Colin McRae Rally dev: four more mobile games in works
Colin McRae Rally is out on iOS now. It's a re-make of Colin McRae 2.0, and it's just the start of a full-frontal assault on the mobile platform by developer Codemasters. The team has told VG247 that it has a roster of four games - both new and existing IP - in the works for smart devices.
The rally game launched on iOS yesterday. You can check out screens, a trailer and gameplay details here.
Speaking with VG247, Codemasters' Vice President of digital business Gary Rowe discussed the motivation behind bringing the game to iOS, and its plans for more mobile games down the line.
"The smart device market is a great way to test out new ideas," he began. "Aside from working with legendary games like Colin McRae Rally, we’re readying a whole roster of games. Some are based on existing and familiar IP and others are completely new that have been developed exclusively for mobile. If we can leverage success on smart devices we’d be delighted to see what can then work in the console space.
"One of our primary goals was to bring our skills and abilities in racing to smart phones – we’re really proud of how good Colin McRae feels to play and we’ve learned a lot about how to make the most out of touch and tilt controls.
"For the future, and while we’re not naming specific titles right now, we have four other games in full production for the forthcoming months. Beyond this, our roadmap is pretty full for the next two years.
"We’ve had the luxury of being able to plan a rounded release schedule that includes re-imaginings of famous classics like Colin McRae Rally and also features our current game brands. It’s also a real pleasure to work on new ideas and develop new games from scratch, so expect a few surprises in the future mix."
Tech-wise, Colin McRae Rally runs in Unity but is based largely on the original PC code. Rowe added that while three of Codemasters' in-development mobile games would use the same engine, the fourth will utilise the studio's EGO engine, currently used in console titles like DIRT 3 and GRID 2.
"We love making games with Unity," Rowe concluded. "The level of support we’ve been given is amazing, they’re a great partner to have. I can tell you that of the four other games in production, three are in Unity. The fourth is going to be powered by an evolution of our proprietary EGO Game Technology Platform.
"It is looking stunning and we’re really, really excited to see our core racing tech working on smart devices, but, typically, I can’t say too much about that specific title right now."