Impressions from Igrmomir 2009

[Freak Of Nature]

As I said in one thread (can't remember in witch one ) One Lithuanian journalist (I think he's a journalist ) went to Igromir 2009 and saw presentation of RnR. And finally he wrote an article about it. So big thanks to Artojas I promised to translate it, I did, not word to word but pretty close

In brackets are my notes

So here's the article:

I've been thinking of how to name this game. In Lithuania it is/will be known as „Дальнобойщики 3“, Rig'n'Roll or just "Kelyje 3" [On the Road 3](hard truck 2 was translated in Lithuanian [Kelyje 2] and was very famous, many people hope there will be Lithuanian version of R'n'R, so they already call it Kelyje-3 ) I doubt there will be Lithuanian version so I'll stay to the title dedicated to the West. For Your attention - Rig'n'Roll.

The game was presented by Victor Zoev, who began the presentation with apologies about long game delays. According to him, Rig'n'Roll is not just a game about trucks Rig'n'Roll is serious auto simulator with integrated economy model. We need time for serious
tasks - he said, and added Known release date is final and unchangeable. The game will be in stores on 27th November. It will be published by 1C Publishing. Sadly their representatives can't be found in Lithuania at the moment. Even though the game is worth attention, and if you call yourself a fan of auto imitators, you will always find where to buy the game if it's not in your local store yet

The developers, despite some changes in the game, still call Rig'n'Roll "Truckers Diary". Whole point and spirit of the game is truck driving, this time on wide USA roads.

Presentation began with a movie, in witch some game features were demonstrated. I saw perfectly done weather, Day/Night cycle changes in the game, freedom to freely look around the cabin, big variety in interior/exterior tunning.

I must admit that proverb "It is better to see once, than to hear hundred times" this time wasn't right. Game graphics looks nice, but far from stunning. In visual the game looks a little out-dated. On the one part Rig'n'Roll has been in development for a very long
time. On the other part, game scale is huge and carp about not good looking cactus by the road would be at the minimum saucy.

According to Victor, in the game exist whole recreated state of California of scale 1:10. This means that 2000 kilometers of in-game roads corresponds 20 000 km. of real roads with all cities, towns, traffic etc..

In total there are 13 trucks. All those models are American brands and they are imported in the game very accurately. Developers claimed that while creating the game physics, they wanted to convey truck driving feeling as precise as possible and that was not easy. The truth is that driving trucks will be hard and they are proud of
that - Victor added. Extreme truck fans will be able to dive into deep tunning waters, developers promise possibility to change practically everything in the truck, from engine parts to stickers for cabin.

The player will be able to drive trucks on 2000 km. of Californian roads. I already told that. Didn't I? But did I tell, that there you'll find more than 40 cities, 50 different traffic car models and more than 300 various missions?

Driving trucks will be fun not only because of realistic control, but also for realistic traffic conditions. AI controlling game world will try to simulate cities' life. In other words, depending on time of day, seasons and hundreds of other conditions, AI will make traffic jams, accidents and other troubles. Let's hope there is an opportunity in the game to write down information about traffic, so when driving on the same route next time you could predict alternative roads to avoid jams.

There is an option in the game not to drive trucks at all if you want. You can start your own transport company and manage it. You can have one truck, or whole fleet, but remember, all responsibility: search for clients, negotiations, route planning, fleet management is yours. It was mentioned, that in economy regime, even goods, player takes, will have a certain effect. Victor also mentioned, there is
a big variety in cargos - from Xbox360 consoles to rocket turbines for airplanes.

Relaxed and romantic players, will be able to spend more time for more than 300 side missions. Part of them will accessible for the player in traditional ways (through CB radio for example, or other characters), other part from hitchhikers. Victor mentioned situation
when girl, to whom player gave a ride, asked him to "talk" to her ex-boyfriend... Well if developers implemented fighting imitation, then that would be beyond everything.

Player in the game can also take part in truck racing, or just simply drive around and do nothing. After long discussion developers decided not to take away the chance from players to crash trucks, so after watching movies, in witch they are being crashed, developers tried to convey emotions and feelings to the game.

About sounds in the game, nothing much was said. Just mentioned, that music will be plaid through ingame radios. There will be many great tracks, and commercials too. How many from those commercials advertise real products, wasn't mentioned, but I think there will be some...

After long battles in forums with fans developers feel guilty, so they wanted to explain why the game is set not in Russia, but in America. Developers understand Russians dissatisfaction about it, but they think that changing location might be even more interesting. Developers want to please both: Russian and West players, they image their game as some kind of cultural trade: main character is Russian, so players will see California through Russian eyes. Developers think this decision will be equally interesting to whole world players. Victor mentioned that in the ingame bars, player can also buy Russian kvass. So there's been two rabbits shot down with one bullet: Russian players will find something familiar to them, and kvass producer will have to pay for advertisement. Let's hope in the end everyone will be happy.

At the end of presentation, several screen shots were demonstrated. At the time Victor emphasized one more time, that California is not boring state. In reality sun not always shines in California as it is shown in movies. According to developers there also rains, forms storms and ice. All this will be in the game.

Not so long till game leaves. We hope games.lt team will manage to get a copy of Rig'n'Roll for a review, where we could state how many of given promises were kept.

Well, I did my best, hope translation wasn't hard to understand.