Monster Jam Showdown – Dev Interview

Stuart

1 year ago

monster jam showdown featured image with megaladon and grave digger in the foreground with track and trees in the background.

Following on from our invite to the Monster Jam Showdown Press Event last month we had the opportunity to ask the developers of the upcoming Monster Jam Showdown game some questions. We were lucky enough to put these to Milestone Italy’s Game Director, Federico Spada. Even the TC Mini Crew got involved. And yes, they asked the important questions.

Check out the interview below.

How has the development of MJS differed from other Milestone games such as Hot Wheels?

- - Monster Jam Showdown brought completely new challenges to the development team. One of the main differences is that Monster Jam trucks are real, whilst Hot Wheels are toys, so players have some expectations about their driving experience. Even if driving a Monster Jam truck is a privilege only a few people on the planet have! Just this difference, which is a really important one, made us think about the gameplay part of the game in a completely different way. Always trying to figure out the best way to have players have fun while driving the Monster Jam trucks while making them feel authentic.

In total how many monster trucks will there be?

- - There will be over than 60 Monster Jam trucks, both from the base game and DLCs. Counting up the paint schemes/liveries, the total exceeds 150.

Do you have favourites as a team?

- - Almost everyone in the dev team has their favourite Monster Jam Truck. Gravedigger, Son-uva Digger, Crushstation, Megalodon, El Toro Loco, Bad Company. You can literally roam our studio in Milan asking this question and you won’t hear the same answer twice!

What is your favourite Monster Mutt variant? (Asked by TC Mini Crew member, Middle aged 7)

- - I’d say the Monster Mutt Rottweiler! I love its colours and aggressive look! It’s really cool, isn’t it?

(When I passed this info on to Middle, he agreed but apparently the actual right answer was Monster Mutt Galaxy. Can’t win em all eh?)

How big are the monster trucks in the game? (Asked by TC Mini Crew member, Small aged 5)

- - The funny thing is that we created the Monster Jam trucks as big as they are in real life. We wanted to make them look exactly how they look like in real life, so we started recreating them in the most faithful way…starting with their size!

Is there an easy mode for control e.g. no rear wheel drive?

- - Absolutely! We’ve created a lot of driving helps for all types of players and the rear wheel drive assist can be turned on so players will be able to only steer with the front wheels while the rear ones will be managed by the game

If you could make your own Monster Truck, what would it look like? (Asked by both TC Mini Crew members)

- - Well… I’m a golf player. So I would totally start with a golf cart and make it huge, with big wheels and everything. On the back of the truck, I would want two big golf bags, like the one you usually see on golf carts. And, on top of the truck, I would put a huge golf ball. What do you think? Is it cool?

(This passed the cool check from the TC mini crew. Phew!)

When did development start?

- - I’d say that we started the development at the early beginning of 2023. Yeah, I remember that because we started gifting each other small Monster Jam truck toys even though Christmas had literally just passed.

Who holds the highest score record on the development team? (Asked by TC Mini Crew member, Middle aged 7)

- - I think this is up to debate, at least depending on who you ask. We have our gameplay designer, one of the devs who tweaks the physics of the Monster Jam truck, who claims to have scored several hundred million points during a freestyle event. We later discovered there was a bug in the scoring system, but he claims he still holds the record. If you ask me, I think one of our other game designers has the legit high score, even if it is a bit lower.

What’s been your favourite bit of making the game? (Asked by TC Mini Crew member, Small aged 5)

- - My favourite part of making the game was deciding the roster together with the lead game designer and seeing the tracks come to life as we worked on the game. It’s always incredibly interesting to see something created from the ground up, especially when it’s the first time doing it!

Whilst the TC Mini Crew and I could have grilled Federico more we decided that it probably best not to take up too much more of their time. Especially as we’re huge Monster Jam fans and would have plenty to talk about! If you haven’t already, do check out the Monster Jam Showdown trailer down below.

Monster Jam Showdown will be available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC as of August 29, 2024, with Early Access available from August 26, 2024.