Video: ModNation Racers PSP: Final Detailing in Track Studio

162w ago - SCEA San Diego Studio Producer Vernon Mollette has shared a video today highlighting the final polishing and detailing in track studio of ModNation Racers for Sony's PSP console.

To quote: Welcome back to our ModNation Racers PSP Track Studio walkthrough! Today's blog post brings us to the final installment of our tour of the Track Studio -- Seaside Theme.

Here's where we left off: I have the terrain sculpted and painted, I have my ocean setting all lined up and got the track obstacles placed and modified their Dynamic Options.

Now all that's left for me is to put the final layer of polish on this track. I want to give it that certain something that will help it stand out amongst the crowd of other great user-generated content.

I've seen some of the creations that people have been able to make using the Track Studio tools, so I'll need every advantage possible if I want to make the top five weekly downloads!





One of the things I like to do with a track is use the theme-based trees and plants to give it a unique feel. This being the Seaside Theme, I have the option of using some palm trees, rocky outcroppings and a bunch of different plants and bushes.

It's important to remember that when someone is racing your track, they're not in the default birds-eye view. For a good idea of what people will see, I can go into the Prop Placement screen and press the Select button. This will take me down to a Track View and allow me to preview what things will look like when I'm actually racing!

This function is great for lining up buildings, or for seeing how the layout of your trees will look, or whether you'll get a nice shot of the sunset while racing over a hill. I go into this camera mode frequently while building a track, so I can get the best possible idea of how my track will look from a racer's perspective.

There! All the details are in place. I added some directional signs, threw in some more trees, picked a sky selection that works best for my track, and populated the rest of the track with more theme-based props.

I'm now ready to Test Drive this track. Test Drive allows you to save your track, then hit the asphalt to see how your drift lines look, how the obstacles are tuned and, of course, how good your track looks from the racing perspective!

After about 15 minutes of creation and a few more minutes spent polishing the track to a shine, I'm now ready to share it with the rest of the ModNation world.

I hope you've enjoyed this Track Studio tour of one of the four themes available in ModNation Racers PSP. We've had a great time working on this game, so I hope you all have just as much fun playing it!

We'll be hitting store shelves on May 25th, so start your engines and get ready to Race, Create and Share! I'll see you on the track...