“Igromania” (Game mania) #2, 24 January 2006
Dalnoboyshiki 3. Conquest of America.

On another shore, right next to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans there exists a large country- United States of America. Many Russians don’t particularly like the U.S. (Cold war relations and etc)

But there are many similarities between our two countries. For example, the United States just as Russia, has a very developed system of transporting goods by trucks, which has long outgrown the tedious “getting it from point A to point B”, and turned into a real subculture with its own rituals. In order to see a piece of this subculture, all you need to do is watch any American “road movie”- none of them lack the following scene: Some motel in California, empty highway, huge trucks sleeping on the parking lot, and inside the broken down fast food place, experienced drivers are sharing with each other the current news, and criticizing the government.

It is exactly to this broken down fast food place, that the Novosibirsk Company Softlab-nsk is heading with its new project “Dalnoboyshiki 3: Conquest of America”. There is still a long road to travel; the release of the game is scheduled for 2006, in fact by far not in the year’s beginning. So it’s the perfect time to get out of your sleeper and to listen to some road stories. Our driver, Igor Belago has plenty of them.


Story 1. About other roads.


Certainly, in the “Americanization” of the famous game series there is also a financial intention: All that needs to be done is to release “Dalnoboyshiki” in the U.S. and money of American shoppers will flow into your wallet. We can of course be mad at the game developers and accuse them of a lack of patriotism. We can also look at it in another, more positive way. We will of course have the opportunity to enter a new wonderful world. Do you want some proof? Igor has plenty of it.

Igromania: Hello Igor! Let's open to our readers one small secret. Before you began making the game, you and your colleagues went on a trip to America and collected information for the game. Tell us, what impression were you left with after meeting the kings of American roads?

Igor Belago: First there were many… Little sailing vessels ploughed the open spaces of the oceans, sunk in storms, crashed onto the reefs and cliffs. But the sea called us, and the new seekers of adventure went on their voyage. Life is a road, road is life. With the sails romanticism of sea roads leave in the past, to exchange it comes the romanticism of the motorways. Being the descendants of great sea explorers, Americans in their soul are still adventurers and trailblazers. No wonder a collection of cars in almost any American transport company is called a “fleet”.

No wonder that drivers in the U.S. love their trucks so much. A modern trucker does not need to know how his truck works down to the smallest bolt, for that they have large servicing stations. Not many people spend the night in their glamorous sleepers, when there are whole chains of special hotels. Although almost all truckers decorate their trucks, give them names, and etc. Just as the sea explorers of the past, truckers spend a big part of their lives in their trucks, on the road. Life is a road, road is life. You know that is probably the most important thing that we understood about the people that this game is dedicated to.

Igromania: Probably during your trip to California you had some incidents, funny or just plain interesting stories. Maybe you will tell us a few?

Igor Belago: This happened in San Francisco, during the first expedition. Imagine to yourself the end of 2001. America is still in shock over the events of 9/11. On the golden gate bridge there are military hummers, and the airports have many inspections. Not the most pleasant time.
We were leaving Eureka on US101. Stopped at a pharmacy in order to buy some medicine. As we left the pharmacy, we see small southeastern gentlemen next to our car. As we were standing there, he tried to put a piece of paper underneath the wipers. We asked him, “What are you doing messing around with someone else’s car?” He answered, “You got a ticket for parking where you are not supposed to!” We said that we parked correctly, but the meter does not accept our money, we honestly tried. It turned out that there is a small sign “commercial vehicles only”. When we arrived in our hotel we carefully read the paper, called different numbers, and finally figured out that some tickets can be paid off using a credit card. That’s how we filled up the budget of the U.S. for the first time, and unfortunately not the last!

Igromania: How much did these expeditions help you? Did it become easier to create the game world?

Igor Belago: Of course they helped a lot. We had seen with our own eyes what would be in our game. Although did it become easier is a very ambiguous question. We had only four car expeditions, in which we drove about 2 or 3 thousand kilometers. The large cities were shot while walking; the roads were shot while driving using two cameras. At first we planned to “compress” the game map, and to make it 10 times smaller than the real thing. Then the idea fell apart. We just could not recognize the world that we have seen in real life. In the end, the map we of course did “compress”, but much less.

If you take four times three thousand kilometers, there wont be a small number right? Even if you take four times two thousand kilometers that’s still satisfactory. Basically you probably already realized that the game world that awaits us in the third part of the “Dalnoboyshiki” series is huge.

Igromania: Igor will tell us more about this. Please describe the neighborhood in which the game will take place

Igor Belago: The world of Rig’n’Roll will be in California and small parts of Nevada. That is the coast of the Pacific Ocean and the snowcapped mountains of Sierra Nevada. These are blossoming gardens of San Joaquin valley and the burnt Mohave Desert. These are the red cliffs of red rock canyon and alley of giant sequoias in the woods of the coastal ridge. These are the skyscrapers of Los Angeles and cozy western towns like Long Pine or Bridgeport…

Story 2. About completely not unfamiliar people

Igromania: What Igor has just said does sound wonderful. Of course even the most rich and beautiful game world will be dead without a plot, characters, and interesting events. That is what we will talk about now. What will be the role of the main character in the game? From what will begin his career, and what awaits him during the campaign?

Igor Belago: Our main character is a beginning businessman, owner of his own truck and small trucking company. At first the main character and his secretary will be working for the company, but with time the gamer will be able to make an excellent career, and take his company into the leaders of the trucking market.

Igromania: Private business you say? Please tell us more.

Igor Belago: Actually in Rig’n’Roll we have created a real economic simulator, which will not be easy to describe in a few pages. That is why only the most important things. So in the beginning of the game you will have a truck, a small office and connections with a few trading bases. We will develop under a typical scheme. First we make money, and then we buy some new trucks and hire drivers. Then we start to “grow outward”: open chains in all parts of California make connections with new trading bases, and etc. And in between we have to carry out tasks for the plot.

Igromania: What will be the plot? What will you use to distract the gamer from the economic system? Will there be interesting turns, events, missions? Will we see scripted scenes? Or maybe you will please us with a romantic story?

Igor Belago: Yes, Yes, everything you said will be there! The gamer will see scripted scenes while driving, various interesting events, surprises, and adventures. We also didn’t forget about the romantic story. If there is a king of the road there has to be a queen as well!

We also want to say that the plot is not forced on the gamer. If you want you don’t have to do anything according to the plot at all, and totally concentrate on the economic side or other entertainments.

Igromania: What other entertainments?

Igor Belago: First of all there will be different extra quests. Second of all we didn’t forget about the racing neither. Starting from street duels, and ending with the Trans-California trophy of truckers.

Igromania: Are you are afraid that these elements, which are completely different from one another, will not work together properly?

Igor Belago: No. We feel that it’s boring to just drive around. There need to be other different missions and quests to make it more interesting. Also the gamer will make these elements work together himself. If you don’t want to participate in the races, you don’t have to.


Story 3. About completely not unfamiliar vehicles.


In the parking lots of American hotels you can see a lot of interesting things. Trailers for example. You can almost put these trailers in an art gallery. Here you see a nearly naked woman, here you see the view of Niagara Falls, here is something in the “western” style, and here is a sign, “Mobil Christian group”… No that’s no joke, but a real live church on wheels.

Of course out most important guests are not the trailers but the trucks themselves. Huge and powerful. The type of beautiful of trucks you can find in the U.S. you probably wont find in any part of the world. That is why we are very interested in the trucks that await us in Rig’n’Roll.

Igromania: Igor, please tell us what awaits us in the garage? How many models of trucks will there be in the game and are they real licensed makes?

Igor Belago: We are planning at least more than two-dozen trucks and about that many cars. With the variations of colors and paints there will be about 240 different vehicles that do not look like one another, that is why our garage no one can call monotonous. We already have part of the licenses for the cars and trucks, the rest are being worked on by 1C specialists.

People are of course interested in actual names. We already published the information about part of the makes of the cars and trucks on the main website. For example the Freightliner Classic XL, one of the longest trucks in the world. Here is the dull-nosed International 93000 Classic Eagle. Here is the Kenworth T600. Here is the funny and a little unstable Sterling A9500S. I think you already understand that in Rig’n’Roll you will be able to take a ride on almost all the American truck legends.

Igromania: Will the game have vehicles other than cars and trucks?

Igor Belago: Airplanes, ships, trains, tram. But you will be able to drive only trucks.

Igromania: How hard was it to model the vehicles? Did you consult the actual makers?

Igor Belago: We have a lot of different technical documentation about the vehicles. Also this time we want to take a look at the vehicles from the inside as well. We have a close relationship with the people who drive the vehicles, and that help us to make the trucks a lot more recognizable.

Igromania: What about the physical model and damage model? How detailed will that be?

Igor Belago: First of all we have modeled twelve main systems of a real truck. For example, the engine, the suspension, and etc. Each of them has about four to six more sections. Each section has many conditions of status. For example the amount of damages to the body is practically infinite. How the truck will behave depends on the condition of these sections.

We have made the servicing of the trucks very interesting. The player can try to figure out the cause of the problem himself, and when he goes to the service station can fight for a “fair” fix of his truck. Those who are not interested in this can take the advice of the mechanic, although as in real life that is not always a smart thing to do.

Igromania: Now let us talk about the graphics. In almost every interview we give the game developers a chance to brag about their graphics engine. We will give that same chance to you as well. We are of course sure that Rig’n’Roll will not look worse then its competition.

Igor Belago: We did not have an easy task. To model California in all its variety. That is what we concentrated our graphics engine on the most. We will not have levels, locations the player can go for a drive on all game territory, without seeing the loading screen. We also paid special attention to the weather. It will change just the same exact way as the weather changes in California in real life. We even put in virtual weathermen whose predictions you will not believe! They will come true quite often. But look at the screenshots. That is by far not all the beauty that you will see in the game.

Endless open spaces of California. Powerful trucks, which collect all in a convoy and head off into the horizon. Long hours of alternating views out your window. Short stops at motels. It’s of course wonderful to take a ride through California in your own truck. It is sad that we will only be able to do this in a couple of months. Yet it is always sad when someone is late. We have been waiting for Rig’n’Roll since 2004, but the developers were late, decided to take a shortcut and take on some more game play cargo. As we already said the date of release has been moved to 2006. But it is worth to wait. Not every day will you be able to play a game where you can conquer America.

Fordítás:

Elmondanak pár érdekességet, de a lényeg, hogy Igor barátunk azt mondta, hogy pár hónap múlva már játszhatunk a játékkal. Remélem 1 pár hónapra, azaz 2 hónapra gondolt :)

Érdekesség pl az, hogy 4 autóval járták be Kaliforniát 2 kamerával és fényképezgettek (jó buli lehetett), majd amikor minden rögzítettek 10-el kisebbre vették a távolságokat. Ezért ez a "csigatempó" mert csk 2 kamerájuk van.

Nameg elmondanak olyan dolgokat amiket már tudunk, a sérülésmodellről, meg milyen részekből áll a kamion, meg elsütik azt, hogy több mint 240 jármű lesz a játékban ha a festéseket is beleszámoljuk ;) Szóval ha egy autó-nak 120 színe lenne akkor csak két jármű lenne ;)

Fordítást köszönöm Mátrix barátomnak. :)