Following its announcement back in September, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit recently sped into homes across the land, and no doubt many of you have been crafting intricate circuits around your home, pulling off daring manoeuvres between chair legs, leaving tyre tracks through the kitchen and speeding away from the claws of curious pets while enjoying this mixed-reality take on the world's premier kart racing series.
Co-developed by Nintendo and US-based Velan Studios, prior to release we had the chance to question key members of the Mario Kart Live team about the project, its history and the challenges that came with mixing Mario Kart with reality.
We spoke to:
- Karthik Bala, CEO of Velan Studios, who's worked on the Skylanders and Guitar Hero series
- Yosuke Tamori, Project Leader in Production Group No. 4
- Yuji Ichijo of Nintendo's Production Group No. 2
- Hiroki Ikuta, Platform Technology Dept. Group and Project Leader (hardware) on Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Nintendo Life: Can you tell us how you came to work with Nintendo on this? Was it a project you were approached for, or did you pitch it directly to Nintendo?
Karthik (Velan): The team at Velan began development of the first prototype (hardware and software) in mid-2017. When we felt it was ready, we went to Kyoto, Japan to pitch the concept to Nintendo with a playable prototype. Lots of people came in to check out the demo and everyone was smiling. It was overwhelmingly positive so we began collaborating in 2018 to turn it into a true Mario Kart experience.
Was it daunting to mix a massive property like Mario Kart with such new and ground-breaking technology? Was there ever any fear that the tech wouldn't work?
Tamori (Nintendo): The Mario Kart series is one of Nintendo’s key franchises and one that can be easily enjoyed by anyone. Over many years, the series has been developed as a tool for communication with family and friends. Whenever there’s been a new hardware or network feature, we’ve always thought about how these could be used in Mario Kart, and how they could help make communication fun.
We felt there was a strong affinity between Mario Kart and Velan Studios’ new idea of fusing a real-life kart with game footage. We were sure that it would lead to communication – getting people thinking about where they could create race tracks, the kind of tracks they could create, and inspiring others to play too – and so we decided to go ahead with developing it together.
Karthik (Velna): Haha! This is perhaps the most technologically complex and riskiest project I've worked on in my career. There were so many unknowns at the beginning of this project… and more seemed to come in front of us as the project went on. But the team wasn't afraid of failure... we embraced it. Through experiments and iteration, both Velan and Nintendo teams worked through these challenges. It's been an honor to work on a Mario game – especially as the debut title from Velan Studios!
How closely did Nintendo and Velan Studios work together on the development of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit?
Tamori (Nintendo): To speak about our roles in the development in extremely broad terms, Velan Studios handled the invention of the concept and the game software development, while Nintendo handled the development of the hardware, system software, and an IP review of the game as part of the Mario Kart franchise to ensure it meets the quality standards for a Nintendo product.
we worked together extremely closely. We couldn’t have developed the game with just one side making the decisions, because the software, system software and hardware all influence each other
So, to answer your question, we worked together extremely closely. We couldn’t have developed the game with just one side making the decisions, because the software, system software and hardware all influence each other. If we hadn’t communicated and remained respectful of each other to move the development forward, I doubt we would have been able to complete this project.
Karthik (Velan): It's been an incredibly close partnership. Both the hardware and software are so interdependent to create complete experience for players. Velan developed the original reference hardware design and specifications and worked closely with the Nintendo hardware team who were responsible for the final design. Velan worked on the game design and content, while collaborating and getting feedback from the Nintendo software and IP teams to make it look and feel like Mario Kart.
What's been the hardest element of the concept to achieve from a development perspective?
Ichijo (Nintendo): Game software like this – meaning ones that take on new technical challenges – tends to be a bit tricky for people without any technical knowledge. To ensure the game can be easily enjoyed both by adults and children alike, we included a number of ideas that are typical of Nintendo games, such as Lakitu providing tutorials or explanations in the game.
Karthik (Velan): This project has had so many challenges! One impossible problem to the next. We wanted to create a convincing mixed reality experience with a level of depth to the gameplay and experience to please even the most hardcore Mario Kart fans. There is so much creativity to be had with course creation and the gameplay and digital world elements had to simply work - regardless of the real world environment. AR in many games are an afterthought or an add on. The Mixed Reality experience is central to the core game experience of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit.
What aspect of Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit are you most proud of?
Ikuta (Nintendo): It would have to be that we solved the issue of trying to achieve several things as once, working with both hardware and system software.
In addition to implementing the features necessary to achieve this new experience of linking a real-life kart with a game – the idea proposed by Velan – we wanted a wide range of users to be able to play in a wide variety of home environments in countries all over the world, and also wanted to design the physical kart so that it still felt like something from Mario Kart.
One issue we had was that when we lowered the speed of the kart to a level easy even for novice players to drive, the kart sometimes couldn’t run on carpet.
One issue we had was that when we lowered the speed of the kart to a level easy even for novice players to drive, the kart sometimes couldn’t run on carpet. To ensure players can enjoy Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit on a variety of different flooring, we implemented several ideas to cope with situations like that, such as making improvements to the hardware of the kart to increase torque, and taking data from the kart to work with the game and adjust the kart’s output.
Karthik (Velan): I'm extremely proud of the team and what we've been able to accomplish. Both Velan and Nintendo developers worked as one team on this project. There were so many unknowns and we've had ground breaking discoveries in game design and technology along the way. It was a very challenging project - but incredibly gratifying to see it all come together. It would not have been possible without this team.
Where do you see the Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit concept evolving from this point onwards? Can we expect to see new karts, additional trackside elements and perhaps even DLC?
Tamori (Nintendo): I’m afraid we can’t go into specifics at this time. We’d first like to see this title release.
While this year marks the 35th anniversary of Super Mario Bros., the Mario Kart series is another of Nintendo’s key franchises that has been enjoyed by many over the years. I believe that in Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit, it’s easy to see Nintendo’s philosophy of developing new, unique integrated hardware-software entertainment.
All of the developers are looking forward to seeing how this extremely unique experience that fuses a real-life kart with game footage will be received by players around the world.
Our thanks to Yosuke Tamori, Yuji Ichijo and Hiroki Ikuta from Nintendo and Karthik Bala from Velan Studios. If you're looking for our verdict, check out our Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit review.
Comments 22
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait...
Nintendo interviewed you guys, so why didn't you ask if there is gonna be Flingsmash 2?
Very interesting to read actually.
Great interview! This game really brought something unique to the table and I'm all in for that. And hey even if I eventually stop playing the game the kart itself is a pretty good novelty item to keep and pretty dope on a shelf!
@Shamrock Agreed. Wish they also had Peach and Bowser
Hopefully they will make Peach and Yoshi karts in the future. Feels weird to have 4 player with 2 Mario's and 2 Luigi's
Wait, you guys were actually able to interview Nintendo? That's pretty awesome.
Talk about Mario kart from the screen to real life now that is what I call going for broke. And this broke will feed their bottom line for years to come. Especially if they make more racer for other characters in the Mario Kart series. Just imagine the money $$$$ and maybe I would spend to get everyone of those karts. This is downright devilish in every form you can think of.
@HotGoomba I remember getting Flingsmash for my 8th bday and it even came with the Wii remote with WiiMotion Plus! I was in heaven!
They'll surely release other karts, i think this will sell well enough and more characters will be released like Daisy and Yoshi.
thank you nintendolife for that feature interview! good insight on the making of this game!
being a Mario Kart veteran myself, I was really interested to see how it all worked so I made the purchase day 1. so far, it’s been great fun creating courses around my home. also love that they kept the drifting (it works great)!! I really hope this succeeds as it is great fun! awesome job to the developers!
I have been thinking about this and I want a cardboard Peach's castle that you can drive through. And the AR would add all sorts of effects to it.
Nice to hear from the fine folks who brought this amazing product to life. It is very impressive and a ton of fun to behold and play. I wholeheartedly recommend this game/toy to anyone on the fence...it works, its amazing to see and most of all, it is a ton of fun to design your course, use your homes furnishing or whatever else as obstacles in the course, and then try them out.
https://twitter.com/agentla1/status/1317659493648322560?s=21
Now if they could make a kart that also enable you to put in any amiibo you want, and see that driver come to life on your TV, that would be very cool as well.
Holding out on getting one for my niece hoping they'll release a peach version if not she loves luigi too
@Agent721 yessssss.... a normal car with an amiibo scanner would be amazing.. think of the concepts that could be made...
The game seems to be a fun, high-quality product. Too expensive for me to consider right now though.
@Agent721 : why do that, when they can sell you 50 different “collectable” karts instead?
@Slowdive Funny how that works, huh? I feel the same. I have no desire to get this, but I probably would've loved it when I was my kids' age. But then I still do enjoy playing games on Switch. Not too old for that, apparently.
@SwitchplayerJohn that would be great if they released stuff like that.
@Clammy Yeah, that will probably be the go to route...sadly.
120 euros..... i mean... yeah... to expensive.
I bought both the Mario and Luigi set at launch and I would be quick to buy another if it releases. The way this makes me look at the space around me and makes me wonder if I can make a game out of it is great. It helps that making racetracks is also very easy. The drifting is shockingly authentic to what's in Mario Kart 8. The kart is also super durable.
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