The Gamescom week in Cologne turned out to be an overwhelming success for Project CARS as the WMD-powered title did not just impress the games media and fans alike, it also earned us several awards from various media outlets.
Part of our presence at Europe’s largest gaming event was not just our studio staff and professional race car driver Oliver Webb but also two of our trusted WMD community members.
WMD members Ben aka Elmo and Matthias aka TheDoctor46 joined the Slightly Mad Studios crew around our Creative Director Andy Tudor & Producer Pete Morrish, putting their experience with Project CARS to work on the show floor.
While Andy, Oli & Pete had their hands full handling the countless media & interview inquiries, Ben & Matthias assisted visitors with their first step into the Project CARS universe.
Being involved with the development of Project CARS since WMD launched in late 2011, the guys shared their vast knowledge of Project CARS’ inner workings with the expo visitors and got to experience their reactions first hand as Ben recalls:
When SMS approached me and asked if I would be available to help them out at this year’s Gamescom I was more than happy to do so. Not only would I get the chance to meet some of the guys working on the game in person, but also being able to showcase the game I believe in to the public was a great chance. It was awesome to see that everybody associated with game is very passionate about it. This does not only apply to the developers, but also the people from distributer Bandai Namco, the representatives of the license providing car companies, hardware partners and finally all the WMD members that came by to say Hello during Gamescom. What really stood out was the public’s reaction. It just blew me away. Journalists and gamers were full of praise. Everybody admired the pretty visuals, be it on the Playstation 4, a 4K TV or inside the Oculus Rift. But the concept of bringing the thrill of real life racing to their living rooms via accurate physics, dynamic time and weather changes and huge variety of motorsport disciplines is what convinced them that Project Cars is the game to get this year. Personally it was an amazing experience and encouraged me to support SMS even stronger. So that by November a racing game gets delivered that we all can be proud of.
The Gamescom was another chance to show off how World of Mass Development changes the way game development works.
WMD is not just a mere crowd-funding platform as members can get involved in the development of the game much further than just pledge funding. In this case, it took members right to the heart of the action, as Matthias remembers:
So me and my German fellow were invited by Slightly Mad Studios to Gamescom 2014 to help them getting their point to German media and our followers. Since this is a German fair, you probably need some German staff. So instead of paying translators, who probably aren’t even enough into the project, why not use again the power of WMD. We have 80.000 members…there’s probably someone who might speak German then. But eventually, it didn’t felt like a translator job. It felt more like we were indeed part of the crew. Staying in the same hotels, having in-depth sight that I didn’t thought of and having a beer or two after the job was done. Since this is a brief summary, I’m not going into details like „I was drunk at …“ or „I woke up at…“, sorry ;) We had the opportunity to meet some of the developers of our beloved game we play since almost the beginning. That was already quite cool, but we also me representatives of Bandai Namco, automotive manufacturers, hardware suppliers, …. never would have thought of that. And last but not least having first party feedback from fans, media and interested people and all of them positive….. Seeing people enjoying the game you believe in since its beginning, terrific! It was a tough week and I still have to sort the amount of experience I received, so again big thanks to SMS for let that happen. We SMS and WMD are on the right way and the response from the gaming community emphasizes it =D Keep going!
Keep checking back to find out more about how our members help shape Project CARS into the best possible game in the coming days!
You want to be among the first to receive your copy of Project CARS this November? Then head over to our pre-order website and secure your copy now!
Project CARS will be coming to the Playstation 4, Xbox One, Steam OS, WiiU & PC, starting November 2014.
For more on Project CARS, make sure to check out the Project CARS website and the Project CARS Facebook page regularly!