Speed Racer Developer Interview

Speed Racer has just hit in Australia, both in cinema and on the Wii. The classic 60s anime reinvented by the Wachowski Brothers has got it's companion video game, and it takes a fairly unique approach to the combat racer genre. We got a chance to chat to Mario Wynands, the Managing Director of Sidhe Interactive who developed the game. Enjoy!

Matt: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat to us Mario, how's life as a developer going?

Mario: As you might expect, life as a developer is challenging. We have a very interesting market right now with a highly fragmented market, rising development costs, and conservative publishers. There are some great opportunities out there though, so we are staying optimistic as we work on our next projects.

Matt: So the game has been out in the US for about a month and is just hitting Australia and New Zealand, a month after release how are you feeling about it?

Mario: We are really pleased with how the game has been received. It has been selling very well, and reviews have been very positive.

As the highest rated movie game to come out in the past year, we exceeded our own expectations and those of the publisher. The development team did a great job.

Matt: Any jitters about it coming home to New Zealand?

Mario: Not at all. We have always had a strong local uptake of our titles, and given the strong response overseas we expect Speed Racer will be no different.

It is satisfying to see one of your games on the shelf at a local game store too, and we really appreciate the support of both New Zealand consumers and retailers around our titles.

Matt: Alright well lets talk about the game, how long was it in development for?

Mario: As is the way with most movie titles, the development of the game commenced only after the movie itself was greenlit. Starting in early 2007, that really only gave us less than a year in development. However, we feel that we used that time well.

Matt: I'm sure you're familiar with the general opinion of 'all movie tie in games suck and always will suck', but Speed Racer has done reasonably well as far as the critics go. Was there any particular approach you took to it to give it a life of its own rather than a string of movie scenes tied together with game play?

Mario: There were a number of aspects to our approach that ultimately made us successful in this regard. We use an agile methodology which focuses on getting the core systems up and running as quickly as possible, which allows you to "get to the fun" early in development. Choosing to focus on the racing and racing modes themselves rather than elaborate plotlines also meant we weren't hampered by changes in the film or script. Also, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and the movie production team were incredibly supportive during development, and were very timely with feedback and approvals which enabled us to just get on with the job.

Matt: Now to date the Wachowski Brothers have been pretty involved with all games based on their movies, how involved were they in the development?

Mario: I'm glad to say that the Wachowski Brothers and their team including FX guru John Gaeta were very involved in development. Their vision for the film is truly extraordinary, and it was great to tap into their creativity with respect to how that vision could be transferred to a videogame.

Matt: Interesting guys to work with?

Mario: Definitely. The Brothers and John really get games, and working with them really inspired our development team. We hope we get the opportunity to work with them again in the future.

Matt: Given the green screen special effects movie frenzy the game is based on, did the idea for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions ever come up? And if so, what stopped them from happening?

Mario: Different platforms were raised in early discussions, but with tight timeframes you have to be realistic about what is achieveable. Ultimately though, we were very happy to lead with development of the Wii version and we think we have hit the platforms that speak best to the audience of the film.

Matt: One of the game's biggest features is car-fu, which allows you pull flips and jumps and take out other racers. Was that hard to get right? Did you go through many revisions?

Mario: We spent a lot of time working on the car fu. It is a key feature of both the film and the game, so while nothing like it has ever been seen in a racing game before, we knew we had to get it right.

We had access to a lot of previs from the film and had a lot of ideas of our own so went through a process of experimentation, testing, and iteration. We had the opportunity to expose consumers to different iterations via usability testing so we were able to hone in on what really worked for gamers themselves.

We are really happy with how it turned out, and especially like how visceral the combat feels with the Wii Remote.

Matt: Now just to make all the Speed Racer fans possibly cry, were there any major features that you cut?

Mario: We actually didn't cut any features during development, and were able to put in everything we planned to from the start as well as some extra bits and pieces. Obviously there are always more things you can add in to any game in development especially when you get ideas along the way, but you need to be practical when tied to a finite budget and a movie launch with a fixed date.

Matt: Are we ever gonna get a second dose of car-fu high speed action or is this a one off affair?

Mario: We certainly hope that we will have the opportunity to produce a sequel as there is a lot more potential in the Speed Racer universe and mechincs like car fu. In the end, such an opportunity will be dictated by both the success of the film and the current game.

Matt: Finally, what's up next for Sidhe?

Mario: We are working on several exciting console projects right now, including both licensed and original IP. We'll be announcing a couple of those projects later in the year, so keep an eye out for those.

Matt: Thank you so much for taking the time today, I'm sure a lot of Speed Racer fans have been curious about behind the scenes so it's very much appreciated!

Much thanks to Mark from Warner Interactive for setting this up!

Tags: developer Interview racer speed

Show More Info on Speed Racer