Driving the Design & Development of DiRT 3
As one of the major game releases of 2011 is DiRT 3 from Codemasters (codemasters.com), we decided to contact Paul Coleman, senior game designer, DiRT 3 to get the lowdown on the development of this extreme driving game.
Here’s the Q&A.—GSV
TC: How many people worked on developing DiRT 3?
Coleman: It depends on the stage we are at in
the project but it can be anywhere between 65 and 150 people involved in the development of the game. We then have lots of other support staff including our Brand and PR team and the Quality Assurance guys who are vital to the production
of the game.
TC: When did work start on it?
Coleman: We started work on DiRT 3 almost immediately after DiRT 2 was released. We had
a rough idea of what we wanted to do and so
we started to build up those ideas as early as October 2009.
TC: Where was the work performed?
Coleman: Most of the work on DiRT 3 is carried out in our studios in Southam [U.K.] but we also had some help from the Formula One guys in the Birmingham Studio [U.K.] and from our art studio in Kuala Lumpur.
TC: Was anything developed for DiRT 2 re-used for DiRT 3? If so, what? And why: An issue of accelerating time to market?
Coleman: When stuff works we will build on it and refine it. There are plenty of features that we have carried over from DiRT 2 into DiRT 3 but it wasn’t a case of simply copying and pasting it. It isn’t just a case of trying to make the game more quickly, it is more about improving features that we know have been received well from our previous games.
TC: What is the biggest differentiator of this game versus its predecessors and competitors?
Coleman: I think the clearest differentiator is the introduction of the new Gymkhana discipline and the ability to upload replay clips direct to your own YouTube channel. These features really compliment one another and they really make us stand out from our competitors.
TC: How was it determined which platforms it would operate on?
Coleman: We look at the market and the demographics of the people who play our games. It made the most sense to make DiRT 3 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
TC: How were the cars created (e.g., did auto companies provide digital files of their vehicles
so they could be rendered for the game)?
Coleman: We have a very talented team of car artists that create the cars in DiRT 3. Wherever possible we get CAD data, dimensions and a huge amount of research photos to help them create the vehicle. However, they are capable of working a car model up from photos if that is all that is available to them. Obviously the more data they have available the quicker they can
do the work.
TC: What software packages were used to create DiRT 3?
Coleman: Our artists and level designers use 3D Studio Max [autodesk.com], Photoshop and Illustrator [adobe.com]. Our programming team uses Visual Studio [microsoft.com] and create a bunch of in house tools for us to use. As designers we use MS Office [microsoft.com], Flash [adobe.com] and After Effects [adobe.com].
