Interview With David McIntosh of Torus Studio
/By Justin D Williams
Otakus & Geeks had a chance to talk with David McIntosh of Torus Studio about the upcoming Tennis game “Matchpoint.” David gives us some insight on gameplay, playable athletes, and much more.
Otakus & Geeks: We haven’t seen too many Tennis games like other sports such as Futbol, American Football, and Basketball. Can you tell us your approach to Matchpoint and how it’s different from other Tennis games on the market?
[dmc] Sure, so our earliest thinking into the approach was to look at the similarity between tennis and fighting games. They’re both 1 v 1 matches that are about anticipating your opponent’s behavior and controlling the space of the battlefield.
When it comes to taking a shot, we found other tennis games put a lot of emphasis on the timing of button release, which felt a bit arbitrary considering the ball’s varied speeds. Through prototyping and testing various shot mechanics we found it was best to stay out of the player’s way with these kinds of micromechanics.
There’s a phenomenon in gaming where during the first few hours of playing a new game, players will focus on their own character in order to map how it moves and how it responds to certain conditions. But after a while, the player’s attention switches more and more to the external factors, watching their opponent’s behavior in order to anticipate and trick them. So, we aimed to make actions feel intuitive and predictable on the surface to push the focus over to the opponent - which is a lot more in line with playing a real match of tennis. The actions almost become unconscious, especially for the highest level of professional player where it’s all played against what your opponent is doing.
Otakus & Geeks: One of the main things we’re really excited about is the career mode. Can you give us some details on what we can expect and any features you’re allowed to share?
[dmc] Matchpoint’s career mode is about becoming the World #1 tennis player by competing in a range of events and tournaments that are based on real world tournaments familiar to most tennis fans. Make your way through a calendar years’ worth of events including super tie breakers, exhibition, tournaments and training to unlock new gear and new coaches.
Additionally, career mode features the game’s strengths and weaknesses system. During a match, when certain conditions are met, you will learn about one of your opponents’ strengths or weaknesses. Each strength or weakness informs how the opponent will play and give you some clue as to how to avoid their strengths or exploit their weakness in order to defeat them.
Otakus & Geeks: Matchpoint includes a create a player mode. Can you tell us how deep players will be to customize their players such as hair, sneakers etc.?
[dmc] Customization options include a range of heads, hairstyles, and skin tones. When it comes to style, players can customize their outfits, and get down to specific colours for shirts, shorts, skirts, dresses, shoes, socks and wristbands.
For rackets, you’re going to have to win events in career mode to access rackets that provide boosts to your player’s attributes.
Otakus & Geeks: What are some of the biggest challenges of making Matchpoint?
[dmc] The motion capture was certainly an adventure. It’s something we haven’t worked with in the past but was essential to the vision of Matchpoint. We knew that the motions would only be as good as the recordings, so we tried some different methods of direction and acting.
We were very fortunate to have some great actors who are professional tennis players to perform the motions and, in the end, they informed the direction quite a lot with their experience. While at first we tried a very directed approach with individual motions, we actually found the best results came from recording the actors naturally playing tennis. There are many small motions that are performed unconsciously, that likely couldn’t have been directed.
Otakus & Geeks: Matchpoint includes several Tennis big names such as Danill Medvedev? How big will the roster get, and will there be other players added post-launch?
[dmc] At launch, the game features 16 playable superstars including Kyrgios, Anisimova, Nishikori, and many more. Being huge tennis fans, we’re really excited by the lineup of superstars, and can’t wait for release so fans can enjoy it too. Post-launch we might have something else up our sleeves – however, I am sure you understand that we cannot reveal that just yet.
Otakus & Geeks: Tennis fans are probably quite excited for a game they can go head-to-head on, so how does Matchpoint’s multiplayer allow them to battle it out?
[dmc] I’m glad you asked – Matchpoint features cross platform multiplayer across all available platforms. It’s something we felt was super important right from the start of development, and it’s a strong multiplayer experience. We’ve certainly had a lot of in-house rivalries form and some fantastic times playing multiplayer.
Aside from Local Multiplayer, Matchpoint also includes a Casual Online match against random opponents and a competitive Ranked Mode where players compete for ELO ranks. We’ve strived to make a Tennis game with a broad skill range, while also being quite accessible.
Otakus & Geeks: Will the game have commentary?
[dmc] Yes, the gameplay features a commentator to call the match, provide player bios and offers tournament-specific lines throughout career mode! Also, to our international fans, the commentary has been recorded in English, German and Japanese.
Otakus & Geeks: Finally, how can people stay up to date with Matchpoint via Social Media?
You can keep up with Matchpoint via the Kalypso Media Twitter - @KalypsoMedia, Instagram - @Kalypso_Media or on Facebook. Be sure to keep an eye out for announcements in the coming months ahead of the release of Matchpoint – Tennis Championships in Spring 2022!
