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Statement from
Game Spy. On April 25
Chris Sawyer announced that he was hard at work on a
follow-up to Roller
Coaster Tycoon II, a follow-up title to the ultra
popular and best selling strategy theme park building game
and that it would be published by Infogrames around the
world. If you've been playing games in the last few years
then there's no way that you could have missed Sawyer's
masterpiece. The game, loved by both hardcore and casual
gamers alike, has seen the launch of two successful
expansion packs and has been highlighted and lauded by the
mainstream and game media as a masterpiece. Its no wonder
that these things have occurred considering that the man
behind these games is also the man behind another
masterpiece called Transport Tycoon and that he has
single-handedly developed all of these games all by
himself. So it is with great pleasure that we offer an
interview with Chris Sawyer -- the man that made hauling
lumber and building wild roller coaster rides the most
exciting things to do on a Saturday night:
Game Spy - First off tell us a little
bit about how you came up with the concepts used in your
cult classic Transport Tycoon, and why do you think the
game was so popular?
Chris Sawyer -
Transport Tycoon was very much inspired by the classic
Railroad Tycoon, but I wanted it to be much more - I
wanted to create a world which seemed to be living and
breathing, where you could see things evolving, watch the
competing companies' vehicles running around, and also
have some fun just constructing and organizing the routes
and vehicles. Perhaps it was so popular because of the
depth and open-ended nature of the game – Like
RollerCoaster Tycoon, you could play it in many different
ways depending on what you enjoyed doing, and still stand
a good chance of achieving your goals.
Game Spy - Will we ever see a sequel to Transport
Tycoon?
Chris Sawyer - I'm
sure we will see a sequel at some point in the future. I
watch with interest when similar games are released, but
so far none of them come close to what I see as the 'next'
version of Transport Tycoon, so I think there is a good
chance I will eventually create a sequel myself.
Game Spy - Tell us a bit about your new game, Roller
Coaster Tycoon II. Beyond the fact that the first game and
its add-ons sold millions around the world, what was your
motivation for doing a follow-up? What will RC2 offer that
RC1 and its add-ons didn't?
Chris Sawyer - RollerCoaster
Tycoon II takes all the well-loved and familiar elements
of the original game and expands on them with features
like a larger map size, vertical scenery construction, a
scenario editor, and my favorite – track designs which
can include scenery, allowing a completely themed ride to
be constructed with just a couple of mouse clicks. Of
course there will also be new rides, scenery, and parks,
but the main reason for the new version was to improve the
functionality and gameplay, something that wasn't possible
through a further add-on pack for the original game.
Game Spy - You obviously love amusement parks and
roller coasters. How long does it take you to conceive and
implement a ride design and what's the most difficulty
part of the process?
Chris Sawyer - Putting
in a completely new ride design from scratch could take a
couple of months work, but because rides like roller
coasters all work in a similar way, code can be re-used,
track models can be based on existing track models, and
many other shortcuts can be taken to speed up production.
'Flat' rides (rides which don't have a player-designed
'track') can actually take even longer to produce. The
most difficult part of the process for all rides is
designing the ride so that it 'fits' within the game while
still looking right. For instance the track sections of
roller coasters have to align with the map squares, and
the various inversions have to also align correctly with
certain 3D coordinates so all the pieces can plug into
each other..
Game Spy - Will there be any major changes to the
aesthetics in RC2? Will it use a whole new engine or will
it be based on RC1's technology?
Chris Sawyer - The
'look and feel' of the original game is carried through
virtually unchanged into the new game, though technically
there have been many changes. Code from another project
I've been working on was used to improve the animation and
detail for vehicles, and the whole scenery construction
side of things is far better in the new game, but there
are also some elements and graphics which survive
virtually unchanged from the original game. I don't waste
time changing things for changes sake - My goal was to
keep the good bits and spend the time improving the
not-so-good bits.
Game Spy - Will there be any changes in the game's AI
to make it more intelligent?
Chris Sawyer - The AI
of the little guests is an on-going personal challenge for
me. It's easy to make the guests ultra-intelligent and
always find their way around, but then the whole game runs
at a snails pace if there are more than a handful of
guests in the park! The trick is to make the algorithms
simple and fast enough to efficiently handle upwards of
5000 guests at a time, while still making the guests
intelligent enough not to get lost too often. I've added
an additional layer of AI in the new game which if it
proves reliable will make the guests decisions more
natural, but of course some guests will always get lost,
either because they can't work out how to read a map, or
because the footpath layout is so obscure they can't work
out how to get to where they want, just like in real life.
Game Spy - What's the biggest complaint you've heard
about the first game and did you make any changes to
gameplay based on gamers' feedback?
Chris Sawyer - I think
the most common complaint from players of the original
game is that it's too difficult to individually remove
trees while building a ride! Well that's something I've
fixed, along with many other things, which perhaps
frustrate players (including myself).
Game Spy - Do you feel that you're a legendary
developer? What's your perception of your status as a
developer in the world.
Chris Sawyer - I don't
know - I think the unique way I still create games
virtually single-handedly lends itself to 'legendary'
status, but perhaps instead of being a legend, I have
created a legend in RollerCoaster Tycoon. I'm sure
RollerCoaster Tycoon will be remembered long after I've
been forgotten
Game Spy - What's your opinion on violent games --
You've proven that a game can contain zero violence and be
fun for the whole family? What's your opinion on games
that offer more hardcore game play and would you ever
consider making games like that?
Chris Sawyer - I'm
strongly against violent games, and while I'm not about to
demand the banning of every violent game around I think we
need more non-violent, positive, constructive games so
people have the choice of what to play. Computer games are
getting a bad name for themselves - Many people think all
computer games are violent, perhaps not knowing that there
are actually some pretty fun non-violent games out there.
As games get more realistic, the violence issue will get
worse - It's one thing killing a low-resolution pixilated
cartoon image, but quite another when you see a
photo-realistic rendered face dying in front of you. I
think it's up to people like myself to create alternatives
and show that you can have just as much fun playing a
'positive' game where you are rewarded for good design
skills and achievement rather than destruction and pain.
Game Spy - Can we expect to see expansions for RC2 like
we did with the previous game?
Chris Sawyer - It's
always an option, but let me finish the game itself first!.
Game Spy - In closing, what would you consider your
crowning achievement?
Chris Sawyer - I think
it has to be the original RollerCoaster Tycoon - I was
told by many in the games industry that the game would
never sell, the design was all wrong, and it had to use
polygonal graphics, and yet I ignored the critics and
ended up creating one of the best-selling PC games of all
time. I doubt I'll ever be able to do better than that.
Closing
statement from Game Spy. If there's one
thing I'm certain about Chris Sawyer, it is that he will
do better than that with Roller Coaster Tycoon II and
with anything else he decides to create. Some developers
wish they had the magic touch, turning every game they
make into gold, but Chris Sawyer (like Sid Meier, John
Carmack & Will Wright) has the magic. Thanks to Chris
and Jayson Hill over at Infogrames for taking time out to
talk to us. We'll have more information on this game
during E3 so stay tuned.
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