Dune Casu joins Nitro Nights to discuss creating the hit game Art of Rally from a camper van.
In this week’s episode of Nitro Nights, Steffi chats to Absolute Drift and Art of Rally creator, Dune Casu. Unlike most programmers who work from the comfort of an office or their own home, Dane acquired a camper van and worked from there while touring around Canada, the US and Mexico. He has quite a tale to tell!
The nomadic lifestyle
Dune explains to Steffi how the camper van idea originally came about. The high property prices in Vancouver meant that finding an office space or residence to suit his low budget was almost impossible. Eventually the Canadian simply said to himself “screw it, I’ll get a van and figure it out” – a brave decision, which seemingly worked out for the best. He ended up spending nearly three years living in the van, and it was there that most of his work on Art of Rally was completed.
Creating a masterpiece
The adventures in the camper van certainly helped to shape Art of the Rally into the game it is today. For Dune, the “lighting and environments” he witnessed on his travels inspired him – but it was a steep learning curve. As a developer he had only limited experience in these fields, but hopes that he still managed to give the game a “unique style” of its own.
As far as tips go for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps, Dune advises that keeping it simple is the key as “it is way harder to make a large game”. For him, it was a balancing act between budget, time and skills – and getting some outside help can be beneficial too. The game’s future looks bright with mod support being added, as well as releases on the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. We at OverTake wish Dune all the best for his next endeavour, which according to him, is right on the horizon.
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