Icarus Studios News

Hi, my name is Kara Stambach, and I’m addicted to speed (the kind that involves driving fast—not the kind that involves a twelve-step program). The only thing cooler than speed is the vehicle in which one rockets forward at ridiculous velocities. Perhaps some of the most interesting and entertaining interactive objects a game designer gets to play around with are the various vehicles the art department dreams up. Using standard 3DMax files for the model of every vehicle frame, Artists then equip each vehicle with its own unique feel and handling profile, which the designers then test and implement within game worlds.

Icarus’ Vehicle Prep tool provides designers with an all-inclusive interface for testing car models—all of which employ actual physics within the virtual world, which, for reasons I’m not going to get into because math frightens me, is really amazing and impressive and you should be awed—trust me on this one. Thanks to Vehicle Prep’s camera-swivel tool, designers can test drive the vehicles from either a first-person or third-person point of view, exploring all the angles, which is especially helpful, because if you’re looking for any hiccups in the quality of mechanized animations, perspective is everything.

Designers can assign torque, centers of gravity and balance, particle effects, and specific sounds they want to associate with any vehicle (or vehicle class). If I wanted, I could make a Jeep’s tires squeal and kick up dust each time it accelerates—which, believe me, is quite a temptation, because my generation grew up with shows like Speed Racer and Dukes of Hazard, so, stuff like that is practically ingrained into my subconscious. It’s also possible to adjust a car’s wheel sensitivity, turn rate, braking power, and flip force. (You really haven’t lived life as a game designer until you and your coworkers compete like a pack of bizarre, overly caffeinated, sleep-deprived monkeys to see who can flip a virtual vehicle the most times before your boss notices.)

I digress.

The ability to drive depends solely on the user’s ability to press the Up arrow to accelerate and the Down arrow to decelerate; as this requires only one finger and a basic understanding of “up” and “down,” I imagine the process for using an Icarus vehicle could not be more simplified. (Flipping, however, does require a dash of skill and a tint of madness.) If a designer wants to tweak his or her work or start over, it’s a simple matter to reset the vehicle’s specs in the prep window. Once enough tests have been run that everyone is satisfied with the final product, one click will save all that hard work.

Really, for me—and I say this as someone relatively new to the world of game design—the only challenge Vehicle Prep poses is trying to avoid the seductive allure of driving over NPCs during testing periods; but, in my own defense, how else am I to thoroughly investigate each vehicle’s traction, if I don’t see how my tires handle when faced with the task of navigating over mangled body parts and the slippery conditions of blood-slicked asphalt? I mean, I’m only trying to be a responsible test driver, here. It’s not like someone’s going to give me a virtual ticket. And besides… my boss has yet to notice.

-Kara Stambach, Virtual Worlds Team