Full Auto Preview

Full Auto is Pseudo Interactive’s vehicular combat racing game for the Xbox 360. It’ll be released by SEGA early in 2006 and after being one of the only playable Xbox 360 titles at this year’s E3 it’s high on many people’s most wanted list. We spoke to Cord Smith, Producer at Pseudo Interactive, to get a better idea about the explosive game.

Pro-G: Firstly, could you explain a little about yourself and your role in the development of Full Auto?

Cord Smith: I joined PSEUDO as Producer on the project in August of 2004. At that time, the team was in the process of refining a pre-production prototype of Full Auto which I had the honor of taking on the road to demonstrate to a number of publishers in California. In my role, I serve as the primary liason to our publisher while also working with the team on a daily basis to ensure that the game ships on time and on target. I am assisted by an amazing staff of qualified leaders in each department, and a huge part of my job is to report to them and their teams to keep work moving forward, keep morale high, and ensure that PSEUDO Interactive continues to grow and evolve into a well-respected top-tier developer.

Pro-G: Pseudo Interactive created the Crash demos that demonstrated Microsoft’s XNA development platform. Did that have any influence on Full Auto? Did the game evolve from those demos?

CS: Without a doubt, the technology developed for the Crash demos played a huge part in the creation of Full Auto. Although those demos were created by a much smaller team, they provided the core proof-of-concept with regards to next-generation mesh deformation, damage texture application, physics-driven destruction, and high-detail car models. They also helped prove just how much fun vehicular destruction can be.

Pro-G: When did SEGA become involved?

CS: SEGA showed great interest in the Full Auto pre-production build we showed in September (2004). By October, they had drafted the full contract and we were given the greenlight to move forward with full production.

Pro-G: The game has been compared in some places to Burnout. Are the guys on the team big fans of Criterion’s games?

CS: I think almost everyone on the team is a fan of the Burnout series – as any self-respecting gamer should be. I had the pleasure of meeting one of Criterion’s producers at this year’s E3 and recently sent her an e-mail to congratulate the team on going gold with Burnout: Revenge. She was nice enough to respond and say how excited she was to play Full Auto. The team here at PSEUDO considers it an honor that editors sometimes label our game as “Burnout with guns.”

Pro-G: Did the racing come before the combat, or was the game based on both ideas from the beginning?

CS: This will certainly surprise you, but just before we pitched the pre-production build in California, we considered moving forward with a weapon-less racing game involving crazy environmental destruction. What we found in our exploration was that crashing through things was fun, but the only way to access the most extreme levels of destruction was to wreck your own car in a spectacular way. It didn’t make sense that the only way to expose one of the game’s coolest features was to fail. To rectify the situation, we mounted a missile launcher and a few machine guns on the hood and started tearing the world apart. We’ve never looked back.

Pro-G: This is the second launch (launch period) title for a Microsoft console from Pseudo Interactive. Are you drawn towards new hardware?

CS: The company’s been around for more than 8 years, getting its start as a small shop known for its technical chops. With David Wu at the helm, we’re always looking to exploit the latest technology so I think we’re definitely drawn to new opportunities with regards to next-generation hardware and breaking new ground. Our code team has the mentality that anything is possible – it just takes time and resources. It’s rare that an idea at PSEUDO gets rejected simply because ‘it seems difficult.’ In fact, our ability to push limits and try new things has made unique features like ‘Unwreck’ a possibility.

Pro-G: Cel Damage featured vehicular combat, but in a pretty different way to Full Auto. Have any lessons learnt from that gone into Full Auto?

CS: I suppose ‘squash and squish’ physics did set the stage for Full Auto in a strange way. Ultimately, every improvement to our physics engine sets the stage for higher-quality games. Our physics are universal, meaning they control everything from the forces on our explosions to the way the wheels of our cars grip the road. Given our focus on vehicles and weapons, every step forward opens the door for refinement and innovation. Just wait until you see what’s next.

Pro-G: While Full Auto’s visuals look sharp, the interactivity with the environments is what is receiving all the attention. Just how interactive are they?

CS: Let me address the topic of interactivity through the idea of agency. There’s no denying that gamers want a powerful sense of control. We employ multiple features to give them that control: intuitive driving mechanics, accessible weapon aiming, as well as the god-like ability to manipulate time. But we also give them something most driving games skimp on: the ability to smash through, blast away, bring down, and blow up nearly everything you see in the environment. Benches, phone booths, telephone poles, light posts, store fronts, gas stations, luxury hotels, athletic stadiums, road signs, statues, cliff walls, tunnel struts, gas tankers, shipping cranes… and that doesn’t even begin to cover the way our most explosive items CHAINREACT.

Pro-G: We know there are crashes and combat, but how does this tie into the game? Is there any story development? What game modes can we expect?

CS: We’ve included a full-blown Career Mode that eases gamers into the core gameplay mechanics while introducing the car classes and the various weapons. We were very deliberate in constructing a very pick-up-and-play arcade experience. As far as modes go, you’ll find some destructive variations on almost every standard game mode. We feature circuits and point-to-point races with the option for opposing starts, reverse race pathing, lap knockouts, and even down-and-backs. We’ll be releasing more info on additional modes in the near future.

That’s it for part one of our interview. Head over to part two where we talk about the Unwreck feature, Xbox Live, Physics and next-gen development.