Like many, I first played Namco’s Ridge Racer at my local video game arcade, long before the internet exploded and home PCs became the behemoths they are today.
It's the on-track action that's chaotic in Namco's title, with over the top crashes and destructible scenery giving the game a touch of insanity a step beyond taking corners sideways.Bugbear’s Ridge Racer: Unbounded (yes, it is a real word) has just been released for PC via the glory-hole that is Steamworks and I’ve been bally well playing it. If this all sounds a bit like TrackMania, you'd be right - Ubisoft's game even includes a puzzle mode with its track editor - though Ridge Racer Unbounded's circuits are more grounded in reality than its potential rival's gravity-defying setups. Namco also didn't confirm or deny whether advanced editing and customization of individual tiles would be available beyond simply slapping down 64 tiles, but it was again raised as a possibility. Namco was keen to stress it wasn't confirming or denying anything, but the example of a map with a river running through the middle of it and the player being challenged to create a circuit with the available pieces was certainly raised as a possibility. The interesting possibility of a puzzle mode was raised when the possibility of arranging those 64 potential blocks into non-grid configurations came up. Once a track has been completed with a start and finish line, players can choose the lighting for the circuit and set up special rules, such as what type of races the track will play host to and any restrictions on cars.
City backdrops are then generated in the blank squares, though players are free to insert specific landmarks into the backdrop as they please. Offering the player an 8x8 grid (64 tiles), the editor allows players to choose from a selection of interlocking blocks from 12 different city environments (two of which are currently implemented) and fit them together as they please. Having watched it in action, it might not be such a ridiculous boast after all - it really is very simple.
Indeed, Namco claims the rest of the game was built with the same tools - and makes the bold boast that it's possible for anyone to create a retail-quality track in under one minute. It's simple, easy to use and intuitive, but that doesn't mean it lacks depth. It was designed as a response to players impressed with the myriad possibilities of user generated content but daunted by where to begin using the tools. Indeed, the whole of the game's campaign is built using these blocks - but after thinking about the way they worked, their simplicity but flexibility, the decision was made to put them in the hands of the player. Eventually, they settled on a "template" approach that used prefabricated city blocks, each 250mx250m in surface area, and slotting these together to build the game. During development, the team wanted to experiment with different ways of building tracks that would allow them to create a more expansive range of urban environments in which to set the game. Einen Ausblick auf das, was Sie auf IDG-Events im Jahr 2021 erwartet, finden Sie hier in unserem neuen Veranstaltungskalender.Ĭhief among the features that will drive (no pun intended) Ridge Racer Unbounded's future is the addition of the City Creator functionality. Aufgrund der weiter anhaltenden Situation rund um die Coronavirus-Pandemie legen wir im kommenden Jahr den Fokus primär auf digitale Veranstaltungsformate und wandeln viele unserer etablierten Veranstaltungen in Online-Events um, ohne jedoch das Ziel der Vernetzung und des fachlichen Austauschs aus den Augen zu verlieren. Den CIOs oder CDOs, den IT-Manager:innen und natürlich den Entscheider:innen im Channel bieten wir mit unserem Eventportfolio 2021 eine Vielfalt an Vernetzungsplattformen, die teilweise schon viele Jahre im Markt etabliert sind und weiter stark wachsen. Seit Jahrzehnten agieren die Medienmarken von IDG Germany, nämlich CIO Magazin, COMPUTERWOCHE und ChannelPartner, als Partner des IT-Managements mit einer klaren Zielsetzung: Wir wollen die IT-Community vernetzen, glaubwürdige Informationen liefern und Sichtbarkeit für spannende Projekte und ihre Macher:innen schaffen.