Trailboss BMX Game – New 3D game from the makers of Pumped BMX
Trailboss BMX Game. Listen up… This is very exciting. Adam Hunt, the guy who made the incredibly popular Pumped BMX series of games for smartphones and consoles, has been working on a new one.
It’s still based on trails but this time, it’s 3D… You could argue that Pumped BMX was more like dirt jumping – but Trailboss looks to be pure TRAILS.
In any case, Trailboss looks and sounds like a very promising game indeed. It’s different to Pumped, with a load of new features like berms (!) and other obstacles, but with one or two familiar elements too.
After spying a few sneak peeks on the Pumped BMX Instagram, we had to find out more. Read on for a quick interview with Adam Hunt about the new Trailboss BMX Game.
– Tell us about the Trailboss BMX Game… What is it?
“Trailboss is a new game I’ve been working on since I finished up on Pumped 3. It’s a 3D trails game where you’re cruising through increasingly tech / gnarly lines completing challenges. It’s kind of like Pumped, but the camera is behind the player, there’s no pumping, and it has berms!”
– How did the idea for this game come about?
“A combination of factors really. Back when I first started thinking about what I could add to Pumped 3, I really wanted to add berms to it but it just didn’t make sense in the ‘2D side-scrolling world’ of Pumped. And then even further back I was playing with a VR headset and tried to ‘play’ Pumped 2 from first person, and it was just impossible to time your landings from that perspective.
“It’s kind of like Pumped, but the camera is behind the player, there’s no pumping, and it has berms!”
So I’ve known for a while that if I really wanted to go full 3D trails I wouldn’t be able to do it in a Pumped sequel, it was always going to have to be a new type of game.”
– Which elements are being pulled through from Pumped 3?
“Err not much at all! I’ve got a new character, I’m doing all new animations (the old ones look a bit weird from the new angle), it’s obviously a totally new physics system etc.”
– Which elements are going to be totally new in Trailboss BMX?
“Yeah pretty much all of it! The biggest thing is ditching ‘pump’ as a mechanic I guess, it’s something that everyone who has played Pumped in the past will probably find a bit weird to start with.
“All the physics stuff is nailed, all the level design tools are built, all the challenges systems are in…”
But you can’t time your landings when you’re following the player from behind, it’s stupidly hard and frustrating. So the difficulty this time around comes from narrow paths, obstacles, berms and transfers.”
– How different is it designing a game like this after working in a mainly two dimensional world for the Pumped games?
“It’s totally different, I kind of had to unlearn a lot of what Pumped taught me, I guess. But it’s been really refreshing too, I spent over 5 years making 2D Pumped levels and was honestly pretty sick of it by the end, so it’s amazing to suddenly have this extra dimension to play with!”
– Where are you at in terms of development?
“All the physics stuff is nailed, all the level design tools are built, all the challenges systems are in. So now I’ve got to make all the levels and get them all nice looking with trees and rocks etc. Then set all the challenges, and do all the testing. Easy!”
Trails in the trees. Dream spot!
– When do you expect it will be ready for release?
“I honestly don’t know! I’m keeping the ‘scope’ of this one pretty small, it’s going to be like Pumped 1 was – bare bones but (hopefully) nailing the core mechanic. There’s currently no bike customisation, no real life pros, none of that. If the game does OK then of course I’ll add all that in sequels etc, but basically I’ve decided to keep the game small so I can get it released reasonably quickly.
“Release date? Hopefully this year for iOS and Android. I’m definitely thinking about consoles too.”
Short answer, hopefully this year. Games take ages to make man, if I wanted to put all the features that are in Pumped 3 into Trailboss it wouldn’t be out for at least another 2 years!”
– Is it just you working on it at the moment or are you relying on other people for input? I remember Lima being involved with Pumped 3.
“Yeah Lima was super involved in Pumped 2 and 3, and basically the whole Oxford scene helped out on the first one. Lima’s been sessioning early builds a bit, but we’re not really at that stage yet, I’ve mostly been building the tech, all the physics and challenge systems and all that stuff. But I’m hoping Lima will become more involved as I start building more levels and setting challenges. You can’t really ask for better help than Lima when it comes to trails!”
– Which platforms are you developing it for?
“iOS and Android first for sure, but I’m definitely thinking about console too if it does alright on mobile.”
– What do you think about the other games we’re seeing on the scene at the moment?
“‘BMX Streets’ is looking awesome, that Matthew guy is super talented. I’ve been chatting to him on and off for ages now, and I’ve sessioned some of the early prototypes – I think he’s really nailing a lot of what makes street ‘street’. I still think you’ve got to be insane to try and make a game of that scale by yourself though! That’s a lot of work.”
– Anything else?
“Nah I think that’s it. I’m gonna try and be a bit more open about development, post the occasional development video, that kinda thing, so make sure you give me a follow on Instagram and Facebook. Nice one!”
This new Trailboss BMX Game has definitely got us excited. What do you think so far? Comments below…
Nico Badet's style never ceases to renew itself and surprises us with every new project he puts out. Bike check with the creative pegless frenchman....
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