1) How is the PS Move from a development perspective, as far as how difficult it is to work with?
The PlayStation Move motion controller has been a joy to work with from a lot of perspectives, especially when considering how well it fits with a golfing game. The feel of the finished peripheral is just so analogous to a golf club that giving it to someone and asking them to swing it like they’re on a golf course doesn’t require any expert tutelage! Obviously every new piece of technology comes with its own set of teething problems and, working with several different iterations of the device since it first arrived on our doorstep, we’ve had to be quite dynamic and flexible.
2) Is it fair to say that your experience in programming for the Wii has helped working with the Move or are the two very different?
Gusto Games has worked on three Wii titles over the last few years, all of which have used significant levels of motion control. This has obviously set good foundations when it comes to working with any form of motion control. You start to think in terms of tolerances and accelerations. So yes, working with the Wii previously has definitely been beneficial from a development standpoint.
Regardless of what control system you’re programming for however, the amount of feedback you can get from user input is all-important. With the PlayStation Move, the first thing you notice is the level of precision it offers, above and beyond what has been offered by motion controllers before. This has a massive impact on the level of control that can then be passed on to the end user. There’s such a connection between the player and the game when you can actually see the movement of the PlayStation Move mirrored by the club on-screen.
3) What involvement did John Daly have in development? Is he a fan of the Move?
John really enjoyed his time with the PlayStation Move motion controller. He could just use his natural swing and see it right there in the game. When a real golfer tells you how good it is, well, it was fantastic to get that kind of feedback from a professional.
When it came to the development, having John around to model his trademark swing for us and offer us advice on how to get it right was a massive help for us. His swing is somewhat unique, swooping up with the face of the club almost perpendicular to the ground on the backswing. It’s a real challenge to model something like that and I don’t think we could have done it without him.
4) Does ProStroke include an arcade mode of any kind, or were you strictly going for a simulation experience?
When you play ProStroke, you’ll realize that it’s a game that anyone can pick up and play. Sure, we really enjoy giving users the ability to tweak some of the deeper details of a golf swing to their heart’s content, adding draw or fade, backspin or topspin, etc., but we also wanted to deliver an experience that everyone could enjoy, so accessibility was constantly held as one of the top priorities. It’s as complicated as you want to make it, or as simple as you want it to be, to put it another way. So it’s not just a simulation; at its heart, it’s always a game
On the other hand, there’s no arcade mode. Arcade mode, to me, means explosions and point multipliers, crazy shots and unrealistic physics. ProStroke is about golf first and foremost, so it’s much more of a simulation if you were comparing it to an arcade style golf game. It’s why we don’t try to compare ourselves to other games. We’re really setting our own direction with the game.
5) Will the game include official PGA locations and golfers?
Aside from John Daly (obviously) and Sam Torrance, who is one of the commentators, we don’t feature any other golfers. The premise behind the game is that YOU are the golfer. You’re not just taking control of a golfer and using their skill, it’s all you.
We’ve got some amazing licensed courses in the game from around the world, like Mystic Rock and the Belfry. These were all modeled with our proprietary editor and, being full, 18-hole courses, they’re incredibly true to their real world counterparts. Being able to see and play on other parts of a full course, regardless of your end goal, is something that really makes you feel like you’re on the course.
– Derek Martin, Game Designer, Gusto Games Ltd.
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