count, and TDU2 doesn't count as a game.

[Ryzza5]

Buy MotoGP then. Those games bore me to death. :)

[Ryzza5]

There is now a Biker Bash forum that pCARS members can access (for now) where more feedback is being requested. Not 100% confirmed they'll make this title but from what I've read from Ian and Andy it seems pretty likely.

 

 

The big question atm (besides 'should we make this') is what sort of characters to use - lifelike humans or cartoons (inspired by Gorillaz). Cartoons will allow them to have more violence for the same 12 PEGI rating they're aiming for.

[superhyper]

Can't afford pretty much anything at the moment so that's a no from me, though I could see myself spending a small amount of money if I had any (= junior toolpack)

[Ryzza5]

Where's all out members anyway? Is the end nigh?

 

---------- Post added at 19:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 17:49 PM ----------

 

Someone's leaked some of the photos from the private GDO. Guess you might as well take a look:

 

Gerücht: Biker Bash als Download-Spiel in Entwicklung by play3.de

[Eudemon]

Seeing a game like Road Rash return would be amazing but this cartoon style suits phones, tablets and PSN/XBLA more than a full blown title. I like the comedy being shown but think a grittier look akin to RR would suit and sell better to console gamers and PC players than what is currently shown on those screens. That's just my opinion on it anyway.

[Sponge]

Road rash was absolutely epic.

 

Still is.

 

I wouldn't buy this game as it looks too cartooney. It's like Mario Bikes.

[Ryzza5]

I like how Diablo posts his feedback here but not on the WMD forums where it actually matters :nnnn: