Post by Enigma on Feb 14, 2017 4:46:46 GMT -5
JM3 was the most hated game of the Jet Moto franchise, this is apparent. There are multiple reasons as to why exactly that is and the problem lies in 989 Studios. They RUINED Jet Moto because they wanted to make it appeal to everyone and dumb it down by making it a casual game.
Starting with JM3, I am almost 100% sure that it would have been an amazing game were the developers given the freedom to do what they wanted to do. Quoting Ming Lee, the lead programmer for JM3:
"[...] the difficulties and challenges were presented by our 989 producer who wanted so much more for JM3 than 1 or 2. I had carefully played and analyzed each of the earlier Jet Moto levels. My plan was to have a drivable trench with the terrain farther away in the background. [...] our 989 producer insisted that in Jet Moto 3 we should be able to drive anywhere because you could do that in 1 and 2, I had to correct him by loading up the previous games [JM2]. I showed him how on the very first level, there was a 15 degree grade burm that you would think you could drive on, but was blocked by an invisible wall. Immediately, he deemed that ridiculous and insisted that in Jet Moto 3, we capture the “true spirit” of Jet Moto, which was to be able to drive anywhere!"
Already, we see a huge problem here. One of the major criticisms of JM3 is that the tracks are too wide and open, which is a side effect of being able to drive everywhere. Originally, the programmer wanted JM3's tracks to be made in the same way as JM1-2's, with them being narrow and very technical, but he couldn't, 989 Studios wouldn't allow him. Let's continue.
"JM3 was designed to be played at a much much slower speed. Matt had tuned it very nicely so that it was quite a game of skill and that the AI had presented a very interesting challenge. It was much closer to JM1 and 2 in speed for probably 80% of our development. Sony insisted on “helping” us tune the game in the final few months before we shipped, they cranked up the speed and power of the bikes. [...] The final version where you are literally bouncing off the walls due to maxed out tuning values is the one we shipped."
Again, another major criticism of JM3, the speed. It wasn't even the programmers' fault, 989 Studios shoved their high speed thing down their throat without them being able to say anything about it. Moving on to JM4, quoting Christopher Tritt, one of the producers on the game:
"We tried to stay true to the game design of Jet Moto 1 and 2. The games were challenging – especially challenging and we wanted to try and stay true to the core design philosophy of the first 2 games. [...] Midway through development when a lot of the tracks were very nearly complete the studio director suggested that we widen the tracks by 50% [...] We wanted to give it the “Jet Moto” feel but with “Wipeout” speed. [...] The influence of Wipeout on this vision of what Jet Moto 2124 should have been was not in line with what we had been designing. Although both games are futuristic racers, the game play of these games are drastically different. If we had received this direction a lot sooner, the outcome of the game could have [...] went away from what JM 1 and 2 had been."
Basically, they tried to speed up Jet Moto by copying Wipeout, which is a VERY BAD idea. Wipeout's tracks are pretty much just long stretches of road that turn slightly sometimes, there's no level design there. Jet Moto has always been about going as fast as you can on very technical tracks, not being fast and minimalistic. Another quote, this time from Paul Willman, another producer for JM4:
"A large problem that we had was that management appeared to have very different expectations of the game than did the development team. They seemed to think that someone should be able to plop themselves down in front of the game and within a matter of minutes be an expert. They would watch with considerable excitement as I demoed the game for them (I played it non-stop) and, when it came their turn to play, they would quickly get frustrated when they couldn’t play it as well as I could. They were of the opinion that if you couldn’t immediately see where to go and easily navigate the track, that the game was poorly designed and therefore a disaster. I, myself literally spent weeks playing the Nightmare level on Jet Moto I before I could complete all three laps without falling off the track. For me and the rest of the team, half of the fun was learning to find the best way through the tracks and learning the split-timing required to make it through some of the terrain."
He explains exactly what I believe Jet Moto is all about. Everytime I make someone try any of the Jet Moto games (or see people commenting on JM videos coming from Wave Race), they always end up saying that the games are shit and unplayable, that it's impossible to be good at it and that the track design is disgustingly claustrophobic. NO! Just because you're bad at a game doesn't mean that the game is bad, just that you're fucking trash at it. Anyway, that is the reason why they wanted to widen the tracks, they felt that they were "too small, technical and difficult for anyone to pick up and play easily". If the developers on JM1&2 thought like that, I'm pretty sure the games would've just been generic trash. Maybe it's better that JM4 was never finished after all, we probably got a better game in the end.
Moving on to JM5... No, just... No. Looking at the concept documents, it's clear that the game would've been a shitty casual generic Wipeout clone trash. Nothing in there looks remotely similar to what you would expect from a Jet Moto game, and it would've killed the franchise, if not financially, then certainly gameplay wise.
So that's it, 989 Studios killed Jet Moto by trying to make it more casual friendly. It's sad to see that the franchise is dead today, but I would've been even sadder if it had been transformed into a Wipeout clone and exploited for nothing more than corporate profit. So maybe everything is better this way.
I'd like to end this post with a quote from Christopher Tritt: "Even with all of the racing games and motocross games, there’s still nothing quite like Jet Moto. Jet Moto 2124 may well be the best game that no one will ever see [...]" but thanks to you, that last part is not true, we have now played it. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my favorite Jet Moto game of all time available to me, even if it was never finished.
Starting with JM3, I am almost 100% sure that it would have been an amazing game were the developers given the freedom to do what they wanted to do. Quoting Ming Lee, the lead programmer for JM3:
"[...] the difficulties and challenges were presented by our 989 producer who wanted so much more for JM3 than 1 or 2. I had carefully played and analyzed each of the earlier Jet Moto levels. My plan was to have a drivable trench with the terrain farther away in the background. [...] our 989 producer insisted that in Jet Moto 3 we should be able to drive anywhere because you could do that in 1 and 2, I had to correct him by loading up the previous games [JM2]. I showed him how on the very first level, there was a 15 degree grade burm that you would think you could drive on, but was blocked by an invisible wall. Immediately, he deemed that ridiculous and insisted that in Jet Moto 3, we capture the “true spirit” of Jet Moto, which was to be able to drive anywhere!"
Already, we see a huge problem here. One of the major criticisms of JM3 is that the tracks are too wide and open, which is a side effect of being able to drive everywhere. Originally, the programmer wanted JM3's tracks to be made in the same way as JM1-2's, with them being narrow and very technical, but he couldn't, 989 Studios wouldn't allow him. Let's continue.
"JM3 was designed to be played at a much much slower speed. Matt had tuned it very nicely so that it was quite a game of skill and that the AI had presented a very interesting challenge. It was much closer to JM1 and 2 in speed for probably 80% of our development. Sony insisted on “helping” us tune the game in the final few months before we shipped, they cranked up the speed and power of the bikes. [...] The final version where you are literally bouncing off the walls due to maxed out tuning values is the one we shipped."
Again, another major criticism of JM3, the speed. It wasn't even the programmers' fault, 989 Studios shoved their high speed thing down their throat without them being able to say anything about it. Moving on to JM4, quoting Christopher Tritt, one of the producers on the game:
"We tried to stay true to the game design of Jet Moto 1 and 2. The games were challenging – especially challenging and we wanted to try and stay true to the core design philosophy of the first 2 games. [...] Midway through development when a lot of the tracks were very nearly complete the studio director suggested that we widen the tracks by 50% [...] We wanted to give it the “Jet Moto” feel but with “Wipeout” speed. [...] The influence of Wipeout on this vision of what Jet Moto 2124 should have been was not in line with what we had been designing. Although both games are futuristic racers, the game play of these games are drastically different. If we had received this direction a lot sooner, the outcome of the game could have [...] went away from what JM 1 and 2 had been."
Basically, they tried to speed up Jet Moto by copying Wipeout, which is a VERY BAD idea. Wipeout's tracks are pretty much just long stretches of road that turn slightly sometimes, there's no level design there. Jet Moto has always been about going as fast as you can on very technical tracks, not being fast and minimalistic. Another quote, this time from Paul Willman, another producer for JM4:
"A large problem that we had was that management appeared to have very different expectations of the game than did the development team. They seemed to think that someone should be able to plop themselves down in front of the game and within a matter of minutes be an expert. They would watch with considerable excitement as I demoed the game for them (I played it non-stop) and, when it came their turn to play, they would quickly get frustrated when they couldn’t play it as well as I could. They were of the opinion that if you couldn’t immediately see where to go and easily navigate the track, that the game was poorly designed and therefore a disaster. I, myself literally spent weeks playing the Nightmare level on Jet Moto I before I could complete all three laps without falling off the track. For me and the rest of the team, half of the fun was learning to find the best way through the tracks and learning the split-timing required to make it through some of the terrain."
He explains exactly what I believe Jet Moto is all about. Everytime I make someone try any of the Jet Moto games (or see people commenting on JM videos coming from Wave Race), they always end up saying that the games are shit and unplayable, that it's impossible to be good at it and that the track design is disgustingly claustrophobic. NO! Just because you're bad at a game doesn't mean that the game is bad, just that you're fucking trash at it. Anyway, that is the reason why they wanted to widen the tracks, they felt that they were "too small, technical and difficult for anyone to pick up and play easily". If the developers on JM1&2 thought like that, I'm pretty sure the games would've just been generic trash. Maybe it's better that JM4 was never finished after all, we probably got a better game in the end.
Moving on to JM5... No, just... No. Looking at the concept documents, it's clear that the game would've been a shitty casual generic Wipeout clone trash. Nothing in there looks remotely similar to what you would expect from a Jet Moto game, and it would've killed the franchise, if not financially, then certainly gameplay wise.
So that's it, 989 Studios killed Jet Moto by trying to make it more casual friendly. It's sad to see that the franchise is dead today, but I would've been even sadder if it had been transformed into a Wipeout clone and exploited for nothing more than corporate profit. So maybe everything is better this way.
I'd like to end this post with a quote from Christopher Tritt: "Even with all of the racing games and motocross games, there’s still nothing quite like Jet Moto. Jet Moto 2124 may well be the best game that no one will ever see [...]" but thanks to you, that last part is not true, we have now played it. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my favorite Jet Moto game of all time available to me, even if it was never finished.
