Synaptic Soup is a Brit based developer founded by ex-members of Bullfrog and the team behind Computer Artwork’s colorful third person action game – Evolva. They have recently announced their debut title, a wacky multi-format racing game going by the name of Car Crazy Championship. We fired off a few questions to the Soup guys to get some more details on the game…

KungFu: How long have you guys been working on the game, how far into development is it, and what sparked the original concept of the game?

Vince Farquharson: The initial concept for Crazy Car Championship came about in June 2000. We’re all big driving fans but aren’t necessarily sim fans, so the plethora of F1 and ‘serious’ style driving games weren’t really cutting it for us. We wanted to create something which had the pick up and play qualities of Mario Kart but with a fresh look that makes people stop and look, like the original Wipeout did. The build you own car, flying islands & Jules Verne meets Flash Gordon ideas came shortly after. After this we went into a full design phase. Work on the actual game that we’re now showing started about 2 months ago. Because we’re using the Cipher engine to build the game, which provides all of the core functionality required for a game, we were able to take the design through to playable code in a very short amount of time.

KungFu: Can you explain the background to the game? With most driving games the player assumes the role of the vehicle itself, what was the reasons behind using characters, and will they have attributes that will effect the gameplay?

VF: We wanted to create something with a bit more scope than your average driving game, akin to something like Zelda, where the gameworld has its own logic and aesthetic that players become familiar with and want to revisit. The characters were part of this approach but this can also be seen in elements such the world of Celestis and all of the histories to the characters and islands within it.

Yes, all of the characters have attributes that effect the way they handle.

KungFu: You describe the game as “Jules Verne meets Flash Gordon in The Cannon Ball Run.” So which elements of these elements are featured in the game? Catherine Bach in a Lamborghini? A terrible Queen soundtrack? Will it feature Captain Chaos?! *token joke question* 🙂

Karl Wickens: If you can imagine Burt Reynolds and Brian Blessed in a good, old-fashioned rough and tumble with Timothy Dalton, Peter Duncan and Chachi out of Happy Days you’ve got a pretty good idea of what this game isn’t.

The Jules Verne and Flash Gordon references apply to the different sci-fi technology styles that we’ve used for the aesthetics in the game. Victorian space craft with big brass portholes and strange spinning contraptions, Atomic cars with massive sweeping fins and glowing atomic power sources.

KungFu: With the Cipher engine being so adept at creating great outdoor terrain, can we expect to see more open cross-country style tracks in CCC, or will players be confined to the boundaries of the circuit?

Rik Heywood: CCC will provide the player with an extremely detailed environment with masses of scenery and trackside detail. Terrain is not the only thing that Cipher supports though, and CCC will be using some of these other environment modules to create the game world.

KungFu: As a good portion of CCC focuses on multiplayer, are there any plans to release a track editor to further the games life?

RH: We will obviously have these tools in house to make the game with, but a decision on whether to release those tools to the gaming community has not been made yet. Cipher has built in support for handling mods, updates, extra levels and textures, so in theory there is nothing to stop us.

KungFu: Will you guys be present at the upcoming E3 event showing off the game?

KW: At the moment we’re not planning on showing it there.

KungFu: Have any extra features been added or changes been made to the Cipher engine because of the need to use them in CCC?

RH: Cipher is continuously being updated and improved. That will not stop. All the teams that are using Cipher to create games will be providing feedback to the engine team as to which features they would like to see next. We send out an update to all the teams every couple of months and as new features become available, the CCC team can decide if they want to use them or not.

KungFu: How many tracks and cars are planned for the finished game?

VF: We are planning 12 race tracks with extended and reverse formats and 3 arenas for multiplayer modes. There are 9 cars, one for each character, but of course these then get radically modified by the player into their preferred style of vehicle.

KungFu: Multiplayer is pretty limited with driving games that are confined to tracks, as isn’t a whole lot you can do with the racing theme. Are there any plans to add other open area course type modes such as tag, etc?

RH: Yep, we have a long list of game types that we plan to support. Some are ones you might have see before, like tag, CTF etc and some are new, so I will keep quiet about those 🙂 As Vince mentioned, there will be 3 special multiplayer maps to support these game types.

KungFu: A fantasy style setting doesn’t require physics on the scale of, for example, Gran Turismo 3, but what will the handling of the vehicles offer? I’m guessing this can be altered somewhat through modifications to the cars.

RH: The primary goal for our physics is to feel fun. We do not really care if it isn’t realistic, as long as the people playing it feel they are totally in control of the vehicle they are driving and enjoying every second of it.

Each of the characters cars have slightly different handling characteristics and each of the components you can buy improves on those characteristics. Players will pick their favourite character as a starting point and improve the traction, top speed and acceleration by buying better components.

KungFu: To what extent can players modify their vehicles, and what kind of settings will be available for modification? How are the modifications earned, are they pickups on the track, bought through race winnings, etc. How many variations will be available?

KW: Each character will come with their own main fuselage section which contributes to the overall handling of the car, then the player can use money from winnings to upgrade different wheels, thrusters, engines, spoilers and even change the chassis. These different components affect things like the top speed, acceleration and resistance to damage. We’re not planning on going into too much detail where there are hundreds of variables to tweak on the car, CCC is going to be much more of a pick up and play arcade racing game. Although with the number of versions of each of the components there are still a good few thousand combinations.