TrackMania may already be a force to be reckoned with on the PC, but it has yet to hit other formats…until now. Scottish developer Firebrand Games, the team behind Codemasters’s two DS Race Driver titles, is busily working away on making the first ever Nintendo DS version as faithful to the PC original as possible and more details on the project have now been revealed.

IGN’s DS channel was lucky enough to catch up with Dan Fletcher, Producer at Firebrand Games, to find out more about TrackMania DS. One of the major points to be considered is how best to get a good sense of speed on an under-powered format such as the DS, since achieving a frame-rate of 60Hz may have been the set goal, but reaching such a target is easier said than done. Setting up the game’s camera system and designing the environments in particular ways all help to give the game a terrific sense of speed. The lack of an analogue stick also proves problematic, but to counter this Firebrand has devised a way to best tune and balance steering control to try and give the player the feeling they are in full control of the vehicle at all times. The vehicle also now controls just as it should do, making sure the simulation aspect is as solid as possible given the processing limitations of the DS.

TrackMania DS is set to utilise all the unique features of the DS in a natural way, including the two screens and the touch screen. Touch controls will not be used for the race controls, though, with those aspects being mapped to the D-pad and buttons. Where they are used, for instance, is in the Editor, which is controlled using the touch screen where players can drag and drop track pieces with the stylus or use the DS exclusive ‘Free Draw’ option to draw the path of a track directly on the screen.

Firebrand has been able to easily incorporate the PC games’s near-vertical slopes, loop-the-loops and crazy jumps thanks to its own proprietary game engine, called Octane, “which can natively handle the extreme physics that is indicative of TrackMania.” In terms of modes on offer, the team is staying pretty faithful to Nadeo’s PC original, with a single player campaign that includes a standard Race mode, plus Puzzle and Platform modes. Whilst the DS limitations mean absolutely everything could not be brought over, environments such as Stadium, Desert and Rally are indeed coming to TrackMania DS. As for elements removed, the Stunts mode has been axed as it did not suit the DS as well as other modes, but there is the new option of a Quick Play mode for short bursts of racing fun.

Below is an extract from the interview:

IGN’s DS channel: How will the track editor change from Race Driver?

Dan Fletcher, Producer at Firebrand Games: We are really, really pleased with the Track Editor for TrackMania DS. Rather than comparing the track editor to any previous DS games it is probably more apt to compare it to the track editor in TrackMania on the PC. Just as on the PC, TrackMania features a full 3D Track Editor that allows the player to build tracks in all 3 environments in TrackMania DS, using every track piece that can be found in the main single player game (and some more). The player can drag and drop individual pieces or choose to draw a track directly on the touch screen with the stylus. Tracks can be built on multiple levels on a similar scale to the PC original. The testament to the TrackMania DS Track Editor is that all the tracks in the game were made directly using the editor on the DS so the players are getting access to the exact same tool we used to build the game!

IGN’s DS channel: How much content will there be in the game? How many styles of vehicle, courses, etc?

Dan Fletcher, Producer at Firebrand Games: There is a lot of content within the game. As mentioned earlier, TrackMania DS contains 3 Environments, Stadium, Race and Rally. Each environment has a full race progression featuring 5 tiers of difficulty. In addition to the race mode we have 5 tiers of difficulty for both the Puzzle and Platform modes. The total number of tracks available in game exceeds 100 tracks and when you factor in the replay time to get the best medals on each track it will certainly take some time to complete. Each environment has its own vehicle type but there are multiple skins for each vehicle so the player can customise their TrackMania experience. Finally, the player can create and save up to 60 custom tracks at any one time. All in all, I think there is enough in the total game package to keep TrackMania inside your DS for a long time.

As for the online functionality, of which Race Driver: Create and Race and GRID both had fantastic elements included, Fletcher announced that sadly the team are not going to implement any online component to TrackMania DS. Obviously this will come as a major blow to those looking forward to playing against friends across the world, but Firebrand feels that the local multiplayer options that they have implemented suit TrackMania DS more, with friends able to race on both the official tracks and custom tracks that they have created. There is also the option to play with up to eight players on one DS via a “Hotseat Mode”. There is also the chance to play with up to four players at the same time using just one copy the game in Single Card Download Play. “Finally, it can be played by up to four players simultaneously using Multi-card Play, racing on either the official tracks, or any custom tracks that the players may have!”

Does the fact that TrackMania DS lacks any online element make it look inferior to the two DS Race Driver games in your eyes? Or will the solo gameplay and local wireless multiplayer options be enough to keep you satisfied? Be sure to share your thoughts on the matter by posting below…