A New Experience for a New Generation; “Powerdrome” Races Back To Gaming

by Louis Bedigian

If it weren’t for the name you’d never see the resemblance. 

A long time ago, on a game console far, far away, game developer Michael Powell wrote code for the world’s first futuristic racing game: Powerdrome.  Looking back it may not seem too futuristic now, but at the time gamers didn’t have too many great racing games.  The genre was pretty bleak; devoid of all the aspects that make a game great.  Powerdrome was a step forward.  It gave players hope, and showed signs of the future.

The gorgeous picture you’re looking at is not from the Atari Powerdrome, but rather a piece of concept art from the all-new Powerdrome developed exclusively for Xbox and PlayStation 2.

Michael Powell (now the Studio Head of Argonaut Sheffield and Executive Producer of Powerdrome) was once again at the helm of the project, so you can be sure that just as much hard work and dedication was devoted to the new Powerdrome.

What made him want to develop another game in the series after all these years?  We spoke to Michael to find out.  While talking his ear off, we threw in a few more questions, hoping to learn more and go deeper into the world of his exhilarating series.

First off, what does it take to make an exciting racing game?

Michael Powell: To us, keep the racing pure. It should be easy to pick up and play, but the best in the genre require genuine skills you can master and get better at - that's what gives you the satisfaction and keeps you coming back to a racing game, even if you've lapped hundreds of times.

The original Powerdrome was released for the Atari ST and is more than 10 years old.  What was the catalyst to develop an update to the series?

MP: Two things really - firstly we didn't like the way other people had treated the futuristic racing scenario; to us there was no need for weapons if we made the racing as exciting as it should be. Secondly I really wanted the next-gen version to try and embody the sort of thing that was in my imagination when the first Powerdrome was done – you couldn't do it then but you certainly can now!

Give us the game's statistics: how many tracks and vehicles are there?

MP: There are 12 characters and "blades," 20 tracks set on 6 different worlds, plus 4 "challenge" point-to-point tracks for head-to-head challenge racing.

A rough battle to the finish line.

What are the themes of the game's tracks?  Could you describe some of them for us?

MP: The overriding objective in designing the tracks was to create something that looked like it could be actually somewhere. In practical terms this meant that first of all we designed the landscape in which the track layout would be placed, and that could be anything from a city to a desert, then we would lay out the track within that environment, cutting through mountains where necessary, sometimes using natural features like gorges or valleys. We think this gives a really natural flow to the tracks.

An example of this would be the Matawai series of tracks, these are set on a world where a huge planet-wide ocean is held back by a vast dam, and people live on the resulting land mass. One of the tracks runs along the top of this dam, between massive rocks, and across tropical lagoons. The other layout takes a route along the base of the dam, between the hydroelectric stations, then cuts up through a mountain pass.

Another world is AcerNaim - this is a planetary orbital, a vast man-made ring. On this track you will circle around the space elevators that take people up off the world, and even head out onto the edge of the ring, where after diving through a tunnel through the mountains that hold the atmosphere you can see out in to space where giant ships dock to the port.

Do the tracks spin around, flip upside down, or do anything along those lines?

MP: We do not make the tracks do anything which would break the feel of this being relatively realistic physics, but within those design constraints the tracks are real rollercoaster rides. We think Powerdrome would make an excellent theme park ride!

Beside aesthetics, what are the differences between the vehicles?  What sets each one apart?

MP: Besides the Blades all looking different they do have different characteristics, some are heavy but stable, others are light, skittish but very maneuverable. Some blades "slide" more than others, where the vehicle turns side-on to the airflow and really scrubs off speed for a tight corner.

There are many possible driving styles in Powerdrome and each style will have a most appropriate Blade to use.

Vrrrrrrrroooooooom!

I'll make a guess here and assume that Powerdrome includes a number of power-ups.  If that's the case, what are they, and how do they aid you in the race?

MP: The main "power-up" model is gathering Boosts. You do this by driving above supersonic speed, without hitting the walls of the track. If you do this for a while the Boost Meter fills up, when it reaches the top you are awarded a Boost, one of three that you can carry. You can then use that Boost to either turbo your power for a limited time, allowing a rapid overtake, or use it to repair the damage on your Blade. There's strategy involved here as you'll want to save some Boosts for the end of the race, but not drop so far behind that even that won't let you catch up.

How many game modes does Powerdrome feature?  What are they?

MP: We have Quick Race mode (race with any unlocked character or track), Time Trial (set the fastest possible time, with a ghost blade), Championship (A series of single-player races, challenges and lap time trials by which you can unlock content within the game), Split Screen Multiplayer, and on the Xbox version System Link and Xbox Live online play.

Where did the name "Powerdrome" come from?  What does it mean?

MP: Not sure - I made it up so long ago I can't remember!

Were there any significant changes that had over the course of the game's development?  Anything that changed the game a great deal from the original concept?

MP: One of the nice things about working on this game is it didn't really change a whole lot from concept to final disk. You can see that in the fact that the pre-rendered intro to the game was created before we'd written one line of code - and I think you'll agree the final game certainly measures up to that visualization.

The only major component that got dropped was the ability to paint custom skins for your blade. We also toyed with the idea of having cut-scene based storyline segments, but decided to concentrate on a more arcade-style concept.

Looks like he’s ready for battle, not a race.

Argonaut has developed a game in almost every major genre.  Have you worked on any titles besides Powerdrome?  If so, which genre would you say is the most difficult to work with?

MP: I have, yes - the original Powerdrome, Subwar 2050, SuperFX Vortex on the SNES, then I-War, Independence War series and an unreleased arcade robot fighter called CyberFight.

The most difficult genre? I would say they're all difficult in their own way – and there is a lot more competition out there than when the original Powerdrome came out in 1990.

Thank you for your time.