Pacific Drive | The Art of the Zone' Game Overview
Pacific Drive is a car roguelike adventure game developed by Ironwood Studio. Players will venture into the Olympic Exclusion Zone while upgrading the station wagon to be equipped to drive through the multiple dangerous biomes and threats. Take a look at the behind-the-scenes video for a look at early concept art and gameplay footage that shows off the intent behind the art and graphics of Pacific Drive. Pacific Drive is launching on February 22 for PlayStation 5 and PC.
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00:00 Pacific Drive takes place in an alternate version of the Pacific Northwest, the Olympic
00:09 Exclusion Zone.
00:10 There's a lot of urban legends and strange history in the area that inspired us, and
00:13 we wanted to explore where that took us, from concept art to what's in game.
00:24 What works in our original concept is the twisting of the familiar.
00:27 The surreal quality of the world is what leaves a distinct impression.
00:30 Early in its history, the Olympic Peninsula was very much as you'd expect, but at a certain
00:34 point things drastically changed, and as you explore, you get to figure out how.
00:37 It's these mysterious changes that help build our world and establish our setting.
00:42 They keep you on your toes, and they'll prevent you from knowing what's around the next corner
00:45 of the road.
00:46 When it comes to the Pacific Northwest and the Olympic Peninsula, there is so much that
00:50 comes to mind that matches with Pacific Drive.
00:52 The deep forests, the moody rain, feeling of isolation when you're out in the wilderness.
00:57 For the game, we took these elements and not only reinforced them, but built them up with
01:00 unexplainable anomalies, monolithic ruins, and the stories of the people that live there.
01:05 Hi, my name is Jacob, and I'm the foreground art lead for Pacific Drive.
01:09 I built the tools and items that you find out in the zone, but my biggest contribution
01:14 is the station wagon that's keeping you alive.
01:16 We wanted the car to feel nostalgic, but also reliable.
01:19 We went with an 80s-inspired design on the car for this reason.
01:23 The wood paneling, chrome hope caps, and long hood all contribute to that.
01:28 Because each part of the car is customizable, I modeled them with a higher degree of detail
01:32 than players normally see in games.
01:35 A good example of this is the suspension and wheel assembly, which is extremely close to
01:40 a real-world equivalent, and you'll see it when you swap out your tires.
01:44 Our quintessential American station wagon has seen some hard miles.
01:48 By the time the player sees it, there's some rust, some sketchy parts, and mismatched wheels
01:52 to visually sell that our car has a long history in the zone.
01:57 The view from behind the wheel is under constant iteration.
02:00 We're communicating a lot of information to the player.
02:03 Our kitbashed approach to the tech features computer components, old-school displays,
02:08 and camera parts that you would have seen throughout the digital revolution.
02:12 And that attitude of making do extends to most of the tools and items the player crafts
02:17 in the game.
02:18 Aesthetically, the tools the player uses are all of an improvised nature.
02:23 They shouldn't feel complete or finished, but functional enough to get the job done.
02:27 A great example of this is the battery pack, which can be used to jumpstart the car, or
02:32 give it some extra juice while out on a run.
02:34 It's clearly made up of an old wooden toolbox, whatever cables are laying around, and a half-exposed
02:39 battery.
02:40 In any working garage, this might be a major hazard, but out in the zone, it works just
02:44 fine.
02:45 One of my favorite tools to use, the scrapper, consists of a polstering motor powering a
02:50 spinning metal cylinder, which features rusty, bolted-on teeth.
02:53 There's clearly no room for any refinement, so your trusty C-clamp serving as a handle
02:58 will have to make do.
02:59 When a player crafts these tools, we're showing quite clearly that you will need to
03:03 improvise and slap together whatever you can find to survive in the zone.
03:08 Keep an eye out for that extra scrap of metal, or a little duct tape.
03:12 It could make all the difference during your next successful run.
03:15 Hey, I'm Larry, Lead Environment Artist on Pacific Drive.
03:17 We've put a lot of work into building the Olympic Exclusion Zone.
03:20 We've got the forest and swamp biomes, which you might have already seen, but there's
03:24 more in the zone for you to discover.
03:25 Each has its own personality, but visually they're going to be very different.
03:29 The further you go, the more hazards you'll experience, the more volatile and dangerous
03:32 it's going to look.
03:33 Things get pretty crazy.
03:34 In terms of the buildings you'll discover, the garage is the most important.
03:38 It's your own personal batcave.
03:39 It's important to note that the garage is as upgradeable as the car.
03:43 We've been able to communicate this progression with the workstations being MacGyvered together,
03:47 giving you that Doc Brown sci-fi vibe.
03:49 There are many buildings in the zone that serve other purposes, but rather than being
03:52 blatantly descriptive with what you see, we've leaned into discoverable, possible narratives.
03:57 The player is naturally curious.
03:59 They should develop their own ideas about what happened.
04:01 You might come across this gas station that's been ransacked, or it might be all boarded
04:05 up.
04:06 The shadow of the zone should loom large over these half-functional environments.
04:09 Could someone still be here?
04:10 There's an old cup of coffee on the counter.
04:12 Are we intruding?
04:13 It feels like we are.
04:14 I had to kick aside boxes to find some loot.
04:16 These visual clues can lead players to draw their own conclusions rather than forcing
04:19 them to know exactly what could have happened.
04:21 We want mystery to linger, because that's the zone in a nutshell.
04:24 In contrast to the civilian areas, the art facilities are industrial and monolithic in
04:29 comparison.
04:30 These structures have a psychological effect on the player.
04:32 They're imposing and aggressive, monuments to an organization arrogant enough to try
04:36 to control the zone.
04:37 From our early concept art, it's been intentional to have these facilities at odds with the
04:40 zone around them.
04:41 Brute force, rather than coexistence as an observable goal.
04:45 The inner walls are a great example of this failure to coexist.
04:48 Their massive man-made interiors are overrun with terrifying anomalies, abandoned machinery,
04:54 and supplies left to rot in large shipping containers.
04:56 As the player moves through these areas, the number one goal is to survive, and there is
05:01 history here to discover.
05:02 We want to give our players a chance to pursue their own interpretation of what happened
05:06 to the people of the zone when it all began.
05:08 Overall, these environments and the impressions we're trying to give of the zone are visually
05:12 designed to push players around the next corner.
05:14 That there's something exciting there, or illuminating, to add to their story.
05:19 As we began to see the Olympic Exclusion Zone take shape, we started to find that our own
05:23 ideas of the Pacific Northwest coalesced into something new and never before seen.
05:27 That's what we wanted to have happen for Pacific Drive.
05:29 It's a surreal and twisted version of our recognizable world, one that has its own interesting
05:33 stories to uncover, but is also alive and filled with the unexpected.
05:37 The zone has its own character in the game, and our players will get to create their own
05:40 stories as they explore it.
05:41 [OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING]
05:55 COMPUTERIZED VOICE: PlayStation.