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Tuesday, December 3, 2024
HomeMost wantedScaravan 66 by Lithic Entertainment is a car-combat-roguelike straight out of hell

Scaravan 66 by Lithic Entertainment is a car-combat-roguelike straight out of hell

With their second game, Canadian indie studio Lithic Entertainment takes a sharp turn from the tranquil charm of their peaceful city-building debut title, Dwarrows. This time they’re slamming the accelerator with Scaravan 66, a high-octane car combat roguelike straight out of hell. At its heart is Lucky, an arrogant greaser trapped in a hellish nightmare of endless asphalt, monstrous foes and a shotgun-fueled quest for freedom.

The concept for Scaravan 66 evolved from Lithic’s initial brainstorming. Co-founder Al Bellemare explains: “We were originally picturing it more like a fantasy caravan, but we wanted fast-paced action for this one. That was tough to manage in a low-tech fantasy world.” A breakthrough came when they revisited old game jam notes. “It was based on a psychobilly track about rampaging in a car, running from hellhounds trying to drag you back to hell. That was our ‘Aha!’ moment.”

Lithic Entertainment’s other co-founder Andy Wood recalls the studio’s early days in Toronto: “We started as a tiny team of three. Al Bellemare and I are co-founders, together with my brother Steve.” The trio’s ranks soon grew, sometimes in an unconventional manner. Composer Neil Quillen joined after sending them a self-made track inspired by a screenshot from Dwarrows. “That pretty much got him the job the second we started listening to the track,” Wood laughs. Eventually the team expanded to thirteen. “After the first game, we were in a position to hire, so we found nine brilliant people.” Most were recruited, while others found a different path to the studio. “Our character artist, Anita Waysen-Tang, joined after our dogs became best friends,” Wood shares. “When I found out how talented she was, I just knew I had to hire her one day.”

Genre mashup

The genre mashup of action-roguelike and car combat became the foundation of Scaravan 66. Bellemare says, “We drew gameplay ideas from Interstate ‘76 and Twisted Metal for the car combat and Hades or West of Dead for dungeon-crawling elements. It’s wildly different but incredibly fun.” The name itself reflects this creative energy. “Puns are so bad, but so good,” says Woods. “We had originally been talking about making a caravan game, and now we were making a classic horror psychobilly game on route 66. So, I made the Caravan scary and added the 66. I think it evokes a visual of exactly what it is and that’s what a title should do. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, but neither does the game.”

One of the challenges was ensuring that the world felt seamless and natural, despite all the technical complexity running in the background. The design team focused on creating a world that would stitch together fluidly, keeping the experience smooth without compromising the level designer’s control over the environment. According to Bellemare, “There are a few layers going on behind the scenes, some of it for performance reasons like deciding which road to generate ahead of the play area and pre-loading it, and some of it for playability, like trimming away the areas that the player has not seen yet so that the ‘end of combat’ doesn’t drag on too long as they make their way toward the pit stops.”

To further enhance this experience, the team implemented a feature that helped shorten delays between pit stops. “We’ve added a ‘curvature’ to the world, so that the horizon bends down and helps to hide the trimming scenery, letting the game cut away even more unseen road ahead and replacing it with the more relevant pitstop chunks of road.” For Bellemare, his idea of a successful implementation is easy: “I’m hoping that this feature is invisible to the player, that they don’t notice any of it going on and that it feels like a natural and comfortable end between stops,” he explains. “Personally, I think we’ve achieved it.”

Psychobilly Aesthetics

Scaravan 66 boasts a visual style as bold as its gameplay. “It’s a real mix of a few things,” says Woods. “I wanted a bit of Overwatch, a bit of Hades, a bit of Psychobilly poster and t-shirt graphic art. Rockabilly is such a sorely underused visual style, there’s so much potential there. As an art director I’m more of a gardener than an architect. I usually give a few reference ideas and see what kind of spin my artists take themselves. I think there is so much magic in setting people up and then getting out of their way to succeed.” 

The Rockabilly aesthetic also extends to the game’s music. Composer Neil Quillen was up to the challenge and took on learning all about the genre and its many sub-genres. “I really think he nailed it!” says Woods. “The game is filled with original tracks that ooze that Rockabilly/Psychobilly vibe perfectly.” Bellemare notes that the themes resonate throughout the game’s characters and story as well. “While there’s plenty of psychobilly and classic horror inspiration, the story feels more like a secular parable,” he hints.

Chain physics 

Development hasn’t been without its hurdles. “Chain physics at 100 mph,” Bellemare recalls with a mix of frustration and pride. “We wanted a demonically strong character holding a chain between two vehicles, but simulating that in real-time was chaos. Chain links flailed erratically, and physics fell apart.” Their solution involved clever optimizations, including invisible ties between vehicles to stabilize the chain. “It kept everything looking accurate-ish while actually working at 60 FPS,” Bellemare says. “This feature was dope, so we got stubborn and made it work.”

Scaravan 66’s development is powered by diverse funding sources, including profits from Dwarrows, Lithic’s ongoing client work, and Ontario Creates’ IDMF program. “If you live in Ontario, that’s definitely something to look into if you need funding. There are some prerequisites, but they are very fair and so very helpful,” says Wood. “Ontario Creates isn’t a publisher, so we retain all rights to our game. We’re still 100% indie.”

A lot less crunching

Lithic is taking lessons from their first game to heart. “On Dwarrows, we crunched a lot and we burned out a lot too,” Wood admits. “We’ve definitely learned to take more time to get out of our chairs, go to the gym a few times per week and see friends and family more often. Dwarrows was entirely self-funded through day jobs and contract work, so having funding for Scaravan 66 frankly made all the difference. We were actually able to hire people to fill roles instead of us doing everything ourselves. As the owners of the company, we’re still crunching, but a lot less, and the rest of the team is never asked to do the same. We’re able to work a lot smarter.”

Scaravan 66 comes to Steam in 2025.

Eric Bartelson
Eric Bartelson
Editor-in-Chief of PreMortem.Games. Veteran game journalist for over 20 years. Started out in 1999 for game magazines (yes the ones made of paper) such as PC Zone Benelux, PlayNation and GameQuest, before co-founding Dutch industry paper Control Magazine.
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