1. Developers to submit ideas to an active gaming community, raise the funds needed to develop them, get continual feedback from community team members that can play work-in-progress builds, use the WMD Portal to promote their project, get help from other developers, and ultimately launch their game to an eagerly-awaiting audience.
2. Players to browse available projects and join any they are interested in, download and play regular builds of the game, participate in discussion & polls, speak directly to the developers, and eventually earn money back based on their contribution when the game is released

WMD is therefore a unique prospect for both developers looking to raise funds for their projects and gamers that want to get involved in exciting upcoming titles.

Project CARS is the first of those titles to use the WMD development system and represents the ‘Ultimate Driver Journey’…

• FRANCHISE MODE allows you to carve out a personalized career starting in the Karting world and then progressing on to whichever motorsport specialization you prefer including Rally, Touring Cars, Open-Wheel, GT, Le Mans, and many more!

• Play CO-OP with a friend as Driver/Co-Driver

• FULL TEAM MANAGEMENT… Have a large number of friends? Create, manage, and compete together!

• Experience the excitement of PIT STOPS like you’ve never seen before!

• Revolutionary PIT-2-CAR RADIO gives you the strategic advantage

• DYNAMIC Time Of Day & Localized Weather make every race unique and challenging

• 10+ GAME MODES covering every form of motorsport

• CLOUD-BASED SOCIAL NETWORK allows you to connect with friends, compare times & scores, compete and challenge each other, and share content

• USER-GENERATED CONTENT – Create your own liveries, decals, tuning setups, and even events! Then share them with the world – either for free, in-game credits or even real money!

• PUSHING TO THE LIMITS – Advanced physics, lighting, and AI

The WMD ethos focuses on connecting developers with their key audience and encouraging communication and active participation between the two.

Projects will be freely available to browse via the WMD Portal and if the community is interested in a particular one, they can then join as Team Members through the purchase of Tool Packs that correspond to different company positions and levels of interaction.

In addition to these core Tools, each project can also have specific Perks that award different benefits to Team Members based on their contribution. Examples may be:

• Have your face put in the game
• Have an opponent or character named after you
• VIP access to events

For the price of a minimum Tool Pack therefore, Team Members will be able to see the game being made, speak directly to the developers, and play a new version of the game each month. Then, once the game is released, Team Members can then earn money back for their input (based on their position within the company) and the success of the project.

For developers, WMD provides a platform where ideas and projects can be promoted to an already-active community of gamers and fans, funds can be raised to create the game, and then money can be earned back (30% of all profit) upon its release.

Such a system negates the need for publisher backing and puts developers directly in touch with an already-active, interested, and involved community that can help with focus testing and feedback.

Through each project’s dedicated forum, regular builds can be pushed out to the community and feedback given. Voting can also be instigated allowing content & design to be directed (weighted by Tool Pack ownership), and discussion can occur between those making the game and those eager to play it.

Developing through the WMD Portal also enables developers to keep full control of their own IP – usually a key area of contention in the development arena.

For more info on WMD and Project CARS, head over to http://www.wmdportal.com

Each week we go behind the scenes here at Slightly Mad Studios to give you a brief insight into the minds and backgrounds of the team. This week we focus on our Online Lead, Iain Wallington!

What does your job involve?

I’m the Lead Online programmer, overseeing the team responsible for implementing the network technology and online elements for our games such as matchmaking, multiplayer events, leaderboards, etc…

How long have you been with SMS?

I’ve been with SMS since the beginning, and was with Blimey!Games for a couple of years before that.

Where have you worked previously?

I’ve worked for a number of game studios over the years, starting at Graftgold in 1992, then on to ATD, Graphic-State, Acclaim Cheltenham and Kuju Brighton.

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

I taught myself BASIC on the ZX Spectrum when I was 12 but got bored of that quite quickly because it was slow. I then moved onto Z80 assembler and realised I could do so much more suddenly. With games being the primary purpose of all computers it didn’t take long before I started to write my own.

If you weren’t working in videogames, what job would you do instead and why?

Nothing beats the feeling of being in control of a helicopter, so I’d love to be a professional pilot… or maybe a Lego master builder, (all that Technics and Mindstorms to play with, and getting paid for it too!)

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

Playing Need For Speed: SHIFT online when it was first released. Everything worked as planned, and people were enjoying the racing.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

Finding the right people with online programming experience (why does everyone want to be a render coder?). It took a while but we’ve got a great online team now.

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

I’ve fallen into this trap before. I loved track & field style games so when I got the chance to work on Sydney 2000 Olympics I took it. After 2 years of button bashing you start to get tired of it though. I’ve worked on most genres and it’s the same with any long projects, but it’s always good to revisit past games to see them with fresh eyes later on to really appreciate what you’ve created.

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

I don’t think I have an all-time favorite. I like different games at different times, but I can normally find time for any new Mario or Zelda games.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

I don’t like clutter in the background so I always just have a plain colour. Blue on my main PC, with Orange and Green on my other two.

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

“Unstoppable” by Foxy Shazam

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

My first car was a Cortina estate (hand painted in a tasteful ford tractor blue). I now drive a Ford Galaxy… not exactly sporty but I can fit the family and all my drums in it at once.

What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

A custard sandwich… messy but ohhhh so good.

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

There will be no distinction between home consoles and handheld/mobile devices. Handhelds will become as powerful as home consoles, so you’ll plug your handheld into the TV while at home, and continue playing on the device’s own screen when on the move.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

I hope we’ll get enough memory… it’ll never happen of course as you always want just that little bit more.

Slightly Mad crowd-sourcing new tech platform and games

What does your job involve?

I’m the PlayStation 3 Lead, which basically means I do the platform specific code for the renderer and system. I also specialise in PS3 optimisation and SPU work. I work with the other platform leads so we can find common solutions. At the moment I’m also working on mobile platforms, both iOS and Android.

How long have you been with SMS?

Five years now.

Where did you work previous to that?

I was at Hothouse Creations for 10 years, and a company called Cyberdrome which designed the ‘Crystal Maze’. I’ve also worked in telecoms and hardware engineering.

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

I enjoyed coding and solving technical problems. I started when I was about 9 on a Sharp MZ80, writing assembler.

If you weren’t working in videogames, what job would you do instead and why?

I’d like to be an imagineer at Disney working on ride design.

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

Probably when the first Need For Speed: Shift hit the shelves.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

Trying to beat Bryn Alban when we went karting at Sandown. Or work wise, probably interfacing C to Java; it’s hellish. There were some interesting technical challenges on PS3 on do with threads and SPUs also.

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

I like strategy games, something you have to think about, it’s not all about polys and frame rates.

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

Er, probably ‘C&C: Red Alert’ that just had the balance completely right, and you could perform a tank rush in a lunch hour.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

McFly, from an Attitude cover shoot, the Mac is just plain.

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

Something by Elaine Paige.

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

Vauxhall Carlton was the first. Current car is an Astra VXR.

What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

Probably battered locusts in Japan.

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

It’s all going mobile / social at the moment, but these things tend to go in cycles, so it wouldn’t surprise me if everyone went back to consoles in a few years.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

That they have a decent amount of memory.

What’s your Gamertag/PSN ID in case people want to play you online?

I don’t really do the online thing, as I tend to spend most of the time being shot at. I prefer a nice glass of wine and some extreme Suduko.

What does your job involve?

I’m the Platform Lead for PC. My job is to look after all aspects of the game that are specific to PC – including the rendering engine, compatibility, and performance scaling. I also work on cross-platform optimisation and as a general graphics and systems programmer.

How long have you been with SMS?

Two and a half years now.

Where did you work previous to that?

Electronic Arts for 13 years, at Bullfrog and EA UK.

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

My parents buying me a Dragon 32 home computer when I was 10 years old was the starting point; I quickly got into programming and developed a huge interest in computer graphics during my teenage years, writing games and demos for the Atari ST. So – even before I went to University – I had decided that working in the games industry was what I wanted to do.

If it hadn’t been for that Dragon 32 you might not be working in video games right now then! What job would you do instead?

Something outdoors – I’m originally from Pembrokeshire which has a fantastic national park and coastline. Give me a fishing boat and a laptop and I’d be a happy man ;O)

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

The completion and release of Need For Speed: SHIFT and SHIFT 2 UNLEASED rank equally for me.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

We aimed very high with the level of detail on SHIFT 2 and fitting that into memory on the consoles was hugely challenging. We eventually won that battle though ;O)

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

I’m a huge fan of Elite, so I’d love to work on a big space game.

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

ICO… it’s just timeless.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

A Solid Black colour… for optimal performance.

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

Lush by Orbital.

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

A white 1984 Nissan Sunny! Up until last month I was driving a Porsche Boxster S 3.2 Tiptronic, unfortunately it crashed and got written off >:-( I’ll probably buy a Golf 2.0 GTD as my next car.

What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

‘Live’ fish in a restaurant in Tokyo.

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

The Matrix.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

At least 10x more performance with 4GB of RAM

What’s your Gamertag/PSN ID in case people want to play you online?

TrickyGriff on Xbox Live

Click here to cast your vote!

What does your job involve?

I’m the manager of the vehicle team. My job is to maintain the schedules, provide the team with tasks and to co-ordinate the work in general. Though part of my time is administration, I still work on the cars themselves whenever possible

How long have you been with SMS?

From the beginning, and I also worked with a lot of people here at Blimey!Games and Simbin before.

Where did you work previous to that?

I was a qualified car engineer and software developer before I joined the games industry.

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

It was just a fun hobby before, when I was part of a modding group. Then I got a great offer to work fulltime with some highly talented people. It was a no-brainer to say yes.

If you weren’t working in videogames, what job would you do instead?

I’d work on real cars again, probably in the customizing scene. My brother still runs a car workshop.

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

The release of Need For Speed: SHIFT. It was the highest-rated/selling Need For Speed title in a number of years.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

The final car list for SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED was finalized very late in the project meaning a lot of last-minute changes and licensing issues. The vehicle team did a fantastic job to get the game finished on time.

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

Racing games and anything that includes cars. As a former car engineer, motorsports fan and petrol head it’s not really a hard question ;O)

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

GTA IV – amazing depth and so much to explore.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

Some nice SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED screenshots of the Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk 1.

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

I guess something like “Welcome To The Jungle” by Guns ‘N Roses.

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

My very first car was a ’78 Volkswagen Golf Mk 1. After I sold my Porsche 944 S4 two years ago, I now own a Seat Leon TSI because my fiancée requested something with 5 doors and a trunk

What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

I was at a Japanese restaurant in London with the team some years back. Thanks to some sake and other alcoholic drinks I still have no idea what I actually ate there(!)

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

Two directions: Huge 3D screens with expensive home entertainment equipment, and mobile fun games.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

As a developer – more RAM! :O)

What’s your Gamertag/PSN ID in case people want to play you online?

Kater74 on Xbox Live

SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED mobile features a deep career that has over 40 events, 40 cars including the Pagani Huayra, local multiplayer over WiFi or Bluetooth and the all-new Helmet camera view.

Hit the asphalt with more vehicles, more tracks and more speed than ever before!

FEATURES

• Jump into 20+ Quick Race Trials featuring the hottest cars on the Circuit
• Compete with friends on the Leaderboards
• Race in Career Mode: featuring 40+ Events and 40 cars, including the exclusive
• Pagani Huayra
• Get the driver’s POV with the helmet cam
• Shift into Local Multiplayer via WiFi or Bluetooth and take on a friend head-to-head
• Whip through forest, desert, waterfront, and city locations with multiple track layouts
• Personalize your car’s performance and look
• Register for Origin to unlock leaderboards, exclusive cups and in-game cash

INFO

• Live Date: August 2011
• Available on: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
• Languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean

Check out NeedForSpeed.com for more info!

[Show as slideshow]

What does your job involve?

I’m responsible for maintaining the visual integrity throughout the entire project, ensuring consistency and quality. I work closely with the artists, render coders and designers to realise the visual targets.

How long have you been with SMS?

Two years now – since February 2009

Where did you work previous to that?

I’ve worked at Firefly and Vivendi’s Impressions Studio. Before that I worked at a company called Vega working on flight emulations.

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

I studied Industrial Design at Loughborough University. Part of the course involved modelling designs in a DOS package called 3D Studio. These skills led me to work at Vega where I went on to learn a Windows-based successor of the DOS software called 3D Studio Max. I’d always loved games since the Vic 20 days and the software used at many games companies was the same as I was using, so at that point the move into games was a natural transition.

If you weren’t working in videogames, what job would you do instead?

I’d probably work in film visual effects. I’m a big film buff so that’s probably the direction I would have taken.

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

Declaring Gold on Shift 2 Unleashed. I have the pleasure of working with some of the most talented and hard working people in the industry. We all put in a huge amount of effort to get the game to such a high standard in a relatively short development period. Going Gold was a very proud moment for us all.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

Realising the visual targets on Shift 2 Unleashed. We set the bar extremely high and wanted to have a huge amount of detail in the game to push closer to that real world racing experience. It was an extremely tough challenge but we managed to achieve our goals.

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

A first-person shooter. I play all sorts of games but I find shooters are the most immersive and exciting. I think it’s great that we took influence from this genre for our racing titles. Our first-person crash effects were inspired by Call Of Duty and Gears Of War. We took the disorienting effect you get from a grenade and transferred that to a race crash.

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

Half-Life 2. I really loved the narrative and the gravity gun/physics were groundbreaking for the time. The gameplay was very well paced with combat and periodic puzzles. All this interspersed with some great scripted sequences made the game truly brilliant.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

Plain grey. I know it couldn’t get any duller but if I had an image behind the masses of scattered icons then I wouldn’t be able to find anything!

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

I’d like to say that something like Darth Vader’s theme would suit me. But in all honesty I’d probably run like a coward if I was forced into the ring with a 7ft nutter so something like “Yellow” by Coldplay would probably be more appropriate.

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

The first car I bought was a Rover 213S. I like to think the S was for Sport but if you’d seen it then you’d have certainly disagreed.
I currently drive a Ford Focus Zetec. I’m not sure what the Zetec means but my sister was selling it and my Golf had recently gone to car heaven so it was the easy option. I’ve recently modded the Focus with two kids’ seats and a roof box. It looks badass ;O)

What’s the weirdest food you’ve eaten?

Last year I was in Shanghai gathering reference for the Shift 2 Unleashed circuit. Neither my colleague nor I could read the menu so we pointed to a picture which looked pretty appetising. We ended up with a plate full of pig’s ears and it seemed rude not to try them.

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

I’d like to think that we’ll move away from all the jumping and running around that you get with the Kinect and Wii, My kids love it but I prefer sitting on a sofa. A device that slots onto my head reads my brain waves and lets me interact without the need of a controller would be great.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

In all honesty I think motion sensor tech is a pretty cool innovation for consoles. I find it a bit unresponsive at the moment so improvements in that area would definitely be needed. And of course better graphics just to keep me on my toes.

What games have you worked on?

GTR, GT Legends, GTR2, BMW M3 Challenge, Need For Speed: SHIFT, SHIFT 2 Unleashed

What does your job involve?

As Audio Director I oversee the creation of all sonic content – SFX and music – in our games and publicity materials (trailers, idents etc). I also compose the music and work alongside Greg Hill (our very talented sound designer). On AAA games like Need For Speed: Shift and Shift 2 Unleashed, I tend to work very closely with music/audio producers and music supervisors. All in all it’s busy but exciting.

How long have you been with SMS then?

From the very beginning, and I have worked with the Studio Head, Ian Bell, for nearly 10 years now. Time flies when you’re having fun!

What influenced you to get into the games industry?

I’m a petrolhead, a huge motorsport fan and love driving games. It was sort of a natural progression!

If you weren’t working in videogames, what job would you do instead?

I’ve always fancied trading stocks and shares from the back of a yacht in the South of France ;O)

What’s been your proudest moment working at Slightly Mad Studios?

Composing and completing the music score to Shift 2 Unleashed, and working with such a talented team of composers and music producers.

And what’s been your toughest challenge?

Definitely the final month of development on Shift 2 – lots of working round the clock. Worth it in the end though!

What’s the one genre you’d like to work on most?

Definitely a first-person shooter – based on a war theme.

What’s your favorite game of all time and why?

Difficult question! Can I have two? It would either be Grand Prix Legends from 1998 or Geoff Crammond’s F1GP from 1992. They were both revolutionary and state of the art in their day and I’m sure I devoted far too many hours racing them.

What’s your desktop background at the moment?

On my Mac Pro it’s a lovely mountain scene. On my sample streaming computers they’re all blank defaults to maximise resources. And on my laptop it’s a picture of a TVR Speed 12.

If you were a wrestler, what would be your theme music?

“The Battle” from Ridley Scott’s Gladiator.

What was the first car you bought, and what car do you drive now?

First car I bought was an MG Metro. The first decent car I bought was in 2004 – a 350z, and have had some nice metal since then (just added them up and I’ve had 7 cars in the last 5 years). Currently driving a Land Rover and a TVR Chimaera 450. Not at the same time, obviously ;O)

Where do you see gaming going in the future?

Social, mobile and browser based gaming. Also I think the boundaries between film and gaming will continue to blur.

What are your hopes for the next-generation of consoles?

Faster graphics, more memory, faster CPUs.