experience with all their games, so there are lots of cases to handle around sign-in, trophies,
friends lists, etc
Let’s talk trophies. We feel some developers don’t understand trophy hunting as some games require far too many hours to complete or have tasks that are unrealistically difficult. Was it a conscious decision to make your games with obtainable Platinum trophies?
We generally like our trophies to be a mix of skill and progress. When deciding our final list, we aim for a skilled player who loves the game and plays it all the way through to be able to obtain all the trophies (thereby achieving the Platinum). This is a bit of a fine balance to strike in order for it to feel like an accomplishment without seeming too grindy.
The learning curve can either make a game or kill it off. Testing this to create a fine balance must be an important job. Whose job is this or does everyone have a say?
Being a 4-5 person company, everyone has a say on the tuning and balancing of the game. For Riptide GP2, we actually hired a projectduration intern who handled the details, using input from the rest of the team. We also invite players of various ages and skills to our studio in order to do some playthroughs before the final game balance is reached.
Would you have liked to put a proper multiplayer in Beach Buggy Racing rather than share play and spilt screen?
Yes, Beach Buggy Racing definitely would benefit from online multiplayer. At the time we converted the game to console we weren’t sure how the game would be received on the platform, so we decided not to invest the additional time and resources required. By now both RGP2 and BBR have done well enough that going forward we plan on doing realtime multiplayer on all our console efforts (if appropriate).
We were impressed with the price set for both releases. How did you finally end up at the asking price?
Riptide GP2 was our first game that we brought to console from mobile. Due to a lack of online multiplayer we decided that $6.99 was a fair price on the PS4. For Beach Buggy Racing, we had much more fun playing local splitscreen mode, which is key with any good karting game. We thought $9.99 was good in this case. There really isn’t too much of a system, we just want to make sure that players get good/lasting value.
Will Beach Buggy Racing and Riptide GP2 appear on PS Vita given they are originally mobile games?
It’s not something we’re currently planned on, but we have indeed discussed it and may do a port in future, if there’s enough consumer interest.
Do you have plans to port more game to PS4?
Definitely! We’ve had so much fun working on consoles again that we’re making consoles our lead platform. This means the environments, vehicles, and effects are designed with higher detail in mind. Our next game, Riptide GP: Renegade was just announced at PAX where we had a booth that allowed gamers to play on console kiosks:
Who in the development team is the Riptide GP2 speed freak?
Oh man… the answer to that question could have some consequences… during development we all get pretty good playing splitscreen mode while fine tuning the various tracks. But I have to say that once things get competitive, it’s usually pretty close between Matt and myself. The last race of a championship is often the deciding race. It gets real! We can’t wait to play with our fans online in our next game!
A massive thanks to Ralf Knoesel for taking time out and speaking to us. Head over to www.vectorunit.com for the latest developments.
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