'Need For Speed: Payback' News: Game Director Talks About Building A Believable Open World
Like previous games in the series, "Need for Speed: Payback" is set in an open world environment with a day and night cycle. This has been a selling point for the franchise for a while and now, Ghost Games' creative director Will Ho shares thoughts about designing an effective open-world environment as well as his inspirations on the game
"I firmly believe that people who love their cars want to be in their cars all the time," Ho said in an interview with Gamespot. "It's the real-world fantasy of exploring aimlessly, finding other car lovers, discovering beautiful places, taking snapshots, sharing stories."
According to Ho, the races will be restricted to only racing from checkpoint to checkpoint to ensure easy navigation and fair competition. Players are also given a choice on which path they would take from the path from point to point.
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Fortune Valley, the open world of "Need for Speed: Payback," is comprised of events activities, and collectibles to take part in. Ho calls these "points of interests" with more than 400 in all currently making the world feel even denser than it looks. Ho adds that Ghost Games could expand the world as they have ideas for adding even more.
The game's multicharacter focus has often drawn a comparison with the successful Fast and Furious film franchise. However, Ho says that the franchise didn't specifically served as the game's inspiration but adds that both old and classic car movies inspired Payback.
Ghost Games recently released a trailer showcasing the game's wealth of racing activities. Aside from the core racing gameplay, Payback also features plenty of minigames, collectibles, unlockables, and car customisation options all of which add more to the game's replayability.
"Need for Speed: Payback" is currently available for pre-order and is set to be released on Nov. 10 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.
