Welcome to Digitiser

THE MAKING OF POD - PART ONE - Paul Rose 7/3/97

You buy the games. You play the games. But have you ever paused to consider the work that goes into making them? Of course you haven't; you're a lazy pig who takes everything for granted. So listen, because here's how the all-French team behind Ubisoft's Pod did it...

STAGE ONE

Once it was decided to make a racing game, the Pod team studied every racing game they could get their grubby little mitts on. 75 games over 11 formats were scrutinised, including Virtua Racing, F-Zero, Mario Kart and Ridge Racer. Elaborate graphs were then drawn up, illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of each game. Elements that were looked at included track design, different view points, options menus and so forth. Slowly the concept for Pod began to take shape.

STAGE TWO

With the sci-fi racing game concept in place, the designers and artists thrust their heads together to develop a look for the game. Several months were spent developing preparatory sketches and plans. The team had decided to create a hostile, atmospheric environment. Attention was paid to the appearance of the vehicles, the landscape, trackside detail - and even the billboards. As the look of the zones developed, they often inspired the track designers and the artists working on the in-game video sequences.

STAGE THREE

Emmanuel Gorin and his team of four graphics artists decided against scanning in graphics for the game. The decision was made to produce the visuals in Photoshop.

"We see too many games covered with scanned, mapped out material that lacks unity. It breaks the atmosphere of the game."

Emmanuel explains: "We see too many games covered with scanned, mapped out material that lacks unity. It breaks the atmosphere of the game. Many trial spaceships, vehicles and buildings were considered over a period of a year and a half. We discounted those that we felt were too derivative - some were too Star Wars-like, others clearly inspired by Blade Runner. Finally, we succeeded in finding our own style.

"For the graphic design and packaging aspect of Pod, we used old salvage material. We wanted to give the game an atmosphere of decay. We looked at rusty cans, tines - anything we could get our hands on. We should have set up office in a rubbish dump!"

It was around this time that the game's fictional background came together. The central concept behind Pod's storyline regards a virus that has ravaged mankind. The idea came from a peculiar source - a slice of cold pizza which had fallen in a glass of warm, flat Coke. The thought of having to eat the pizza triggered inspiration among the team.

STAGE FOUR

The 3D design of the tracks was divided up between seven artists. Each chose tracks suited to his personal tastes.

3D designer Michel Vibert worked on the Veitland and Pompeii courses, as he was particularly keen on recreating mountainous landscapes. Hardcore games Olivier Conorton sunk his teeth into the urban courses. Christophe Neverre worked on the Burrow track.

He says: "I was inspired by the pre-production drawings that depicted mounds of dirt connection roads. I wanted to add my own personal touch, and really threw myself into it."