An interview with the Links 2004 Development Team

This article first appeared on Xbox.com

Ah, golf—the beautiful greens, the slow pace of the game … very relaxing. Designing a golf game, however, is another matter. Today Matt Dawson, Mark McArthur, and Ross Curtin—the lead programmer, design lead, and program manager (respectively) for Links 2004—took time to answer our questions about what it’s like to take an esteemed game franchise and make it even better.

Xbox.com: Links 2004 marks the first iteration of the storied franchise on the Xbox. How familiar will the Xbox version feel to a player who has played previous PC versions?

Dawson: We started from the ground up on this version, but with the same goal we always had, which is to create the most immersive and realistic golf experience. We hope the things that are different are all for the better. The pace of the game will be faster. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on the commentary to give more of a tournament feel to the game than we’ve had before.

McArthur: We’ve kept and improved on the ball physics and swing mechanics. Our ball flight is still second-to-none, and the gameplay is simply addicting.

Curtin: We absolutely wanted to capture the essence of Links with this title. Links loyalists with see the same attention to detail that our team always focuses on, plus a new experience they have never seen or felt before.

Xbox.com: The previous versions of Links have used pre-rendered 2-D environments. What made you switch to real-time 3-D environments?

McArthur: We have always wanted to go full 3-D with Links. The biggest factor was waiting for hardware that was fast enough to render the quality of graphics we have set as a bar in the Links franchise.

Curtin: Links has always been the best-looking, best-playing golf game on the PC. We wanted to make sure we could be the best on the Xbox video game system as well. A large part of the golf experience is being on the course and soaking up its beauty. We wanted to capture that even better in this new version.

Dawson: We’ve placed a very strong emphasis on reproducing the golf courses to a high degree of accuracy. Prior to the Xbox, we could not reproduce the courses in real-time to a level we were happy with. With the Xbox, we were able to keep the accuracy and also build a real-time 3-D environment.

Xbox.com: What do you think a 3-D environment offers players? What new dynamics and benefits does it introduce to a golf game?

Dawson: The real-time 3-D environment enhances Links in many ways. We can do lots of things with the camera to show the player what is going on and really immerse the player in a way that you can’t with the slide show format that Links has used in the past.

McArthur: Being fully 3-D also adds a lot to gameplay. Now, the golfer can look at the surroundings—be it the lie or the break of the green. It gives the player more information to help make the best possible shot. Watching the golfer and the ball from all sorts of different angles, aspect ratios, and different fields of view makes for an awesome playing experience.

Curtin: Using both Dolby 5.1 audio and 3-D graphics, combined with the ability to show players the scene from any angle, lets us really put on a show. We combine cameras, audio, and visual elements to recreate the feeling that you are competing in a real event. When players go online and compete on Xbox Live and XSN Sports, they will feel the thrill of competitive golf.

Xbox.com: What would you say is the biggest difference between developing for the PC and the Xbox? What has been the biggest challenge in switching from PC to Xbox?

McArthur: The biggest challenge was presenting this new 3-D world in an appealing and addictive fashion. The controls are different; the cameras are different. New opportunities were also opened up to us because we no longer had to budget time for system configurations. We had one system to make the game work on [Xbox]. This afforded us the luxury of making all the special effects—for water, animations, etc.—the best they can be on the platform.

Dawson: One thing that we had to think really about and spend a lot of time on was getting the golf swing to work well with the Xbox controller. We’ve done it before with a mouse, but it’s very different with a controller, and very little of our past work applied. We went through at least three major revisions on the swing mechanism and then spent months polishing the final version that is in the game.

Xbox.com: We hear a lot about “crunch time” for developers, when a game’s deadline is rapidly approaching. Can you briefly talk about what it’s like to work in those conditions?

Curtin: Crunch time is both frustrating and rewarding at the same time. Everything becomes so compressed that you see big improvements in short amounts of time. This is where passion for what you’re working on is the fuel that keeps you going.

Dawson: Crunch time can be grueling. The team either comes together or falls apart. With Links 2004, we’ve definitely done our share of crunch time, and the team came together in a big way. Leading up to E3, there were some days when it was difficult to be confident that we were going to be ready to show the game. Then, we’d have a day where a bunch of things would fall into place, and suddenly, we could see that with a little more polishing we could get there.

McArthur: I always get a smile on my face when people ask me what I do for a living, and after I tell them I design games, they respond by saying, “That’s got to be a lot of fun!” It is a lot of fun, but there is a lot of time involved. My wife always jokes with me by saying I should become a doctor, so she could see me more often. Crunch times are intense. You don’t know what time you are going home at night because it all depends on how the build of the game is doing. When crunch time is over, everyone celebrates.

Xbox.com: What advice would you offer to folks who have dreams of becoming a developer in the gaming industry?

McArthur: Just like with every industry, you need to do something you really like. If you have the passion, go for it! Just remember it is not easy all of the time. There are days when I say, “They don’t pay me enough to do this!” and days when I say, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!”

Dawson: Be passionate. You can’t make a great game with average effort.