Mark Bracken from Ratbag Games has graciously granted me an interview to give us some insight into this over-night success story that has brought us Dirt Track Racing, and DTR-Sprint Cars. Mark's a busy guy and I'm glad he finally had time to sit down to inform us about his company.

1. Tell me a bit about yourself. Hobbies, interests, home life.

MB: Outside of making games there isnt a whole lot of time, as it has the habit of being all consuming. But as time permits, Ill squeeze in stuff like, playing computer games (what can I say. passions die hard!), swimming, playing squash, playing guitar and bass... primarily at church. In the case of the stressful moments at work, Ive got this nylon string guitar sitting beside me that I can pick up and pluck at, or thrash. Whatever the situation requires. ;) I also dont mind the odd romp through our very own picturesque hills surrounding Adelaide in my much loved 91 Alfa 33 Boxer. She hugs those corners so sweetly. <Sigh>. Today is one of those days that would be perfect.....

2. What is your position at Ratbag and what are your responsibilities there?

MB: Background, daily routines at work, what is it that gets you up in the morning and excited about going to work?

Im the lead artist for our PS2 Sprint Car game, which encapsulates a wide variety of tasks ranging from:

• scheduling art tasks and keeping people true to the schedule;
  
• production meetings;
  
• liaisoning with the programmers for developing artist tools, and ironing out art related problems;
  
• 3d modeling + some texturing;
  
• casting a watchful eye over the other artists and their work.
  

My daily routine typically goes as follows:

• get up at 5:30am; go swimming for an hour; be at work just after 7am;
  
• deal with work email;
  
• depending on the day, meetings crop up on a regular basis where design / art / production issues are brought up and discussed / resolved
  
• Modeling tracks based on piles of track reference / specifications.
  
• Regularly dropping in on the programmers checking progress on desired tools / bug fixes... they love it! =)
  
• The middle of the day is always broken up with a break for a toasted sandwich (i.e. toast... or as some people lovingly call it, a toasted sanaga), with a coffee during mid-afternoon to tide me over till the evening.
  
• Usually Ill finish anywhere from 7pm - 10pm. Thisll vary though depending on whether Ive got a squash court booked, or whether Im required at music practice.
  
• The day usually finishes off with me zipping home on my trail bike to make tea. Watch some news or maybe even some Buffy or Star Trek: Voyager followed by a much-needed rest before starting the routine all over again. The fact that Im making computer games is what gets me exciting about getting up and going to work. I never wouldve dreamed that there could be any sort of stable career based in computer games... especially here in Adelaide. Its so cool to be able to go back to my small hometown of Bordertown (pop: 2500) and talk of my job making computer games. It just blows people away. More often than not, they just plain dont believe me. Speaking of Bordertown, I used to go to the speedway there when I was young to watch the junkers and Sprint cars, and as such, I recreated the track in DTR. I cant for the life of me remember what track we named it though. It maybe Can-Am Speedway? Apart from the fact that this was made as an egg shape, where in real life its an oval, its an nearly an exact replica.... Just a bits trivia for you.

3. Could you give me a brief summary of your goals for Sprints and future projects.

MB: Hmm.. In brief, our goals will always entail bringing the intense excitement that is associated with the sports. Were trying to simulate onto every race fans computer with the view to creating a game that is both easy and absorbing for the casual gamer through to an experience that will challenge even the most hardcore sim driver.

4. What was the major goal for Sprints? Realism or gameplay? Could you explain this from a Marketing standpoint as well as your personal desire?

MB: This is, and always will be a balancing issue. Making a game too realistic can suck a lot of the fun out of it for a majority of gamers out there, while only satisfying a smaller market of hardcore racers... but softening the Realism too much can draw from the excitement associated with driving such powerful machines. This is the reason we include the realism slider bar, like in DTR, which alters all sorts of aspects from the handling through to the AI difficulty. We believe this has helped us to achieve a very good balance that will satisfy anyones preferences thereby catering for the whole market. From a marketing standpoint, this means that we can push the fact that the game can be as real as you want it to be, but you neednt be scared if you only want to jump in for a quick spin cause we cater for all playing styles... Accordingly, both our personal desires and our marketing requirement are met very satisfyingly.

5. How difficult was it to secure the World of Outlaws backing for Sprints?

MB: Actually as with most licensing deals, there is always a lead-time. However the World of Outlaws where wanting a game for some time so the process was relatively painless.

6. Were the drivers as cooperative in your desire to have their names in a Sim/Game? Was there any input from open wheel/sprint car drivers regarding physics modeling?

MB: Yes, the drivers where very co-operative and we received some very valuable feedback from them. We also had a number of drivers beta testing the product, so we could ensure the authenticity.

7. How many of the WoO drivers were involved or had experience with Sims/Games?

MB: The drivers on the whole, where not versed in computers or games for that matter. However the drivers children where quick to brief their dads.

9. Why were certain tracks that submitted release forms to Ratbag not included in the game? How were the tracks selected and why?

MB: Time is the main issue, plus theres always future releases, or freebies that can take advantage of the fact that weve got a few track authorizations up our sleeves. The tracks selected were based on recommendations from JD Kramer (hes been an amazing resource of information), newsgroup and email requests, and the resource material available (www.stevehardin.com has been awesome!).

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