Interview: 1080 Avalanche - part one

1080 on N64 was the snowboarding game, a tumultuous battle against the elements that offered superb visuals and a fantastic sense of "being there". 1080 arrived in 1998; it's been some wait for the sequel, but finally 1080 Avalanche is very nearly upon us. But can Nintendo prize back its 'boarding crown from the now established fave SSX?

Shigeki Yamashiro, the Producer on 1080 Avalanche and Vivek Melwani, the lead game designer and director, were on hand during a recent European conference call to tell us exactly what to expect from the title.

The control of the first 1080 for Nintendo 64 was a bit complicated, has it been simplified in 1080 Avalanche?

Melwani: The N64 controller was a little bit complicated; we got a lot of comments that the trick system was complicated. We knew that we wanted to put tricks in and that we wanted it to be fun, not just for the expert players but also beginners or newcomers to the game.

So we made the tricks easy to pull off, easy for somebody to just pick up the controller, but we also wanted to add enough complexity so that the hardcore players would be able to get plenty out of the game, too.

One of the most amazing features of the game is the avalanche. How did you think to include it in the game?

Melwani: Well, as we were developing the game, we started experimenting with various different effects, and that was one of the ones we tried. When we put that in, we noticed the impact it had on the player straight away and we realised that any version of the game we were going to do had to feature the avalanche feature quite strongly.

We all felt that an interactive environment was key to making this a great game.

What are the new features that 1080 Avalanche offers compared to the N64 game?

Melwani: Well the N64 game we researched a lot, we analysed it, and we realised that the feel of 1080 on N64 was something we wanted to keep, that feel of snowboarding.

But really everything else could be changed. So we wanted to work on the interactive environment, we brought the game to a new level; we added a feeling of danger, we wanted the player to feel a little bit scared, because that risky side to snowboarding is what makes it so exciting; we wanted that rush, that sense of speed.

And another thing that we've done is introduced licensed music, for the first time ever in a Nintendo game.

What does this game offer that other snowboard games don't?

Melwani: Well with 1080, the franchise itself is just viewed by so many people as the ultimate snowboarding series. We wanted this version to remain true to the N64 version, and make sure that we didn't lose the feel of that game.

It's something we hold very dearly, and I think that's something that we've managed to accomplish. When you play the game, you really want to get out there and snowboard yourself.

Yamashiro: We also like the concept of playing games together with your friends, so with multiplayer we offer up to four players. We've taken a lot of time to get everything just so, whether that's the rumble effect, the visuals and the audio all working together to give you the impression that you really are going over 100 kilometres an hour down a mountain. So we've captured that sense of speed, I think, in a pretty impactful way.

Melwani: We've got a nice nod to realism; some of the other snowboarding games have a certain fantasy aspect; that's not to say in 1080 there aren't some crazy things that you can do that would never be possible in real life. But at the same time, with the highly interactive landscape, there's an attempt at realism that's perhaps absent elsewhere - they don't really capture what it's like to actually be snowboarding.

What has been Mr Miyamoto's role in the development of the game?

Melwani: He's the overall producer for this project; as part of the development team here, we all feel Mr Miyamoto's presence. He's not here in the building with us of course, he's in Japan, we're in Seattle, Redmond, but everything we do, every song that makes it into the game, every sound effect, I pretty much have the feeling that he's going to hear it and if it isn't right he's going to let me know. There's quite a lot involvement there.

Just the fact that he's involved in the project at all is very inspirational to the rest of us who are working on the game; he's the godfather of videogames as far as I'm concerned - a lot of us grew up idolising him and the games that he made.

When the original 1080 come out, the world praised it as the most accurate snowboard simulation ever - it literally created a new genre. Nowadays there are so many snowboard games that 1080 Avalanche could be seen just as "one of the bunch".

What have you done to make sure that Avalanche is not just another snowboard game, but the sequel to the original masterpiece?

Melwani: Obviously we want to make the game better; we wanted to make a speedy game, an arcadey game, a realistic game all rolled into one, and I think we did a good job in making a true sequel, and upping it a notch by adding the extreme factor into it. I think it was our biggest challenge to match the original N64 game.

Yamashiro: With the popularity of snowboarding games I think there's a lot of room for various different takes on the genre, but there's a lot of hardcore fans of 1080, and I think we've done a good job to ensure that those fans aren't going to be disappointed.

MelwaniI'd like to think that one thing that really sets our game apart, is the actual feel of the snow, the actual feel of being on a snowboard, of going down a real mountain, on ice, on deep powder - that sense of realism, of snowboard simulation.

Not that that's all the game has to offer, but I think that's one notable aspect. Snowboarders will actually be able to relate to the game.

Will 1080 Avalanche offer the same kind of experience as seen in SSX3 or Amped? We're talking about a whole mountain with different competitions and the freedom to ride from the top to the bottom.

Melwani: 1080 offers the sense of realism. We wanted to really work the interactive side of things, the avalanche. There's a lot of different modes that we have in the game, as well as the match racing mode there's modes such as the trick mode, which we've expanded and the time challenge mode.

As you've stated, 1080 Avalanche is the very first Nintendo game with a licensed soundtrack. Do you think that the gameplay of 1080 has been "powered" by the use of licensed music? Can we expect to see this more in future Nintendo titles?

Melwani: I'd have to agree; I think the licensed music gave a jolt to the game that was appropriate to the genre. It seemed that when we looked at what we were trying to do it was entirely appropriate to use licensed music. So we decided to narrow it down to a subset of styles that suited the game.

As for whether we'll use music on games in the future, we'll consider it on a game by game basis. I'm sure if it's felt the game requires it we'll do it again. But we have some extremely talented musicians in-house here, and the stuff they've done is second to none, not only in this game but elsewhere.

It's good not to have to rely on external music, but if the game calls for it, of course we'll use it.

Don't miss part two of our interview tomorrow.