STUNTMAN: IGNITION DEVELOPER DIARY - AFTERSHOCK

Richard Langston Bio, Director of Aftershock

Aftershock

Aftershock is a big-budget Hollywood disaster epic set in the Pacific Northwest. It focuses upon an isolated small town, perched high in the mountains, near the cone of a long-dormant volcano. Ominous rumblings quickly give way to outright disaster as the volcano erupts dealing massive damage to the nearby town. Streams of lava flow through the streets, massive flaming boulders crash down from the sky, fissures open in the ground and the town is torn apart. The movie does not focus upon a single character, instead it tells the story of a group of townsfolk, who struggle to survive amidst the Chaos.

Aftershock is our shot at grabbing the player's attention from the beginning of the game, hitting him with something visually compelling and dramatic from the very start. Often in game development there is a tendency to save the good stuff for last, sometimes this is part of the plan, other times it occurs naturally as the team gets a better understanding of what exactly makes the game fun. In this case we were determined to present the player with one of our more compelling environments right away as well as demonstrate what makes Stuntman: Ignition different from the typical "driving game". Aftershock, with its extremely active environment and over the top stunts was ideally suited to this purpose. Instead of driving around a relatively static track, Stuntman: Ignition provides the player with the unique opportunity to navigate through the ruins of the doomed town, as the destruction is taking place. Players will dodge falling lava boulders, leap enormous chasms, and smash through burning buildings.

Aftershock's active environment also proved one of the tougher challenges for the project as a whole. The numerous particle effects, breakables and complex environmental animations were a challenge to both construct and to fit into even the Xbox 360's considerable memory. We began with a "blue-box" phase that roughed out the basic gameplay of the levels with rudimentary geometry and simplistic version of the environmental animations created by "lerping" objects from one position to another. This let us establish the timing of the animations and also to test out the gameplay before we expended the resources to build the animations. The levels actually changed significantly during this phase as certain stunts proved more compelling than others. Once we were satisfied with the pacing and layout the art team built over the "blue-box" creating the finished art, animation and effects necessary to bring the doomed town to life.

Overall, we feel that Aftershock does an excellent job providing the player with an initial exposure to the spectacular environments and over the top stunts found within Stuntman: Ignition.

Richard Langston Bio, Director of Aftershock

Richard Langston is a British-born director known for making sprawling historical dramas with huge ensemble casts. His movies have won considerable critical acclaim as well as numerous awards. His latest disaster epic, Aftershock, combines his talent for drama with an explosive storyline filled with big-budget special effects.

Langston is well known as a player in the Hollywood community, his numerous awards and box-office success giving him the clout to make and break careers. On the set he is serious and professional at all times, focused on the task at hand. Many consider him aloof or even arrogant and he can be very direct and critical when mistakes are made. On the other hand, he can be an excellent mentor and has jump-started the careers of many young actors that perform up to his exacting standards. Working for Langston is a challenge, no doubt, but also an excellent opportunity to quickly make a name in Hollywood.

Designer Blog Entries: Lava Flow, First Tremor and Escape

Lava Flow

In this level you will be playing a panicked local fleeing the doomed town. Lava Flow is the first long level the player will encounter in Stuntman: Ignition. The stunts are not particularly difficult but there are a lot of them so it's best to make your run at a comfortable speed and try to avoid errors while learning the level layout. You can also fail this level by driving into the lava, so it's important to keep eye out for thick lava streams. The R3000 doesn't drift a lot, so you'll want to hit your E-Brake to break your tires free and engage the drift for the drift stunts. Near the end of the level you'll pass under a semi and through a burning building. Be careful not to take this area too fast and to be ready for the left turn that occurs quickly after emerging from the building. Lava Run contains two action button stunts, the first comes pretty quickly, you'll need to hit the action button to set your car on fire and then extinguish it by gapping through the car wash. At the very end of the level make sure to hit the action button again and trigger the fiery crash ending.

First Tremor

First Tremor focuses upon the heroic geologist as he struggles down the mountain roads to warn the local populace to flee. You will be driving the Geologist Truck, keep in mind it accelerates more slowly than the R3000 and its bouncy suspension can be challenging to handle. It's important to maintain control and keep an eye out in front of you since there will be a lot of obstacles, quick turns and small jumps ahead of you. As you start off you'll be faced with dropping lava boulders and a series of obstacles, you need to make your way through them quickly to ensure you don't miss the sliding house stunt at the bottom of the first hairpin turn. During the lengthy dirt and off road section that follows you need to maintain control and watch ahead for the director stunts. If you can take this section quickly there are a number of time gates that'll add to your score. Take it too fast however, and you'll roll the truck or slide into the lava along the sides of the path and fail. Once you cross back onto the paved road you'll be driving through oncoming traffic, try to avoid head on collisions since they will slow down your overall time. At the end of the road section you'll follow the arrows to the left and hit a big jump onto a bridge. You'll need to take the jump fast enough to reach the bridge, but make sure you hit the bridge supports on the way and then quickly regain control and turn left along the bridge. Weave between the holes in the bridge and then turn right and cross over to the other side as a section of bridge collapses and forms a shallow ramp for you. You'll need to accelerate hard to overtake the last truck on the left while avoiding the hole in the bridge ahead of you on the right side. Then cut back and make the final jump into the tunnel.

Escape

In this scene the town's fire chief is battling his way through the chaos to reach the far side of town. This is a long level and one of the most difficult levels in Aftershock, so it may take several tries to master. At the start you'll break through a fence. Head slightly right to avoid the traffic in front of you then smash out of the burning house. Try to maintain a good speed coming out of the house so you can reach the gap stunt that follows before it deactivates. As you perform the overtake that follows, keep an eye out up the road so you can avoid the tumbling cars. You'll pass through an explosion and then jump up onto a rubble platform. Try to have enough speed when you take the jump, otherwise you will not clear the lava when you drop down on the other side. After pulling a 180 you will smash through a building. On the other side a fissure opens up in front of you. Make a hard right and keep to the left of the picnic tables to line up for the big jump. You need to hit the jump fast enough to reach the second floor of the building and make sure you take out the supports along the way. Further on, you'll leap over an oncoming car and head inside the parking garage. Inside you'll pull a 180 and then wind your way up to the second floor, avoiding the rubble and holes as they appear. Up on the second floor you'll need to stop precisely inside the marked box and then execute a reverse 180 and smash your way back out of the garage. Make sure you are far enough from the wall to give you enough room to execute the reverse 180. A bit further along you'll find yourself on the mountain roads outside of town where you will meet up with a fire truck. It'll plow through the traffic in front of you creating stunts for you. Follow it around until you reach the final big jump. Accelerate into the jump to ensure you hit it with enough speed to reach the landing box on the far side.

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Stuntman: Ignition

Platform:
PS2  |  PS3  |  Xbox 360
Genre:
Racing 
Release Date:
Sep 2007 
Age Rating: