Video Games

Wreckreation Knows You Want Another Burnout, So It’ll Let You Build It (and Thousands of Other Things)

Three Fields Entertainment, a studio founded in 2014 by former Burnout Paradise creative director Alex Ward and Criterion studio director Fiona Sperry, put Wreckreation to work by simply imagining a giant open-world racing toybox. It was started. Looking at it in action, it’s clear that it shares a lot of DNA with the creator’s previous work. The team built a huge map (“The largest map you can make in Unreal Engine is 440 square kilometers. We’re a team of only seven people, so we made the map 440 square kilometers”) and built some cars. , started playing. around the middle.

Work began 18 months ago amid the COVID lockdown, with developers gathering inside their game worlds instead of Zoom meetings to constantly test the game, even while discussing the future of the game. decided to make it possible. One day, studio head he Alex Ward thought aloud about whether he could place a ramp in the world and whether other players could build on top of it. His programmer asked him to give him 24 hours.

When they returned the next day, recreation had practically been born.

Think of Wreckreation’s map as your canvas, not the open world. A huge area of ​​winding roads, changing biomes and interesting off-road spots. You can’t change what already exists, but you have hundreds of options for what to add. In-game menus allow you to stop driving and place everything from loops to giant soccer balls. Other players in your world can do the same while you do.

At this time, it is unknown how many players an instance of the game world can be shared with. Ward says the studio has only tested it with eight players so far. Because his team has him seven and he’s the only one from THQ Nordic who invited him to play regularly. Given the size of the game world, the potential for even more players is endless. “Let’s see what we need,” he says Ward. Most importantly for now, new players joining the game should always spawn where the most activity is occurring (buildings, racing, cruising, etc.).

Three Fields calls this on-the-fly customization the Game DJ system. It’s a means of collaboratively creating and remixing potentially huge and permanent new elements of maps. These are not just for show. You can also build game modes. Watch two players build impossible extra roads. This road floats over the edge of a cliff, adding corners, barriers, and decorations before adding start points, finish lines, and rules. Within minutes, there will be a new racing event in the world (reflected on the game’s map).

Naturally, the team of Burnout series veterans has a fully modeled car damage system to create crash events. We can turn traffic on in the world and we’ve seen developers effectively create classic crash junctions. It then turns all traffic lights on both sides green, leading to an endless pileup. It then reveals a whole menu of wacky obstacles, including crushers, swinging his blades, and auto buttering rams, creating something like a car-sized Fall Guys obstacle course on lush, empty roads.

“The largest map you can create in Unreal Engine is 440 square kilometers. We are a team of just seven people, so we made the map 440 square kilometers.”


Customization is everywhere. You can change your HUD to a completely different theme, from sleek modern to a literal medieval look. You can rename individual roads or points of interest. There are plenty of in-game radio stations, but Three Fields lets you plug in his Spotify Premium to give you your own playlist with his soundtrack (plus the work of tying individual songs to events during your own creation). are also doing).

It’s still relatively early in development, but the team hopes to release Wreckreation next year, but won’t commit to a new date – there’s a huge amount of potential here already. As such, Three Fields provides depth by allowing players to create entire “campaign” equivalents of events, or micromanaging coded elements to help them recognize when the ball hits the goal. would like to add Individual creations or entire worlds can be shared and remixed with other players. Ward even wants the elements of the world to reflect you. If you place a gas station, it will be branded “Jaws Oil”. Place two and Joe’s Oil truck will move between his two. After building the entire network, Joe’s Oil Tanker will be visible at sea. Head-spinning open to interpretation.

Ward has a bold philosophy. “The days of the developer are over.” What he’s saying is that Wreckreation is a giant toybox for players to create their own games. Three Fields gives you the tools and a lot of off-the-shelf examples of what can be done, but the community has the responsibility to create more, share more, and experiment more. there is. While some may find the overwhelming feeling of a blank canvas disgusting, I’m sure many more will be thrilled to be able to turn the entire open world into a personalized playground.

Joe Skrebels is IGN’s Executive Editor of News.follow him twitterAny tips? Want to talk about possible stories?please send an email to newstips@ign.com.

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