Hi guys. We have some exciting news from all of us here at DigixArt: Road 96 coming to PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 on April 14! Choose your own road trip adventure.
In this self-chosen road adventure, you play as different teenagers on the run from a fictional country called Petria. Things have gone wrong inside the country and – as you go around the map – you will meet a very strange group of people; some will help you to escape, others will not.
When we started working on Road 96 in 2018, we wanted to create a procedural game with a story that would be different for every player. Our mantra is “no one’s path is the same”. We worked on various prototypes, designing a workable system to craft a unique and engaging story tailored to individual player preferences. This is why the game starts by asking you a few questions.
The AI uses these parameters to determine your starting position, abilities, money, and (have) hidden karmic factors. At the end of this first sequence, you choose how you want to leave. And – as you’ll discover – it’s not a linear branching system, but a set of sequences that the AI will pick and adjust, depending on your journey.
There are many modes of transport. If walking is your thing then obviously it will take you longer to get to the border. Since time doesn’t stand still in the summer of 96, after a few journeys (between 6 and 15) you will trigger one of many endings, the nature of which will depend on your various choices and behavior during your trip.
If we look closely at the routes on the map, you can see that they are never the same for each character; that’s the beauty of a procedurally generated system. And it’s almost mathematically impossible to have the same path between each of your characters (which makes us really happy).
And we’re really excited that with different parameters, it’s mathematically nearly impossible for you to go down the same path as other players. With a lot of simplifications and not taking into account all the possible variations inside each sequence, the number of different variations would be 60 x 59 x 58…
Since each sequence can occur in the southern desert or the mountains further north, we had to generate different graphics for each environment – along with a day and night setting – that generated 4x works for the art group; they did a great (and tremendous) job.
The music also changes if the sequence is at the beginning of a summer cruise or near the end, when tensions are rising across the country.
Even if it brings a lot of complications, it is still necessary to create a real sense of freedom on the road.
The design and narrative text are radically different from the more traditional linear, even branching, experience. We never know when and where events will trigger, so many parameters must be checked to see if the characters have been encountered, if you know their back story and can reveal more about them – without revealing everything too soon or too late. It was really funny to see the reactions of the players as they understood the revelations of this grand story.
So – yes – all the decisions you make are important and will determine what happens to you and – as a result – to everyone you may meet; You have an influence on their life trajectory as they have an influence on yours. It’s an experience that asks questions, sometimes profound questions, and we love to explore the things that can impact people’s lives and (maybe) try to make the world a better place. slightly.
