[Dark Octave]

Damn!

Yeah I'm grabbing my little brother and do it up like we did back in the old days with TM2!

My boy Jaffe came through again.

And I know you're nervous about the launch but stop biting your nails dude.

[Ploid 3.0]

Preacher's not associated with a mask like those other three characters... hope he wears something cool like [IF YOU ARE DAVID JAFFE STOP READING THIS BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE AN IDEA AND IF YOU IMPLEMENT IT I MIGHT SUE YOU FOR EVERY DOLLAR YOU'VE GOT!!!!!] a crown of thorns or something.

:lol DJ needs a community manager or something to filter the internets like Insomniac and JS. It sucks that they could actually almost get in trouble like that even if they already had the idea.

[Callibretto]

will there be other character beside the confirmed 4 character in story mode? maybe as enemies or easter eg etc?

also, I'm not sure about difficulty setting tied up to story ending. it's infuriating when I want to see the good ending of a game but I can't because the game says I'm not good enough. sure there's youtube, but it's not the same...

[davidjaffe]

Had high hopes for this, but the videos shown made it look like calling all cars 2: now with blood and gores! Loved TM2 and Black.

If you loved those games, no reason you should not love this. I assume CALLING ALL CARS reference is to our new NUKE/CAPTURE THE FLAG MODE. I think it's an amazingly deep, fun, team mode but there are Free For All modes as well, beyond core DM and TDM. So hope you'll give us a try when we hit cause I would be surprised if TM2 and TMB fans were not happy with this one.

David

[davidjaffe]

will there be other character beside the confirmed 4 character in story mode? maybe as enemies or easter eg etc? also, I'm not sure about difficulty setting tied up to story ending. it's infuriating when I want to see the good ending of a game but I can't because the game says I'm not good enough. sure there's youtube, but it's not the same...

My hope is all endings are the 'good' endings. It's not like we're holding back the meaty endings for the end. All of the default difficulty endings are going to have as much meat on the bones as the very last one. And if you play them all, they tie together in certain ways to tie the whole story together.

As for other characters, Grimm, Tooth, Preacher, and Dollface are the main human characters. There are many, many vehicles to put them in, each on totally unique, each one with 2 special weapons and many with functionality exclusive just to them (healing, flight, transport).

David

[badcrumble]

My hope is all endings are the 'good' endings. It's not like we're holding back the meaty endings for the end. All of the default difficulty endings are going to have as much meat on the bones as the very last one. And if you play them all, they tie together in certain ways to tie the whole story together. As for other characters, Grimm, Tooth, Preacher, and Dollface are the main human characters. There are many, many vehicles to put them in, each on totally unique, each one with 2 special weapons and many with functionality exclusive just to them (healing, flight, transport). David

Do the human characters play exactly the same if they're in the same vehicle, or do they bring some sort of bonus/ability/etc?

[TreIII]

also, I'm not sure about difficulty setting tied up to story ending. it's infuriating when I want to see the good ending of a game but I can't because the game says I'm not good enough. sure there's youtube, but it's not the same...

I say, it's a nice incentive to step your game up. After all, Single Player is what you can afford to play at your own pace, so the only thing that's stopping you from getting more content is how far you're willing to go.

Besides, TM, at its core, is definitely an "arcade-y" experience. These types of things that act as an incentive for you to better yourself should be a part of the mix, I think.

[badcrumble]

I'm okay with the different endings for different difficulty levels as long as we can save our progress level-by-level and as long as there's no boss as tough as Warhawk goddam.

[Snuggler]

I want a new character who rides a nitrous boosted rascal scooter

[davidjaffe]

Do the human characters play exactly the same if they're in the same vehicle, or do they bring some sort of bonus/ability/etc?

We actually explored that, where if Tooth drove the ambulance, it turned tighter,etc. Problem is, there are already so many variables that differentiate the vehicles themselves that to add more via the drivers muddied the unique feeling of the vehicles. To us, the vehicles are like characters in a fighting game and we really like it in fighting games- and in Twisted- when each character has a very strong, noticeable, identifiable play style. As cool as we thought the 'human characters as variables that added a +/- bonus to certain aspects of the car' idea was, it lessened the vehicle personalities.

David

[chubigans]

I remember you said that Sony had a release date in mind, and you had one too. So who ended up winning? :D

[deejay8595]

As for other characters, Grimm, Tooth, Preacher, and Dollface are the main human characters. There are many, many vehicles to put them in, each on totally unique, each one with 2 special weapons and many with functionality exclusive just to them (healing, flight, transport). David

Wait..So those are the only people we can play as? No Axel,outlaw,roadkill, or spectre?

[RustyNails]

Wait..So those are the only people we can play as? No Axel,outlaw,roadkill, or spectre?

Old news.

[GeoramA]

I kinda like the idea of just four main characters, but many (16?) different vehicles to choose from. I know the multiplayer will be the main focus, but I think the campaign has a lot of promise.

[badcrumble]

We actually explored that, where if Tooth drove the ambulance, it turned tighter,etc. Problem is, there are already so many variables that differentiate the vehicles themselves that to add more via the drivers muddied the unique feeling of the vehicles. To us, the vehicles are like characters in a fighting game and we really like it in fighting games- and in Twisted- when each character has a very strong, noticeable, identifiable play style. As cool as we thought the 'human characters as variables that added a +/- bonus to certain aspects of the car' idea was, it lessened the vehicle personalities. David

Cool, makes sense. And you've said in the past that each character's campaign will be quite different so I don't feel like playing through all four campaigns will feel repetitive or anything like that.

I'm still hoping that at some point you guys do a DLC pack of classic TM levels updated for the new game, as you've already mentioned on Twitter.

[(._.)]

Hopefully this doesn't get delayed like every other good game slated for a following year release.

[RustyNails]

If you loved those games, no reason you should not love this. I assume CALLING ALL CARS reference is to our new NUKE/CAPTURE THE FLAG MODE. I think it's an amazingly deep, fun, team mode but there are Free For All modes as well, beyond core DM and TDM. So hope you'll give us a try when we hit cause I would be surprised if TM2 and TMB fans were not happy with this one. David

No doubt I'll get it day 1. TM2 was my first PS1 game and I remember my jaw being on floor for days. The multiplayer modes shown for this game reminded me of calling all cars. The "objective" of every TM game up to this point has been well, kill everyone! So I think there's a departure from that in the sense that you now got factions, friends, teammates, etc. There's gonna be coordination and strategy involved.

[davidjaffe]

Wait..So those are the only people we can play as? No Axel,outlaw,roadkill, or spectre?

Well...KIND of?

I mean, we've announced Axel and Roadkill and Spectre as vehicles (albeit altered versions of those vehicles). But if you mean the characters INSIDE those vehicles, then no, the 4 main characters (Grimm, Sweet Tooth, Dollface, Preacher) are the only humans in the game. There are a few reasons we went this way:

#1- we felt team based MP- which is a key aspect to our online MP- worked better when your team was tied together with other humans who looked like they belonged together.

#2- our live action endings are very expensive. Props, actors, live sets and virtual sets. I wanted to go live action with the stories and that meant we could only afford to focus on a few characters vs. a stable of 10 or so unique humans.

#3- The single player in the new TM is much deeper and richer than from previous TM games (more bosses, battles that are not just DM over and over and over). Each human character has its own path thru the campaign with unique levels and/or challenges/events. In the single player game, we wanted to dispense with the 'every pass thru single player is the exact same game with just a different character sitting in the car and a unique ending' structure we had been using since 1995. This allows the campaign to be much more interesting for a longer amount of time. There was no way we could have done 10 characters and each characters having its own boss and its own few levels and unique modes/challenges. It would have been crazy expensive and taken another 1-2 years.

Also- if you think about it- since endings are on youtube within hours of the game hitting stores- we felt more unique play was a better goal for our campaign vs. more endings/characters. Sadly, it was either/or and we went with gameplay. That said, I think the stories are shaping up to be super cool.

David

[LevityNYC]

3D?

[davidjaffe]

3D?

No 3D planned. I don't know much about it but I am under the impression to do 3D your game has to run at 60fps, yes? That may be wrong but for some reason I was under this impression since you have to draw the screen twice at the same time to get the effect to work.

We are a running on a kick ass engine but with all our game design requires of that engine, TMPS3 at 60fps is not going to happen. I mean, you never know as our engineers are stunningly good and you never know what fun surprises they will bring to the table from day to day, but given the challenge at hand, I'm not holding my breath.

David

[deejay8595]

Well...KIND of? I mean, we've announced Axel and Roadkill and Spectre as vehicles (albeit altered versions of those vehicles). But if you mean the characters INSIDE those vehicles, then no, the 4 main characters (Grimm, Sweet Tooth, Dollface, Preacher) are the only humans in the game. There are a few reasons we went this way: #1- we felt team based MP- which is a key aspect to our online MP- worked better when your team was tied together with other humans who looked like they belonged together. #2- our live action endings are very expensive. Props, actors, live sets and virtual sets. I wanted to go live action with the stories and that meant we could only afford to focus on a few characters vs. a stable of 10 or so unique humans. #3- The single player in the new TM is much deeper and richer than from previous TM games (more bosses, battles that are not just DM over and over and over). Each human character has its own path thru the campaign with unique levels and/or challenges/events. In the single player game, we wanted to dispense with the 'every pass thru single player is the exact same game with just a different character sitting in the car and a unique ending' structure we had been using since 1995. This allows the campaign to be much more interesting for a longer amount of time. There was no way we could have done 10 characters and each characters having its own boss and its own few levels and unique modes/challenges. It would have been crazy expensive and taken another 1-2 years. Also- if you think about it- since endings are on youtube within hours of the game hitting stores- we felt more unique play was a better goal for our campaign vs. more endings/characters. Sadly, it was either/or and we went with gameplay. That said, I think the stories are shaping up to be super cool. David

Alright cool. Makes sense since you explained it that way.

[Callibretto]

anyword about matchmaking or room list for online? also will your character tied to a faction like MAG or it's open to pick and choose at the start of the match.

[gibration]

Can't wait! :D This is easily my most anticipated game for next year. I grew up with Twisted Metal leading on to become one of my favorite series of all time.

[davidjaffe]

anyword about matchmaking or room list for online? also will your character tied to a faction like MAG or it's open to pick and choose at the start of the match.

There is both matchmaking and server lists for online.

No, you are not tied to a faction. Factions do not affect play. It's just a fiction that we use to differentiate teams, like- say- the Axis and the Allies in COD or the....shit, what are the factions in Black Ops?!? There are the jungle dudes/low funded style and the military dudes...is it USA vs.....hell, not played the SP yet so I'm not really sure...but it's more like that: purely cosmetic.

David

[PopcornMegaphone]

I'm really hyped for this. I played the shit out of twisted metal back in the day.

[StuBurns]

There's a discussion in another thread about 3D gaming in the older generations, and it really makes me wonder what it'd be like for Jaffe to take on a wholly new IP where he could reinvent the design from scratch again. Twisted Metal was one of the very few good early 3D game designs that still felt good, Tomb Raider for example was a lot more ambitious in it's level structure, but it was too grand for what they could articulate with player input. Then Jaffe made GoW which is still the best series for dynamic automated camera control, again not the most complex in terms of traversal, but it was perfectly in keeping with what the controls allowed for without compromising the combat. It really seems like he has a keen sense of 3D design, I'd love to see him try to build something up from the ground with all the development others have made and the additional memory the new systems allow.

I'm certainly looking forward to TM (although it seems unlikely I'll be able to get it around launch), but it'd be great to see him take on a whole new genre and IP again.

[shagg_187]

I'm so glad that Axel is in the game! :D :D

That said, I have one question and one question only:

What's happening with the soundtrack? Is it original score similar to Twisted Metal 1 and 2, or songs similar to Twisted Metal 3 and 4 (Yes, Yes, I know the development team was different for TM1/2 and TM3/4, but just wondering).

[Redbeard]

How many people are developing the game?

[davidjaffe]

I'm so glad that Axel is in the game! :D :D That said, I have one question and one question only: What's happening with the soundtrack? Is it original score similar to Twisted Metal 1 and 2, or songs similar to Twisted Metal 3 and 4 (Yes, Yes, I know the development team was different for TM1/2 and TM3/4, but just wondering).

The soundtrack will have 4 channels (at least this is the current plan...things can still change):

1- Movie Music/Orchestral music (like the rooftops from TM1)...the composer is one of my all time fave movie music composers...contract not locked yet so I can't say his name but it seems like all of the stars are lining up. Not Williams or Zimmer or Harrison. But man, he does amazing action movie music.

2- Rock- Songs inspired by 70's/80's classic metal as well as new Metal and some songs that try to blend to two. Also hoping to get a little licensed stuff in there. Really would love DIAMOND EYES by Shinedown, and Heavy Metal by Sammy Hagar and a few others I can't yet reveal...and I know Scott Campbell has his songs he'd really like...but nothing is set in stone yet.

3- HYBRID- choose this and the game randomly picks a song from either channel.

4- CUSTOM SOUNDTRACKS- not in yet, hoping we can get it.

David

[Afrikan]

No 3D planned. I don't know much about it but I am under the impression to do 3D your game has to run at 60fps, yes? That may be wrong but for some reason I was under this impression since you have to draw the screen twice at the same time to get the effect to work. We are a running on a kick ass engine but with all our game design requires of that engine, TMPS3 at 60fps is not going to happen. I mean, you never know as our engineers are stunningly good and you never know what fun surprises they will bring to the table from day to day, but given the challenge at hand, I'm not holding my breath. David

I'm not an expert on 3D either, but no a game doesn't have to be 60fps. I believe Motorstorm Apocalypse is 30fps...but what they did was have the game native at 1080p this time....so that when they ran it in 3D, it would be 720p for each eye or something.

where as although Killzone is 30fps, it isn't 1080p native....so I believe their 3D solution runs at a lower resolution than 720p.

I read that ur game *supports* 1080p..but I don't know if that just means if it will upscale to it for 1080i (non-720p) TV owners....or does the game run at 1080p native?

edit- by the way, I think the games looks great....imo, Black was one of the best looking games when it first released...and this game looks to have so much stuff going on while still running smooth at its early state from E3.

[Agent X]

Nice to see some updates on Twisted Metal. It's definitely one of the games to watch in '11!

[davidjaffe]

I'm not an expert on 3D either, but no a game doesn't have to be 60fps. I believe Motorstorm Apocalypse is 30fps...but what they did was have the game native at 1080p this time....so that when they ran it in 3D, it would be 720p for each eye or something. where as although Killzone is 30fps, it isn't 1080p....so I believe their 3D solution runs at a lower resolution than 720p. I read that ur game *supports* 1080p..but I don't know if that just means if it will upscale to it for 1080i (non-720p) TV owners....or does the game run at 1080p native?

I will find out and get back 2 you. I'm so not a tech guy who cares about such things. I can tell HD from SD and sure, side by side I can tell 720 vs 1080 but it's just kind of off my radar. Will check, let u know!

David

[dralla]

yea, how do cars attack the helicopter? can't it just fly way up out of range and swoop in and steal kills at the last second. are there specific weapons to take it down or what.

and have you guys decided if you're going to release it digitally?

[theBishop]

Does anyone else remember a few years ago when Jaffe was saying he would work on smaller games, and get them out rapidly?

[davidjaffe]

Does anyone else remember a few years ago when Jaffe was saying he would work on smaller games, and get them out rapidly?

I remember! :) And I STILL want to do that so badly! I SO want to have Eat Sleep Play doing iphone/ipad/PSN/XBLA style games and that is in the future for sure. But TM was too good of a creative opportunity for us to pass up. It actually started as a smaller PSN game but grew and grew and grew to become the full retail game it is now. I want to do all sizes of games for sure. And yes, small downloadable games are something I'm very passionate about and we will get back to them.

David

[davidjaffe]

yea, how do cars attack the helicopter? can't it just fly way up out of range and swoop in and steal kills at the last second. are there specific weapons to take it down or what. and have you guys decided if you're going to release it digitally?

Use the right stick to look up/down. Copter is in the air, launch a weapon at it. Most weapons will track vertically with the look control so it's not that different from battling a car. Copters are balanced to deal with their flight abilities (i.e. weak armor for ex...so yeah, they can bypass roads but it takes less to bring them down than most ground vehicles...also, 1 freeze/emp rod stuck in the copters side brings it slamming down to the ground for damage AND opens it up for an enemy to ram the shit out of it).

David

[androvsky]

No 3D planned. I don't know much about it but I am under the impression to do 3D your game has to run at 60fps, yes? That may be wrong but for some reason I was under this impression since you have to draw the screen twice at the same time to get the effect to work. We are a running on a kick ass engine but with all our game design requires of that engine, TMPS3 at 60fps is not going to happen. I mean, you never know as our engineers are stunningly good and you never know what fun surprises they will bring to the table from day to day, but given the challenge at hand, I'm not holding my breath. David

Sorta. I'm also not an expert, but here's what I understand:

It kinda has to run at 60 fps in 3D mode, but there's several celebrated 3D implementations of Sony first party games that normally run at 30 fps in 2D at 720p; Killzone 3, the Motorstorm Pacific Rift demo, and probably some others. If your game is running at (or hopefully near) 720p and is fill-rate limited by the RSX (as opposed to CPU or shader limited), then they usually just drop the rendering resolution. If you're CPU limited, it might be even easier.

[Concept17]

*Giant wall of information*
*Jaffe's Posts*


OOH GAWD YES

David, when will we see other multiplayer modes and some of the specials?

[davidjaffe]

*Giant wall of information* *Jaffe's Posts* OOH GAWD YES David, when will we see other multiplayer modes and some of the specials?

My understanding is towards the start of the new year, we start unloading the info. Didn't make a lot of sense to hit it over holidays given that most of the real and e-ink is being used in things like Kinect, Move, Call of Duty, Angry Birds,etc.

But once we start talking, we'll keep on talking regularly till we ship. So many things I can't wait to share!

David

[Struct09]

Game looks great, I can't wait Mr. Jaffe

[shagg_187]

The soundtrack will have 4 channels (at least this is the current plan...things can still change)

Damn! That sounds amazing! Hopefully it works out just the way you plan it to! :)

[Concept17]

My understanding is towards the start of the new year, we start unloading the info. Didn't make a lot of sense to hit it over holidays given that most of the real and e-ink is being used in things like Kinect, Move, Call of Duty, Angry Birds,etc. But once we start talking, we'll keep on talking regularly till we ship. So many things I can't wait to share! David

Good deal. I prefer to go on a media blackout to enjoy most games, but I'm certain I can't avoid it with this game. Looking forward to next year. =)

[Pepboy]

Idea for Mr. Jaffe: Ghost Match for split-screen MP

First round is normal, but the machine saves all of the position/attack information.

Second round you and your "ghost" play as a team against the other players (and their ghosts). Your ghost does all the attacks that you did in the first round and has the potential to hit other cars/other ghosts.

Third and fourth round along these lines, until you have a team of 3-4 ghosts based on what you did in previous rounds, fighting against 12-16 other cars, crazy shit happening all at once.

Cool Gameplay Note: Lowers the gain from "turtling"/driving in obscure parts of the map, as a turtle ghost will not really in future rounds.

Technical bit: Ghosts can also be destroyed. When a ghost gets hit off it's path, it first attempts to return to the previous trajectory and then continues being ghost-like. A ghost will always disappear when the player died (i.e. when the ghost runs out of data). But you can playtest it for whatever's most fun.

[Shalashaska161]

I'm pretty excited for this. Game looks really fun. I could see them doing a late summer/early fall launch.

[smokeymicpot]

TM Black will be 10 years old in 2011. Been that long with out a TM game besides the psp one.

[shagg_187]

TM Black will be 10 years old in 2011. Been that long with out a TM game besides the psp one.

There was also "Twisted Metal: Head On - Extra Twisted Edition" for PS2, ported by Eat Sleep Play.

[smokeymicpot]

There was also "Twisted Metal: Head On - Extra Twisted Edition" for PS2, ported by Eat Sleep Play.

That is the psp one. It was good but not as good as black.

[The Take Out Bandit]

TM Black will be 10 years old in 2011. Been that long with out a TM game besides the psp one.

Foolish oversight on anybody's part if they discounted Head On.

It was basically Super Twisted Metal 2 Turbo. F*cking awesome game.

[Dreams-Visions]

cool. hopefully it won't suck.

old formulas don't always translate well in modern times.

[The Take Out Bandit]

cool. hopefully it won't suck. old formulas don't always translate well in modern times.

Worked well enough for Street Fighter, go ask Crapcom about that.

Twisted Metal is the game that will compel me to re-PS3 down the road.