In the history of Carmageddon, the Splat Pack expansion is always glossed over. It does not get nearly enough respect from game journalists, or game historians. Those that know could testify to how important it was in shaping the franchise. Carmageddon came out in February of 1997, the Splat Pack was ready by November of that same year. I consider it to be a more complete vision of what Stainless Games wanted to release on day one. It added eight new environments, with several levels dedicated specifically to multiplayer games. Plus it added 18 new cars, including multiple color version of the new Eagle, and Hawk. The version 2 cars had updated bodies. Many noticed that the Eagle was less aerodynamic. It now looked like a bruiser, closer to the Batmobile from the Batman Animated Series than a dupe of a '70s exploitation film. The Hawk on the other hand had all of its angles pushed further, making it more into a science fiction racer.
They were not the only cars to be replaced for the drivers. Stig O’Sore previously drove the Volkswerker, an armored Volkswagen Beetle. In the Splat Pack he had the much sportier Carrerasaurus by Porky Motor Corp. It looked like a Porsche with metal Stegosaurus plates welded over the top. Fans enjoyed the changes to the game. The graphics had a bump thanks to the native support for 3D acceleration. There was also a patch to add 3DFX support to the original Carmageddon. For those that lived in a country with the “zombie" or censored version, the devs included a Blood Pack file to restore the game to its full blood, and guts glory. When it came to stirring up controversy Stainless wasn't messing around with the Splat Pack. There was a level that had you racing around a prison, running over inmates, and cops alike. The final stage of the game, the Ring of Fire, took place in a cemetery filled with mysterious hooded figures. A mausoleum portal took the racers straight to Hell which was made up of fire, brimstone, demons, and a disco club. If you reached the lowest point on the map you actually came across a gigantic model of the devil. Where he's seating in front of his P666 computer playing Carmageddon. Talk about being self aware! The media stirred up more controversy. Princess Diana had died in a car accident in August 1997, a few months before the Splat Pack dropped. The studio was asked to change the name of Die Anna out of respect. The studio did not.
Stainless was very much counterculture to the games industry, and for many they were counterculture to good taste. They seemed to love the fans, but not the business so much. Every chance they could they stuck their collective middle fingers up to the establishment. Studios were expected to submit a list of cheat codes so magazines could publish them. In Carmageddon typing a short phrase on a keyboard would enable a power up, as if the cars had driven over a barrel. Stainless made sure that magazines would have a hard time printing the phrases. Things like WEHATEMARIO, HAMSTERSEX, and SEXWITHFISH were just some of the individual codes you could enter. There was a master code that allowed you to type a number for a particular power up. This code was IBETYOUCANTPRINTCUNT. You can imagine that this didn't make things easier for publisher SCi. Players were very much on board with this brand of humor. Stainless reciprocated the love by dropping the dev tools to the modding community, which began calling themselves the CarMod Community. This was an international effort, as there were literally fans of the game all around the world. Their updates became CarModgeddon. People like CoffeyCup, and Crimson in the late '90s began releasing new skins for cars, and tracks. The Third Reich Mod for Carmageddon was arguably their most ambitious work. This patch replaced the theme for Bleak City, turning it instead into Berlin during World War II.
The modders went so far as to add goose-stepping Nazis where there were normally pedestrians. They replaced the Cops with SS APC’s, and added a few seconds of Hitler giving a speech on the projection screens in the game. The level had a story, somewhere in the city Hitler was giving a speech to his base, it was up to the racers to find out where he was hiding, and kill him. As if running over pedestrians wasn’t already fun, the mod made it a pleasure to mow down Nazi’s by the hundred. It was another example of the British humor that Stainless had built their reputation on. This time however, it came from fans, and Stainless gave it their blessing. I was eager to see what other changes the community would drop. Since I did not have a computer at home I had to wait to get to work to try out each update. My coworkers, and I got a chance to download every patch as it was released. If a new skin didn’t work, or was just plain ugly, it was easy restoring the original files from the CD. The one thing that many in the community missed was having access to the original Eagle, and Hawk. Yes, the new versions were nice, but so too were the first ones. The modding community released a patch that would allow players to choose any version. They then set their eyes on fixing what Stainless didn’t get around to.
One of the biggest disappointments in the original release was the car driven by Ed 101. It was a sporty Japanese-styled import called the Tashita Coupe. Fans didn’t have a problem with how it looked or handled. They didn’t have a problem with Ed’s design either. It was great storytelling that a robot went rogue, and entered the Carmageddon tournament. This wasn’t however the car that we were promised. In their website, and official material. It was stated that when Ed 101 went against his programming he stole a prototype race car for the tournament. This car looked like a UFO, the type of vehicle used in the F-Zero series by Nintendo. Of all the rides in the game, it was possibly the one I most look forward to stealing. You can imagine how disappointed I was that the car ended up looking like a Toyota Supra with a blade splitter up front. Again, it was fun in game, but not what I was promised. Stainless had meant for the car to be in the game all along. They just didn’t have the time to finish the model.
Stainless actually left the textures for the flying car in the Devil's Canyon Mining Town game files. They invited the community to see what they could come up with. Modders found the file names, they were clearly labeled pieces for fins, a cockpit, and boosters. They got to work. Before too long they had a patch in place, and released it to the world. Players were welcome to use either of Ed 101's cars in game. The community figured out a clever way to make the prototype appear like it was floating. There were four wheels under the body, however they did not have a texture applied to them, so they were invisible. The only clue that there were wheels was when the car skidded out, it left behind the streaks from where the tires should have been. It was a clever work around, and remains one of the most fun surprises I’ve ever had in my time playing games. The community then set their sights on an even more complex file. They wanted to know if they could restore Tanka to its original design as well. I mentioned previously that Stainless couldn’t get the trailer mechanics working properly in their engine. So they cut out the back half, and left the cab to bounce about in the game.
It took years but modders Carnage / Crimson eventually figured it out, as did Toshiba-3. Not only that, fellow community member Trent took up the challenge to get the tanker up and running in the later release of Carmageddon Reincarnation. The community that modified the games had as much passion for the IP as the people that created it. In some instances Stainless did reach out to the best modders, and offered them work. They would actively listen to the fans, and run polls on fan favorites. This helped shape the direction of the series. None of this would have been possible if the Splat Pack, and the modding tools had never been released. It opened our eyes to the possibility of changing an already published game. It’s certainly rare for a developer to have an open dialogue with audiences today. Most studios are insulated, and many online forums have devolved into shouting matches. For what it was worth the ones coming together under the Carmageddon banner seemed to vibe well together. This was something that never came up in any "making of" articles.
The Splat Pack had many other things going for it. Stainless never stopped working once Carmageddon went gold. There were many ideas that they had written down that they meant to be released in the original game. Several cars, and characters that appeared in the Splat Pack were in the works from the very beginning. Time, money, and resources just meant that they were left out. The success of that first game, plus the audience reception, gave them the push to complete the Splat Pack, and finish the vision they had originally. The additional vehicle types provided a bigger cross section of the Carma experience. Other studios may have been content to just draw up race cars with spikes for an expansion, and call it a day. Stainless was anything but an ordinary company. The vehicle types often came out of left field. An ambulance coated in blood, driven by the mad surgeon Sawbones was listed in the early concept drawings. The Blood Mobile was now official. The Ramraider, an SUV with a battering ram driven by USA sports fanatic Big Daddy was now plowing through opponents. Other cars were jabs at Stainless' contemporaries. A blue, and white-striped muscle car, the Stodge Barger, driven by Carkey, and Clutch, was a direct call-out to the Picard Piranha, and Groove Champion from Interstate ’76.
The Splat Pack made the monster trucks bigger, like Herman Monster and his Monster Masher. The 10-foot tires were based on the tires used by Bigfoot V, and Bigfoot VII. It added a rampaging diesel truck to the lineup, Mother Trucker, and her Rig O’Mortis. It added full-blown race cars like the Fearari F999 driven by Ashteroid. The studio also expanded on the Auto Scum gang member rides. The Mech Maniac got the smallest car in the expansion, the slippery little Grunge Buster. Sports cars, trucks, just about anything with wheels was well represented. One of the influences for the studio, and a movie that isn’t always given enough credit for in car circles, was the Italian Job. I’m talking about the original from 1969, not the remake from 2003. The scene stealers were three Mini Coopers hauling a ton of stolen gold out of Italy. The stunt driving was amazing, and the producers made it look like the little cars were unstoppable. It inspired the Killer Coop, driven by Mike O’Kane (Michael Cain was the star of the film). It stood to reason that the mighty British Cooper with a jousting lance attached to the door would symbolize Britannia in the game. It would surely slay the giants of the tournament, and bring home the glory.
At the end of 1997 there was no argument. Carmageddon, and the Splat Pack were certified hits. In spite of all the negative publicity the outlets came to a consensus. This was a great game. To help get the title on as many computers as they could SCi bundled the game, and expansion together as the Max Pack. It was uncensored, as the developers had originally meant it to be. The bundle was nominated for Computer Action Game of the Year in the 1998 D.I.C.E. Awards. The awards given to Carmageddon were numerous, here's a sample; Winner - Best Action Game - Ultra Game Players, Game of the Year - PC Zone Magazine, 5 out of 5 - Computer Life, 4 out of 5 - Next Generation, 4 out of 5 - C:/Net’s Game Center.com, 9 out of 10 - Computer & Net Player, GameRevolution - B+, GameSpot - 8.8 out of 10. The quotes in the reviews did the team at Stainless proud. “Very playable, and addictive" - PC Gamer, “A complete blast to play" - Computer & Net Player, and “It’s been a long time since a driving game has been as much fun as Carmageddon." - Computer Gaming World. This was vindication for everything the studio had gone through in the prior three years. With everything they learned from Carmageddon, and the Splat Pack they were ready to go even bigger in a sequel. We will talk about that in the next blog. If you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!
No comments:
Post a Comment