Jected – Rivals – Matthias Niedertscheider

Jected - Rivals

Developed by Pow Wow Entertainment - Published by THQ Nordic (EA)

Joining the project

I worked on Jected – Rivals (formally known as Stuntfest – World Tour) as a designer for 10 months.

In Summer 2022 I worked on it as a game / level design intern as part of a 3 months voluntary internship during the summer break of my studies at university.

In Feburary 2023 I was able to return to Pow Wow Entertainemt as part of a 2 months madatory internship as a game / level designer once more, before being officially hired in April as a Junior Level Designer.

About this project

Jected – Rivals pairs extreme sports, vehicular destruction and break-neck speeds to create a winner-takes-all elimination tournament between 18 players.
It combines racing with a unique ejection mechanic, as well as a flurry of crazy other game modes where the player needs to master in-air movment with different gadgets.

Developer: Pow Wow Entertainment
Publisher: THQ Nordic (EA)
Genre: Action-Racer
Engine: Unreal Engine 4

My work

During my time working on Jected, I was responsible for designing and building levels, designing new gamemodes, creating game design documents and feature drafts, as well as generall work in the editor regarding quick fixes of gameplay settings and bugs. Next to polishing tasks and helping out on maps created by other designers, I owned 7 maps during my time at Pow Wow, which I designed, blocked out and for which I set up the scripted settings, that were created by our developers. In 3 of those 7 maps, I also did the environmental set dressing, as well as the lighting for the level.

Deep-Rift Echo

About the map:

Game Mode: Stuntrace
Player Count: 12
Laps: 2

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup
Set Dressing
Lighting

Deep-Rift Echo is set on a big dam and two connected cliffs to the side. The dam is a recurring landmark in this biome, so we wanted to incorporate it into one of our stuntrace maps. The game director then came up to me and asked me to find a way to make the stuntrace drivable in both directions, something we had not yet done before. The challange was to then find a layout that worked when driving in both directions and finding turns and sections that were readable and drivable from both directions.

Simoultaneously, we wanted players to „meet“ on the big bridge across the valley, ideally while airborne after going over one of the big ramps. In order to achieve this, I had to make sure that both sides of the racetrack took roughly the same amount of time, while also making them distinctly different from one another. I achieved this by placing a looping on one side of the track (an asset we all agreed on in the team we wanted to use more anyway) and a sharp hairpin on the other side.

Additionally, I wanted to provide the player with spliting paths on several occasions, to reduce the chance of hitting someone coming from the other direction to some degree. By doing this, I tried to modulate the intensity of the map.

Diving Descent

About the map:

Game Mode: Skydive
Player Count: 12
Laps: 1

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup

Diving Descent is set in the late evening hours of a canyon between sandstone pillars. Here, I was tasked to come up with a new game mode that focused purely on air movement without using the Jetwings of the game.

I started with fully vertical designs, having the player fall straight down, while having to nudge to redirect their course and avoid obstacles. However, it soon became aperent that this approach did not work well with the air controls of the character. With this in mind, I designed a map that was actually inspired by wingsuit gliding. This introduced more horizontality to the level, making it more suitable for our controls. It also offered the possibility to add sections of higher intensity, as for example when the player was flying close to the stonepillars and cliff edges.

This map was also supposed to offer a shorter play experience with less complexity, so I decided not to add any shortcuts the way we did on our normal race maps. To still have ways to get into the lead or catch up, I added boost-rings behind moving obstacles, These offered the player a speed boost if they were willing to take the risk.

Bounce-Bounce-Basin

About the map:

Game Mode: Balloonride
Player Count: 12
Laps: 1

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup
Set Dressing
Lighting

Bounce Bounce Basin is set during the sunset in a canyon valley. Here, I was tasked to come up with a new game mode that focused purely on the player bouncing along a balloon and being eliminated once they fell down.

I started with experimenting first with one balloon, then with several ballons, as well as balloon size and speed. The course design itself was heavily inspired by the japanese (narrative) design structure Kishōtenketsu, which focuses on introducing a concept, developing it, then offering a twist before coming to a conclusion. I focused on introducing the idea of bouncing along a balloon to the player while still having a safety net (the green ballons underneath bounce the player back up if they fall). After having introduced this mechanic, I slowly started to increase the complexitiy of the obstacles. For the twist at the end, I started to rotate the obstacles, as well as adding a high speed falling section to the finish line.

One big challenge I had to overcome in this game mode was that the location of the balloon was at times to difficult to keep track of. After several different approaches, I came up with the idea of adding a shiny ring around the balloon. This not only increased the visible radius of the balloon, but also gave a visual indication to the player when they should switch from one balloon to the other. (By turning off and on based on timing).

Lakeside Rally

About the map:

Game Mode: Stuntrace
Player Count: 18
Laps: 2

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup
Set Dressing
Lighting

Lakeside Rally, as the name might suggest, is set on a lakeside in a somewhat green canyon basin. The idea was to create a stuntrace for beginner players that was easy to grasp.

Because of that, I decided to not add any jumppads, fans or challenging air-movement parts. Instead, I added one ejection spot, that is mandatory and has a clear landing area. I also decided to not add any complicated shortcuts. Learning the racing and car controls were supposed to be the focus in this map. To still add an interesting feel to the map, I added several branching paths, so that the map would not feel to linear.

I also added a lot of elevation changes. This worked especially well at the starting grid, because the player can already see further down the race track, helping them to understand what they will encounter. Additionally, I added banking to a lot of the tighter turns, to make them easier to drive through without hitting the barriers.

Racefinity

About the map:

Game Mode: Stuntrace
Player Count: 9
Laps: 5

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup

Racefinity is a figure 8 racetrack set in shape by some canyon cliffs. The idea was to have a simple but fun and chaotic stuntrace map that took inspiration from classic Wreckfest maps.

To keep it simple, I added no shortcuts to the map, forcing everyone to ride over the crossing in the middle, hoping to not get hit. To enhance the chaos, I added the ramps towards the crossing section. This resulted in even more epic crashes that sent airborne cars flying over fences. Altough (or maybe just because) the map concept is very simple, it proved to be one of the most fun races.

Destruction Dish

About the map:

Game Mode: CrashDerby
Player Count: 18

My work:

Design
Blockout
System Setup

Destuction Dish is set on a giant satellite dish that is one of the landmarks in this biome. After being incorporated in different maps as a track section or shortcut, the team came up with the idea of using it as a big Crash Derby arena.

I made sure to supply the player with enough nitro as well as breakable physics objects to enhance the chaos. Additionally, I came up with the idea to create and add so called crashtrucks. These are hefty trucks speeding around the dish on a circular spline, ramming and pushing aside everything that comes in their path. After assembling a prototype using preexisting assets and pitching the idea to my team, it was decided that I should add them to the arena, adding even more chaos and destruction.