More than a month away from the release of SnowRunner, we wished we had Saber Interactive's thoughts on the success of the franchise. And it's Tim Willits, Chief Creative Officer, and former co-owner of id Software, who gives us the answer.
Simulagri.fr: It is a pleasure to be able to ask you these few questions. Remember, shortly after MudRunner came out, we interviewed you, and you were telling us at the time that you wanted to reach out to the American gaming community. Is the bet successful?
Tim Willits: We are thrilled with the success of SnowRunner in North America and around the world. The positive reception of the game and the great feedback we have received has shown us that we have been successful in engaging our fans around the world and delivering a game that has met and exceeded the expectations of MudRunner fans and newcomers to the game. franchise. The sales numbers and reviews of the game show us that we have indeed created a great franchise.
Simulagri.fr: You have succeeded in renewing the gameplay of MudRunner. What were the main challenges in developing SnowRunner?
Tim Willits: Mud Runner was a great game that created the “Runner” franchise, with SnowRunner building on it and improving many aspects of its gameplay. The biggest challenge with SnowRunner was balancing the introduction of more gameplay mechanics while staying true to the MudRunner simulation experience. In SnowRunner, we wanted to give players more choice in missions and more “things to do”. We brought a gaming experience in addition tosimulation experiment included in MudRunner. Based on the comments and reviews of the game, we think we've struck a great balance between the two aspects of the franchise. (Editor's note: This Simulation / Game balance which is also very dear to Giants Software for the design of Farming Simulator) - we have created a fun game built on a fun simulation experience.
Simulagri.fr: Is this new gameplay the result of internal reflection or have you contacted the gaming community?
Tim Willits: SnowRunner's new gameplay was both a reflection of what we wanted to improve internally and what our fans expected more from the franchise. Things like more choices, more objectives, more vehicles, and of course, mod support. During the development of SnowRunner, our team engaged the community on several different fronts, from forums and user testing to direct conversations. As we look into the future of the franchise, we always engage our fans on things they want to see more of in future releases.
Simulagri.fr: Physics remained on Havok. I know this engine is old, stable and still one of the best on the market. Have you considered using another solution?
Tim Willits: We are big fans of Havok and continue to support him in our games. We have been using Havok for many years and feel very comfortable with it. It does whatever we want and continues to be our physical platform of choice.
Simulagri.fr: Why did you choose Epic Games Store? Don't you think it could be a drag for some players?
Tim Willits: Saber Interactive has been a fan of the Epic Games Store platform since its inception due to its developer-centric approach. Epic has been a great partner for Saber, especially when it comes to World War Z, and their support on SnowRunner was great. The Epic Games Store has millions of players, and with those players we believe it is the best platform for SnowRunner on PC.
Simulagri.fr: Many would like to see a game like Farming Simulator use SnowRunner physics. What do you think of this possibility?
Tim Willits: We are big fans of Farming Simulator and would love to see a game that combines the incredible physics and gameplay of SnowRunner. We believe that gamers will expect a lot more from their simulation games in the future, and creating more realistic physics simulations in addition to building / managing your farm is definitely a logical next step.
Simulagri.fr: Does the franchise orientate itself as a periodic game like Farming Simulator (every 2 years)? Or rather like ETS 2, a game that will evolve only through DLC.
Tim Willits: We want to continue to offer players more content that they can enjoy in SnowRunner, in addition to the huge amount of mods. We are committed to supporting SnowRunner with new content in the future. We're still analyzing a lot of the feedback from the current game, and we're not ready to go into that in detail just yet.
Simulagri.fr: You seem to have mastered the Nintendo Switch platform, with the port of The Witcher 3 in particular. Will you be able to transpose SnowRunner to the Nintendo console? We are convinced of it.
Tim Willits: Thank you. We strongly believe in the Switch platform and its potential. We've had great success porting games that most people thought were impossible, and we continue to look for opportunities on the Switch. Unfortunately, I cannot speak to our immediate plans for SnowRunner on other platforms.
Thanks to Tim Willits and the Saber Interactive and Focus Home Interactive teams for giving us their time only 1 month after this launch.