Interview with the Designer of Motocross Madness 2, Robb Rinard

ActiveWin.com: When you first started work on Motocross Madness did you ever believe that it would become so successful?

Robb Rinard: I certainly believed it stood a great chance. Motocross was suffering from the same lack of a good product that soccer was until EA came along with FIFA Soccer 95. Motocross is killer genre that gave us the chance to add significantly more depth the racing experience by adding balance (forward back motion with the joystick) to list of skills required to make the game go.

Our technology allowed users to finally get out of the traditional racing tunnel and literally opened up a world of opportunity.

ActiveWin.com: What are some of the biggest improvements Version 2 has over the original Motocross Madness?

Robb Rinard: The addition of entire forests using technology code we call eco-systems is one of the key graphical features that differentiate Motocross Madness 2 from its predecessor.

The engine audio is also a big step forward from a quality standpoint over any racing game I've played to date.

The addition of ghost racing mode is also really fun and adds a lot of depth to the single player experience.

On-line, the top-100 ranking system is going to keep on-line gamers glued to their monitors for months to come.

ActiveWin.com: What is your favorite feature of this new game?

Robb Rinard: I really enjoy the audio in the game. If you have a really good sound setup hooked to your computer you can really get immersed in the race experience.

Playing multi-player on a LAN with multiple computers in the same room is pretty intense acoustically.

ActiveWin.com: How does the rating system work with Motocross Madness 2 over the Zone?

Robb Rinard: The rating system integrates the race results between various riders and computes a ranking for riders based on whom they've raced, and how many times. The top 100 is broken down by event type including: Freestyle Stunts, Enduro, Nationals, and Supercross.

ActiveWin.com: How difficult was it to show great detailed environments and maintain the speed associated with motorbike racing?

Robb Rinard: Well one thing that really helps the illusion of detail close to the ground is the fact that the terrain in Motocross Madness 2 is rendered using multi-texture techniques. This allows us to create the look of very high resolution ground textures without destroying our texture memory budget.

ActiveWin.com: Do you have a release date for the Motocross Madness 2 Track Editor?

Robb Rinard: We are targeting June 15th.

ActiveWin.com: Are plans already underway for Motocross Madness 3?

Robb Rinard: Sorry, don't have any information on that yet. We are taking a breather after the push to finish Motocross Madness 2.

ActiveWin.com: If so what features would you be considering adding?

Robb Rinard: Water would be a very cool thing to add to the game. If you saw Travis Pastrana jump into the bay at the Gravity Games, then you know what I'm talking about.

ActiveWin.com: Is there anything else you would like to add about Motocross Madness 2?

Robb Rinard: Quit reading this and go play it ! :)

Other Motocross Madness 2 Links

• ActiveWin review of Motocross Madness 2
• Microsoft's Motocross Madness 2 Website
• Download the demo

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