COMPETITION INTERACTIVE
home then come into the casino. CI: Could you sell a standalone unit, so one
player raced seven AI cars? Is there any point to that, does it defeat the object of what you’re trying to achieve? SS: I don’t think back-betting would work in that
case; I like what we have the opportunity to create with the multiplayer experience so I’m pretty keen on that, but I understand that at off-peak times we might have to move toward a single-player model. But we’re pushing the multiplayer angle.
CI: Back-betting is interesting, to have that at a
relatively early stage of the development of Running Rich Racing; why have it on the early product? Is it something customers have requested?
SS: If I’m watching it
and want to get in the game and experience something, why not give people more of a stake than just standing there watching? It gives you the opportunity while you are standing waiting to play or whatever, to get involved. It’s a way of having spectators involved in the game. We are working on other elements that increase interactivity between
player and spectator as well, which I can’t talk about quite yet. We just want to make it a big event and an experience.
CI: You’ve largely been on the game design side – what inspired you to create this game, this way? SS: Mario Kart for sure, it’s the gold standard of
kart racing games – but we looked at all of them, Diddy Kong Racing, Sonic All-Stars, we played everything. Keith [Winters] has a great aesthetic artistically of what he likes and where he wants to go, and I think we found something with our art style; we wanted to go in a direction that was appealing, not photo-realistic, something a guy could get down and play but that wouldn’t turn a woman away. Something that has mass appeal, and I think kart racing allows for that space where it can be whimsical, fun, the characters hopefully have a little edge, it feels a bit more adult; it was about finding the pocket where it worked. I think it looks really good, I’m very happy with what our team has done. We’re trying to see where and how we can make
this work without ruining the player experience. CI: What stage are you at in terms of
development? SS: We have six tracks to race right now, we are going to add some more; nine characters, we are
38 FEBRUARY 2017
going to add more, and hone some things. We submitted our first round to GLI in January, and our applications are in for gaming licenses. We hope to be on floors for field trials by the end of the second quarter of 2017.
CI: Where are you looking at for those first installations? Atlantic City seems skill-gaming friendly… SS: Paul [Steelman] is strong on Vegas being the
gold standard, but we want this game in as many places as possible. So who knows?
CI: What’s interesting in manufacturer terms is that some companies have a gambling division which is part of a much larger whole, but the company may have a legacy in console or arcade gaming – Konami spring to mind. Can you imagine a tournament with banks of Lethal Enforcers machines in a casino? Or Time Crisis? SS: Well, Namco has signed up with Ainsworth so… When you hear things like that you might feel threatened, but then you realise there is room for all of us. I would totally go and play Time Crisis for money, and I would play Running Rich Racing for money. Konami will crush it, they have such great intellectual property to choose from.
CI: It’s going to come down to how good the game is… It’s always been the same with videogaming. If the gameplay is right, that’s what gets people to come back. It’s not the graphics. SS: Have you ever played Borderlands? It’s great
fun, very tongue-in-cheek, quite adult and great fun. The graphics were not that strong but you didn’t care. At the end of the day people just want to play games that are enjoyable; even if you remove the winning money component, if it’s fun people will want to play. I’ve spent my entire life playing in arcades on videogames and not winning money. Tack that on and suddenly, ‘oh, this is cool’…
CI: Getting the controller right is crucial to a
game’s success and with a driving game, you have a universally recognised control, the steering wheel. SS: We have paddles on ours, they’re not for gear
shifts though – one is for firing your weapon and the other is for initiating a drift.
CI: What’s really interesting about skill gaming is that everyone is coming at it in a very different way, you have a blank slate apart from regulatory requirements; no more reels or rigidity. But the players you’re after expect a lot more for their money, more interactivity… SS: If I sat down and only played a 15-second race I
would feel cheated – there is a fine line between what’s going to work and what’s not going to work. We always try and skew on the side of the player having a good time.
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