![]() ![]() Instead of focussing on the race for first place, players work together in teams to fulfil a set of objectives - slipstream for a set amount of time, or accumulate a set distance drifting - and it's a set-up that works well in subtly shifting the dynamic of events. World of Speed's got the handsome looks of its cousin, all shown off at a preview event in a San Francisco level that crumbles convincingly as four players tear through its violently undulating streets, and its got some smart ideas of its own. If the monetisation of World of Speed, and its relationship with Project Cars, aren't keeping the team up at night, there are other aspects of the game that possibly should. We don't get anywhere by screwing people over." Tracks are drawn from cities across the world - San Francisco was the big reveal in, funnily enough, San Francisco - and real-life circuits such as Brands Hatch. "We can sleep safely at night knowing that we've done the right thing. We're here to make a community of fans and super-fans, and have them enjoy our game." It's easy to set up a system whereby we can extract money out of people, but we don't want to do that. We're fervent believers that to have a successful game as a service, it's all about the long-term, about respecting the community and offering trust, basically. "The easiest way of doing that is telling you what we don't sell - and what we don't sell is competitive advantage. "We're not allowed to talk about the specifics of monetisation - but we can talk about the philosophy that's underpinning what we're doing," says Morrish. How exactly it's going to back up its good intentions remains to be seen, but Slightly Mad is at pains to point out it's learnt from some of the more cynical free-to-play games on the market. That's a mantra that World of Speed is keen to stick to in its adoption of a free-to-play model - the very notion of which has become toxic to so many traditional gamers. We don't get anywhere by screwing people over." We can sleep safely at night knowing that we've done the right thing. The way that we structure these things is that we're fully open with the community - there has been no impact, and there are no conflicts going on. "Project Cars is still underway - and we have a target in mind. "It's one of the realities of running a development studio," says Morrish. The point has been laboured on Slightly Mad's own forums, where the development of Project Cars - as with all crowd-funded games - takes place with a degree of transparency. In fact, because this is a more traditionally funded game with a developer/publisher model, some of the learning we've had has gone into the underpinning, so both projects have benefited." There's been no money on the crowdfunding side of Project Cars go towards this game. "There is no cross-over between the two games in terms of the way that they're financed. "It's something that's been pointed out before," explains World of Speed's producer Pete Morrish. My.com is calling its own brand of F2P 'free-to-compete' - a cute way to acknowledge it's not out to scalp players. ![]() It gets the blood boiling, perhaps, if you've seen the original release date for Slightly Mad's crowd-funded racer sail past while it announces a partnership with a publisher rich with money - and if you're one of the investors in an at times confusing scheme, you might be wondering where exactly your money's gone to. World of Speed, a free-to-play, massively multiplayer team-based racer that's being brought to market with the help of newcomers My.com, doesn't quite get the heart thumping in the same way Project Cars does. Slightly Mad Studios, the racing game developer renowned for its team's work on GTR2 and the sadly short-lived Shift series, is making one of the most exciting new entries in the genre - one that promises to challenge the duopoly of Forza and Gran Turismo and a game that looks achingly, at times shockingly beautiful. ![]()
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