Joe is a video game developer, artist and animator whose list of clients include Disney and Dreamworks. Joe’s most recent venture Retro Drive, is a mesmeric arcade racing game, with its synthwave aesthetic and equally nostalgic soundtrack. We cannot stop playing it. We wanted to learn more about Retro Drive and Joe’s dynamic role as creative director, producer and artist.
It began with a simple idea to make a driving game, easy to access and fun to play. There are plenty of games out there with this 80s/retro aesthetic, but we wanted this to be different. Something that had a place in the universe and with an interesting story to it. We want the players to feel like they are in some sort of music video or have been sucked into a synthwave track and get to experience everything surrounding including all forms of 80s retro-futuristic culture.
For Retro Drive specifically, we would start with a moodboard, and sometimes concept work. This would be done by myself or a 2D artist. As it was a clear 80s/nostalgia aesthetic I tried my hand at replicating some of the styles and posting it online on various platforms to see what the community thought.
Once I got something that hooked I would consider that a success in the art I was creating and would learn on that style. For clients its a bit different, but always does start with a mood board. If the client has a brief I would take a look at that and challenge any bits I thought were ambiguous.
The next stage is the check the feasibility and to see if it is at all possible to do the things they ask, then chat between the artists/devs and the client to see what is possible and what is able to chat to meet the needs of the project and correct execution. Once that is all decided (in theory) you can then start on the project itself. At which point it is important to set aside important deadlines for certain milestones to make sure the devs don’t go too far off course and that the client is still happy with the progress up until that point. Note: it is also important to have contingencies setup as it is likely you will have to go back and redo some things.
Ever since I was young, I’ve loved the world of science fiction. Space race was a piece that combined my love of vehicles and sci-fi. I thought about what a chunky racing vehicle might look like and created a vehicle that looked like it could fly but would need skill to manoeuvre.
Music wise, synthwave was an important inspiration for the game itself, so it had to have a killer soundtrack. We partnered with Outland recordings who did just that, their contacts with the hottest synthwave artists out there. We were very happy and impressed by what we got and would work with them again.
In terms of design we took a lot of inspiration from classic 80s arcade runners, Outrun for example but with a modern twist. Neon driving experiences were what we were going for but we didn’t want to make a basic runner with lane switching. Something a bit more sophisticated that allowed the player more control over the environment and their driving ability which some players loved and others not so much. Essentially making a console/pc driving game for mobile.
Retro Drive PC, Retro Drive Switch (top secret), Retro Drive 2 demo.
