Interviews

Firemonkeys' Rob Murray on how Real Racing 3 offers a 'generational jump' in visual quality

Reckons iPhone 5 gives 10-fold jump in graphics

Firemonkeys' Rob Murray on how Real Racing 3 offers a 'generational jump' in visual quality
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iOS
| Real Racing 3

Firemonkeys has had a busy year.

The Melbourne, Australia-based studio is the result of a merger between two of EA's mobile developers, Firemint (Real Racing, Spy Mouse) and IronMonkey (Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Need for Speed).

In August it announced its first game, Real Racing 3.

The Real Racing series has been a benchmark for iOS racing simulations, offering a range of licenced vehicles which can be upgraded and tinkered with for each race until player's hearts are content.

Real Racing 3 will take another step towards its namesake by introducing real tracks to the series, in addition to a host of other new features.

Executive producer, Rob Murray took some time to discuss the studio's first release.

Pocket Gamer: How long has Real Racing 3 been in the works? Rob Murray: We started in the middle of 2011, so it's been about 15 months, Can you explain the process of licensing cars for the series?

I can't really explain the whole process here, but many Real Racing players care a great deal about the cars and the tracks in the game.

They want it to feel authentic, so we have to get everything right and to do that you need close relationships with manufacturers.

How has the process changed from Real Racing 2 to Real Racing 3?

Real Racing 2 was launched when we were Firemint; now we are Firemonkeys and we are part of EA!

We're a lot more capable together and EA is an awesome licensing partner, so Real Racing 3 is much easier for everyone; both us and the car manufacturers.

Both Firemint and IronMonkey have brought successful racing games to iOS - Real Racing and Need for Speed - how has that combination of knowledge and technology been implemented for Real Racing 3?

We have kept the teams separate because they are working on different games with different goals. However we have shared some ideas, practices and effects.

Both games are better off for being in Firemonkeys, but both these games offer very unique experiences and they have a unique soul.

In what ways are you using the latest iPhone and iPad hardware to improve this version graphically?

We use the latest iPhone to implement visual effects that we may not be able to achieve on other systems.

As you upgrade to the latest devices you will see better dynamic reflections, a lot more per pixel lighting, more normal maps, higher level of detail on the cars, higher texture resolution and a higher quality implementation of features like the rear view mirror. A lot of subtle things add up to make the game look more real.

However a large number of our visual improvements apply across all the platforms that we support, because one of the most significant improvements arises from changes in our art direction and art pipeline.



Real Racing 2 (above), Real Racing 3 (below)

If you put Real Racing 3 on an iPhone 4, it looks better than Real Racing 2 on an iPhone 4 because we have improved our quality across the board.

Are there any rule of thumb numbers you can give out in terms of polygon or shader complexity of Real Racing 3 over Real Racing 2?

I would love to give you some really clear numbers, but that stuff gets kind of complex when you dig into it.

We have a lot more polygons, a lot more textures, a lot more unique shaders, more complex shaders, more per-pixel shaders, more special effects, more texture layers, an advanced new lighting system, an expanded architecture and a whole new art pipeline…

Pretty much everything has improved dramatically!

It looks like the iPhone 5 might be about 10 times the power of the iPhone 4, and we are pushing that to the limit, just as we were pushing the iPhone 4 to the limit when we released Real Racing 2.

The one very noticeable thing that I would say now about Real Racing 3 over Real Racing 2 is that I think we have managed to step over our own sort of 'uncanny valley', so the sum of all these improvements in our engine and art pipeline has delivered a real stepwise jump in visual quality.

It has that real look that we were only dreaming of when we first started this project. We think we have jumped a whole generation here in terms of quality.

With console games, tactic feedback is a very important part of such sim-heavy games? As the graphical complexity of Real Racing series increases, how are you dealing with the issue of only having a touch interface?

We have extremely precise gyroscopes and accelerometers to work with. You get a great hands-on steering experience with the gyroscopes, or you can choose to use touch screen if you prefer.

Either way the input is direct and extremely low latency. Consoles and PCs require an add-on to get this kind of experience, and you can't take it with you!

How do you ensure the simulation elements of Real Racing 3 are accurate to real life?

There is no escaping the fact that driving a real car is not the same as playing a game like Real Racing. There are a lot of cues from your body and the real world that cannot be emulated on a computer.

However, the art is in making it feel real, by getting the experience right. There is a lot of time spent on feel: it is very important to us. Two different racing games on the same platform can feel dramatically different. That gap is about the art. It is a combination of timing, control systems, mathematics, physics, graphics, camera, everything.

The transition from Real Racing 2 to Real Racing 3 has seen some real improvements.

The big thing that has changed is that we have real tracks, and those tracks have a very different sort of layout to what you can do when you make your own tracks. They often have long straights where you can see forever, and they have quite thin roads and sharp corners that wouldn't work so well with the Real Racing 2 model.

We had to re-think everything to suit this and we have a more accurate model as a result.

What new gameplay features are being added?

The big feature we have announced is Time Shifted Multiplayer, which is a new form of social gaming that we first revealed during the iPhone 5 keynote. It combines the excitement of real time multiplayer with the convenience of turn-by-turn games.

I can challenge my opponent on one day to a race, and then they can race me the next. My opponent will see me in the race and compete against me as though I was there. They are not competing against a ghost, they are competing against my time shifted double. By colliding with my double or even just forcing me off the racing line, they can actually impact my race time.

So my double will play for me against my friends, and it will seek to match my skill level in the races it plays for me.

The better my time in the race, the more skillful my double will play when it seeks to emulate me. Given all the same conditions in the race, the double will achieve the same race time that I set. However every race day is different, so the race is not won on my time alone.

But Time Shifted Multiplayer is not the only gameplay enhancement in Real Racing 3, it's just a particularly revolutionary one. We have enhanced almost every element of Real Racing 3 and we look forward to sharing more about it soon.

Thanks to Rob for his time.

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Caleb Bridge
Caleb Bridge
Caleb writes about many things, not least of which is video games. Having been published on Gamasutra, GamePro and JumpButton Magazine, his next step is, obviously, to take over the world. He figures it should only take another few weeks.