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Project Gotham Racing 3 Postmortem

Posted by Zonk on from the don't-blink-or-it-will-go-bye dept.

Another "Postcard from GDCE" is available over at Gamasutra, this article a postmortem of the title Project Gotham Racing 3. Game Developer postmortems are usually interesting, and always good for at least one insight. From the article: "However, as an ultimate lesson, the Bizarre Creations duo return to an earlier, extremely valid point. When you're making a next-gen game, don't forget that it's not the 'next-gen' which is the most important part but the 'game'. An obvious lesson, perhaps, but it's something that can't be said enough, and something we'll find out the results of this holiday season for PGR3, hopefully."

9 comments

  1. Don't forget your roots... by macshome · · Score: 1

    I still, mostly, love MSR on the DC... I don't love it when I get bumped from behind by some AI driver, who could of simply not hit me, and _I_ loose Kudos over it.

  2. Postmortem? by mattACK · · Score: 1

    Hmmm...

    More like a living will. The game isn't out yet. Maybe we could call it a premortem?

    --


    "My God, this must be a truly remarkable corn chip, to be so widely and confidently touted."
    1. Re:Postmortem? by rk87 · · Score: 1

      Duke Nukem Forever, anyone? :)

      --
      I'M NOT ANGRY!
  3. Sweet screenshot by tepp · · Score: 1

    Oh, I do like that screenshot.

    PGR2 had this problem where the cars all looked plastic. Fake. Like they were barbie doll cars. The problem had to do with the fact they ramped their ambient light up too much and it swamped out the detail on the cars and removed the shading on the side panels.

    That screenshot mid-article, if acurate, shows they've learned from their mistake... I like how the trees - but not the sky - are reflected in the metallic chasis, and how the sun catches one edge of the car and shines like a flare. Very good, very good.

    Now, it doesn't change the fact I hate the PGR series because I hate kudos oriented racing... give me a street racing game anytime like Midnight Club (III was extremely good!)

    --
    Tepp
    1. Re:Sweet screenshot by MBraynard · · Score: 1

      Or maybe something more realistic and practical. Handle that Vette pulling away from your Civic by having player 2 lean out the passenger side window and bust some caps into it's gas tank.

    2. Re:Sweet screenshot by AaronLawrence · · Score: 1

      Actually I was thinking the car looks TOO shiny. Like it has a perfect mirror finish. I suppose it is possible to see that on a showroom car with the right paint, but on a race car it looks a bit odd, IMHO.

      One other odd point, the car looks curiously disconnected from the road.

      --
      For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke
  4. Seconded by NanoGator · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "Game Developer postmortems are usually interesting, and always good for at least one insight."

    This is true. One of the things I miss about my previous job is that they subscribed to Game Developer magazine. I always had fun reading the post-mortem section because it often went into some of the stickier issues of managing a large team to build a game.

    Okay, enough babble. Are there other mags out there that do 'postmortem' type articles regularly?

    --
    "Derp de derp."
    1. Re:Seconded by Hast · · Score: 1

      You can read them online for free (reg required) at Gamasutra. As I've understood it it's the online version of GDM. (Not sure if they have all the articles from GDM though.)

      I have to say though that this post-mortem was a bit dissapointing as it was only a report on a PM. It wasn't written by the developers themselves and thus lacked any content.

      Eg they mention that they added a scripting language, but not which language or any details about it.

  5. Strange how there are only 4 comments by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I found this article to be quite interesting. Far more interesting than the price of 360 retailer packages and how many silly variations we can have on xbox live subscription.