INTERVIEW: Monster Jam Showdown Director Federico Spada
It was only a few weeks ago that I (Rossko, hello!) took a trip to Cardiff to play Milestone’s latest Monster Jam Showdown whilst in the presence of their Monster Trucks and their thousands upon thousands of fans at the Principality Stadium. You can have a read of my initial thoughts on the game right here along with some pictures of that rather brilliant day out.
Monster Jam Showdown – due at the end of this month – is an enormous love letter to Monster Jam and its legions of fans around the world, and I’ve had the pleasure of sitting down with Game Director Federico Spada to talk everything about the game and their love of Monster Jam as a whole. It’s a laid back chat and gets me even more excited for the games full release this month.
Have a read below!
Rossko: Monster Jam has a huge, dedicated following, as evidence in Cardiff two weeks ago which was full of families that all had a brilliant time. How did you navigate catering for fans in the first instance?
Federico: If you want to make a game that is enjoyed by the fans, you need to become a fan yourself. This Is one of the first steps that we ensure to take when starting to work on new games with such big fanbase. On top of that, Monster Jam has one of the most diverse fanbase, with a younger audience and a more experienced and dedicated one. Watching events, both online and attending them was crucial to check all the small details that make fans happy, thus trying to recreate them in the game.
How closely have you worked with Monster Jam to bring a level of authenticity to the game?
We’ve been working with Monster Jam very closely from the early stages of the project until the very end. We’ve been talking about the game, we’ve been to official events to really breath the atmosphere that makes unique all the shows in order to try to recreate something appealing for both the fans and new players alike.
It must be fun for the drivers to see themselves and their trucks in the game. How was the process of working with them individually?
We had the chance to speak with them in specific occasions, such as our trip to Sweden. Speaking with the drivers really helped us understand how it’s like to drive one of those beasts, and we tried to focus on letting them speak about what they felt while driving and what are the things they look out for while competing. We took notes about what they said and while making the game we went through those notes when we had doubts about how to implement specific parts of the game, from the gameplay itself to game modes.
The races in the game feel particularly unique in Monster Trucks. Was it important to ensure the races felt like an event similar to the stunt levels?
What we learned from our studies of the discipline and even other Monster Jam games is that freestyle is a really adrenaline-packed event, so we wanted to translate that even in something spectacular as racing can be. We obviously had to make some tweaks in order to make driving more accessible to players but, at the same time, have the Monster Jam trucks behave in a way that players could understand easily and in a predictable way.
I played about half an hour in the stunt arena and found myself getting better each time. As the games audience may primarily be young fans of Monster Jam how did you find balancing the difficulty?
Balancing, especially in terms of gameplay experience, has been an interesting journey. As you say, our audience may primarily be younger fans, but we really wanted to create a game for everyone, including more experienced players and fans of Monster Jam. That’s why we iterated a lot when thinking about in-game helps, so that every type of player can tailor their helps to find the sweet spot and enjoy the game right off the bat.
Who is your favourite Monster Jam truck? And you can’t say Megalodon!
Megalodon! Oh, I can’t say that? Ok ok, I get it! Well, I have to admit that both Crushstation and Bad Company have a special spot in my heart. Crushstation for its name (I love puns) and its shape, while Bad Company because of its amazing livery… shiny!
Monster Jam Showdown looks and plays like a wonderful tribute to a hugely entertaining industry. Was it a fun world to jump into and recreate?
We’ve been working with Feld for a long time, and we’ve always been fascinated by the aura that Monster Jam has, because such big beasts are really fascinating not only in terms of the show they are able to put on, but even from a technical standpoint. Having the chance to work with Monster Jam really was really amazing for the team and everybody had a lot of fun while making the game.
Finally, Milestone have a history in making superb racers, in fact you’re probably my favourite developer for racers in the industry right now. Is it a case of sticking to what you’re good at or will we maybe see a whole new genre from you in the future?
First of all, thanks for your kind words! We’ve been making racing games for the past 20 years and it’s always great to hear that people have fun while playing what we craft. The racing game genre is really unique and we are really passionate about it and we think there’ a lot more we can bring to this world. That being said, the gaming industry is a ever-changing world so… anything can happen!
Monster Jam Showdown is due for release on August 29th for PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X and PC via Steam and the Epic Game Store.
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