Asphalt 3D launch Q&A

One of the biggest titles hitting the Nintendo 3DS this weekend is Asphalt 3D, the latest incarnation of the popular street driving franchise.

We got in touch with Gameloft's International Brand Manager Julien Harazi to find out what to expect, whether it was difficult to develop a 3D racer and the team's design process in incorporating some many exotic locations.

Is Asphalt 3D a port of Asphalt 5 or 6?

JH: Asphalt 3D is a standalone Asphalt game, the latest from the Asphalt franchise with next-gen features, such as extensive use of the 3DS’ GPU shaders: sphere map, diffuse lightning, bump mapping, etc.

It includes many new exclusive features and is a game made specifically for the Nintendo 3DS by using the main features of the device. So you have 3D stereoscopic effects in-game and in menus, Holographic menu interface and 3D intro trailer.

Could 3D re-invigorate the driving genre?

The dynamic HUD reacts to your speed and steering, offering an additional layer of depth and during races, you have bullet time takedowns & crashes. You get a true sense of depth when you weave between cars . In addition to that, you have Street Pass and analog pad support. To sum up, it is not a port of any existing game and includes the biggest content ever made for an Asphalt game

Can you play against a ghost in every game mode on every track?

JH: You can play against a ghost on every track and a specific mode is dedicated to it.

Does damage to your car reduce your performance on the track (speed, handling, etc)?

JH: Damage is purely cosmetic. You can collect power-ups during the race that repair your vehicle.

What is the average lifespan of the game?

JH: The estimated time necessary to finish the Career mode is 18 hours. The game also includes a Multiplayer mode and Street Pass features to give it infinite replayability.

What makes Asphalt so successful in the driving genre?

JH: All Asphalt games are a unique combination of luxury licensed cars and bikes, real cities and wild driving with takedowns, police chases, boosts and drifting.

How difficult was it to develop a 3D game?

JH: It was so exciting to work on it because the technology is completely new. Our developers had to discover just how it could best be used to enrich the gameplay and learn step by step how to get used to it and how to master its subtleties.

What are some of the specific ideas you were able to employ for the Street Pass feature?

JH: We thought of cool ways players can pass things between their 3DS’s. You have a Viral Ghost, where you can send your ghost to other players. If they beat you, their ghost will replace yours. If not, they’ll spread your ghost to other players. In this way, you can even spread ghosts around that are not yours; this feature is extremely viral.

Then we have Viral Ranking, where met players are stored in a local leaderboard. If you are better than them, you can rank up and receive a money bonus. You can also meet other players to unlock exclusive game items or get extra bonus money to spend in the garage You can transmit this kind of data all the time - even when your console is off.

How did you choose which locations to include?

JH: We select the most appealing and fashionable real locations. In this sense we select our tracks the same way we select our cars. Each location has to have that dream feel that is part of the Asphalt brand’s DNA. This is why we’ve included exotic locations such as Cape Town, Rio and Hawaii. Finally, locations have to offer a variety of environments with different weather conditions.

What was the most difficult location to design?

JH: Every location has been quite challenging. We had to find interesting parts of each city that we could turn into an ideal track for the game.

Were there any cars that were especially hard to license?

JH: Not particularly. We are very proud that all the best manufacturers like Ferrari, Lamborghini or Aston Martin wanted to take part to the project.

We’ve worked closely with each of them for a long time. The teams have done an amazing job to make the models as faithful as possible to the real cars in terms of design, performance, tuning options and even sound. For instance, you’ll recognize the electric sound of the new Citroen concept, the Survolt.

We wanted the newest, fastest and most expensive 2011 models, including the most expensive car in the world, the Bugatti Veyron. We also really wanted for instance the Aston Martin One-77 (only 77 produced in the world), Ferrari 458 Italia and the Bentley Speed 8 for example.

How did you choose which cars and motorcycles to license?

JH: Some models have also been chosen because they belong to the top tier of high-end cars like the Ford Shelby GT 500, Nissan GT-R, Mini Cooper John Works and others.

Finally, we’ve also taken into account the latest trends of the car industry by including, for instance, 2 electric models: the Tesla Roadster SS and Citroën Survolt. One aspect taken into account in the choice of vehicles has also been to have a broad range of nationalities of famous brands.